A
few years ago, I did coaching work in a district that had coaches in every
building and a strict policy for their coaches: No coaching on classroom
management. Although this seemed harsh, I suspect it helped coaches and
teachers look beneath the mask and find out what may have been causing those
concerns about behavior.
A
coaching situation this week reminded me of this policy. I observed a lesson where
the teacher, Amanda, was frequently asking for students’ attention and
repeating herself when students couldn’t answer her questions. Just before our
debrief conversation, I silently repeated this mantra: “This conversation will
not be about classroom management; this conversation will not be about
classroom management; this conversation will not be about classroom management!”
I was afraid that the most obvious features of the lesson would distract our discussion
from what was really going on.
I’d
worked with Amanda before, and after chatting briefly about what she felt was successful
in the lesson, I ventured a query: “What’s something you’d like to focus on in
the coming weeks?” I braced myself and mentally prepared for a redirecting follow-up
question so that our talk wouldn’t center around student behavior issues. But I
was pleasantly surprised when Amanda replied, “I want to work on student
engagement.”
Amanda
had pushed herself to look beneath the mask of student misbehavior and figure
out what was really happening. She brought up concerns about pacing and
questioning, and we talked about differentiation and all-respond techniques. In
the end, she decided to focus on making sure explanations of content and
directions for activities were clear. She has a plan for modeling and providing
shared practice.
I’m
looking forward to my next chance to be in Amanda’s classroom. Because she was
able to look beneath the mask of classroom management and create a plan for
bringing more clarity to her teaching, I’m confident student engagement, and
consequently student learning, will increase. Although student behaviors and
misbehaviors may be staring you in the face, classroom management, most
importantly, is about pedagogy.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
The writing notebook as a lifeline for
writers:
Towards data-informed (not data-drive)
instruction:
Students in countries with high math
performance memorize less:
Tips for helping students pick a
just-right book:
Why students can’t Google their way to
the truth:
That’s it for this week. Happy
Coaching!
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