Feedback Carousel

How critical is feedback? Last week’s post talked about definitions of the word critical, especially as crucial and exercising careful judgment. Certainly, teachers benefit from careful judgments about their important work. One way to get that feedback is through Feedback Carousels during PLC time.

In Feedback Carousels, each teacher brings a lesson plan that s/he would like some suggestions on. The plan should be printed on regular paper. Teachers then tape or glue their lesson plan in the middle of a piece of chart paper, leaving lots of empty space that welcomes others to chime in through writing. Feedback Carousels work best as silent activities, with pens doing the talking. Having a chance to consider what you will say before committing it to paper makes for more carefully-worded feedback.

In round one of Feedback Carousel, teachers visit each other’s lesson plans, making a comment about something they really like – something they feel will be effective. For round two, teachers ask questions – something they are wondering about. Round three is the chance for suggestions. After teachers finish the third round, they gather up their own lesson and check out the feedback they’ve received. It’s helpful to save some time to ask questions about ideas that were shared during the Carousel.

Feedback Carousel works best in a group that has already established trust with one another. There’s risk involved in sharing your work, and we want our ideas to be charitably considered. An extension of Feedback Carousel (that can be used to lay the groundwork for or follow up on Carousel work) uses the same ideas but a different venue. If you’re teaching, choose one of your own lesson plan you’d like feedback on to set an example of risk-taking. Or you can ask a friend to take a turn. Hang the lesson plan, centered on chart paper, in the workroom, with prompts to like, wonder, and suggest. This practice can take off as a way for teachers to gather critical feedback on their work anytime.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Using Super Bowl ads in the classroom:

https://www.middleweb.com/20198/teach-media-literacy-super-bowl-ads/

NCTE’s writing contest for 8^th graders (deadline Feb. 24):

http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/pyw?roi=echo4-36951597899-91922189-46ff6d462c6de24f39c7111054978c78&utm_source=2016-08-09+Members&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Inbox

NCTE’s writing content for 11^th graders (deadline Feb. 24):

http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/aa?roi=echo4-36951597899-91922190-e8c37423fddf9af5a2c2d15a0d7263a2&utm_source=2016-08-09+Members&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Inbox

Using The Three B’s to stop interruptions:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/managing-classroom-interruptions

Preparing students for civic engagement:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/digital-age-civic-engagement-edda

To teach cursive, or not to teach it – that is the question:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2016/10/why_dont_the_common-core_standards_include_cursive_writing.html?cmp=eml-eb-popweek+10142016

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Being Critical

As coaches, we may shy away from being critical. When we think about giving feedback, what does it mean to be critical? I asked Merriam Webster and found the definitions below, which I’ve annotated to reflect appropriate coaching moves.

Definitions of critical:

*of, relating to, or being a turning point or especially important juncture 

Our coaching should focus on important pivot points: changes that will not only impact the current lesson but will change the arc of instruction. For example, rather than being critical of the closed questions on a specific worksheet, our conversation can support a teacher’s future use of open-ended questions.

 *relating to or being a state in which some quality, property, or phenomenon suffers a definite change

I don’t like the word suffers, but everything else about this definition fits. The purpose of coaching is to induce a definite change.

*crucial, decisive, indispensable, vital

As coaches, we have to be decisive about what our focus will be. What features of instruction are crucial to success? There may be many potential areas for growth, but we determine which is the priority, which is the vital touchpoint for our conversation.

*exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation 

There is judgment and evaluation involved in our work. Not the high-stakes kind that increases teacher angst. We exercise judgement about the “how” of our coaching along with the “what.” Is a recommendation needed, or will questioning prompt impactful reflection?

*of sufficient size to sustain a chain reaction

I really love this definition! And I have seen it in action in coaching! A teacher works on one thing, and it leads to improvement in another. I observed this scenario this week when the coaching focus of “showing enthusiasm” had improved classroom management as a byproduct.

Note: I left out two definitions of critical from the dictionary site that had clearly negative connotations. Negativity doesn’t fill a useful role in coaching, so we’d best steer clear! The definitions above, however, can help us be the type of critical friend whose coaching makes a difference.   (more about critical friends next week)

This week, you might want to take a look at:

What’s Hot in Literacy – ILA’s 2017 report:

http://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/resource-documents/whats-hot-2017-report.pdf?sfvrsn=4

Ideas for creating non-fiction text sets:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1905

Preparing students for civic engagement:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/digital-age-civic-engagement-edda

Using sticky notes to increase understanding of the text:

http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2016/09/still-learning-to-read-sticky-notes.html

Just for fun….. Offers of wisdom from fictional characters:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2016/12/10_offers_of_wisdom_from_ficti.html?cmp=eml-eb-popweek+12092016&M=57696637&U=

(by the way, just close the sign-up window and you can read the post)

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Stepping Backward

When coaching coaches this week, I recommended recommending. That’s a confusing statement!!! Let me explain.

I’ve been working with Vanessa for some time. She is a smart, dedicated teacher who is also a committed coach for Kasey, the student teacher in her classroom. She had asked for time to talk because she was concerned about Kasey’s performance. When we sat down together, her frustration was apparent. Her biggest concern was that, because her intern wasn’t passing muster, her students’ learning was suffering. Whereas she had formerly felt confident about her intern’s progress, she now felt things had stalled, and she wasn’t seeing the type of teaching she expected. Vanessa complained that her intern’s pace was off—sometimes belaboring a point and sometimes skimming over it. She was also concerned that there were times when the intern spoke negatively to students. It was supposed to feel like holding high expectations, but her students were feeling deflated by the intern’s comments.

I asked a few questions to get a better feel for the situation and to give Vanessa a chance to think it through. Vanessa gave an example of a planning conversation she’d had with Kasey about an upcoming math lesson: How she reviewed the lesson with Kasey and asked about her plan to grade the papers while students were working. “I asked her, ‘Do you think you’ll have time to grade the papers before the students share their examples?’” I could tell from Vanessa’s tone that she felt quite confident this wouldn’t work. “I decided to let her go and see what happened,” she said.

Vanessa described the lesson and her frustration with it as the students began explaining their examples without Kasey’s full attention—because she was still grading papers. Vanessa thought she had done the right thing by giving Kasey the experience to try something and learn from her efforts. But the resulting frustration for Vanessa and her students was a sure indication that this plan wasn’t working.

I talked about the important role of coaching for ensuring that students receive solid instruction. “Coaching needs to make up the difference between what Kasey is able to do and what your students need, so that students will get appropriate instruction,” I said. “Right now,” I continued, “asking questions isn’t working. It’s not filling that gap.” So, I recommended that Vanessa take a step backward in the GIR model. She had been using questioning as her primary coaching move, hoping that her careful questions would elicit effective planning and perceptive reflection. But instead, both Vanessa and her students were frustrated. Instead of asking questions, Vanessa needed to use a coaching move that provided more support. Making solid recommendations could result in appropriate instruction for her students.

Soon, Kasey will be ready to move forward again. Soon, Vanessa will be able to use less-supportive coaching moves. But for now, Vanessa’s coaching is ensuring that the bottom line is met. Coaches make student learning the top priority, even if it means taking a step backward in the coaching model. When Vanessa was frustrated, I took a step backward, too. My recommendation helped Vanessa clear her head and see a positive path forward.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Twitter-style exit tickets:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/quick-student-assessment/?utm_source=newsletter20161008/

Coaching Basics - Routines:

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/405

Spotlight on personalized professional development:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/Spotlight-Personalized-PD-Sponsored.pdf

An engaging technology-based team game to review vocab:

http://www.middleweb.com/33156/my-students-are-begging-to-review-vocabulary/

This picture book, that perfectly describes the power of books and what total engagement (or “flow”) feels like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgH7xmlt8JY

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Guiding Principles for Conferring with Teachers

As I confer with teachers in coaching conversations, a few principles guide my work. They influence what I say and do, and they govern the approaches I take. As you review my principles below, you might take note of any of the tenets that resonate for you; these are core beliefs that, when recognized, can serve as an intentional guide in almost any coaching situation.

Principle 1: Positioning

I see myself as a thinking partner for the teachers with whom I’m working. Although my years of experience or background knowledge may come into play when making recommendations, I position myself on the same plane as those I’m coaching. In fact, I often recognize a teacher’s superiority because of her in-depth knowledge of her students and context. This principle reveals itself in tangible ways. I try to be respectful in my language, and I’m aware of how even my stance should reflect my belief in our co-construction of knowledge. For example, if the teacher is sitting, I’ll pull up a chair before starting a conversation. I don’t want to loom over a teacher as we enter into discussion.

Principle 2: Transferability and Generalizability

Although our conversations might start and end with a particular lesson, I keep in mind the goal that anything we spend time discussion should be relevant for future teaching. It’s the old “teach a man to fish” proverb: I want our learning to grow into self-sustaining practices. If we talk about a particular phonics routine, we also talk about the value of routines in general, how they support learning, and what makes routines effective. If we spend time creating a graphic organizer, it will be something that students can use with a variety of texts or in a variety of contexts. By making sure our work is generalizable or transferrable, the impact of my coaching increases.

Principle 3: Focus

I’ve learned through sad experience that giving too much information dooms a coaching conversation. I will never forget the conversation I had with a novice teacher about phonemic awareness. It was a topic about which I had lots of knowledge and strong opinions. She asked a simple question, “What can I do for phonemic awareness that would be more authentic?” Then the floodgates opened! I dumped far too many suggestions as options for consideration, and somehow didn’t stop myself even as the teacher got a “deer in the headlights” expression. Since then, when I feel myself bursting with recommendations, I stop and remind myself, “Just one or two things, just one or two things.” Usually, my self-prompting works and I resist the urge to over-inform.

Principle 4: Compliment

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” It was good advice for Bambi, and it works for me, too. I try to make even a quick chat include an authentic compliment. Advice is better received when the teacher knows you recognize the strengths in her teaching as well as the areas she’s concerned about. Find something within the work to highlight and honor. Your affirmation will make the teacher much more available for the conversation that follows.

Principle 5: Unbalanced Conversation

Although many situations in life call for balance, unbalancing the talk in a coaching conversation is a good thing. The one who does the talking does the learning, so the teacher should do most of the talking when I’m coaching. My job is to listen, restate, prompt, question, suggest, affirm, or prod. It doesn’t take many words to do that, so the bulk of the talk should come from the teacher’s explanation or response.

Principle 6: Brevity

Keeping coaching conversations short honors a teacher’s busy schedule. (It also helps with principle #3, above.) If I find out about the teacher’s concerns, establish a focus for improvement, and challenge the teacher to try it, I’ve done my job. My exit line of “If you try this, let me know how it goes!” acknowledges the teacher’s agency and my continued commitment of support.

As we resolve what the new year will hold, reflecting on our core beliefs brings our hopes and actions into alignment.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Podcast on how to gamify the classroom:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/bedleybros/episodes/2016-10-22T20_04_52-07_00

Showcasing non-fiction resources through “Expedition Monday”: 

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=713

A video showing coaching about asking open- and closed-questions:

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v6.1.htm

Being a “digital native” does not equal digital competence:

http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2016/10/26/the-digital-natives-myth?utm_source=TW-11012016&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ThisWeek&utm_content=Story-1

Teaching content vocabulary – beyond memorization:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/09/content-area-literacy-focusing-vocabulary

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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