Friday, February 24, 2017

Just the Facts

There’s a clip from an old TV police series that shows up in my Facebook feed from time to time. It says, “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” As I prepare for a coaching session, I realize that is sometimes good advice for myself.

When teachers have a broad repertoire of effective instructional strategies, asking a question often provides just the nudge needed for effective planning or reflection. But sometimes a teacher needs even less than that. All I have to do is state a fact, and the teacher is off on a reflective or planning journey. Drawing a detail to her attention gets her moving in a productive direction.

For example, I began a reflective discussion with, “Students took turns sharing the floor during the discussion. Twelve of them participated.” Andi quickly reflected, “I wonder how I could get the other 12 participating?” Her self-reflective question led to effective planning for the discussion the next day.

During a planning conversation, when I said, “Six students didn’t get completely finished with the problem,” Natalie said, “I noticed several students using inefficient strategies. I’m thinking I need to model additional approaches – or, better yet, have the students who used efficient strategies demonstrate their work.” The fact I provided focused Natalie’s attention on needed interventions.

When teachers have experience with the content and pedagogy, they are often self-reflective and recognize areas of need on their own. But a coach can draw attention to something that may be overlooked by stating “just the facts.”

I’ve also used the “just the facts” approach with teachers who tend to take a defensive stance. When planning for a coaching conversation with these teachers, I sometimes pull an important fact from the data or observation. A fact calls for a response but, if worded in an objective way, it doesn’t set the teacher up to be protective. Saying, “Johnny’s independent DRA score is 40,” can elicit explanation and exploration rather than justification.

Stating a fact is a coaching strategy that works, especially with defensive or self-reflective teachers. Whether it’s a tense coaching situation or an accomplished teacher who needs just a little nudge, “just the facts” is a useful tool in the coach’s toolbox.

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

Coaching for when to use open and closed questions:



Routines for Writers Workshop:



Paper or e-book? What do Digital Natives prefer?



Spotlight on PLC’s:



Benefits of co-teaching for ELL students:


That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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