Coaching Currents

How do you spell coaching?  What are its essential characteristics? I pondered this question through poetry, hoping for insights, because poetry distills meaning, filtering the extraneous and crystalizing the essential.  Acrostic poetry, simple as it is, forces a focus on essential characteristics.  Here are my essential characteristics of coaching, acrostic style:

Collaborative

Open

Approachable

Collegial

Honors expertise

Invitational

Non-evaluative

Growth mindset

Or take a look at coaching through Haiku:

Listening harder

Real concerns swirl and surface

We make the current

If you are beginning to plan for opening activities for the school year, consider including poetry with a focus on teaching and learning.  Blend opportunities for both collaboration and individual composing.  Finding just the right words to describe these important processes can set the stage for deep conversation. 

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

Goal setting and Google spreadsheets:

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/398

When is off-task looking behavior really on-task:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/tyranny-of-on-task-andrew-miller

Lesson plan ideas for bringing poetry into K-5 classrooms:

http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/bringing-poetry-to-the-classroom-grades-K-5.html

Recommit to reading (during the more leisurely summer months):

https://bookwhisperer.com/2016/05/24/the-eighth-annual-bookaday-challenge/

The importance of teacher reflection:

https://www.thoughtco.com/importance-of-teacher-reflection-8322

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Putting Out the Welcome Mat

“Welcome to wherever you are
This is your life, you made it this far
Welcome, you got to believe
That right here, right now
You're exactly where you're supposed to be
Welcome to wherever you are.”

                                                ~Jon Bon Jovi

Welcome!  Put out the welcome mat.  You’re welcome.  Whether used to greet, to accept, or to acknowledge gratitude, the sentiment expressed through the word “welcome” is open and inviting.  Coaches affect the culture of a school and can impact how welcoming the school climate feels. 

We welcome those new to our staff when we send an introductory email and invite other faculty members to do the same.  I spent some time this week with early-career teachers, and one expressed how the simple gesture of “welcome” emails before the school year began helped her feel comfortable and accepted in her new school.  Greetings create a welcoming environment.

Teachers new to our staff feel welcome when we are curious about their ideas,  when we ask what has worked well for them in the past, when we wonder what they notice as they see our school with new eyes.  They feel welcome when we include them in the team even before it’s required.  Another teacher this week talked about how valued she felt to be asked to be part of an interview team – even though she’d just been hired herself.  These gestures don’t take much effort, but they send the message of welcome.

Teachers new to your building – and all early-career teachers – are especially influenced by the attitudes of those around them.  Make a list of teachers in this category and consider who they rub shoulders with:  Who is their neighbor?  Who is on their team?  If it’s not already part of their routine, make plans that include opportunities for novice teachers to interact regularly with those who will build them up.  Burnout is contagious, but so is enthusiasm!

Teachers, whether new or veteran, feel welcome when they are listened to, given productive feedback, and have positive relationships with leadership, colleagues, and students. A climate that challenges while providing support generates motivation and empowerment for both teachers and students.

Most teachers welcome instructional autonomy.  But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to learn from each other.  Many will welcome the opportunity to observe and to be observed as a way to strengthen teaching if a positive culture for teacher learning has been created.

My time with early-career teachers this week – hearing stories both disheartening and encouraging – has caused me to reflect on the important role that coaches can play in greeting, inviting, and being grateful for the colleagues who share our space and our students.  Coaches can create community-building experiences that provide a shared vision; one that accepts and encourages everyone to feel that their school is “exactly where (they're) supposed to be.”

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

Ways to make faculty feel welcome:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3039232/5-ways-to-welcome-your-new-employee-to-the-workplace

The power of knowing our “why” in achieving goals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSaN8hTkXpk

Let them see you struggle:

http://www.teachingquality.org/content/blogs/bill-ferriter/when-was-last-time-you-failed-front-new-teacher

The A-B-Cs of giving feedback:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/09/04/the-a-b-cs-of-giving-feedback/?utm_source=newsletter20150411

Classroom management tips to get the focus on the learning:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2015/02/19/letting-go-of-classroom-management/?utm_source=newsletter20170401/

  

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Taking Care

Today I conferred with two teachers who had just led a wonderful writing camp for students.  I know it was wonderful because I conferred with them every day, talking through plans and celebrating successes.  I know it was successful because I reviewed the student feedback: All but one reported significant increases in their confidence as writers (one started and ended with 10 J).  Students said, “They should never stop doing writing camp!” “It couldn’t be better,” and “I wouldn’t take back an instant!” 

But as I conferred, tears welled up in one teacher’s eyes, then the other.  They were upset because one dad had expressed concerns in the parent survey about the camp.  Never mind that 19 students had glowing reviews.  One parent had a different perspective, and never mind that that parent had a history of harassing teachers at the school.  These teachers felt worried that perhaps one child’s heart had been hurt, that there had been a misstep or oversight.  These teachers cared about the one. 

When I saw the tears, I went into protective mother-hen mode.  We had already talked through the issues and recognized where the concerns came from.  We had already discussed parameters to make future camps even more successful.  What was needed was affirmation of successes, acknowledgment of work well done, and a hand on the arm that expressed comradery.  Because the parent requested that I call him, I followed up with a message assuring him the teachers were aware of his concerns and had themselves been concerned about similar issues and worked hard to improve them.  My response wasn’t completely satisfying to the parent, but it lifted the burden of a teacher who was wondering aloud whether she was in the right profession. 

Teaching with the heart is wrenching work – but teaching without heart is unfulfilling and futile.  As coaches, we are teachers’ support system.  We have their back.  As confidants, we problem-solve together, acknowledging needs but also affirming accomplishments.  These two teachers will continue to put their heart into their work.  There will always be dissenters who don’t acknowledge the complex nature of teaching, but as coaches, we understand the complexity and sustain teachers in this worthwhile work.

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

Podcast on how to change your teaching based on brain research:

https://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WHKD.Roth.cfm

Which one doesn’t belong: Mathematical argumentation in grades K & 1:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/evidence-supported-claims-nsf?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

Hooking boy writers:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1869

Try “lino” as a summarizing tool:

http://en.linoit.com/

A brief video on teaching social and emotional skills:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3671211724001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABlTNHE7k~,oIicl_E-tmhDtDkfwzKAp9yYvfvdcIPK&bctid=4059469298001

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Be Our Best

The school year here has only just ended, but we are already thinking about how to make next year even better than the last!  I’ve been pondering the power of a theme, a mantra, or a chant to guide our upcoming work.  Right now, I’m leaning toward, “Be Our Best!”

I’m envisioning kicking off the school year with a “Be Our Best” banner and a Disney sing-along (or at least watch-along!) of Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest,” with a consonant modification, just to get the mantra stuck in our heads.  We’ll do some brainstorming about what it takes to “be our best,” creating an anchor chart that we can reference when we meet throughout the year.  Then we’ll read a short piece about collaboration and think together about how we can encourage and support one another, how we help one another see the bright spots.  We’ll make a list of adjectives that describe the type of feedback we’d like to get from each other (helpful, honest, constructive, etc.), and we’ll talk about how this helps us grow together and pushes our practice to a higher level.  We’ll brainstorm ways we can solicit colleagues’ feedback – how we can find the time and space to make it happen. 

I hope this conversation creates a shared sense of ownership and a climate for collaboration. I hope we walk away confident that we can depend on our colleagues to help us reach our potential.  I also hope teachers feel they can depend on me to be part of the respectful, candid conversation that leads to useful next steps. 

It’s a little corny, I know, but I think I can get away with it if I ham it up enough! I’ve found that when we begin by having fun and laughing together, good things follow.  As I dream about next school year, it all looks good in my imagination!

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

Neurons that fire together wire together: Get the brain ready for change:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3059634/your-brain-has-a-delete-button-heres-how-to-use-it

Fact checking criteria in the days of fake news:

http://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/3/29/15042692/fake-news-education-election

Music video to make the “Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then” summarizing strategy memorable for your students:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6EMIaoE9_Q&feature=youtu.be

Teaching argumentative mathematical thinking in kindergarten:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/kindergarten-math-lesson-nsf?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

6 ways to confer in a crowded classroom (you could skip right down to those 6 ways):

https://threeteacherstalk.com/2015/03/30/6-ways-to-confer-in-the-crowded-classroom/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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‘Tis the Season

Although the solstice hasn’t happened yet, summer is here for many of us.  School doors have closed or are closing soon, and we will (hopefully) be taking up a different pace.  I love the poem, “A Lazy Thought,” by Eve Merriam, which reminds me about the tempo I’d like to take this time of year:

There go the grownups

To the office,

To the store.

Subway rush,

Traffic crush;

Hurry, scurry,

Worry, flurry.

No wonder

Grown ups

Don’t grow up

Any more.

It takes a lot

Of slow

To grow.

It takes a lot of slow for children to grow, and I’m of the belief the same axiom is true for adults.  As we attend, provide or prepare for professional learning experiences that happen during the summer months, let’s take advantage of the slower pace.  No lesson plans or sub plans for tomorrow means we can give our full attention to our professional learning.  We can reflect, think deeply about new approaches, and plan for future use.  Will you brood over the challenges that vexed you this year?  Will you contemplate a strategy that you’ve read about but haven’t yet tried? Will you ponder a new idea long enough so that it sinks into your soul and springs forth when the perfect scenario for its use presents itself?  

If you are planning experiences to help others grow as professionals, how will you honor the expertise they bring to the table?  In what ways can you build in collaboration and opportunities for co-construction of understanding?  As we think together with others, our perspective broadens and we can open ourselves to new ideas.  This week, the first since the school year ended here, has been full-to-the-brim with professional development.  But even in the busy-ness, there have been thoughtful pauses, deep breathes, and collaborative considerations.  I hope that the experiences I’ve led have allowed for slow, thoughtful deliberation, giving teachers “a lot of slow to grow.” 

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

Understanding the physics of the fidget spinner:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2017/05/19/spinner-science-in-six-steps/?utm_source=newsletter20170520/

Adding fluidity to the writing process: Space to draft

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2163

PD best practices for Chromebook rollout:

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2017/01/5-best-practices-professional-development-chromebook-rollout

Reasoning in 1^st grade math:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reasoning-about-addition-nsf?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

Try “Tagzedo,” or “Word Art” (word cloud generators), as summarizing tools (for students, or paste in comments from teachers’ PD take-aways):

http://www.tagxedo.com/

https://wordart.com/kwk68rceoqzo/apps

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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