Prioritizing

We’re getting close to that time of year when we reflect back and look forward, and this can be a good time for helping teachers prioritize their activities and routines.  Here’s an exercise suggested by Shawna Coppola* that works well when coaching individual teachers or teams.

First, ask teachers to choose which part of the day or content area they want to reconsider (if their secondary teachers, you can skip this step!).  Next, make a list of everything that could potentially happen (or that the teacher(s) did this year), during that part of the day.  Don’t get too specific; the idea is to list generalizable, repeated activities.  For example, don’t list “Read aloud of James and the Giant Peach,” list “Teacher read aloud,” or maybe “Teacher read aloud while students draw the scene.” Keep going until you run out of steam (or chart paper, whichever comes first!).  Hint: If you’re working with just one teacher, the list can be made on a piece of paper.  Or, go tech for this activity and create the list digitally, projecting if you’re working with a group.

Next, add another column to your list.  Across from each activity listed, put the purpose of the activity.  There may be several.  For example, with a teacher read aloud, some purposes might include: modeling fluency, building vocabulary, practice visualizing. 

Now it’s time to look for overlaps in this second column.  Do students have  lots of opportunities for building vocabulary but not much time spent practicing skills independently? Based on prevalence of skills, teachers can prioritize their learning activities, potentially eliminating some and making their pedagogical plate leaner and cleaner.   

As an end-of-year reflection, this activity gives teachers a time to focus their thinking over the summer on the activities at the top of their priorities list.  If used as a back-to-school activity, it might help teachers feel less overwhelmed and more purposeful if they lighten their load.

p.s.  You might try this activity yourself with your myriad coaching duties!

*Find Shawna at: http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2018/03/30/mentoring-new-teachers-podcast-episode-ii-social-emotional-learning/

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

Pop songs for end-of-the-year reflection (I plan to use some for teacher reflection as well):

https://www.bespokeclassroom.com/blog/2017/5/14/10-songs-with-prompts-to-use-at-the-end-of-the-school-year-for-reflection

Encouraging an appreciative attitude in the classroom:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/building-student-appreciation-nea/?utm_source=newsletter201800512/

Ask, “What makes you angry?” to involve students in civic engagement:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/02/16/assess-civic-capstone-projects/?utm_source=newsletter20180217/

How should we assess things that matter?

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb18/vol75/num05/Three-Key-Questions-on-Measuring-Learning.aspx

Big ideas for increasing engagement:

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/10/the-secret-to-student-engagement.html?cmp=eml-enl-ewpce-mot

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Was this helpful?  Please share!

Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)

Like on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch for more coaching and teaching tips!

Celebrating Success

As the school year draws to a close, it’s important to pause and celebrate success with teachers.  Giving teachers the space to reflect on their own accomplishments is a precious gift during the crazy, finishing-out-the-school-year rush.  Reflection helps teachers see that their hard work and persistence have paid off. 

Yesterday, I played the Beatles song, “In My Life,” followed by Trace Adkins’s, “You’re Gonna Miss This,” while teachers reflected on their best memories of the year, what would stick with them, and how they had changed.  Then they shared a memory or celebration with their shoulder partner.  The mood in the room was noticeably brighter. 

A creative twist on supporting teacher reflection is to ask teachers to reflect on each others’ successes.  The “Strength Circle” protocol provides this opportunity.  Each teacher is given an envelope and a blank piece of paper.  They write their name on the outside of the envelope, fold the blank paper, and tuck it inside.  Then everyone gathers in a circle.  Once in a circle, everyone passes their envelope to the right.  With each passing of the envelope, teachers take out the paper and write a strength they recognize in their peer.  Encourage them to describe a specific time they noticed this strength.  After a minute or so, the paper goes back in the envelope and the envelope is passed.  Repeat several times to give each teacher a happy list of strengths they can celebrate and continue to cultivate.  This activity can be done with teams or the whole faculty and staff (be sure participants know each other well enough to be specific about strengths). 

Coaches can also celebrate success by offering praise themselves.  Specific verbal praise can acknowledge not only the goal that was achieved but also the actions that contributed to success.  Delivering praise with a smile boosts the impact.  And praise that is offered in front of peers or administrators is even more encouraging.

Asking for a teachers’ lesson plans or materials so that you can share them or use them yourself is a high form a praise.  Many teachers have told me how good it made them feel when a coach asked for copies of their resources so that they could use them in their own or another classroom. 

Celebrating successes on digital platforms acknowledges hard work and can make success viral!  Try creating one-minute videos that highlight class happenings. Feature student interviews and add some fun music to draw attention to the good things teachers are doing. 

Celebrating achievements leads to ongoing success.  Helping teachers believe in themselves has a lasting impact.  By celebrating successes both big and small, we are teachers’ champions.  Rita Person astutely said, “Every kid needs a champion.”  Similarly, teachers flourish when they are championed by their instructional coaches.  The end of the year is an authentic time to highlight accomplishments and celebrate unexpected triumphs.

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

What makes coaching effective? Report of a meta-analysis:

http://hechingerreport.org/every-teacher-need-coach/

What does reading comprehension look like in a digital world? That plus more in this Reading Comprehension Spotlight:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/Spotlight-Reading-Comprehension-2018-Final-Sponsored.pdf

How much is too much homework?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MafcPHRJrR0

Why writing will make you a better writing teacher:

http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2018/02/16/the-secret-to-teaching-writing-well/

PD that honors teachers’ professionalism:

https://ccira.blog/2018/03/28/heart-matters/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Boosting Confidence

Confidence is optimistic belief in our chances for success.  When we are confident, we feel that our chances of success are high, that our efforts will result in a favorable outcome.  It is an optimistic self-belief.  Psychologists call this belief self-efficacy. 

Self-efficacy is important for teachers because, as Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t - - you’re right.”  Like the Little Engine, teachers who “think they can” accomplish remarkable things.  Albert Bandura, a cognitive psychologist, describes ways to boost self-efficacy that have special relevance for instructional coaches.  They are: vicarious experiences, mastery experiences, and verbal persuasion.

Vicarious Experiences

Observing successes of people we consider as role models builds self-efficacy.  Seeing people similar to ourselves succeed through sustained effort raises our belief that we, too, can have success in that area.  This is one of the reasons modeling new practices is an effective coaching move.  When teachers see students learning as we use a pedagogical practice in their classroom, they feel optimistic about using the strategy successfully as well.

Modeling transmits knowledge and teaches skills and strategies for managing the demands of teaching. These outcomes increase self-efficacy.

Mastery Experiences

The strongest source of self-efficacy is through mastery experiences.  Having a success will build confidence; however, a disappointing outcome will undermine self-belief.  This is one of the reasons why it is important for instructional coaches to gauge the recommendations they make.  Coaches should consider whether an approach is within a teacher’s zone of proximal development before recommending.  If a teacher can be successful with a new approach, through scaffolding by her coach, then the recommendation is appropriate and the teacher’s experience will likely boost self-efficacy. 

Teachers with self-efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges to be solved. An efficacious outlook increases motivation. Successful teaching experiences build a robust belief that teachers can make a difference in student outcomes.

Verbal Persuasion

A third source for strengthening people’s confidence is verbal persuasion.  By this, Bandura means convincing people that they possess the capabilities to master an activity. It’s important that this “verbal persuasion” align with teachers’ actual competencies, since unrealistic boosts in efficacy are quickly disconfirmed by disappointing results of one’s efforts (Bandura, 1994).  When teachers don’t see the results they want, their self-efficacy is undermined, no matter how positively others speak of them.  

As instructional coaches affirm teachers’ instructional successes, they are providing verbal persuasion that can boost self-efficacy.  Affirming convinces teachers that they possess the capabilities to master activities so that they are more likely to sustain the practice, even when problems arise.

Boosting Student Achievement

Because teachers’ self-efficacy correlates directly with student achievement (Cantrell & Callaway, 2008), strengthening teachers’ confidence is an important coaching role.  Supporting success through modeling (vicarious experiences), making recommendations that lead to success (mastery experiences), and affirming instructional decisions (verbal persuasion) boosts confidence, improves teaching, and increases students’ learning.

Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press.

Cantrell, S. C., & Callaway, P. (2008). High and low implementers of content literacy instruction: Portraits of teacher efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 1739–1750.

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

A mini-unit to get kids ready for summer reading:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1986

Ending the school year on a high note:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/05/27/ending-the-year-on-a-high-note/?utm_source=newsletter20160520/

Giving students choice about assessment:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2114

Scaffolding to prepare for successful Socratic seminars:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/prepare-for-socratic-seminar-ousd

Sharpen your coaching skills with this microcredential from NEA – designed for cooperating teachers, but helpful for supporting all adult teacher-learners (must  create a free account):

http://nea.certificationbank.com/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Was this helpful?  Please share!

Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)

Like on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch for more coaching and teaching tips!