Have
you read Choice Words by Peter
Johnston? Peter is one of my idols, and
I got to meet him and hear him speak at a conference recently. When I first read his book, Choice Words, more than a decade ago, it
raised my awareness of the power of the words I was using with children. Now, as I reflect on Peter’s wisdom, I apply
it to the work I am doing with teachers.
The same principles apply.
One
of my lasting take-aways from Choice
Words is the practice of noticing and naming. Noticing and naming raises awareness; it
involves an explicitness, an intentionality, and an opportunity to articulate
developing understandings. Noticing
draws to consciousness something that otherwise would have slipped away.
Pausing to
Notice
When
we notice, we recognize when something is present so we can decide what to do
with it. Initially, the coach may be the
noticer and namer. We sense there is
something going on that we need to pay attention to. We detect it and put it
into specific words. As we raise
awareness about these certain things, we
open the space for conversations.
“You
know what I heard you doing when you conferred with Liza? You asked open-ended questions to deeper her understanding.
“I
see you know about rhetorical reading. When you asked the class to look for the
patterns Cisneros used in her description, you helped them to read like
writers.”
When
we notice and name, we make explicit both the practice and the purpose behind
the practice. In the examples above, the
practice is coupled with its outcome, what happened because you did this.
When
we call out things that are going well, our noticings should not be the
obvious. They should be the leading edge
of what is going well – something that is only occasionally or partially
present. Think of the concept of
ZPD. It is those developing practices
that need noticing. Drawing attention to
these incremental successes by naming and noticing them increases their
incidence.
Depending
on our relationship with the teacher, we might also notice and name practices
we want to dissuade. Having insufficient
wait time and naming who will answer before asking the question (“Johnny, could
you tell us….”), for example, are practices that limit participation.
Helping
Teachers Notice
Our
noticings help teachers notice what they are doing well. When we notice and name, awareness increases,
and teachers will be more likely to notice the
next time. We can ask questions
to nudge this process along.
“What
were you noticing?" or “What were you noticing....” (during a specific part of the
lesson.)
“What
are you noticing about this work?” (when reviewing formative assessments)
“Anything
else?”
“Anything
else?” (yes, I repeated that on
purpose!)
“Any
surprises?”
Questions
like these invite teachers to make sense of what happened by looking for
patterns. They keep figuring out what is
working and what isn’t. Naming what isn’t
working for themselves takes away the power of the negative practice. They are no longer unconsciously responding. They
are calling it out—so there! By naming,
teachers are more likely to recognize when a practice is present so they can
decide what to do with it.
Teachers
can’t afford to be dependent on the seldom-present coach to do the noticing. The practice of noticing invests teachers in
their own learning, so it’s a practice we want to cultivate. We want teachers to see themselves a noticing kinds of people, which Johnston
says is a complementary trait that may become part of their identity.
Johnston, P. H. (2004). Choice words: How our
language affects children's learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
This week, you
might want to take a look at:
Noticing
and naming with primary students during a read aloud:
Open-ended
conversations that promote reflective learning during coaching:
Sentence
combining as a tool for grammar instruction:
Can
I quote you on that? Snippets to inspire coaching conversations:
Why
we should cultivate curiosity:
That’s it for
this week. Happy Coaching!
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