My Coaches' Couch: Turn Up the Learning

A teacher’s day is full of hundreds of decisions: instructional decisions, like, “How should I phrase the next question?” Logistical questions like, “Do we have time to finish this activity before lunch?” Psychological questions like, “What does this child need to feel safe in my room?” Questions like these have become so routine that they are subconscious, asked and answered almost without our awareness. Raising these questions to the level of awareness helps us define and refine our teaching philosophy, our values and purpose, and our teaching craft. As instructional coaches, helping others define and refine their own responses to such questions is a way to support their ongoing improvement.

One way to bring instructional decisions to the fore is through a pre-modelling conference. You know that modelling provides a vision for what an observing teacher’s future instruction might look and sound like. To turn up the learning that modelling provides, elevate the questions that you will be considering as instruction unfolds, and highlight them in the pre-observation conversation.

This week, a 4^th grade teacher, Alice, modelled a lesson on using text evidence to support inferences about characters. In the pre-observation conference, she described how she would begin with a quick thumbs-up self-assessment of students’ confidence with this practice. She suggested that her observing colleague, Crystal, note not only how many thumbs were down, but also how she adjusted the lesson based on that information. Alice said she would be asking herself, “Do they need me to go back and review our anchor chart, or are they ready to move forward?”

The next part of the lesson was a read-aloud of a Time for Kids article about a child inventor. Alice said she would be paying attention to whether students seemed engaged. If not, she might encourage them to follow along on their copy of the text or on the projected copy on the screen. The setting for the article was a remote village in Africa, very different from her own students’ experiences. Alice knew she would be looking for signs of understanding or confusion as she read. She would be asking herself, “Are they getting this?”

Later in the lesson, students would be working with partners to match character trait cards with evidence from the text. Alice would be listening in on conversations, asking herself if students were able to justify their responses. She realized the cards could possibly be matched in more than one way, and the rationale provided was her window into students’ understanding. She suggested Crystal listen in on the probing questions she asked to assess and support students’ thinking.

Students’ independent practice during this lesson would be to lift their own evidence from the text to justify a list of character traits. Again, Alice cared about the rationale; again, Alice encouraged Crystal to listen in on the questions she was asking.

Wrapping up the lesson, Alice explained that she would ask the self-assessment question about students’ confidence with citing text evidence, just as she had at the beginning of the lesson. As she monitored students’ responses, Alice would be asking herself whether there had been enough change in students’ responses to justify moving on, or was more practice warranted? Crystal would be noticing this, too, as she watched how the lesson concluded.

When it came time to go to Alice’s room for the observation, Crystal’s observation was supported by the chart she had completed during their pre-observation meeting that looked something like this:

Student Learning Activities	Points to Notice
Thumbs-up self-assessment re: confidence with citing text evidence Real aloud about child inventor Matching traits & evidence with partner Independent practice finding text evidence to support character traits Thumbs-up self-assessment re: confidence with citing text evidence	How many thumbs up? Move forward or review anchor chart? How does T keep Ss engaged? Are Ss confused? What ?s does T ask? Are Ss talking about their reasoning? What ?s does T ask? Can Ss justify their responses? What ?s does T ask? Do Ss feel more confident?

Crystal was prepared with her own questions to guide the observation as Alice modelled this lesson on citing text evidence. Her awareness was raised about the questions Alice would be asking herself while teaching. As the lesson unfolded, both teachers were more aware of their own instructional thought processes. The pre-modelling conference prepared them for a thought-filled observation and debrief conversation. It turned up the learning for both of these teachers.

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

Ways administrators can support coaches:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coaching_teachers/2014/10/10_ways_for_administrators_to_.html

Using technology to meet existing learning goals:

https://digitalpromise.org/2018/08/21/instructional-technology-coaching-can-help-teachers-create-powerful-learning-experiences/

Using drama and role playing for English Learners:

https://www.middleweb.com/38032/try-drama-and-role-play-with-english-learners/

Great non-fiction reads and how to incorporate them throughout the day:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2875

An inquiry into inquiry:

https://ccira.blog/2018/09/04/an-inquiry-into-inquiry/

Was this helpful? Please share!