If you are ready to shift the focus of
your coaching conversations from teaching to student learning, you might like
the Say-Mean-Matter protocol, adapted for debrief conversations.
Success with this protocol begins with
careful note-taking – or even audio
recording – during observations. You’ll want to capture the actual words
that were spoken during a lesson. I
usually script a lesson, writing as fast as I can, capturing both student and
teacher comments. Be sure you mark or note
portions of the lesson plan so that you can tell what happened when.
After you leave the classroom, take
some time to review your notes, highlighting anything that seems important. Then, choose a couple of quotes from the
lesson that are attention-worthy. For
example, I recently observed a 9th-grade lesson on
characterization. Students were studying
Romeo & Juliet and looking
closely at what Romeo’s thoughts, speech, feelings, and actions revealed about
his character. They traced one of the
students in the class on a large sheet of bulletin board paper, creating a
life-sized Romeo. Then they cut Romeo into four sections – the top of the head
for the “thinking” group, the mouth section for the “saying” group, the torso
for the “feeling” group, and the legs for the “doing” group.
Each group was to find evidence from
the text for their body part that revealed character traits. Then they wrote the quotes on the body.
Eventually, they reconstructed Romeo and discussed what these attributes
revealed about his character – and how their own thoughts, words, feelings, and
actions revealed things about their own characters – or their friend’s. It was a hands-on lesson that students seemed
to enjoy. In fact, one of the student
comments I jotted down was, “I swear, this is the most fun I’ve ever had in
class!” In fact, that was the line-lift
I chose to begin the debrief conversation with Lisa, their teacher.
In my notebook, I’d constructed a
three-column, Say-Mean-Matter chart.
When the teacher and I sat down to debrief the lesson, I quickly jotted
down the above comment about fun.
“What’s meaningful to you about that
quote?” I asked the teacher.
“The kids were really having a good
time!” she said. “I heard other kids
saying the same thing.” In the middle “Mean”
column in my notebook, I quickly jotted, “Students enjoyed activity.”
“Why does that matter?” I asked.
“What’s our take-away?”
“I don’t usually include hands-on
activities,” she replied. “But this
really worked. I should do more hands-on
stuff.” In the “Matter” column, I jotted
down, “More hands-on work.”
“That brings up an important question:
It was fun, but did students learn?”
Lisa was sure they had. She said she
felt students got a deeper understanding of how characters were
constructed. I pulled out another quote
from my notes to add to the conversation.
I said, “I heard Jackson say, ‘He just
wanted to act like a man,’ when they were talking about Romeo’s fight with
Mercutio,” and I quickly added this to the “Say” column of the chart.
Lisa jumped in, pointing to the “Mean”
column. “They recognized fighting could
be viewed as a sign of manhood,” she said.
“And why do you think that matters?” I
asked.
Lisa was quick with some important
insights. “It lead to personal
connections,” she said, noting some comments she’d heard when listening in on
group conversations. “And,” she added, “I
think they really began to see what Romeo’s actions were revealing about his
character – and more generally, how actions reveal character traits.
This was cause for celebration! “One of your lesson objectives!” I said,
pointing to the copy of the lesson plan on the table.
During this Say-Mean-Matter exchange,
we uncovered some important insights about student learning and implications
for future lesson planning. It was a
fruitful conversation!
I usually use the Say-Mean-Matter
protocol to focus on comments students made during the lesson, but it can also
be effective when capturing the teacher’s role.
It is a great tool for drawing out positive insights. With care, it can
also be used to focus on less-effective aspects of the lesson. (I never do this during our first few times
using the protocol, because I don’t want the sight of this three-column chart
to have negative associations for the teacher).
Capturing the exact words spoken
during a lesson has real power for promoting teacher learning that leads to
improved instruction. Although I’ve
frequently used this protocol with students, I’ve been pleasantly surprised how
well it works for teachers, too. Try it
and let me know what you think!
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
Ideas for using sketchnoting:
Character trait word sort:
Are you a tech coach? Check this out:
Benefits of peer learning walks:
What are trauma-informed practices?
That’s it for this week.
Happy Coaching!
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