There are many metaphors that can be
used to talk about change. In my post on
slushiness, I
talked about viewing change as the process of becoming. What are you becoming? What are you helping teachers to become? As lifelong learners, we are all in the
process of becoming better versions of ourselves. That might meaning trading out some old
habits for new ones.
Out
with the Old, in with the New
“Out with the old, in with the new,”
is a slogan or mantra for everything from dieting to dating. And there’s a reason it’s so often used. When we get rid of old habits, if there’s not
something to fill the vacuum, it’s hard to maintain new ways. We easily default to past practices. To make change more lasting, it’s helpful to
view becoming
as a compact replacement cycle.
Identify
Problem
The first step in kicking a habit is
recognizing that we have one. A teacher
that I worked with didn’t realize she had a habit of repeating students’
answers. In fact, Annie didn’t recognize
it as a problematic practice. So
awareness needed to be raised on two levels: first, that repeating student
answers had accidental consequences. For
example, students listened to each other less, since they could count on a
repeat-performance by the teacher. This
led to drawn-out, less-engaged whole-group discussions that ping-ponged back
and forth between teacher and student.
Not good. After discussing these
drawbacks, we watched a video clip from her lesson. “I never realized how much
I did that,” Annie said.
Eliminate
Problem
Now Annie was convinced that repeating
student answers was a problem she wanted to eliminate. The next time she felt
tempted to repeat a student’s answer, she said she would hold her tongue. But for that to realistically happen, I
thought we needed to peel back some layers.
“Why do you think you repeat student
answers?” I asked.
Annie thought for a minute. “Sometimes, students’ answers are so drawn
out, I’m afraid the others won’t really see their point,” Annie said. “And sometimes, it’s just really hard for
students to hear one another.”
“Those are valid concerns,” I said. “Let’s
figure out what to do about them.”
Identify
Replacement
As we talked, Annie and I identified
replacements that we hoped would squelch her urge to repeat. Instead of repeating students’ answers to
clarify the point, Annie decided she could give another student that task. There were lots of benefits to that
approach! Instead of repeating a
hard-to-hear answer, she’d ask the student to repeat it herself, saying it
“loud and proud!” These replacement
behaviors would safeguard her in attempts to quit repeating. Now it was time to put the plan into action.
Add
Replacement
The next time I met with Annie, she
was well on her way to becoming a teacher who didn’t repeat students’
answers. It still happened from time to
time, of course, but usually, she was quick to use one of her replacement strategies
instead. Students were getting in the
habit of listening to each other. When they were asked to summarize what their
friends had said, it was a bit meandering at times, but they were getting
better. And those quiet students were
starting to speak up more, even without Annie’s prompting. It was still a work in progress, but Annie
felt this delete-and-add process was moving her classes’ discussions forward.
Ongoing
Cycles
When teachers are unconscious of
problematic practices, identifying these problems is the first step. We have to discover a negative behavior
before we can downsize it. Then, we try
to delete it from our playbook. Knowing
the triggers, the situations that activate these problematic practices, can be
helpful and can lead to identification of replacements that will be more
productive. As teachers experiment and
experience success, it will become easier and easier to incorporate the
replacements. Soon, the replacements
will be normalized, as automatic as the problems were that they replaced. Ongoing cycles of identifying, deleting, and
replacing support change – the process of becoming.
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Are
you at NCTE? Stop by and visit me in the exhibit hall
during my book signing at noon on Thursday, Nov. 22 (Teachers College Press
booth 1327). It would be nice to see some familiar faces! And if you're available from 9:30-10:45 that day,
consider stopping by the session where I'll be presenting about Lesson Study as part of a panel (rm 325).
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This
week, you might want to take a look at:
Results
of and resources for coaching:
How
do pressures of accountability influence special education?
How to play “Crumple & Shoot:”
New
ways to share during writing workshop:
More about changing habits:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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