Emily
was a novice teacher struggling with classroom management. When she asked for
my help, she said, “I’m just not good at holding the kids’ attention.” She seemed dejected and needed immediate
support. So I said, “I wonder if you can think of a time when you really had
the kids’ attention.”
Emily
became pensive. Then she said, “During
read-alouds, they are usually pretty good.”
She paused. “And when I was explaining the rules for the math game, they
really paid attention.”
“Why
do you think they were so attentive then?” I asked.
The
conversation continued, and Emily found ways to build on previous successes
that she’d experienced with classroom management. Things didn’t change
overnight, but as she continued to pay attention to what was working with her
students, her repertoire of classroom management tools grew.
Especially
when teachers are feeling overwhelmed or unsuccessful, the phrase, “I wonder if
you can think of a time….” can increase a teacher’s confidence. Confidence is
optimistic self-belief. Boosting
confidence is important, because, as Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you
can or you think you can’t - - you’re right.”
Elements
of success become springboards for future action. Focusing
on successes demonstrates
your confidence that the teacher you are working with can overcome challenges
and provide effective instruction for her students.
When
coaching, building on positives tends to get you further than drawing attention
to negatives. Asking teachers to “think of a time” when things were going well
will increase the frequency of such times, and the pool of effective
experiences they can draw from will continue to grow.
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
Key
values for remote learning:
3
steps to take while coaching virtually:
The
problem with the “comfort zone”:
10
ways poetry can inform prose:
Protocols
for discussion (that work for students and teachers):
That’s
all for this week. Happy Coaching!
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also find me at VickiCollet.com
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