The Music of Collaboration

 

What’s your role when the PLC gets together?  For many instructional coaches, the expected role is facilitator: they move the agenda forward, listen actively, and maintain norms. Another important role for meeting facilitators is to care for the conversation.

In the role of conversational steward, it’s important to be aware of the balance of voices in the room.  You might think of yourself as a conductor, and the conversation as the music of collaboration.  The conductor of a symphony looks to the violins and brings them in to add melody to the piece.  If you’ve watched a conductor, you’re probably also familiar with the palm toward an instrumental section, patting down the voices to quiet their sound and bring harmony to the overall effect. 

Team meetings also benefit from having someone who is listening carefully to the balance of the conversation, pulling in the voices of those who are too silent, and quieting those who are overpowering the conversation.  Just like in the classroom, in the PLC room there are “conversation hogs” and “silent somebodies,” and the discourse could benefit from a skilled conductor.

In a successful PLC, the conversational music flows among all members of the group, not just a few, and not just as a back-and-forth between the facilitator and others, like a ping pong match. Teachers should look to each other, not to the facilitator, as they talk and listen.  A direct reminder about this expectation is helpful, and I try to send that message with my own eyes by scanning the group if a teacher is looking too much at me. The conversation is more like a volleyball match, with multiple players lobbing the ball before it goes over the net.

The tools you’ve used to support successful discussions in your classroom work equally well in a PLC meeting. You add your voice mostly for structuring, questions, and recaps. Asking, “Susan, what do you think?” can pull in the teacher who tends to sit quietly, pulling the focus away from someone who is dominating the meeting. “Brad, it looks like you have something on your mind,” could invite a divergent opinion. “Say more about that,” clarifies a contribution. Ensure that everyone’s ideas and experiences are brought forward improves the outcome. Harmony is achieved not through commonality, but through balance.

Balance also means avoiding holes that don’t lead toward the meeting’s purpose, redirecting tangential topics so they don’t overpower the melody. A skillful orchestra conductor manages a conversation among instruments.  The musical dynamics, from “pianissimo” to “forte,” migrate throughout the piece and among the different instruments, allowing the melody to resonate. Similarly, an instructional coach can orchestrate a PLC conversation, mindful of group dynamics, the amplification and contributions of all members of the team.  Whether the meeting is face-to-face or virtual, a thoughtful conductor supports the cohesive melody of productive conversation.

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

This 11-min. podcast about how discussion makes students the lead learners:

https://jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WASCD.EL.wiggins.cfm

Having students create life maps to value the knowledge they bring to the classroom:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/my-world-maps/

Do-able remote synchronous teaching ideas:

http://msbordnerteachertech.blogspot.com/2020/07/remote-synchronous-teaching-ideas-i-got.html

 

Special education and online learning:

https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/08/special-education-and-online-learning-what-you-need-know?utm_source=brief

 

Practices to center the voice of Latinx students:

https://blog.heinemann.com/six-practices-to-center-the-voices-and-experiences-of-latinx-students-in-the-classroom

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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