My Coaches' Couch

 This week, as I met with my PLC, an agenda item was, “What’s essential?”  In this year of 2020, and seven months into the pandemic, we realize that teachers and students are bearing extra burdens.  Each day holds many extra decisions, and each decision seems heavy.  So, in our PLC, we began to ask, “What can we take off?” “How can we lighten the load?” These are questions that coaches can use as they reflect on their own workload and also as they consider the work of students and teachers. 
 
Although I’ll always be about continuous improvement, this is not the year for pushing hard, for tough love.  This is the year for compassion, for grace, for caring. As I described in last week’s post, this is the year for “soft-pedaling.” In that post, I talked about how bicyclists pedal, turning the crank without applying force. This week, let’s consider soft pedaling as a musical analogy.
 
Musicians know musical dynamics from notation using the Italian words, “piano” and “forte.”  Dynamics are one of the expressive elements of music. The relative loudness of a note or section communicates a particular emotional state. In musical notation, p, or piano, means quiet or soft. There’s even a special pedal on the piano for it, the una corda or “the soft pedal.”  Pianist know that the soft pedal not only quiets the sound, it gives a subtle change, producing a mellower tone.

Reading up a bit about the soft pedal,* I learned that every piano will have a different response when using it. “It’s very important to get to know the effects of your soft pedal,” says expert pianist Robert Estrin.  Further, Robert describes, “Room acoustics, audience noise, and many other factors can determine whether or not the soft pedal is appropriate. Many times I have performed on pianos that were a bit too bright and border on having a harsh tone. When faced with this problem I might use the soft pedal a great deal to sweeten the tone and produce a better sound out of the instrument.”
 
How can coaches sweeten the tone during this harsh year?  Last week’s post included a string of ideas related to soft-pedaling. I’ll continue that approach below, with each idea linked to a previous post.  If an idea strikes you as something you’d like to dive into, click the link to read more.

Following classroom observations, it’s easy to judge and recommend. However, this year, we might want to restrain judgement and, instead, ask questions. This approach feels softer, and it can reap rewards, encouraging teachers to take an active role during debrief conversations. The act of questioning often prompts an insightful explanation or the teacher’s own appropriate adaptations or next steps.  For example, asking, “Why did you give the students more time to work?” rather than making a recommendation, might lead to a fruitful conversation. Even if the direction is not what you expected, it will likely be a direction that is meaningful for the teacher you are working with.
 
Each coaching cycle is a journey, and because 2020 has been full of unexpected twists and turns, our coaching journeys have held the unusual and unexpected. The hope is that each coaching excursion is a collaborative one. This year, teachers need a coach who is not only at their side, but on their side. As a teacher told me, “When you have someone who is on your side, you are going to want to grow as a teacher and as a professional.” A supportive coach believes in what you are doing. They are your champion and cheerleader. So, they are going to recognize and acknowledge what you are doing well.  We can do this through affirmation and praise, leaning hard on those coaching moves that typically take center stage near the end of a coaching cycle.
 
This year, more than ever, teachers benefit from affirmation. Affirming all along the way maintains a positive climate for coaching. As a coaching tool, affirmations can give recognition of what to continue.  When affirming, coaches act as a sounding board so teachers can fine-tune their ideas. Giving a metaphoric pat on the back through words of affirmation is a good feeling – for both you and the teacher you are supporting. 
 
This week, I realized the power of praise.  During an observation, several things had gone wrong that were out of the teacher’s control (accidents happen, especially in kindergarten!).  Even though she subtly handled all the details and kept the lesson going for the class, mentally, she was flustered.  Her directions were off and she wasn’t really noticing her students’ responses.  Later, after the teacher unloaded during our debrief, I chose to focus on a long list of things that went right in the lesson: “The partner talk was brilliant,” I said. “Kids were coming up with great ideas, and it really worked that you followed Javier’s suggestion and had the class stand up, and then touched their heads so they would sit down as you counted them. I think that reinforced their understanding of the need for accurate counting!”  I also praised the instructional scaffolds she provided: “Having their 100’s charts and counting bubbles on their clipboards was really helpful.  I saw lots of students using them!”  I continued the conversation with addition details about positive things I’d noticed.  Kimberly did swing back to the things that hadn’t gone so well, and we talked them through and made plans, but even if that part of the conversation hadn’t happened, the praise, in and of itself, served a coaching purpose.  During stressful times, praise can help teachers find their happy spot – the reason they come to school every morning.
 
Asking questions, affirming, and praising can be “soft pedal” moves, appropriate for coaching in these turbulent times.  They sweeten the sound amidst the sometimes harsh tones in today’s world.
 
*https://livingpianos.com/when-to-use-the-soft-pedal-on-the-piano/
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
This 10-minute podast about face-to-face school and SEL:
 
https://www.coolcatteacher.com/smiling-behind-the-mask-face-to-face-school-and-sel/
 
 
You can’t do better than your best:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufg-HMEzUwE&feature=emb_logo
 
 
Remote learning lessons from Mr. Rogers and Daniel Tiger (using puppets and props, allowing children to respond even in recorded videos, and talking directly to students):
 
https://www.9news.com/article/news/education/back-to-learning/boulder-valley-school-math-literacy-remote-learning-videos/73-1b5e48b1-e672-4b79-9858-c405329f094c

Georgia Heard talks about using poetry to connect us during these uncertain times:

https://ccira.blog/2020/09/15/poetry-is-a-way-to-connect-us-during-these-uncertain-times/

Picture books meaty enough to share with secondary students:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/read-aloud-in-middle-school/
 

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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