What Are You Measuring?

I’m a lover-of-nature. I write from a seat facing the forest – it inspires me. A walk through the trees leaves me feeling peaceful and refreshed. The forest’s colors delight my eyes. The leaves under my feet cushion my step.  The canopy overhead shields and shadows me. Music is provided by the birds that call the forest home.  How can I measure that?
 
In his book, Messy, the Power of Disorder, Tim Harford describes how, in 1763 a forest was measured by Johann Beckmann and his crew.  Each man had a belt with five leather pouches containing a known-number of differently-colored nails. At one edge of the forest, the team formed a line. They walked abreast through the forest, assessing every tree in their path and tagging it with a nail colored to identify its size. At the other edge of the forest, they emptied their pouches, counted their remaining nails, and determined how many trees of each size the forest held. They had systematically measured the forest for timber production.
 
What are you and the teachers you work with measuring in the classroom?  How are you measuring it?  Are you measuring engagement? Curiosity? Connectedness?  Are you measuring passion for learning? Participation? Comprehension?  Are you measuring rage at injustice?  Whether students treat one another with respect? Whether the teacher invites all voices to participate? How high the expectations for learning are?  We are subtly – or not so subtly – influenced by what we are measuring. “What gets tested gets taught.” 
 
Although the institutions that govern schools have a hand in deciding what gets measured, teachers and coaches have freedom to decide what to emphasize. As we create lesson objectives and goals for coaching cycles, let’s not forget to measure the walk through the forest.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
 This podcast about rubric repair:
 
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/rubric-repair/
 
 
Shifting from trauma-informed care to healing-centered engagement:
 
https://medium.com/@ginwright/the-future-of-healing-shifting-from-trauma-informed-care-to-healing-centered-engagement-634f557ce69c
 
 
Conferring with mentor texts:
 
https://ccira.blog/2020/12/08/conferring-with-mentor-texts/
 
 
A video of Tanya Wright doing a remote read-aloud to support vocabulary development (scroll down):
 
https://www.heinemann.com/products/e11277.aspx
 
 
Are educators recharging or recovering?
 
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec20/vol78/num04/When-Netflix-Isn't-Enough@-Fostering-True-Recovery-for-Educators.aspx
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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Welcome!

This season of giving and receiving is a good time to think about what it’s like to be a gracious receiver, and how that applies to coaching.  A gracious receiver of a gift appreciates what they receive with kindness. Enjoying what you receive is an expression of gratitude.

How can coaches be great receivers who welcome teachers into the coaching relationship with acceptance and grace? A coach I spoke with this week talked about the importance of being open and accepting, of exuding the feeling, “You’re welcome here.”  This may sound strange, especially if you are meeting in the teacher’s own room, but it’s the coach’s job to put out the welcome mat for the coaching conversation.

Showing genuine interest in a teacher’s work and their experiences in the school and in the classroom is a welcoming gesture.  Ask them what gave them the greatest satisfaction at school that day or during that lesson.  When you find out what a teacher values, tuck away that information and look for opportunities to build on it.  For example, Rachel got great satisfaction when she saw how several of her students jumped to help when another student accidently dumped the contents of her chair pocket. Knowing that Rachel cares about student-to-student interactions, I can be sure to notice and note them.  By doing this, I’m investing in Rachel’s happiness and welcoming her into the coaching relationship.

It’s a welcoming gesture to broadcast a teacher’s strengths, even if she is the only audience.  Acknowledge what is remarkable about her.  When a teacher knows you see her good, she will be open to moving forward rather than digging in to where she is. Quickly noting an asset is more effective than a long explanation of something a teacher should not do.
 
We are welcoming when we position the teacher as peer.  Showing our own vulnerability and mistakes helps teachers recognize that we will allow for their weaknesses and doubts along with their certainty and confidence. They know they can show up to a coaching conversation as their whole, real selves, not as a perfect imposter.  The old Billy Joel song, “I love you just the way you are,” has relevance here.  Welcoming in this way invites vulnerability, which opens the door for learning.
 
Welcome questions and problems. Ask, “What are you wondering about?” Tolerate hesitations. Welcome teachers’ half-baked ideas, the parts of their work that they are still figuring out.  Encourage ideas.  Make sure teachers feel valued for who they are and what they bring to the table.
 
When a teacher feels welcomed and understood, there is a purposeful connection. Respectful willingness to receive a teacher and her intentions empowers her to attempt, and accomplish, things she may otherwise not feel driven to do. Feeling welcomed and valued inspires greatness.
 
I’ve noticed that two coaches may seem to be acting in similar ways but have very different results. They may be equally knowledgeable and dependable, even using the same coaching moves. But the coach who is friendly, reassuring and personable, the one who is there to chat as well as to offer support, is more likely to be effective.  Putting out the welcome mat opens the door for successful coaching.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Interactive literacy games:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/three-classroom-games-for-literacy-learning-and-laughter/
 
 
Rethinking homework:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/rethinking-homework/
 
 
This podcast about managing the ambiguity of teaching in the current climate:
 
https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/managing-the-ambiguity-loss-of-control-and-fatigue-of-teaching-in-the-current-climate/
 
 
28 Student-Centered instructional strategies:
 
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/28-student-centered-instructional-strategies/
 
 
The value of shared reading (and how to do it with digital books):
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/shared-reading-in-the-digital-age/
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch or Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
 
 

Teacher-Thinkers

Are teachers you work with getting a “vote of no confidence?” A vote of no confidence is a statement that a person is inadequate in some respect or making decisions that others feel are detrimental.  In some governments, a “no confidence” vote means the leader has to resign, along with all the council members; but teachers may feel a vote of no confidence when they are given a scripted curriculum or recommendations that do the thinking for them.
 
Teachers should be the ultimate knowledge workers:  They are tasked with the job of creating critical thinkers, so they should be treated as critical thinkers themselves.  They should be the lead thinkers in and about their classrooms. Unfortunately, programs that promise easy success, that “take the guesswork out” of teaching, also take away the opportunity for thinking (and, I would argue, for effective instruction).
 
A thinking teacher chafes at mandates that reduce their agency. They see scripted materials as a way to dumb-down the profession.  Instead, an intellectual educator has the desire to think deeply about her practice. A teacher-thinker is one who wonders, ponders, questions, and reflects. Teachers as thinkers consider possibilities, think about individual and group needs and aptitudes, and are never satisfied with the status quo.
 
What does that look like when coaching?  How do we support teachers as thinkers?  Coaches can create a consistent, conscious space for thinking regularly about classroom practices. And in those spaces, the teachers we work with need to do the thinking for themselves; we don’t think for them, we think with them, or facilitate opportunities for them to think.
 
I’ve been considering how to support intellectual educators throughout the GIR coaching process.  Here are some initial thoughts that you can add to (as an intellectual educator yourself!).
 
When coaches model, they encourage thinking by setting the stage for thoughtful noticing and by encouraging a critical stance.  In a conversation before modeling, coach and teacher think together about the lesson.  The teacher could anticipate student responses and then test her hypotheses through careful observation.
 
When coaches recommend, they can invite the teacher to consider options rather than directing a particular action. A coach may share the purpose or benefits of particular strategies and ask the teacher to consider how those purposes or benefits align with their objectives or their students’ needs.  Following a recommendation should be a thought-filled decision.
 
When coaches ask questions without having a specific response in mind, they encourage divergent thinking and problem-solving. Together with teachers, they entertain and evaluate possibilities.  Questions are a thought-provoking tool that can nudge teachers to explore new ideas.
 
After coaches affirm, they can ask, “Why do you think that worked so well?” Because teachers often jump to what they would do differently when they reflect, an affirmation draws important attention to practices that should be carried forward.  Probing those practices uncovers underlying principles for success.
 
Praise might be a stand-alone coaching move, but, like affirming, it increases the likelihood of iterating effective practices and inspires ongoing success. 
 
Compliance and conformity reduce teaching to a robotic, ineffective enterprise. Continuous thinking improves practice, with teachers getting better and better at what they do.  Coaches support teachers as intellectual educators when they provoke thought-filled conversations all along the way.

 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Strategies for better online discussion boards:
 
https://inservice.ascd.org/three-strategies-for-better-online-discussions/
 
 
How to coach the overwhelmed teacher:
 
https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coaching_teachers/2019/02/how_to_coach_the_overwhelmed_t.html
 
 
A podcast on creating meaningful learning experiences:
 
https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/creating-meaningful-learning-experiences/
 
 
Author videos, interviews, and websites:
 
https://booksavors.wordpress.com/authors/
 
 
5 levels of student engagement, including rebellion à compliance àengagement:
 
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/levels-of-student-engagement-continuum/
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch or Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com