Affirmations Sweeten the Coaching Conversation

This week, I had a thought-filled conversation with Rachel, an experienced mentor who welcomes student-teaching interns into her classroom every year. Rachel wants to make sure she is developing a strong relationship with Anna, her current intern. This is one of Rachel’s areas of strength: she recognizes the necessity of strong relationships as a foundation for growth, and the value of affirmations in developing those relationships. So I wasn’t surprised about the notes that she had shared with Anna:
 
-started off with praise for students sitting correctly and attentively
-clarified expectations if students were confused
-”thank you to students who made the first sound”
-”good job” (reinforcement)
-”I want to see everyone_____” (explicitly stating expectations)
-”I need to see you participating” (redirecting attention and responding to misbehavior)
-clear instructions
-used visual representations (just make sure to think through the mirror aspect)
-”Ashton, would you like to participate with us? (student nods) I would love that too!” (invitation to participate and genuine excitement)
 
What a list of affirmations!  They are specific, including examples of the exact words that were used. Note the parentheticals that make explicit the verbal move the intern was making. Noticing and naming these specifics makes it more likely they’ll be repeated in the future.
 
Bounded by affirmation, a recommendation is also included in the list (“make sure to think through the mirror aspect”). This came up during the lesson when the intern didn’t think about the fact that students were seeing her actions as moving in the opposite direction (right to left instead of left to right). The mentor reinforced this and added that it would “get easier and feel more natural with practice as you gain more experience with managing the visual representations alongside the phonemic awareness skills.” Her message ended with another affirmation: “I noticed and appreciated your efforts to keep everyone engaged and on task.”
 
This mentor’s lesson follow-up demonstrates the affirmation sandwich: A recommendation surrounded by affirmations is usually well-received. Mary Poppin’s adage about the spoonful of sugar holds true. Affirmations sweeten a coaching conversation! 

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Developing social and life skills (relevant to teachers of all grades):
 
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2014/6/24/18570091/summer-school-teacher-essay-working-to-find-joy-in-kindergarten
 
 
Making sure students feel cared for:
 
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57646/how-unconditional-positive-regard-can-help-students-feel-cared-for
 
 
Creating affirmation stations:
 
https://blog.teachboost.com/build-a-culture-of-appreciation-with-affirmation-stations
 
 
Building relational energy:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/coaching-and-leading-with-relational-energy/
 
 
Using advertising to teach critical thinking:
 
http://www.middleweb.com/16528/close-reading-advertising/
 
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy coaching!
 
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Walk Softly

This week, a new instructional coach asked me, “What does it look like when Vicki Collet walks into a classroom?”
 
I knew my friend was asking about my coaching presence, the stance that I take toward teachers and my work. Do I walk into a room with an air of authority, making sure my presence is known to all? Do I feel satisfied when heads turn my way? Do I expect a performance, for everyone to be on their best behavior and doing their best work?
 
When I responded to my friend, the first thing I said was, “On days when I know I’m going to be spending a lot of time in classrooms, I wear soft shoes.” I don’t need my steps to announce my presence. I quietly enter a room, not because I’m being sneaky, but because I’m being respectful. I don’t want to disrupt the important wok that is underway.
 
After gliding in the door, I lean against the counter or wall, out of the way. If it will be a longer stay, I quietly find a seat. If it’s a short visit, I stand or lean for a minute while taking in the room’s activity. If the teacher is talking to the whole group, giving information or instructions, I stay still. I don’t want to distract from that!  If students are working, if the teacher is moving from group to group or student to student, I move in closer to see and hear.
 
If I approach a group or a duo in dialogue, I avoid eye contact. Eye contact encourages them to talk to me instead, often backtracking their conversation and changing the pattern of talk. I want to hear the real deal.
 
Sometimes, especially when students are working independently, I take a more active role as an observer, whispering a request to a student to explain their work or their thinking. I learn by listening to their response.
 
This time of year, I am creating connections and building relationships. I make quick rounds through the building, stepping into as many classrooms as possible in my soft shoes. I stay just long enough to catch something remarkable going on. Then I step into the hall and send myself a quick message about it so that I can follow up later with an email to the teacher affirming their practice. By starting with the positive, I am building trust.
 
There was a time in the past when I felt the need to establish my authority early on. I made sure my credentials were known. I was quick to offer my expertise. But I found that approach didn’t really work in my favor. Better to be approachable, establish trust, and let my actions, rather than my self-proclaimed words, build teachers’ confidence in me and my role.
 
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26^th president of the United States, is famously quoted as saying, “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” While the first part of this sentiment is applicable for instructional coaches, the last part is not. Instead, we should couple soft walking with empathy, encouragement, sustaining, and support. As we walk softly and demonstrate confidence in teachers’ own abilities, they will return that confidence and partner with us in the work of instructional improvement.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
This podcast about attributes of a positive school culture:
 
https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/what-are-the-attributes-of-a-positive-school-culture/
 
 
5 key roles of an instructional coach:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlVavxZBrk
 
 
Growing writing stamina:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/growing-writing-stamina/
 
Clarifying your coaching role:
 
https://blog.teachboost.com/use-a-coaching-brochure-to-showcase-everything-you-do
 
Creating a coaching menu:
 
https://blog.teachboost.com/coaching-is-served-3-easy-steps-to-create-a-coaching-menu

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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Cultivating an Attitude of Becoming

Staci, a kindergarten teacher I worked with, had an exceptionally challenging class. A five-year-old with an oppositional defiant disorder; another with severe ADHD; one who was non-verbal. And the list didn’t stop there. Although there were moments of frustration, Staci consistently met the challenge with a Zen-like attitude: “How will this help me grow? What can I learn from it?”  Because of her attitude of becoming, Staci was able to support students during melt-downs, redirect inappropriate behavior with firmness and compassion, and build a safe environment of participation in her classroom. When Staci and I met, our curiosity gave us an orientation of becoming toward both Staci and her students, and it helped us approach uncertainty more positively.

As we build on strengths and shore up areas of weakness, as we visualize and celebrate successes and approach challenges with curiosity, we are cultivating an attitude of becoming in ourselves and those we work with. We coach toward potentiality and build toward the coaches and teachers we will eventually be. This is an attitude of becoming.
 
Becoming means developing, ripening, emerging, or enhancing. Becoming assumes a changing into and moving toward. As we encourage teachers to look at changes and challenges as opportunities for growth, we are supporting becoming. Without an attitude of becoming, we may remain stagnant. Stuck. Unmoving.
 
As a new school year gets underway, it may be helpful to think about change as a process of becoming. Just as a rose bud is becoming a full-flowered rose, we, and the teachers we work with, are capable of blossoming into something even better than our current teaching selves. What changes are you, and the teachers at your school, opening to? How will you support that unfolding? How will you share with teachers a view of change as reaching toward desired potential? Viewing change in the positive light of becoming is a hopeful view for the future. 

What are you becoming today?

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Incorporating art in the high-school language arts classroom:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/reading-pictures-in-high-school/
 
 
Tips for building coach-teacher relationships:
 
https://blog.tcea.org/relationship-building/
Tips for new (or reminders for returning) coaches:
 
https://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/4-tips-new-instructional-coaches/
 
 
Coaching about classroom culture:
 
https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v10.1.htm
 
 
This podcast about how new teachers can find great mentors:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/podcast-43
 
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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Modeling Planning and Problem-Solving

The beginning of August is a gear-shifting time, a time of both reflection and preparation. As we get ready for students to return to school, teachers and coaches engage in thought-filled work as they both remember the past and anticipate the future.
 
Thinking and problem-solving are part of the process that leads to effective instruction, and coaches can model these processes by thinking aloud during school start-up conversations.
 
Making thinking audible demonstrates processes that are possibilities. Coaches can model expert thinking and problem solving as they work with teachers. Just as important as the instructional practices they model in the classroom are the decision-making strategies used to design and guide instruction. 
 
As you meet with teachers, you can think aloud about approaches that might be taken and illuminate the many factors under consideration. For example, a coach may review assessment information, consider students’ strengths and weaknesses as readers, determine where students lie on a developmental continuum, weigh possible learning experiences (considering the benefits of each), and determine a plan of action all while making her thinking public by sharing it aloud as she goes through this process.
 
It might feel strange at first to verbalize your thinking in this way. It’s about being really in tune with how you make instructional decisions-—all those many factors you automatically consider—-and then taking the lid off your brain and letting your teacher-friends see how you do it. 
 
With practice, modeling decision-making becomes natural and begins to pay dividends. Coaching conversations become more productive as coach and teacher thoughtfully consider together the many factors that weigh into our judgments and choices.  Instructional decision-making is a complex process; by thinking aloud about that process, we model effective problem-solving approaches as possibilities.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Protocols for data exploration:
 
http://mycoachescouch.blogspot.com/2016/08/be-data-explorer.html
 
 
Letters from home:  Letting family & friends teach us about students:
 
https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=73
 
 
Ideas for helping students who are in the fight or flight mode:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/fight-flight-freeze
 
 
5 strategies for SEL:
 
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/5-strategies-for-incorporating-social-emotional-learning-into-your-classroom/
 
 
The Bedley Brothers podcast on collaboration:
 
http://bedleybros.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-30T01_00_00-07_00
 
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch or Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com