Listen First
Yesterday,
I was strongly reminded of the value of listening first in a
coaching situation.
In
last week’s
post,
I described the disrupted experience my student-teaching interns have had
during their COVID teacher-preparation experience – cancelled practicums meant
these interns stepped into student teaching with almost no experience in the
classroom. Coupled with that, the majority of them are in kindergarten
classrooms, and their mentors reminded me that many of these kids were still
three years old when COVID began. They’ve spent much of their young lives
socially distanced, and this seems to be reflected in their classroom
interactions. I reminded myself to be aware of these issues as I started the
first round of interns’ formal evaluations.
My
experience in Leslie’s classroom seemed to confirm my fears. Students were
complaining about each other, telling on their peers, needing frequent
reminders to participate, Many students disregarded Leslie’s requests. Kids
pulled them arms inside their shirts and flapped the sleeves around, and
several were laying down on the carpet where the group was seated, During the
short lesson, Leslie had students move from the carpet to their desks several
times, in what appeared to be an attempt to keep them engaged – but it backfired
as students became more distracted from the content. Admirably, Leslie’s voice
was firm and calm throughout, but most of her talk was directed toward student
behavior rather that teaching content.
I
had observed this lesson at 11:30, and after school I was driving back to meet
with Leslie so that we could discuss the lesson. As I drove, I reminded myself
of all the things that were working against Leslie. I knew I should acknowledge
these. I wanted to make sure the feedback felt manageable. I decided on just
one recommendation I could make that would have the most impact (“Increase the
proportion of instructional talk to management talk”). Thankfully, I also
reminded myself to listen first.
As
Leslie and I walked together into a room where we could have a conversation, I
asked, “How was the day?” The floodgates opened, and Leslie told me about a
situation that had unfolded due to one student in the class who consistently
exhibited challenging behaviors. To protect privacy, I won’t go into details,
but it was clear that the other children in the class felt unsafe until the
child was removed from the classroom, and the situation was traumatic for the
student teacher and mentor as well.
After
the child with challenging behaviors was gone, the mentor and intern had a
conversation with the rest of the class about what had happened, trying to
restore calm. It was time for recess then, so they went outside.
“When
did all this happen?” I asked, as Leslie’s description of the situation came to
a close.
“Right
before you observed,” Leslie said. They were just coming in from recess as I
joined the class.
When
I had observed that morning, I had no knowledge of what had recently
transpired. As I reflected on the observation, I hadn’t known about the
incident that had so impacted students. Now, I recognized that what I had seen
had likely been more of a reflection of the morning’s events than the intern’s
teaching skill. I backpedaled on my planned recommendation and instead
empathized. Leslie talked about how thrown off she had been by the morning’s
events, and how atypical her students’ behavior was during the lesson I had
observed.
Although
I’d been in her room for a few minutes previously, I didn’t really have a sense
of the typical classroom climate, so I asked. Leslie told me about routines that were
beginning to be established, and she described some hopes for the future. It
was a very different conversation than I had anticipated. I can’t say we moved
the work forward too much, but what would have happened if I’d launched into my
recommendation without listening first? I think I’d be undoing
damage to the relationship for some time to come.
I’ve
written so many posts about listening. If you are a frequent reader of this
blog, you may be tired of them. But, as for me, I could always use another
reminder about this important skill. Over the course of the coming year with Leslie,
she and I will reap benefits because I listened first.
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