Hard Conversations

When I have the chance to sit around the table with coaches, there’s a lot of wisdom tossed around. These meetings sometimes include productive problem-solving conversations, where one of the coaches brings forward a challenge she’s been having and others brainstorm possible solutions. Often these proposals begin with, “When I had a similar situation…” and we hear both problems and positive outcomes that ultimately lead the coach to a next step in addressing the situation.
 
This week, Tracy expressed a challenge faced by Alissa, a teacher she is coaching. Tracy’s story came from a place of concern, not complaining (which is how most productive problem-solving begins). Alissa does many things well, and Tracy frontloaded her description to us with these things. But then she described the challenge. “Alissa teaches from the front of the room,” Tracy said. “She doesn’t move around the classroom to check in with students and see how they’re doing.
 
“Have you talked with her directly about it?” one of the coaches asked? 
 
“I have,” Tracy said. “I told her she needs to get up and move around the room. But it hasn’t happened.”
 
“Have you asked her why?” I questioned.
 
“I hate to have those kinds of conversations!” Tracy said, and she slumped in her chair.
 
“You’ve got to do it!” one coach said.
 
“She’s counting on your feedback!” another said.
 
“Yes, she’s expecting it,” another agreed.
 
Tracy still looked like the sky was falling. She was dreading a hard conversation. So I gave her some words to try on for size. “What if you said, ‘What do you think might be some of the reasons you stay near the front of the room while you teach?’”
 
Tracy sat up straighter and grabbed a pad of sticky notes. She wrote a prompt for herself so she’d be ready to launch a hard conversation.
 
I haven’t heard yet how it went, but I hope the nudge she got from friends gave Tracy the courage she needed. Courage might seem a strong word for a situation that seems expected: a coach giving feedback to a teacher. But because it was a follow-up conversation about a change that hadn’t been made, the prospect felt dreadful to Tracy. We had suggested a next step.
 
Later, I realized another step that could be helpful, so I emailed Tracy suggesting that she offer to track Alissa’s location in the room during an upcoming lesson – to divide the room into thirds and mark when Alissa was in the middle and back third and for how long. Such a data-gathering step could be helpful once they had delved deeper into why there hadn’t been a change yet. Once Alissa knew Tracy was seeking to understand the context, she might welcome having another set of eyes in the room to remind her of the need.
 
Having a follow-up conversation when the hoped-for change has not occurred can feel weighty. But if we’re confident the change will make teaching and learning better, we shouldn’t shirk the conversation. Asking, “What might be some of the reasons why…” helps the teacher reflect on her own habits and intentions, rather than pointing a finger of blame. Offering to gather information about the hoped-for action shows you are willing to be an active participant in the change process. Framing hard conversations with authentic inquiry and collaborative invitations puts the coach and teacher on the same side.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Centering students and bringing joy – a podcast episode with Pernille Ripp:
 
https://cciraliteracyconversations.simplecast.com/episodes
 
 
What Wordle can teach us about phonics instruction:
 
https://www.ascd.org/blogs/what-wordle-reminds-us-about-effective-phonics-and-spelling-instruction
 
 
Building a culture of appreciation:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-appreciation-day-going-beyond-elena-aguilar
 
 
Using a whole-class notebook for whole-class read aloud:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/interactive-read-aloud-and-the-whole-class-notebook/
 
Careful words for coaching:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/coaches-words-and-questions/
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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