Positive Assumptions

 
What we do when coaching is important, but who we are as coaches matters, too. The self we bring to coaching should be curious, humble, and courageous. Being open and having positive assumptions also helps us establish and maintain coach-teacher relationships.  
 
Coaches who have positive assumptions demonstrate confidence, hope, and trust in the teachers they work with. They come to a conversation with an open mind and heart. They assume the teacher has students’ best interests at the core of their decision-making and that they are doing the best they can in any given moment. They look for real root causes rather than assuming negative intentions.
 
For example, when Staci said that after-school team meetings wouldn’t work for her, her coach didn’t jump to the conclusion that Staci wasn’t willing to work beyond contracted hours. In a one-on-one conversation later, she discovered that Staci’s childcare arrangements required her to get out the door quickly at the end of the day. Staci was more than willing to spend the time necessary to plan with her team and to work independently – it was the proposed time that was the problem.
 
When coaches have positive assumptions about teachers’ abilities, they restrain judgment. During classroom observations, it’s easy to judge, so as we plan for debrief conversations, we have to intentionally step away from any judgments we may have made and instead ask questions that help us to understand the teacher’s thinking.
 
I was again reminded of the need to have positive assumptions and restrain judgment after observing a fourth-grade lesson on multi-step math problems. What initially stood out for me as I reflected on the lesson were a few observations that seemed problematic. I realized I had made judgments based on these observations, so I needed to shift my thinking to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt. When planning for the debrief conversation I would have with the teacher, Marjorie, I took each observation that concerned me and crafted a question. 
 
I had noticed that Marjorie put a star on the paper of a student who had an incorrect answer. I wondered why, and asked Marjorie what it meant. Rather than responding that she hadn’t noticed the answer was incorrect (which I’d incorrectly inferred), Marjorie explained that this student’s effort had significantly improved, and her star, along with her quiet affirmation, acknowledged that.
 
Having positive assumptions about teachers’ decisions and their desire to improve supports a respectful relationship between teacher and coach and encourages teachers to explore their own intention and enhance their understanding.
 
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Hooray!!! My new book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is a fall release from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can order the book now and use the code: TCP2022 for free shipping. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
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This week, you might want to take a look at:

6 principles for new teachers:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/new-teachers-6-principles-remember-year

High fives for teachers:
 
https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/1479756855393102/
 
 
Ideas for building classroom community:
 
https://ncte.org/blog/2018/09/suggestions-building-classroom-community/
 
 
Tips for learning-as-you-go coaches:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/youll-figure-it-out-10-tips-for-literacy-coaches-who-are-given-little-guidance/
 
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
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Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com

Shared Assumptions

 
A few key assumptions underlie the work of mentoring and coaching. It can be helpful to explicitly state these assumptions, but it’s even more important that they are evident in the words we use and the way we approach our work with teachers.
 
Separating the Teaching from the Teacher
 
Coaches hold the unshakeable conviction that we can separate the teaching from the teacher. When we take this as foundational, we see teaching practice as something that can be changed, not as an indelible part of a teacher’s personality. “That’s just the way I am,” is not an acceptable mantra. Rather, coaches seek to support teachers in examining and elevating their work.
 
The importance of focusing on the teaching rather than the teacher is evident in research on feedback. It appears to be human nature not to learn from mistakes because of the need to protect ego, so shifting the focus away from the person is more likely to support learning.* A focus on teaching provides a chance to reappraise the situation in less-threatening terms.
 
Teaching as Professional Practice
 
Relatedly, we think of teaching as professional practice. The word practice has multiple definitions that can each be applied to teaching. One definition of practice is to do something repeatedly to maintain or improve proficiency. Another definition is application or use of an idea. Finally, a practice can be a professional business; this is how doctors and lawyers typically describe their work and service. These definitions are relevant to the way we view the work of teaching and the way we view the work of mentoring and coaching.
 
Of course, having a professional practice lies on the foundation of seeing teaching as a profession and treating teachers as professionals. As professionals, teachers are empowered as agentive decision-makers. As professionals, teachers seek to be current in the field, updating their knowledge so they can best meet the needs of those they serve.
 
A Track Record of Success
 
Professionals have a common body of knowledge and practices that have a track record for effectiveness. This track record includes research and experience. Differences in teaching practices are not simply a matter of style; some practices are known to be more effective than others. Characterizing differences as matters of style trivializes teachers’ practice and profession.  
 
Even though it’s important to flexibly use practices in ways that reflect context and learners’ needs, an assumption of instructional coaching is that teaching is the work of professional practice and established practices.
 
Whether or not we explicitly state these assumptions, they should be evident in our words and work. They become shared assumptions as the teachers we are working with absorb and embrace these same beliefs. Our coaching work will be effective when we focus on supporting effective practices, not on changing people.

 
* Eskreis-Winkler, L., & Fishbach, A. (2019). Not learning from failure—The greatest failure of all. Psychological Science, 30(12), 1733-1744.

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Hooray!!! My new book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is a fall release from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can order the book now and use the code: TCP2022 for free shipping. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
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This week, you might want to take a look at:Aligning classroom assessment with teaching beliefs:

 
https://ncte.org/blog/2022/03/imperfect-grades-aligning-assessment-practices-theoretical-beliefs/
 
 
Attention-getting strategies:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/strategies-for-sustaining-student-attention/
 
 
Literacy practices that don’t work:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-practices-we-should-abandon-nell-k-duke

 
Principles of instructional coaching, a short video by Jim Knight:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vXqqz2sqXE
 
 
Three picture books with important themes for adults:
 
https://anchor.fm/getliterate/episodes/E6-Three-Picture-Books-with-Adult-Lessons-e1lff4q/a-a867jis
 
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 and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com

Principal-Coach Agreements for Smoother Sailing

For many of us, the school year is about to get underway. If you’ve had clear expectations for coaching in place in the past, you can smoothly step back into old routines. But if coaching is new for you or your school or there has been confusion about the coach’s role, a principal-coach agreement might make for smoother sailing in the year ahead.
 
A partnership agreement between principal and coach helps to define the working relationship between the coach and the principal and outlines expectations for the coach’s work.  Codifying these expectations removes the fuzziness that sometimes surrounds a coach’s role.

A principal-coach agreement might consider the following:

·       How and when will the principal and coach communicate?

·       How many and which teachers will the coach work with? (preferably all!)

·       What is the scope of the coaching work? (subject areas, topics, etc.)

·       What are the coach’s roles? (modeling, co-planning, data discussions, etc.)

·       How will time be made in the teachers’ day for coaching work?

·       How will confidentiality in the teacher-coach relationship be maintained?

·       How will we measure the effectiveness of the coaching work?

·       What resources are available to the coach?

Principal leadership is a key resource for coaching. Research suggests that teachers participate more in coaching when principals trust the coach to manage their own time, publicly endorse the coach’s expertise, and explicitly affirm teachers’ need for coaching.*  Principal support and clear job responsibilities are instrumental to coaches’ success.**  Partnership between a principal and coach is crucial.
 
To help you think through what your principals-coach agreement might look like, I’ve put together templates and questions that get at core needs, plus some varied examples of completed agreements. If you’d like me to send you these supports for creating a principal-coach agreement, complete this form and you’ll get them in your inbox.
 
Once you and your principal have arrived at agreement about these important ideas, plan for how this information will be shared with teachers. When the principal and coach model a collaborative relationship, the tone is set for similar collaboration as coaches and teachers undertake their shared work.
 
I became a literacy coach in the early years of coaching and neither my principal nor I initially had a clear vision of what coaching could look like. We figured out what my role would be as we walked the road together, and fortunately we saw eye to eye about the big things. We informally asked ourselves questions like the ones above. Today, there’s substantial experience with coaching, but what a coach does runs the gamut, so it’s quite possible that you and your principal may have different ideas about a coach’s role. That makes the principal-coach agreement even more important. Having a shared understanding of the work at the outset of the school year can set a tone for inquiry that makes coaching effective.
 
* Matsumura, L. C., Sartoris, M., Bickel, D. D., & Garnier, H. E. (2009). Leadership for literacy coaching: The principal’s role in launching a new coaching program. Educational Administration Quarterly, 45(5), 655–693.
 
**Matsumura, L. C., Garnier, H. E., & Spybrook, J. (2012). The effect of content-focused coaching on the quality of classroom text discussions. Journal of Teacher Education, 63(3), 214–228.
 
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Hooray!!! My new book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is a fall release from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can order the book now and use the code: TCP2022 for free shipping. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

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This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Letters from home:  Letting family & friends teach us about students:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/letters-from-home-letting-families-and-friends-teach-us/
 
 
The Bedley Brothers’ podcast episode on collaboration:
 
http://bedleybros.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-30T01_00_00-07_00
 
 
Retelling rubric for themes and ideas:
 
http://chartchums.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/image-2.jpg
 
 
Make a mantra:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/mantras-matter/
 
 
A podcast episode to share with parents: Back-to-school tips:
 
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/item/back_to_school
 
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 and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com

Differentiated Coaching

As you anticipate the work you’ll soon be doing to support teachers, ask yourself: What coaching move will I choose?  Just like when you are teaching a group of students, when coaching, it helps to have a flexible plan for moving forward.

Even though your coaching conversations will include a healthy mix of recommending, questioning, and affirming, you can be intentional about which one you lean on most as you work with a teacher. That dominant coaching move will likely differ across teachers, even if you have a similar focus for the work. 

For example, one of the schools I was working with had a school-wide focus on improving student discussion. Teachers each selected a specific coaching focus related to this goal, and the coach provided varied support based on teachers’ needs. With one teacher, the coach gave both a resource and a recommendation: She gave the teacher a depth-of-knowledge chart and encouraged the teacher to use the chart to help her formulate good questions. The coach suggested that the teacher plan questions in advance and write them on her lesson plans. These resources and recommendations provided strong scaffolding for the teacher as she worked to improve class discussions.
 
Similarly, the coach provided recommendations for another teacher, suggesting that questions be prepared ahead of time. The coach encouraged use of text-dependent questions during a read-aloud. Her specific recommendations provided a focus for an upcoming lesson.
 
After observing in another classroom, the coach made a recommendation that the teacher call on the quiet students. After the teacher put this into action, the coach followed up by asking, “What do you notice about their answers?” This combination of recommending and questioning increased the teacher’s responsibility, encouraging reflection that supported future decision making.

For a teacher who was more proficient in leading class discussions, the coach affirmed student participation when she showed the response-tracking chart she’s kept when observing. Then she posed a thought-provoking question: “How do you choose who to ask?” Her question prompted reflection on the part of the teacher – introspection that led her to refine this decision-m
aking process that happens almost instantaneously.
 
From providing resources to making specific recommendations and asking questions, this coach’s support was differentiated to include mediation that resulted in improved classroom discourse.
 
The GIR coaching model can serve as a guide no matter who you are working with.  But where you begin and the way you move through it will change every time!
 
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Hooray!!! My new book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available now from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can order the book now and use the code: TCP2022 for free shipping. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues (click here for a book guide preview).  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

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This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Creating belonging in a school community:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/belonging-in-a-school-community/
 
 
Mentors need new teachers (not just vise versa):
 
https://ncte.org/blog/2020/01/mentors-need-new-teachers/
 
 
Ideas for beginning-of-the-year readers’ workshops:
 
http://reflectandrefine.blogspot.com/2013/08/getting-started-with-readers-workshop.html
 
 
Expand inclusion while students “Meet Someone New” through picture book biographies:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/meet-someone-new-monday-using-picture-book-biographies-to-bring-marginalized-voices-into-the-classroom/
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!