The Value of a Respectful Stance

Whether working with veteran teachers or novices, coaches can be co-learners alongside their colleagues. Bringing an attitude of curiosity into our role as knowledgeable and supportive partners provides opportunities for discovery. Respect is trust in action, demonstrating belief in the knowledge and skill of teachers. As coaches act on this belief, they cultivate mutual trust and respect, key elements of an effective coaching relationship.
 
Several years ago, I read a short article about observing in teachers’ classrooms.  What has stuck with me, as it applies to coaching, is this:
 
Respect and understanding are always intertwined. 
 
When reviewing a lesson plan or observing a lesson, the question I always ask myself is, "What is the logic behind this teaching?"  When we respect the teacher, everything will eventually make sense. That is an important idea to keep in mind as we consider the stance and attitude we will have as we work with teachers.  Our job is not to criticize, but to work to understand the teacher's logic, finding out what has happened previously, as well as what is planned for the future.  Start with the stance that the teacher is brilliant and everything they are doing makes sense, even if it isn't what you would do in the same situation.
 
It's amazing to see how conversations and perspectives unfold when you start with a respectful stance.  Because the teachers we work with have thought about their students and their curriculum with such care over long periods of time, their plans are deep and thoughtful.  There is logic in all teachers do, and we can see it if we begin with respect and take the time to understand their choices.
 
When using the GIR coaching model (below), we acknowledge the funds of knowledge* that teachers bring to any learning situation.  The coaching path (shown in the GIR model by the curving line) depicts teachers’ previous knowledge and experience by starting above the “0-0” position on the axis.  The model also illustrates the belief that teachers will continue to learn and grow in their profession by having the line end below the upper corner.  As we respect teachers’ logic and where they are now in their thinking, our coaching changes so that it aligns with teachers’ needs. Respecting teachers as they are makes us more effective in helping them become even more than they are. That is the value of a respectful stance.
 
* Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D. & Gonzalez, N. (2001). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

High fives for teachers:
 
https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/1479756855393102/
 
 
Creating class values rather than class rules:
 
https://blog.stenhouse.com/summer-series-classroom-values
 
 
How to teach handwriting and why it matters:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-teach-handwriting-and-why-it-matters/
 

A short video about monitoring small-group conversations with your phone:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
 
 
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
 
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Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: AUG2023 for 15% off plus 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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Coaching thru Transitions

Remember when you went to an unfamiliar grocery store and everything was in the wrong place? Did you feel a bit drained by the time you left? If even small transitions like these feel uncomfortable, consider the discomfort families and educators are feeling as the school year gets underway.
 
Discomfort during transitions can come from at least four places: the unknown, extra decision-making, changes in relationships, and changes in identity.*
 
A sixth-grader may be walking into a middle school, not knowing what it will be like to have multiple teachers and a locker. A teacher may be using new curricula. A coach may be unclear about expectations for her role. These unknowns can feel weighty.
 
There are so many decisions to be made: What to wear, how to get there, who to talk to first. Students’ families are adjusting their morning routines: What time must the morning alarm be set for now? Teachers are deciding about the structures they want to establish: What do these students need? Coaches are considering how to best allocate their time: Which teachers should they begin with?
 
At the beginning of the new school year, even when returning to a familiar building, there will be new faces, new relationships to be established. That sixth-grader is hoping to see last years’ friends, but finds there’s no one he knows on the cross-country team. There’s a new teacher on the grade-level team that changes the whole dynamic. Similarly, these new teachers are unfamiliar to the coach, and relationships of trust need to be established.
 
For the middle-schooler, the identity shift is palpable. He was the experienced one at this elementary school, but now he’s the newbie. How does a sixth-grader even act? The teacher, at the beginning of the school year, is shifting from her summer persona to the facilitator of learning. Maybe even changing classes taught or grade level. How is a STEM teacher different from a math teacher? How is a first-grade teacher different from a fourth-grade one? A huge identity shift happens for the teacher transitioning into a coaching role. How does the coach view her new self? How do others view her? Will she be considered credible?

Recognizing the tensions of the unknown, of decision-making, of new relationships, and of identity shifts can help us face them more intentionally. Transitions require that we get into a more conscious state – we can’t act out of habit. This offers the opportunity for planning, for purposeful creation. We get to design new spaces.

Coaches can minimize the unknown by getting clear about their roles and responsibilities (with themselves, their principals, and their teachers). Make sure the district calendar and the school’s master schedule are at your fingertips. Ink in testing dates. These steps make the upcoming year more known.
 
We can make big decisions in advance, and make them only once. Coaches can determine a coaching model they’ll use. (Of course, I recommend the GIR Model 😊, which integrates well with other coaching cycle designs. If you’d like the GIR coaching conversation plan, click here). We can decide on our coaching master schedule, setting aside blocks of time for planning, observing, conferring, and our own professional learning. We can prioritize to-do lists for when unexpected small chunks of time pop up. Now the decision-making for this beginning-of-year transition feels manageable!
 
The relationships we maintain or establish with teachers are both personal and professional. When we get back together in August with our colleagues, it’s okay to spend some time catching up – it’s not a waste, because coaching is relational work. I was flattered recently when September Gerety recalled a time 10 years ago (!!!) that I brought mini Almond Joys to a meeting because at the previous one, she’d complained that someone had eaten all the Almond Joys (her favorites!) out of the bowl in the teacher’s lounge. “Vicki was so focused on the work, I didn’t expect her to be paying attention to something like that,” she said. All these years later, both things stood out to her: my focus on the work and my gift of Almond Joys. As coaches, we are establishing both credibility and connection. Relationships matter.
 
Identity is closely-related to relationships, and we are working on both at the beginning of the school year, especially if we are morphing into coach as a new role. Which of your skills and passions especially lend themselves to your coaching work? How do you collaborate? How do you contribute? How do you lead? How do you promote teachers and students? How do you contribute to the culture and climate of the school? Considering these aspects of identity inform your transition into the new year.

Coaching identity is also forged by personal attributes such as presence, openness, positivity, and curiosity. Humility, especially, is important because it establishes a productive horizontal stance with teachers, rather than a vertical, authoritative stance over them. They’ll respond better to a guide-by-the-side than a dictator-from-above. Humility and confidence can (and should) co-exist in the coaching role. (Shame and self-confidence are at opposite ends of one spectrum; Pride and humility are on a different continuum* – and you know where we need to be on both of these gauges!) We can acknowledge and draw on teachers’ expertise and experience while sharing our own.
 
By proactively managing unknowns, decisions, relationships, and identities at the beginning of the school year, we can make this transition a productive one. 

(For a Coach's Guide to Beginning-of-Year Transitions, click here.)

*Thanks to Jody Moore for these ideas.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Monday headlines for a peek at home life:
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/monday-headlines/

This video on using a mentor text as a writing guide:

https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/

Why coaches need a “smile file”:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/smile-file/

Formative assessments that inspire creativity:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/creative-formative-assessments/

Books about books (for all ages):
https://www.alitlife.com/2023/08/08/books-to-celebrate-book-lovers-day/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Hooray!!! My book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: AUG2023 for 15% off plus 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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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

Values Beat Norms, Hands Down!

For some reason, the term norms has always brushed me the wrong way. When facilitators present norms at the beginning of a meeting or PD session, I catch myself saying, under my breath, “I know how to act.” Although I understand why such rules are reviewed, it feels belittling to me. So I’ve resisted establishing norms in the groups I work with.
 
What feels better, to me, is to establish values for our group. If it is a group I’ll be working with long-term, like a team or department, we take a slow, thoughtful route to naming our shared values. The process goes something like this:
 
First, we think individually about how we want our collective space to feel. We might take some time to write longhand about it, but then we find key words and write them on sticky notes – one word per sticky. Next we spread out our stickies on a table or chart and begin an activity called affinity mapping. Participants silently move stickies into groups that seem alike. If someone doesn’t like where a sticky is, they move it. This process continues until groups have been formed and there’s no more sticky movement. (Note: For groups of 7 or more, this process can happen first in small groups, combining later.)
 
The next step is to identify trends by labeling each group of stickies. We talk about this, then put the label on a sticky at the top of each group. Repeated words give us clues. If there’s a stand-alone sticky, we decide, together, whether to keep it or set it aside. If contradictory ideas are represented, we talk about how we might navigate diverse individual needs amongst shared values.
 
From the groups that have been noticed and named, we prioritize our top values. That doesn’t mean the others disappear, but it does help us focus on what is most important. Sometimes we accomplish this prioritization through discussion and consensus. Sometimes (especially in large groups) it’s more like a vote, with each participant listing their top 3, in order, on a sticky. Even when using the tallying approach, we double-back conversationally to allow for dissent or fine-tuning. If these are going to be our shared values, we have to make sure they are shared! The values should capture how we want our group to feel and act.
 
Next, we do a Silent Chalk Talk or a not-so-silent Gallery Walk, creating anchor charts for each of the core values we have identified. This gives everyone a chance to show what this value means to them. The charts bring each value to life, describing how it will look, sound, and feel. They provide descriptors for our actions.
 
The beginning of a new school year is a wonderful time to establish group values. Even for pre-existing groups, an exercise like this provides powerful recalibration and energy for the work ahead. For me, values beat norms, hands down!
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Instant mood-boosters (great for beginning a PD – or for yourself!):
 
https://aestheticsofjoy.com/2020/10/17/8-quick-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-boost-your-mood/
 
 
A checklist for effective assessment use:
 
https://resources.corwin.com/sites/default/files/Checklist_Using_Assessments_Effectively.pdf
 
This learning/PD/collaboration tool – Box It Out:
 
https://www.thecoachingsketchnotebook.com/2021/09/a-new-tool-for-pd-box-it-out.html
 
 
Coaching questions for exploring the role of classroom talk:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/helping-students-develop-conversational-identity/
 
 
When students struggle with emotions related to social-media use:
 
https://williamdparker.com/2023/07/05/pmp351-understanding-how-to-serve-generations-with-will-parker-and-jen-schwanke/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
---------------------------------
Hooray!!! My book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: AUG2023 for 15% off plus 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!
----------------------------------
 
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

Coaching Attributes: Be Open

This week, as I was taking our dog for a walk, he went one way around a tree and I went the other. “Come on Jake,” I said, “You’re going the wrong way.” Then I caught myself. I’d probably gone his way around the same tree earlier that week. What made it the wrong way today? Simply that it was different from my way.
 
I wonder how often this happens in instructional coaching. Do we sometimes make recommendations or try to change practices just because they are different from our way? Are we valuing our own experience but sometimes ignoring important aspects of the current context? Have we dismissed a teacher’s idea because it didn’t align with our own? When this is true, it is a reminder to be more open.
 
Being open is another one of those coaching attributes we can work to develop in all areas of our lives. Then it will be an authentic part of who we are as we walk into any coaching opportunity.
 
When we are open, our mental models are temporary and flexible. A good conversation is one where we learn something, and what others say is always interesting. It means seeing our coaching work as full of possibility.
 
When we maintain open communication with teachers, we welcome their thoughts, worries, concerns, and celebrations. We establish a conversational tone where teachers feel free to talk about their thoughts and opinions.  Teachers know they can bring up both everyday issues and difficult topics. I’ve found that exploring ideas together leads to growth – for the teacher and for me.
 
Keeping the doors of the mind open means that we avoid criticizing or ignoring new ideas.  It means delaying judgment. It’s refreshing not to have to defend your own ideas, but rather to listen intently to others’.
 
Although there are definitely times when coaches should share their expertise, doing so with an open mindset brings a lightness to the conversation, affording teachers their agency and acknowledging their own professional judgment. 
When making a recommendation, acknowledging professional judgment invites a productive conversation. 
 
Teachers are more receptive when I list options rather than describe best practices.  The idea of options feels more open to teachers and is most likely to result in interest and application. Using phrases such as, “Here is one idea…” or “Another consideration might be…” helps to keep the conversation open.
 
When coaches have an open mindset, they are approachable.  Their posture, positioning, and facial expressions help teachers feel at ease. Some of us have to think intentionally about each of these things, but they tend to flow more naturally when we remind our brains to move our own ideas to the back burner for a minute and be open to the ideas of others.
 
Asking an open-ended question is one way to demonstrate an open mindset.  Starting a conversation with, “What’s on your mind?” is a useful open-ended question. It leaves the door wide-open for any topic of conversation.  It signals an open agenda rather than a pre-set coaching script. It cues reflection and sharing and sets you up for meaningful coaching work. 
 
Asking, “What else could you try?” suggests there are many possible solutions. Asking, “What makes you say so?” deepens the level of analysis in a conversation.  When we ask questions without having our own answer in mind, we are displaying an open mindset.
 
The next time I catch myself telling my dog he’s wrong (in addition to checking my sanity for having a conversation with my dog!), I’ll remind myself to be more open. I might even go his way around the tree.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Sharing young writers’ voices using QR codes:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/bringing-writers-voices-home-with-qr-codes/
 
 
Smoothing out the back-to-school transition:
 
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_make_this_hard_transition_back_to_school_with_your_students
 
 
Letters from home:  Letting family & friends teach us about students:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/letters-from-home-letting-families-and-friends-teach-us/
 
 
Managing classroom cell phone use:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
 
 
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!
 
---------------------------------
Hooray!!! My book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: AUG2023 for 15% off plus 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!
----------------------------------
 
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