Ruminate or Reflect?

May is the time for remembering. Whether the year has already ended or you still have a bit left, you have probably been thinking back – on your own and with the teachers you coach – about the experiences of this year.
 
Let’s start with you.
 
Is there something you’ve been brooding about? Something you didn’t like and can’t get out of your head? Is there a thought playing on repeat, like the last song you heard with a refrain that hangs on? That might be fine if you love the tune, but if you’re stewing about something and it reruns again and again, it’s probably not productive.
 
Maybe it’s that conversation you had that you wish had ended differently. A PD that lacked energy. An idea that fell flat. A lesson that didn’t go as planned. A time when you lost your temper. A time when you missed an opportunity. If you’re not feeling this way now, it has probably happened to you sometime in the past. You know the feeling – it’s called ruminating.
 
When you were stuck in a circular rut of cerebral repetition, dwelling on what was or what could have been, you were looking back. Your mind kept reverting to the past. That’s not productive.
 
Of course, we want to recognize things that didn’t go well – it’s part of the improvement process. But a more productive path, as we summon up even the negative experiences from the past, is to contemplate how we will move forward. When we weigh past experiences, analyzing what could now change, we disrupt the possibility of reproducing an undesirable result.
 
When we deliberate with wonder and curiosity, we can think back as a way to move forward. That is the difference between ruminating and reflecting. Reflecting involves forward motion. If we take a learning stance when we summon up the past, we are reminded of not just the what, but the why. The why is where discovery happens. To stop the cycle of rumination, we consider not just pasts, but possibilities.
 
If you or a teacher you are working with is stuck in rumination, here are some practices that push toward reflection:
 
Talk
Talking gets us out of our head so that we can move on. This week, I was dwelling on a frustration. It was after the fact, and I couldn’t do anything about it until next time. But that didn’t stop it from replaying in my mind. I finally called two people and told them about it. Just saying it out loud got me unstuck. Saying it blocked the repeat. You can be there to listen to a ruminator, or you can find someone to listen if you’re the one that’s stuck.
 
Write
For some, writing is an antidote to unproductive cogitation. Like talking, writing gets the words out and can move thinking forward. Even writing the never-ending refrain out a few times, if you don’t yet have anything else to say, can offer a start. Writing can invoke critical thinking, opening up new angles. It helps you stand outside the experience. Writing encourages you to question assumptions and consider alternative perspectives. It gets you out of a grove by taking the thinking deeper. Writing might be just the thing to help a teacher you know move forward.
 
Written reflection affords the opportunity to make beliefs and orientations more explicit, supporting change. Including description might help teachers link their experiences to professional knowledge, making inferences and generalizations about what took place. Moving from the particular event to generalizable inferences about practice supports future instructional decision-making.
 
Ask Questions
Talking and writing can include asking questions. Asking questions promotes reflection. You can interrupt the rumination rhythm by leading with the “5 W’s and an H.” Like an investigative reporter, consider who, what, when, where, why, and how. You can do this for someone else in a coaching conversation. You can ask yourself these questions or encourage a stuck teacher to self-question. Self questioning promotes reflection.
 
Shift to Problem-Solving
Instead of dwelling on a past experience, shift the focus to finding solutions. Break down the situation into small pieces and determine one action that could be taken. For example, if you’re ruminating about that PD that fell flat, you could order a copy of Sit and Get Won’t Grow Dendrites (I love that one – just had to throw it in!). By actively taking steps to address the issue, you can redirect your energy (or the energy of a teacher you are working with) from rumination to constructive problem-solving, empowering you to make positive changes and move forward.
 
As the school year draws to a close, coaches and the teachers they work with pause to recall their experience. Help yourself and the teachers you serve break free from ruminating thoughts and move toward productive reflection through talking, writing, questioning, and problem-solving.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Read alouds for saying goodbye:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/end-of-year-read-alouds/
 
 
The art and science of teaching reading:
 
https://ccira.blog/2024/05/20/the-art-and-science-of-teaching-reading/
 
 
Summarizing strategies:
 
http://digitalliteracy.us/summarizing-strategies/
 
 
Teaching place value with paper cups:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnUPHO5oiWQ
 
 
End-of-year reflection to next year’s writing teachers:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/end-of-the-year-reflection/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: MAY2024 for 20% off. 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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Follow on Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
 
 

Penny for Your Thoughts?

This week, I stood with a group of teachers around a 2-foot inflatable pool. We took turns throwing pennies into our “reflection pool” as we shared memories and take-aways from our time together. Chandra said that she was surprised how well her students did with one of the writing units we’d worked on together. She said she realized her expectations had been too low. Jeff said he was reflecting on our collaboration, how helpful that had been. Amanda added, saying it was a safe to share our ideas and frustrations. Everyone took turns until our  3-pennies-each were used up, with Gary saying he wanted to add his final “2 cents” to wrap it up. As we stood around that small pool, I recognized the power of creating time for group reflection. I felt that the ideas that were expressed had not really even been in our heads until we took the time to say them.
 
Next, we did a silent Chalk Talk. It was a small group, so two chart papers were enough. In the center of one was written, “What from this past year will you be taking into next year?” The other said, “Describe any struggles you experienced implementing the lessons we created. How did you respond to these struggles? What did you learn from these struggles that could inform our work?” Writing on sticky notes or directly on the chart paper, we silently shared ideas, responded with exclamation points, hearts, and comments as we moved back and forth between the two charts. After the silent time ended, we talked about what stood out. We also talked about how to adapt these group reflection activities for students.
 
Group reflection allows for adjustment. It helps us think about the work we’ve done and make future plans. We consider our process and our outcomes. We highlight what worked and clarify what didn’t. Group reflection is a future guide for facilitation and participation. We might recognize needed resources, reconsider the purpose of our convenings, or anchor the actions that helped us succeed. We align our intentions. Group reflection can build individuals’ self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Reflection spurs further thought and potential refinement. Group reflection leads to personal reflection.
 
Whether you use a baby pool, Chalk talk, a Plus/Delta discussion, Stop/Start/Keep matrix, What/So what/Now what, or some other protocol, group reflection should help us identify, describe, and analyze our experience. It helps insights percolate throughout the group as we create shared understanding. A pause for reflection creates welcome calm amidst end-of-year chaos.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Another reflective conversation protocol:
 
https://www.schoolreforminitiative.org/download/reflective-conversation-protocol/
 
 
Ideas for celebrating teacher successes:
 
https://mycoachescouch.blogspot.com/2018/05/celebrating-success.html
 
 
Share your own reading to teach vocabulary using context clues:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/mentor-reader-words/
 
 
What makes coaching effective? Report of a meta-analysis:
 
http://hechingerreport.org/every-teacher-need-coach/
 
 
How much is too much homework?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MafcPHRJrR0
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: MAY2024 for 20% off. 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 Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
 

Improving Achievement at No Cost

Did you know there’s a way to pretty much guarantee improved student achievement at no additional cost to the school or district? And I’m guessing this change will also improve morale of teachers, students, and families. The world’s highest-achieving schools, in Finland and Estonia, are already using this approach. It’s this simple: Students have the same teacher for more than one year.
 
I’m sharing this with you now, while I hope there’s still time to consider scheduling and teacher assignments for next year. Research shows that this approach doesn’t just work in countries afar off: It’s been confirmed by research with millions of students in North Carolina and Indiana.
 
Although in Finland and Estonia students often have the same teachers for multiple years, in US elementary schools, “looping” – having a teacher move up to the next grade with their students – is more common. In secondary schools, when students are fortunate enough to have the same subject-area teacher more than once, achievement improves.
 
As an experienced educator, you can see why this would be true. Teaching and learning are relational processes. If the relationship is already built, learning moves forward. Additionally, teachers repeating with students already know their students’ idiosyncrasies, interests, and needs. They hit the ground running in the new year. Hopefully, they’ve also already established a positive relationship with families.
 
I didn’t have the chance to repeat with my secondary students or loop with my elementary students, but when I became an interventionist, I often saw the same students for multiple years. I loved that ongoing relationship – I wasn’t saying a sad goodbye to my students at the end of the year, I was watching them grow, little by little. I knew them; they knew me. We worked well together.
 
One of my own children blossomed as a reader when his long-term sub in 3^rd grade became his 4^th grade teacher. I will be forever grateful for Mr. Johnston’s impact. He knew my son’s interests and matched him with books that made him an avid reader.
 
My teacher friends who have looped love the beginning of the new year. Even when students have been a challenge the previous year, they know where to start. Every class will have students with challenging behaviors. Understanding them, knowing their needs from day one makes a difference. Better the known than the new.
 
If you’re an elementary school leader, I hope you’ll advocate for looping. If you lead in a secondary school, I hope you’ll encourage creative scheduling. Yes, a teacher who knows 7^th grade ELA like the back of their hand may need to learn expectations for 8^th grade ELA. There are many benefits to understanding where your students are going, so they’ll be growing their teacher knowledge even as they welcome familiar students.
 
Rather than purchasing a new, expensive program or requiring a scripted approach, it’s my hope that schools will invest in a well-researched approach that costs nothing. When faces are familiar and students have a teacher who knows them, learning accelerates.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Vocabulary activities fun enough for the end of the year:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/quick-vocabulary-practice-and-assessment/
 
 
7 AI tools to support teachers’ productivity:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-ai-tools-that-help-teachers-work-more-efficiently/
 
 
TedEd Videos for mathematical problem-solving:
 
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/03/07/three-fun-riddles-filled-with-math-problem-solving/
 
Sharpen your coaching skills with this microcredential from NEA – designed for cooperating teachers, but helpful for supporting all adult teacher-learners (must  create a free account):
 
https://nea.certificationbank.com/NEA/CandidatePortal/CategoryDetail.aspx?Stack=CT
 
This oldie-but-goodie about being optimistic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEhj-rQSAU
 
That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: MAY2024 for 20% off. 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 Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com