No More Teaching in the Shallow End

It’s easy to teach in the shallow end. Your feet touch the bottom. You can navigate with ease. But you aren’t fully immersed. You can’t dive in deep. And neither can your students.
 
Teaching in the shallow end might look like workbooks and photocopies. It might look like desks in rows. It might be pushing start on a video and letting it play all the way through. Let’s be honest: It might look like sustained silent reading. Book reading and film clips and the right handout could all lead to learning – but only if we get out of the shallow end.
 
When teachers get out of the shallow end, things get messy. Kids talk to each other, and that can be hard to monitor and control. Students move around the room, and that can cause chaos. Students have agency, and that makes teachers vulnerable. It can be very uncomfortable.
 
Instructional coaches can be a floaty in the deep end, offering support, making sure the teacher doesn’t drown in the details. Don’t push a teacher off the high-dive. Just encourage the jump and be there to tow her to the edge of the pool if needed. Or lull her gradually deeper, treading water alongside. Sometimes you have to get used to the temperature.
 
In my coaching right now, I’m challenging one teacher to go deeper by differentiating instruction. It’s complicated and requires a steadying hand. Another teacher wants to use small-groups more effectively; she’s going to try assigning roles. Someone else is adding conferring to silent reading time. Another I’m nudging to use different seating arrangements. I think she’s ready to dive in. I talked with another about handing out a blank sheet of paper instead of that worksheet. A scary thought. She’d rather have her feet on the bottom.
 
Which teachers at your school are swimming in the shallow end? What are some shallow-end practices you’ve wanted to change? (Please comment below – I want to know!) As instructional coaches, we encourage deep dives and are there when teachers come up for air.
 

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

6 benefits of play:
 
https://thegeniusofplay.org/tgop/benefits/genius/benefits-of-play/benefits-of-play-home.aspx
 
 
Have teachers design the PD calendar:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/when-teachers-design-the-professional-development-calendar/
 
 
Increasing engagement through choice, differentiation, and including students’ interests:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/giving-students-choice-classroom-increases-engagement
 
 
How to slow down the teaching treadmill (especially great to share with new teachers!):
 
http://roxannaelden.com/2017/10/how-to-turn-down-your-teaching-treadmill/#more-2869
 
 
Restore the JOY in teaching:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/restoring-joy-teaching/
 
 
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: JUN2024 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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