Coaching Question: “What do you want to do more of?”
As
I waited for Hannah to return from dropping the kids off so that we could have
a coaching conversation about the science lesson I’d just observed, I wondered
what I could do to make sure our thoughts were steered in a positive and productive
direction. The lesson had held many bright spots, but the last tem minutes had
been very rushed, and I was afraid that’s what Hannah’s mind would be dwelling
on. Truthfully, there were a couple of recommendations that lingered in my
mind, too, but I felt confident in Hannah’s own ability to figure things out.
She’d shown me that before. In the last
minute before Hannah returned, I jotted down a question I don’t think I’ve
asked before: “What do you want to do more of?”
After
taking some time together to celebrate things that went well, I felt we were
ready for a constructive conversation about change. So I asked my question: “What
do you want to do more of?”
I
was taken off guard by Hannah’s response. Since we’d just been talking about
some things that went right, I expected her to choose one of those that she
could build on. But Hannah took this as the opportunity to talk about running
out of time and rushing through the lesson’s closure. She said she wished she’d
gotten to the notebook activity, where students would sort the new science words
they were learning and match them to their meanings.
“Why
do you feel that part of the lesson was important?” I asked.
Hannah
said that’s when they would really be using the words they’d just learned, so
that they’d remember them.
“Well,
you can’t go back and make more time in the lesson,” I said. “But reflecting
back, when you saw you were running out of time and wouldn’t be able to do that
activity, how might you have gotten the new words into their heads again?”
Hannah
recalled part of the closing conversation where she asked a follow-up question
to get a student to name the process he’d been describing, using the new
vocabulary word. “I really forced him to say the word,” she said.
“Yes,
more of that!” I affirmed. Then I reminded Hannah of the research about how many
repetitions it takes for a new word to enter long-term memory. “They need to
hear you say it and say it themselves, lots and lots and lots of times,” I
added.
“I
think it would have helped if there’d been a list of the new words for them to
refer to,” she said, her eyes gesturing toward the wall. “Then they probably
would have used the words more.”
“During
this unit, you’ve really been emphasizing the new vocabulary to label concepts
they’re learning about. Have you got an anchor chart of those words somewhere?”
I asked, looking around the room.
That
is when the conversation really started to get productive. Hannah did have a list of the words. All
of the vocab words for this science unit were grouped, with headings, and posted
on the inside of the classroom door.
Some
back-and-forth conversation got Halie to the idea that, since she always taught
science right before lunch or at the end of the day, the words on the door
could be the chance for the perfect exit ticket. Hannah spontaneously generated
some questions she could have students think about so that, by having students touch
one of the words on their way out the door, she could gather some helpful
formative data. “Point to the word that you want to learn more about,” or “Which
word are you most confused about?” she could ask. She quickly had a list of out-the-door
questions for her students.
This
was the energy-generating moment that I always hope for in a coaching
conversation. Although my question, “What do you want to do more of?” hadn’t
generated the kind of response I’d anticipated, it had been the spark for this productive exchange. I had
expected my question to point us to something that went well that she could
build on – something that would surely be within her ZPD, since she’d already
demonstrated it in a small way. Instead, Hannah’s rumination on what didn’t go
as planned led to valuable outcomes.
Isn’t
it wonderful when we’re surprised with the generative outcome of a coaching conversation?
Neither one of us would have come to the door-as-exit-ticket idea on our own,
but together, we’d created a plan that Hannah was excited to try. That is the
value of collaborative coaching.
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