Coaching notebooks are a tool for discovery when
coaches confer with teachers after they model. If you have modeled a lesson, the
observer’s non-evaluative
notes about what they saw and heard offer a springboard for meaningful
discussion and learning.
When you meet with a teacher after a lesson you’ve
modeled, it can be helpful to offer a few silent moments for her to review her
notes. Encourage her to highlight or underline things that seem important. Ask her
to view her notes through the lens of her own personal teaching goals.
After the teacher has scanned and marked up her
notes, offer time to synthesize these ideas. You might say something like, “Now
that you’ve noted what seems
important, take a minute or two to write about why those
moments seem important.” While she reviews, use the time to jot down your own
notes, capturing fleeting thoughts that occurred to you in the midst of
teaching.
The details matter, so careful notes will
provide evidence for productive conversations. Did the teacher notice students’
looks of confusion or “aha”
expressions while you taught? These noticings give us clues about what worked
so that we can zero in on generalizable teaching strategies. As the teacher
shares her noticings and notes, ask questions that encourage transfer: “When
have you tried something like that?” “How did it go?” “When might you use this approach
again?” or “Why would you want to avoid that?”
A post-modeling conversation is the time to
analyze, to figure out what worked and why, what didn’t and why not. We make
links between instruction and student learning. After you’ve modeled a lesson,
pinning the reflective conference on observations that are objective and
specific, rather than evaluative or general, reveals nuances of practice that
support teachers’ instructional improvement.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
This
short video (1 ¼ minutes) about improving on improving (with Adam Grant):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAhCJnCRnwg
Advice for new teachers:
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
Choice
writing in a world of standardized testing:
https://ccira.blog/2024/09/30/term-projects-exploring-choice-writing-in-a-world-of-standardized-testing/
Literacy
for wounded students:
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/trauma-and-literacy/
Tips
on coaching a novice teacher:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-novice-teacher
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! You can use the code:
OCT2024 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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