In
coaching, when it comes to recommendations, it’s all about how your frame it.
If a meeting starts with a teacher airing frustrations about a lesson or the
kids, you may be headed in the wrong direction. When that happens, I like to
back up the conversation by asking, “What went really well in the lesson?” When
we couch recommendations within a broader framework of success, they are more
likely to be received and employed.
Another
way to frame a recommendation is by stating it as a “noticing.” I like to
memorize sentence starters so that I can prompt myself during a coaching
conversation. My sentence starter for noticings is, “I’ve noticed that when the
teacher ____, students ____.” I’ve found this handy sentence stem is
flexible and effective. The noticing can
be specific to the teacher’s class: “I’ve noticed that when you use the doc cam
to model, your kids follow directions better” or a more general observation: “I’ve
noticed when teachers use the last two minutes of a lesson for reflection, students
often make new connections.” The frame can be stated as a negative, “I’ve
noticed that when teachers move on to another student after a wrong answer,
kids often shut down” or a positive: “I’ve noticed that when teachers probe an
answer that seems wrong, they can often uncover a kernel of correct thinking to
build on.”
Oftentimes
this sentence stem leads a teacher to make her own recommendation: “I should
try asking follow-up questions when students are confused.” If the teacher
doesn’t go there herself, I use another favorite sentence stem that is
full of possibilities: “I wonder what would happen if…..”
These
sentence frames worked for me today when I met with Amanda, a vibrant young
teacher who has much to offer the profession. She walked into my room and even
before she was in the seat she was venting her frustrations about the lesson I’d
observed. “The kids were all over the floor,” she said. “There were two girls
playing with each other’s hair, and half the time the kids weren’t even
listening!”
“You
sound frustrated,” I said. “Let’s back up and think about what went right in
the lesson.”
“What
went right?” she said, surprised that I’d suggested there was anything valuable
to be discussed.
“Yes,”
I queried. “What do you feel good about?”
“Well,
the read-aloud. The kids were really into that.”
We
talked about all the positive comments and relevant learning that happened
during the story. “That book was a great choice,” I said.
“And
I was really pleased that some of the kids noticed the way I’d grouped the
numbers. They noticed it on their own without me pointing it out. And Edgar –
he is really shy and hardly ever speaks up. I saw when he figured it out. The
light bulb went on!”
We
gloried in the light-bulb moment, and then Amanda returned on her own to the
frustrations she’d expressed earlier. However, she was now on more solid ground.
“But it was still so frustrating that kids weren’t paying attention during the
game!”
“Why
do you think that happened?” I asked.
“I’m
not sure,” she said, and paused thoughtfully. “Maybe they didn’t understand the
procedures. I just shouldn’t have tried that game so early in the year, before
procedures were in place.”
I
didn’t want her to give up on the game so easily! Now was the time for that
flexible sentence frame: “I’ve noticed that when teachers are clear in giving
directions, students are more engaged.”
“Yes,
I definitely could have been more clear with the directions,” she said.
“Modeling
would help,” I suggested, and added another sentence with my frame: “I noticed
when you were clear in describing the purpose at the beginning of the lesson,
students seemed very focused. I wonder if they didn’t see how the game
connected to that purpose? I’ve noticed that when teachers keep bringing the
activity back to the purpose, reminding students of the reason for the
activity, engagement goes up.”
Wow,
that was a lot of noticings! Had I
overdone it with that sentence stem, I wondered?
But
Amanda’s face suggested otherwise. She sat up straight and seemed reenergized. “Yes,”
she said, “that makes sense.”
“So,
being clear with directions and tying each part of the lesson back to the
purpose. Do those seem like good goals to shoot for?”
“Yes!
I can do that!” she confidently responded.
As
Amanda’s experience demonstrates, words matter. Choosing the right
ones to frame a recommendation makes coaching more effective.
This week, you might
want to take a look at:
Info. on Next Gen.
Science Tests:
A Podcast with Kyleen
Beers on being an advocate (you can skip to 2:15 for the start of the panel
discussion):
Poems for the beginning
of the year:
Mentor texts to build
classroom community:
Three tips for beginning
of year writing workshop:
That’s it for this
week. Happy Coaching!
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