Last
week’s post focused on shortfalls; lots of time with minimal effect. I told of my decision to “cut my losses” with
a teacher who I’d been working with all year with little growth. If you missed that post, you can read about
it here.
Having
made the decision to shift my time and energy elsewhere, I had a concluding conference
with “Nicole” this week. I found some
pluses to highlight – small steps in the right direction that had occurred
recently. I didn’t sugar-coat the
situation; the feedback tool we’ve been using is pretty objective and showed
there was still much room for growth. As
I talked about my decision to conclude our coaching cycle, I noticed that her
shoulders dropped and she leaned back and became more relaxed….confirmation
that my decision to move on was right (for now).
I was
curious, though, to notice that she actually seemed to be more interested than
usual in my feedback after announcing this decision. It was as if she knew that now I wouldn’t be
marking her progress, so she’d have to take on that responsibility. Seeing her more in tune, I tried to put
together the right blend of compliment and recommendation, making sure to
sandwich my suggestions between praise and affirmation. My “antennas” were up for a shut down on her
part, but it didn’t come.
Before
meeting with Nicole, I had put together the chart below. In our conversation, I affirming there had been progress by asking, “What made
the lesson I saw yesterday work so much better than the last one I observed?” Then,
as the conversation moved forward, I put a mental check mark by each one of the
items below as it naturally flowed in the conversation. And I intentionally included the items that
didn’t somehow come up, keeping up the dance between praise and
suggestion.
Here
are the things I noted:
Pluses
|
Concerns
|
Throughout
most of the read aloud, students were really paying attention.
You
pulled sticks to ask students questions, ensuring that more students
participated. You could have encouraged engagement even more by having everyone
get an answer in their head before calling a name.
You
asked questions when Ss had difficulty retelling the story. This scaffolded students’ learning.
Although
most questions were literal, recall questions, the “Why” question required
higher-level thinking. That would have
been a good one for turn & talk.
When
modeling, you incorporated sight words with choral spelling, reminded
students what to do if they didn’t know how to spell a word.
Before
sending students to their seats, you set expectations for what it would “look
like and sound like” while they were working.
|
When
you asked the question, “When we look for key details in our book, what are
we looking for?” students had a
difficult time answering the question.
Why do you think the question was hard for them?
They
also had a hard time with the question, “What if a key detail was left out?
What would you think?” Why do you think they struggled with that
question?
Did
students talk about it during T&T?
Do
you think some of the students may have heard this story before? Did you
think about that while planning the lesson?
How might you have modified the lesson based on some students already
knowing the story?
Ss
would have benefited from a couple of reminders during the story to be
listening for key ideas.
|
At
the end of the conversation, I think we both felt good. It was an end, of sorts, but it didn’t feel
like a dead end. At some point, hopefully we’ll both be open
to circling back around for more.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Tenets about conferring
(with students, but read with a lens for working with teachers, as well):
Incorporate
visual literacies - Sites for creating a comic:
Paraphrasing in science:
Spotlight on inquiry-based teaching and
learning:
https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/Spotlight-Inquiry-Based-Teaching-Learning-2017-Sponsored.pdf
When students say they have nothing to
write:
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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