The
Boy Scouts have a motto that also serves coaches well: “Be prepared.” As coaches, we may be surprised by a comment
during a coaching conversation, we might be caught in the hall for an impromptu
recommendation, and we often are asked to respond when we have incomplete
information. When we’re caught off-guard
or feeling confused or uninformed, it’s helpful to have a tip-of-the-tongue response
to give us time to settle, think, and get the bigger picture. An ever-ready
response that works well for me in these situations is, “Say more about that.”
Peter
Johnston, author of the excellent book, Opening Minds,
describes use of the “Say more about that” prompt as a formative assessment
tool when conferring with children. I’ve
found it to be equally powerful in coaching conversations. “Say more about that” is an invitation that
prompts the teacher to give me a better understanding of the situation and think things through herself. It gives me time to shift my focus to the
current situation and gain valuable insight that allows for an informed and
thoughtful response. And as the teacher
articulates the question, she often clarifies her own thinking and begins
formulating solutions.
Recently,
I was walking down the hall when a teacher stopped me with, “Do you have a
minute?” She asked about a recommendation given at a recent training (a
training I hadn’t attended), where they’d been told not to give meaning-based
texts to students before they were fluent readers. Taken aback, I prompted, “Say more about that.” What ensued was a healthy conversation that I
hope supported her own experience and expertise as a teacher of beginning
readers. As she began talking, she
seemed hesitant, but as our conversation continued, she solidified her own
philosophy about the part that decodable texts might play in the balanced diet
of a novice reader. If I had jumped in
with the aghast response that initially sprang to mind, I would have denied the
rich thinking that ensued as we processed together. “Say more about that” paid off.
I’m
just waiting for the time when one of the teachers I’m working with turns the
tables. After I give a recommendation
during a passing-in-the-hall conversation, I’ll smile and know that I am having
an impact when a teacher asks me to “Say more about that.”
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Ideas for improving peer feedback
during writing workshop:
What will career-ready look like in
10-15 years? Here are some guesses:
Photos sure to spark interesting
conversations (and attention to detail):
Suggestions for making grades more
meaningful:
How to make a hovercraft (and other
inexpensive, do-it-yourself physics ideas):
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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