Several times this week, I’ve paused
at dusk to watch the fireflies dance. Their flickering glitter brings a sense
of magic to the end of a long summer day.
In my neighborhood, the fireflies’ flash is accompanied by a chorus of
cicadas and tree frogs, so it’s hard to miss the fact that night is falling.
This time of year, it’s also hard to
miss the signs that summer break is dimming.
Discount stores have stocked up on school supplies, and many families
are packing to squeeze in a vacation before the ring of the school bell signals
the end of summer.
For coaches, it’s a good time to think
ahead to the coming year. How will you
frame your work as a coach so that it’s welcomed by teachers? In last week’s post, I shared some magic
words for coaching and collaboration.
This week, I’ll add another to the list, a word that signals to teachers
the kind of relationship you hope to have with them in your coaching work. It is the short but powerful word, we.
When we frame our work with the word we,
our words set forth that work as collaborative. We implies that the work will be
shared. It says we will be bouncing ideas off one another, listening
respectfully, and celebrating shared victories. We will depend on each other
and depend on trust. The work will feel
collaborative when we use the word we more than I. Hanging a sign with
those two letters, w-e, in our meeting room is a good reminder.
As we work together with teachers,
instruction becomes “a public contribution to be shared, used, shaped, and
understood by the community.”* We help
each other grow. Our work becomes an illustration of the Quaker proverb, “Thee
lift me and I’ll lift thee and we’ll ascend together.”
The “ascension” of instructional
improvement is the work of collaboration and coaching. The word we is a “just right” word for
couching our coaching work.
While watching the fireflies tonight,
I was reminded of the importance of word choice expressed in Mark Twain’s quip:
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a
large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and
the lightning.” Thinking about the
implications of the words we choose can get our coaching off on the right foot
when a new school year gets underway.
*Lieberman, A., & Pointer Mace, D.
(2010). Making practice public: Teacher learning in the 21st century. Journal
of Teacher Education, 61(1), p. 80.
---------------------------
Teacher
collaboration is something I’m passionate about! You can read
more about creating a collaborative culture in my upcoming book, Collaborative Lesson Study, available
here
for pre-order (20%
discount code is TCP2019). Please indulge me in celebrating this book. I’m so excited to share what I’ve learned!
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
Preparing
classrooms for success at the beginning of the school year (podcast):
A
beautiful, printable poster with tips for new teachers:
A
helpful excerpt from the book Discipline
with Dignity:
Building
routines for readers workshop:
Moving
coaching relationships from social to professional:
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