Marcus
Buckingham, in a podcast called “9 Lies about Work,”* described the importance
of building on the good things that are happening on the job. "Your current goodness is the raw material for your greatness," he said. Those words resonated with me because of my
work in instructional coaching. Affirming
and praising
are the final phases of the research-developed GIR
coaching model, but they are important coaching moves all along the
way.
When
you have a chance to talk with teachers after observing instruction, be sure to
notice things that went well. Some of
these were probably preplanned, but other successes became apparent during the
unfolding of the lesson. Highlighting
what went well can move it from good to great!
While
observing a third grade math lesson, I noticed that as students discussed the
process they used to solve a fractions problem, it helped them to correct
errors, especially when students asked their peers clarifying questions. Emphasizing this effective aspect of the
lesson encouraged the teacher to include another step in the instructions for
small-group work. After a group member
described how they solved the problem, students were encouraged to: “Ask questions about what they did.” Making this step a more explicit part of the
process increased opportunities for students to listen to and learn from one
another. It took something that went
well during the lesson and made it even better!
Students found success as they worked a problem independently and then
shared their process with others in their small group.
When
we lift something from the lesson that went well and hold it up for
examination, we increase the chances that it will happen again. Noticing and
naming successes settles them in our brains so that we can call them up again
when the situation warrants. Our teaching toolkits get bigger.
As
you observe a lesson, you can find many things that went right. Celebrate
successes! The debrief conversation provides
a space to unpack experience and think about both the observable and the inner
work of teaching. Teaching is complex and messy because teachers and their
students are unique. Aspects of instruction that work in a teacher’s
classroom context are the raw materials for making instruction even better!
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You
can read more about retaining successes in my book, Collaborative Lesson Study,
which is now two months old. J I loved making this book
for teachers and hope you’ll love reading it!
It’s available here (20% discount code is TCP2019).
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This week, you
might want to take a look at:
Self-management
vs. classroom management:
What are they doing right with
education in Finland? Listen up:
New
research supports a growth mindset. Here are some tips:
Having
courage for difficult conversations:
Allington’s summary of research-based
practices for reading instruction. A must to read and share:
That’s it for
this week. Happy Coaching!
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