Coaching thru Tension

“We don’t resist change – we resist coercion.”  Peter Block
The tension is palpable when I walk into the room to meet with the 1^st-grade team. As an outside consultant, I’m used to walking into the unknown, but the intensity here catches me by surprise. Formulaic chit-chat and my attempts to restart our agenda where we left off don’t melt the ice.  
 
“If we can see the tension as energy and go toward it, big insights will follow.” Peter Block
 
We aren’t getting anywhere, so I’m going to have to face this, head on,
 
“What’s on your mind?” I ask. I’ve got enough of a relationship with these women that I hope they’ll let me know.
 
Long pause. They look at each other.
 
Then one of them tells me about a change that is coming (a coercion, actually). The principal told them that morning that they’ll be the district guinea pig for a new program. Not only that, using the program will change their schedule, disrupt their literacy block, and totally mess up their flexible grouping strategy, They are not happy. I am not happy.

“The tension points to where the resistance or doubt resides. Discussing the tension makes insights and resolution possible.”  Peter Block
 
As a consultant, I don’t have the authority to change or challenge this decision. We sit in the silence together. Then I remember to view this tension as energy. What can we do?
 
What follows is a discussion about the wiggle room in mandates. There’s often an over-assumption about constraints when an edict comes down. We don’t see the white space. It turns out, we don’t have to be subversive to uncover all kinds of opportunities that remain for responsive instruction, for teachers’ agency, for ways to meet their unique students’ needs. It’s there.
 
Before our 40-minute meeting is over, the ice is melting. There isn’t a total shift in energy, but there’s a start – a glimmer of possibility.
 
Coaches, don’t be afraid to pull at tension. Like a rubber band pulled tight, tension is full of energy. Rather than ignoring it, we can find the courage to harness that energy in productive ways.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Staying focused and keeping your leadership passion alive:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/staying-focused-how-leaders-can-keep-their-passion-for-literacy-alive/
 
 
The role of stories in teaching and change:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/k12-hub/blog/teacher-leaders-storytelling/
 
 
A 1-minute video for students that describes a concrete approach to short constructed responses (the R-A-C-E strategy):
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rXZr7n5qtE
 
 
Summarizing in science:
 
https://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/integrating-literacy-strategies-into-science-instruction/summarizing-in-science
 
 
A short video about the value of plants in the classroom:  😊
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBIQDu5b5uM
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
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Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can still use the code: DEC2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

The Gift of Coaches’ Praise

Withholding praise is like wrapping a present and then hiding it away, not letting it be opened. When we notice something good a teacher is doing, we shouldn’t bite our tongue! Compliments are thoughtful words that nurture and nourish. Praising is an effective coaching move, and it can become the prominent one as the need for other coaching moves drops away.
 
When I was talking with a group of coaches recently, I asked them for examples of praise that was specific or effort-focused. Two coaches were quick to jump in and share wonderful things about teachers they were working with.
 
One said, “Peter is so good at listening to students. He always puts them first. It makes his instruction so much stronger. When students are working, he is having conversations with them, one-on-one, that start by acknowledging where they are and then push them forward.”
 
Another coach described the amazing STEM lesson a teacher had just taught, where students worked effectively in small groups to solve a problem in a scenario connected with their unit on immigration. Students got their hands on materials and worked collaboratively. The coach described how pleased she was that this teacher took the risk to diverge from typical routines. The lesson, she said, was a great success.
 
It was clear the coaches recognized the value of what these two teachers were doing. They sang their praises to our group of coaching colleagues. But my next question cut them short. “Have you told them?”
 
Although both coaches recognized the teachers’ strengths, they had not taken the time to say so. Maybe because some coaching models discourage use of praise. Maybe because they are so focused on improvement that they are looking for things to change rather than things to applaud.
 
In teaching and learning, feelings of relatedness matter. Pre-school researchers and educators advocate a relationship-building practice called “banking time,” where teachers invest in relationships with children by spending quality one-on-one time with a child. The relationships that are built can be a resource that educators rely on. Positive interactions provide capital that can be drawn on later – thus the “banking time” moniker.
 
Similarly, business leaders suggest that a five-to-one ratio of praise to correction is characteristic of effective organizations.* They found that positive feedback motivates people to continue to do those things that they are doing well, and to do them with more vigor, determination, and creativity. Positive feedback was the thing that motivated them to continue improving.
 
Praise provides a sense of being valued. Without this validation, motivation wanes. Feeling encouraged increases engagement. “The better teachers feel about themselves, the stronger they feel about their capabilities, and the more passion they feel about their work.”** People need to feel appreciated to do their best. Praise stimulates more of the attitudes and actions that created previous success. Praise helps the good get better.
 
* Zenger, J., & Folkman, J. (2013). The ideal praise-to-criticism ratio. Harvard Business Review, 15. https://hbr.org/2013/03/the-ideal-praise-to-criticism
 
** Tschannen-Moran, B. & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2020). Evocative coaching: Transforming schools one conversation at a time. John Wiley & Sons, p. 107.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Increasing student engagement:
 
https://ccira.blog/2023/12/18/student-disengagement/
 
 
3 Strategies to make note-taking interactive:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-fun-strategies-note-taking
 
 
Graphic novel adaptations:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/best-graphic-novel-adaptations-for-the-middle-grades/
 
 
Resources for fighting fake news:
 
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2017/11/i_teach_students_how_to.html
 
 
Ideas for talking about math (share with parents or use yourself!).  Ages 1-9 or so; age filters on the right. Lots to explore here!
 
https://talkingmathwithkids.com/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
---------------------------------
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: DEC2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
 

Third-Point Communication in Instructional Coaching

In most coaching conversations, making eye contact is an asset. It helps both people focus on the conversation. It’s easier to read facial expressions. This can improve understanding. However, there are times when eye contact might feel uncomfortable. For example, eye contact is inappropriate with “superiors” in some cultures, so expecting it can create awkwardness. Even when both people share a culture of communication that expects eye contact, a direct gaze can undermine the conversation if a teacher perceives the information that is being shared as negative.
 
When confronted with such evidence, the receiver may have a sense of losing face, of being under attack, of having to defend, or of having to hide strong feelings of being upset. To avoid these negative emotions that can damage a relationship and hinder learning, consider adding a third point.
 
Instead of two people gazing into each other’s eyes, evidence in the form of a paper or screen (student work, teaching video, assessment data, etc.) directs the gaze to an object, making the message feel less personal. It’s helpful to look up when communicating positive information, but to shift to a third point when communicating information that might be received negatively.
 
Two-point communication references the two people talking to each other, usually looking directly at each other. Third-point communication, which can be helpful in difficult conversations, shifts attention away from eye-to-eye contact by adding a third point for both people to look at. Here are some things that could serve as third points in a coaching conversation:

·       Academic standards

·       Teaching video of the teacher him/herself

·       Teaching video of someone else

·       Student work

·       Assessment data

·       A list of the teacher’s personal goals

·       Your notes from an observation

·       Anchor chart (previously created or being co-created)

·       A list of potential ideas (previously created or being co-created)

·       A rubric

·       A professional article or book

When preparing for a potentially-difficult conversation, or when considering evidence that could be perceived as negative, it helps to plan in advance for a third point.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Tips on having influence that are just right for coaches:
 
http://jenniferabrams.com/what-not-to-do-if-you-want-to-be-more-influential/
 
 
Cues for classroom management:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
 
 
Vocabulary instruction in science:
 
https://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/integrating-literacy-strategies-into-science-instruction/vocabulary-instruction
 
 
Visual aids to support elaboration in writing:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/strategies-for-elaboration-in-opinion-writing/
 
 
The engagometer – ask the students if they were engaged:
 
https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/vp2.1.htm
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
---------------------------------

Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: DEC2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

Responsive Coaching

Coaches succeed when they are dialed in to what each particular teacher needs. That’s a challenge that won’t be achieved with perfection, but as we seek to understand, we’ll find our efforts are more on target.
 
When we’re talking with a teacher, we don’t want our responsive to be an impulsive one. Instead, we can stop and think, “What is it that this teacher needs? What is it that they’re thinking about? What is it that they’re feeling, and then, how do we respond? How can we be responsive to what they need?” When we are really trying to understand the individual, we become more aware of what that specific teacher might need in order to grow.
 
We can make the teacher’s needs a subject of our study and coach them accordingly. When we truly look at each teacher and treat them as an individual, our offerings will be more aligned with what they need. Coaching is an opportunity to meet needs, one by one.
 
Unfortunately, it’s a moving target, because teachers’ needs are always changing. That complicates things!  We just do our best to understand them and support them with what they need right now. We can do our best to assess, to really listen, before moving forward.
 
Responsive coaches pay attention. They reinvent and adapt to the experiences of those they serve. They consider context, build on the resources that learners bring to the table, and attend to current needs. A simple question can help you find out what those needs are:
 
“What are you wondering about right now?”
 
Teachers’ wonderings and questions will provide insight about how you can support them. Their questions will tell you what they are troubled by and what they want help with. That is the beginning. We can’t know what to do until we know where they are.
 
Asking lets us know where teachers are in their practice. As with all questions, it’s important to frame the question in a way that prompts a thoughtful pause. You might try:
 
“What is missing for you right now?”
 
This question feels accessible. It could open a conversation about knowledge or resources that would be helpful. More directly, you could ask:
 
“What would supportive coaching look like for you right now?”
 
This question is a bit weightier, asking the teacher to come up with the solution. Their response would enable you to provide targeted support. 
 
It is also important to pause along the way and consolidate insights that are gained. You can encourage this stance by asking questions such as:
 
“What are you understanding?”
 
“What are you learning?”
 
As you gather information from teachers, you can make professional decisions about how to best support them. You will be armed with greater understanding about teachers’ current needs. You will be more responsive. Teaching and coaching must always be dynamically adapted and reinvented to match learners and contexts. Rather than reacting to your perceptions, asking questions ensures that the support you offer is responsive to teachers’ felt needs.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

22 Unexpectedly Effective Teaching Hacks
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/22-effective-teaching-hacks/
 
 
This one-minute video about making sure pet peeves don’t hijack writing conferences:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/quick-take-beware-of-pet-peeves/
 
 
Positively impacting students’ reading identities (growth is more than just a reading level!):
 
https://ccira.blog/2023/12/05/inviting-growth-the-teachers-role-in-affirming-acknowledging-shifting-expandingstudents-literate-identities/
 
 
Changing the conversation about grades:
 
https://pernillesripp.com/2017/06/23/tools-for-changing-the-grading-conversation/
 
 
Don’t let the picture fool you – play supports learning for older students, too! Here’s some advice about how to introduce play-based learning into your school or classroom:
 
https://www.thegeniusofplay.org/genius/expert-advice/articles/the-best-way-to-engage-students-today-introduce-play-based-learning-into-your-school.aspx
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
---------------------------------
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: DEC2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

“Try It!” Coaching Teachers to Jump In

Decades ago, a Life® cereal commercial made the memorable chant, “Try it, you’ll like it!” part of everyday speech. That’s an adage we, as coaches, might want to embrace and share. When we suggest new strategies, encouraging teachers to jump in and try it might be all that is needed to convince them to make evidence-based practices part of their ongoing practice.
 
Some people are toe-dip kind of people, wanting to try it out just a bit before diving in. Some are gradual adopters, getting deeper into the water inch by inch until they’re fully submerged. Both of these approaches have their places, but in the classroom, it’s hard to be half-way in. Jumping in gives better understanding of how and why a practice works.
 
Trying a practice creates full-body learning experience with here-and-now intensity that includes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic input, plus feelings and thoughts. Such experiences give ideas context and open opportunities for reflection-in-action.
 
In her book, The Wisdom of Your Body, Hillary McBride writes, “While most of us think that change happens because we learn new ideas, the deepest and most lasting change happens when we have new experiences…Embodied experience is undeniably the most powerful channel of change.”
 
Fourth-grade-teacher Bailey took the full-body approach when introducing student-led discussion. She had tried toe-dip experiences like partner talk and small-group work, but she was ready to jump in. After reading a Native American tale, students circled around a crepe-paper-and-flashlight campfire to share their insights. Bailey laid the ground rules and explained that she would not be leading the discussion. Then she gave the talking stick to one student and stepped outside the circle. Bailey was pleasantly surprised by the rich student-led discussion that ensured, and she was converted to its power.
 
Taking a running jump into a new strategy provides an immersive, embodied experience. There’s sure to be some flailing and floundering, but that is part of the process of learning to swim. The cannonball approach gets you into the water way quicker than the toe-dip method. So when you have a new practice to introduce, encourage teachers jump in. Like it was with Mikey in the Life® commercial, you might find yourself saying, “Hey! He likes it!”
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Using technology to differentiate:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos
 
 
Lessons from real-life differentiation:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/a-thanksgiving-take-on-differentiating-instruction/
 
More writing, less grading:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/assigning-more-writing-less-grading
 
 
Paraphrasing in science:
 
https://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/integrating-literacy-strategies-into-science-instruction/paraphrasing
 
 
The role of identity in learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/when-social-brain-misfires
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
---------------------------------
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: DEC2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

Digging into Details during Post-Modeling Coaching Conversations

Modeling is the most-supportive coaching move in the GIR Model, one that creates opportunities for reflection and growth. The 3-part process of effective modeling includes;
1) A pre-observation discussion to set the stage and determine a focus;
2) The coach teaching a lesson while the teacher observes and takes notes related to that focus; and
3) A post-modeling conversation.
 
Let’s dig into the details of that post-modeling conversation.
 
What happens after an observed lesson is critical for making modeling worthwhile. In post-modeling conversations, staying focused on a single dimension of instruction will increase the impact of your modeling. The focus that was determined in a conversation with the teacher before the lesson should be the primary topic. Modeling that is preceded and followed by conversations that draw attention to a specific aspect of instruction make this coaching move more effective. Both teacher and coach should avoid tempting tangents.
 
As a coach, your job is to keep the conversation specific. if the teacher makes comments that are vague, ask a probing question like, “What makes you say so?” Instead of saying, “I liked how twelve students asked questions,” encourage the sharing of judgement-free data, such as, “I counted twelve students who asked questions.” Non-judgmental data that is grounded in what was seen and heard will lead to rich discussions.
 
Encourage teachers to give specifics about what they saw and heard. Offering the sentence frame, “I noticed that when you _______, students ________” can support specific statements that lead to cause-and-effect thinking and generalizable best practices. Making links between instruction and student learning can lead to ongoing improvement.
 
As a coach, you can maintain a clear focus when you respond to teachers’ comments by making connections to the learning target they identified as the focus for their observation. For example, if the teacher selected higher-order thinking questions as their focus, keep this topic central to the conversation, perhaps labeling a question you asked as evaluation or analysis.
 
Coaches can encourage teachers to observe closely and look for patterns, noticing and naming what they see. This practice invites teachers to make sense of what they saw during the observation.
 
As the teachers you are supporting use language that is focused, name what they see, and recognizes patterns, their learning will be sharpened and they’ll gain insights they can put into practice. 
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Coaching veteran teachers with respect:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-veteran-teacher
 
 
Teaching students to be skeptical but not dismissive of media:
 
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov17/vol75/num03/The-Real-Problem-with-Fake-News.aspx
 
 
Graphic novels are real reading:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/a-case-for-graphic-novels-as-real-reading/
 
 
Teaching Writers Craft with micro-mentor texts:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/micro-mentor-texts-to-teach-writing/
 
 
An administrator’s view on why coaches are important:
 
https://dennissparks.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/using-instructional-coaches-effectively/
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
---------------------------------
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: NOV2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

Piling on Praise

Last week, I met with a coach, Amber, who talked about her work with both frustration and compassion. There is a teacher she really wants to work with, but, she said, “I don’t even know what her students’ writing looks like. I can’t get in there to model. We schedule something, and then when I show up, she says she forgot or she’s got something else planned.”  She paused. Then, as Amber continued talking about this teacher, I saw her stance shift. “She’s just got so much going on,” she said. “There’s so much being asked of her. It’s a mess.” As Amber thought compassionately about the teacher, Elise, her desire to help was obvious.
 
Since Elise had seemed reluctant to have her coach model in her classroom, I talked with Amber about other ways she could get to know students’ abilities and needs. She could review the recent writing assessment. She could ask to observe. I suggested that Amber let Elise decide when and what she could observe so that Elise felt in control of this aspect of her teaching life. “Say, ‘Let me know when you’ll be doing something you think I’d be interested in seeing – or something you’d like me to see.”* That idea seemed to resonate with Amber, so I suggested a next step. “Then, when you’re in her room, just look for things to affirm and praise. It sounds like that’s what Elise really needs right now.” Leave a sticky note with a few positives, and then layer on the praise when you talk to her,” I suggested.
 
Of course, to be effective, the praise would need to be sincere and specific. When praise is general, it doesn’t have power. As you look for things to praise, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:*

·       Do students take risks and seem comfortable asking for help?

·       Does the teacher have a good sense for when students need more examples?

·       Are they good at giving instructions?

·       Do they ask challenging questions?

·       Do they have good wait time after asking a question?

·       Do they include interesting activities in the lesson?

Questions like these could uncover positive aspects of teachers’ coaching, both small and large, that are worthy of praise.
 
When teachers perceive criticism (overt or implied), they are sapped of the energy needed for success in our challenging profession. When teachers don’t get feedback about what they are doing right, they feel discouraged and undervalued.

In situations of stress and overwhelm, praise provides a positive push to keep going. Piling on praise in a coaching conversation builds the teacher’s confidence and reduces her anxiety. It strengthens the teacher-coach relationship and opens the door for ongoing collaboration.

* https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/your-teachers-need-a-win/

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Carol Dweck on the value of struggle:

https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/

Slow down student writing during the drafting process:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/story-maps-for-reflection-in-the-midst-of-drafting/


Suggestions for making grades more meaningful:
 
https://pernillesripp.com/2017/06/23/tools-for-changing-the-grading-conversation/

Classroom arrangements and the social brain:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/social-classroom


Ways to support the development of executive functions:
 
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/instructional-strategies/at-a-glance-classroom-accommodations-for-executive-functioning-issues

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching (and Happy Thanksgiving)!

Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter and Instagram @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com
 
---------------------------------
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! TODAY you can use the code: NOV2023 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!