Ruminate or Reflect?

May is the time for remembering. Whether the year has already ended or you still have a bit left, you have probably been thinking back – on your own and with the teachers you coach – about the experiences of this year.
 
Let’s start with you.
 
Is there something you’ve been brooding about? Something you didn’t like and can’t get out of your head? Is there a thought playing on repeat, like the last song you heard with a refrain that hangs on? That might be fine if you love the tune, but if you’re stewing about something and it reruns again and again, it’s probably not productive.
 
Maybe it’s that conversation you had that you wish had ended differently. A PD that lacked energy. An idea that fell flat. A lesson that didn’t go as planned. A time when you lost your temper. A time when you missed an opportunity. If you’re not feeling this way now, it has probably happened to you sometime in the past. You know the feeling – it’s called ruminating.
 
When you were stuck in a circular rut of cerebral repetition, dwelling on what was or what could have been, you were looking back. Your mind kept reverting to the past. That’s not productive.
 
Of course, we want to recognize things that didn’t go well – it’s part of the improvement process. But a more productive path, as we summon up even the negative experiences from the past, is to contemplate how we will move forward. When we weigh past experiences, analyzing what could now change, we disrupt the possibility of reproducing an undesirable result.
 
When we deliberate with wonder and curiosity, we can think back as a way to move forward. That is the difference between ruminating and reflecting. Reflecting involves forward motion. If we take a learning stance when we summon up the past, we are reminded of not just the what, but the why. The why is where discovery happens. To stop the cycle of rumination, we consider not just pasts, but possibilities.
 
If you or a teacher you are working with is stuck in rumination, here are some practices that push toward reflection:
 
Talk
Talking gets us out of our head so that we can move on. This week, I was dwelling on a frustration. It was after the fact, and I couldn’t do anything about it until next time. But that didn’t stop it from replaying in my mind. I finally called two people and told them about it. Just saying it out loud got me unstuck. Saying it blocked the repeat. You can be there to listen to a ruminator, or you can find someone to listen if you’re the one that’s stuck.
 
Write
For some, writing is an antidote to unproductive cogitation. Like talking, writing gets the words out and can move thinking forward. Even writing the never-ending refrain out a few times, if you don’t yet have anything else to say, can offer a start. Writing can invoke critical thinking, opening up new angles. It helps you stand outside the experience. Writing encourages you to question assumptions and consider alternative perspectives. It gets you out of a grove by taking the thinking deeper. Writing might be just the thing to help a teacher you know move forward.
 
Written reflection affords the opportunity to make beliefs and orientations more explicit, supporting change. Including description might help teachers link their experiences to professional knowledge, making inferences and generalizations about what took place. Moving from the particular event to generalizable inferences about practice supports future instructional decision-making.
 
Ask Questions
Talking and writing can include asking questions. Asking questions promotes reflection. You can interrupt the rumination rhythm by leading with the “5 W’s and an H.” Like an investigative reporter, consider who, what, when, where, why, and how. You can do this for someone else in a coaching conversation. You can ask yourself these questions or encourage a stuck teacher to self-question. Self questioning promotes reflection.
 
Shift to Problem-Solving
Instead of dwelling on a past experience, shift the focus to finding solutions. Break down the situation into small pieces and determine one action that could be taken. For example, if you’re ruminating about that PD that fell flat, you could order a copy of Sit and Get Won’t Grow Dendrites (I love that one – just had to throw it in!). By actively taking steps to address the issue, you can redirect your energy (or the energy of a teacher you are working with) from rumination to constructive problem-solving, empowering you to make positive changes and move forward.
 
As the school year draws to a close, coaches and the teachers they work with pause to recall their experience. Help yourself and the teachers you serve break free from ruminating thoughts and move toward productive reflection through talking, writing, questioning, and problem-solving.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Read alouds for saying goodbye:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/end-of-year-read-alouds/
 
 
The art and science of teaching reading:
 
https://ccira.blog/2024/05/20/the-art-and-science-of-teaching-reading/
 
 
Summarizing strategies:
 
http://digitalliteracy.us/summarizing-strategies/
 
 
Teaching place value with paper cups:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnUPHO5oiWQ
 
 
End-of-year reflection to next year’s writing teachers:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/end-of-the-year-reflection/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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: MAY2024 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!
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