Using Coaching Notebooks

You get more of what you think about. The things that are in your thoughts manifest in your actions. As coaches, we can take advantage of this truism: by encouraging reflection on what works, we foster more of it. Coaching notebooks can be a tool for this purpose.
 
In a recent post, I suggested giving a notebook to each teacher you’d be working with as a back-to-school gift. Now it’s time to put that notebook to work! At the beginning of a reflective conversation, whether or not you’ve been there to observe a lesson, ask the teacher to reflect, in writing, on a successful moment from the lesson – a learning highlight (if you were able to observe, this is a great time for you to reflect on a lesson win, too).
 
Writing is a tool for thinking. The process of writing encourages us to classify and organize our ideas; Our thoughts are clarified; our understanding is less shadowy. Writing crystalizes the words.
 
Reflecting in the coaching notebook provides this opportunity. As the teacher writes about a success, the experience is being captured for exploration.
 
When you notice that the teacher’s pen stops moving, say something like, “Let’s take one more minute to add details about what happened.” When the pen stops again, you might even say, “Let’s take a few seconds more and add at least one more detail.” The final minutes are really the gold of this practice. Counterintuitively, the more specific we can be about our stories, the more generalizable the message. The more deeply and detailed a teacher’s thinking about a successful teaching moment, the more likely the moves underlying the success will be repeated, perhaps intuitively.  
 
The details on the page could be thought of as the “What” of a What/So What/Now What protocol. When those final seconds of writing are over, move on to the “So what?” by asking the teacher something like, “What seems important about that teaching success?” After identifying the underlying aspects of success, the rest of the conversation is the “Now what?” phase – focusing on how the success from that lesson could guide future teaching: “Where could you do more of that?”
 
As coach and teacher revisit and ruminate on successes, they deconstruct the instructional moves that made an impact. Interpreting the success supports effective instructional decision-making. The teacher’s future capacity expands.
 
Writing about times when things were going well increases the frequency of such times. Noticing and naming successes settles them in our brains so that we can call them up again when the situation warrants. There’s a proverb that expresses this: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Teachers get more of what they think about – and even more when the thinking is clarified through writing in the coaching notebook and expanded through a coaching conversation.
 
This week, you might want to think about:

A short video about why getting students’ names right matters:
 
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/video-getting-students-names-right-why-it-matters/2016/05
 
 
Gradual release of the classroom library:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/gradual-release-of-the-library/
 
 
5 risks for new teachers to try:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/k12-hub/blog/new-teacher-risks/
 
 
Tips for starting the year as a new (or continuing!) instructional coach:
 
https://www.smore.com/e54a8
 
 
Suggestions for seeking feedback as a coach:
 
https://www.schoolstatus.com/blog/seeking-feedback-as-a-coach
 
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! Use the code: AUG2024 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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