Coaching Notebooks after Modeling

Coaching notebooks are a tool for discovery when coaches confer with teachers after they model. If you have modeled a lesson, the observer’s non-evaluative notes about what they saw and heard offer a springboard for meaningful discussion and learning.
 
When you meet with a teacher after a lesson you’ve modeled, it can be helpful to offer a few silent moments for her to review her notes. Encourage her to highlight or underline things that seem important. Ask her to view her notes through the lens of her own personal teaching goals.
 
After the teacher has scanned and marked up her notes, offer time to synthesize these ideas. You might say something like, “Now that you’ve noted what seems important, take a minute or two to write about why those moments seem important.” While she reviews, use the time to jot down your own notes, capturing fleeting thoughts that occurred to you in the midst of teaching.
 
The details matter, so careful notes will provide evidence for productive conversations. Did the teacher notice students’ looks of confusion or “aha” expressions while you taught? These noticings give us clues about what worked so that we can zero in on generalizable teaching strategies. As the teacher shares her noticings and notes, ask questions that encourage transfer: “When have you tried something like that?” “How did it go?” “When might you use this approach again?” or “Why would you want to avoid that?”
 
A post-modeling conversation is the time to analyze, to figure out what worked and why, what didn’t and why not. We make links between instruction and student learning. After you’ve modeled a lesson, pinning the reflective conference on observations that are objective and specific, rather than evaluative or general, reveals nuances of practice that support teachers’ instructional improvement.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
This short video (1 ¼ minutes) about improving on improving (with Adam Grant):
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAhCJnCRnwg
 
 
Advice for new teachers:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
 
 
Choice writing in a world of standardized testing:
 
https://ccira.blog/2024/09/30/term-projects-exploring-choice-writing-in-a-world-of-standardized-testing/
 
Literacy for wounded students:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/trauma-and-literacy/
 
 
Tips on coaching a novice teacher:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-novice-teacher
 
 
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! You can use the code: OCT2024 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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