Modeling the Intangibles

Charlotte Danielson, whose work on teacher effectiveness has been widely acknowledged throughout the country, describes an intangible classroom element that is crucial to engagement and meaningful learning:

Teachers whose classrooms constitute a safe and challenging environment for student learning have artfully combined challenge with support.  This teaching is not formulaic; it is a high-level professional enterprise in which teachers know when to cajole, when to reteach, when to praise, and when to enlist the participation of other students, all in the service of high-level learning.*

Establishing a learning environment like the one Danielson describes is an important goal that can be embedded in coaching work.  No matter what the coaching focus you’ve selected, the teacher you are working with can simultaneously consider her teaching disposition and how her values are reflected continuously in classroom interactions.  Teaching dispositions include characteristics such as:

---Fostering supportive relationships (teacher-student and student-student)

---Respecting diversity

---Holding high expectations for students

Coaches tell me that modeling is an effective way to draw attention to these attributes.  One coach said, “It’s about how I speak to kids.  That’s another part of modeling – the rapport she sees, the relationships with kids, the way I respond, the way I react to student behavior.  It’s a big part of the modeling.”  Another said, “She sees what my expectations are, what is acceptable, what is not.”  Coaches point out that these intangibles get noticed during modeling.  And often the teacher brings them up unsolicited during a debrief conversation.  One coach noted, “I model respect for the kids, and she has commented on that.  I don’t raise my voice.  Just my demeanor.  I think maybe that set her at ease, too.”

The same dispositions that made you an effective teacher constitute your effectiveness as a coach.  The supportive relationships you established in your classroom are critical in your coaching.  The high-expectations you had for your students are also needed for the teachers you are working with.  Display these attributes in your work with teachers and draw attention to them when you model in the classroom.  Your work and the work of teachers you coach will profit from an increased emphasis on the intangibles that create a respectful learning environment. 

*Danielson, C. (2009).  Talk About Teaching, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, p. 58. 

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

A coaching blog about examining the impact of where you sit during a coaching conversation:

http://heatherrader.com/archives/365

A podcast on making formative assessment useful:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1934

An inspiring video, “What Teachers Make”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0

A video on mirror neurons that will give food for thought about establishing rapport:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html

Tried-and-true protocols for professional conversations:

http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocols.html

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

                                                            

Trying It On

When one of my daughters is in town, my credit-card statement burgeons in the category of “clothes."  That’s because we both find it’s so much more fun to go shopping when you do it with someone!  It’s also useful to have another set of eyes.  “What do you think?”  “How does this look?”  “Which one fits better?”  It’s nice to have someone who’ll give you answers to those questions.  Similarly, having someone who’ll answer questions about instruction makes teaching more effective.  

When a teacher you’re working with is trying a new strategy on for size, she may be looking for your recommendations.  Having another set of eyes is useful as she considers the “fit” of the new strategy in her classroom.  “What did you think?”  “Did this approach work better than the way I did it before?”  “How did (a particular student) respond?” “What do I need to change?”  Your honest feedback and recommendations will help your colleague hone her skills with a new approach during the “trying it on” phase. 

When your colleague poses specific questions, your answers to those questions are the best recommendations you can provide.  Even if you have other insights you’d like to share from the lesson, the teacher is giving you insight on her focus and what she is ready and wanting to do by the questions she asks.  Push your agenda aside for a bit and consider with her the answers to her burning questions.  The time for you to bring up other ideas often comes naturally as part of the conversation.  If not, you can make a note to include it in a future discussion.

Recommendations from a trusted companion are a valuable commodity.  Whether shopping or teaching, two minds and sets of eyes are better than one! 

This week, you might want to take a look at these classroom ideas about the Winter Olympics:

These suggested learning experiences connected with the Winter Olympics, from IRA & NCTE:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/winter-olympics-begin-today-31068.html

Videos about the science and engineering of the Winter Olympic Games:

https://www.nbclearn.com/science-and-engineering-of-the-2014-olympic-winter-games

Lesson plans about the Games:

http://sochi2014.olympics.com.au/more/education/lesson-plans

Info. about the Olympic Symbols:

http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_1303.pdf

Who can forget Koala Lou?  That story, and others, are included in this book list for the Olympics:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1939

For older students:  Info. about the tradition of the Olympic Torch Run in modern games (introduced by Hitler) can lead to discussion of other paradoxes:

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007451

 That's it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

On Target

In every classroom, there’s a student who needs support in staying focused.  It’s the student who could potentially have great answers if only he stayed engaged in the conversation.  To help such a student establish a pattern of participation, I would sometimes have a whispered conversation with him before group discussion.  I’d let him know that I had a question in mind that I was going to be asking him later on because I knew he’d give an answer that would benefit the whole class.  Then I’d tell him the question.  That conversation honored the student’s ability, gave him a purpose for paying attention, and provided a focus for his thinking.  It usually paid off with meaningful participation in the discussion, and it helped to establish an important habit of the mind.

Similarly, providing a focus to the teacher you are coaching can pay off as you model new approaches.  Because teachers are busy people, the teacher you are working with may feel inclined to multi-task while you are modeling instruction in her classroom.  But that multi-tasking means that your modeling is not as effective as it could be.  It is really hard to focus on observing while doing something else at the same time.  Selecting a specific focus for a teacher to watch for during modeling provides a target for her attention.  We honor the teacher’s expertise when we honestly say, “I’m really interested to see what you notice about this.”  Yesterday, I was talking with an experienced coach who said her modeling became more effective when she gave the teacher she was working with something specific to watch for.  “When I could tell her something specific,” she said, “it was like she had that purpose.  She knew to watch for that.  It was that accountability.”  She said it was “like we tell the kids – ‘I’m going to call on you in a minute and I want you to have something to say.”

Ensuring that there is a specific focus when we model enriches the post-modeling conversation.  When the teacher can refer to notes she’s taken while observing, she is a more active participant in the conversation.  It turns the tables on the coaching conversation in a positive way, with the teacher often taking the lead to bring up things she’s noticed.  I love it when the teacher is the one doing most of the talking!  I’ve learned that, just like in the classroom, the one doing the most talking is the one doing the most learning!

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

A blog about infusing wonder into the curriculum.  Lots of great ideas inspired by the quote:  ““I’m more interested in arousing enthusiasm in kids than in teaching the facts. The facts may change, but that enthusiasm for exploring the world will remain with them the rest of their lives.”  Read more at:

http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2013/12/03/infusing-wonder-into-nonfiction-reading-and-writing/

Quick, while it’s still January – take a look at these ideas for setting reading resolutions:

http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/experience/articles/2013/feb/turn_a_reading_slump_into_a_reading_surge.asp

And, continuing in the spirit of resolutions, a reflection tool that can be adapted for use with students or teachers to help them think about their year and their own learning:

http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/provost/file96971.pdf

This podcast about tech tools for our youngest learners:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1039

A video about using “hint cards.”  Students decide when they need scaffolding and get it for themselves (the example is a math classroom, but this idea could be adapted for any content):

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/hint-cards?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

That’s it for this week.  Happy coaching! 

Step by Step

This week I’ve been thinking about the gradual in the Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model.  The GIR model illustrates a sequence of mentoring moves that is helpful for teachers who are novices – or those who are being asked to do new things.  When you begin working with a teacher, modeling is a good place to start.  Seeing you in action gives her a visual for teaching strategies she may later try herself.  This modeling phase continues until the teacher is ready to try something new on her own – with your support.  Together, you’ll discuss the instructional plan, and your recommendations will play an important role.  Making recommendations, the second phase of the GIR model, provides less support than modeling, but is strong scaffolding to assure that students receive cogent instruction.  As the teacher you’re working with increases in experience with new strategies, you should plan to pull back and provide support that is more ancillary.  By asking questions that encourage the teacher to reflect on her own instruction and the needs of students, you give her more responsibility for pedagogical decisions about the new approach.  Asking questions, the third phase of the GIR model, encourages metacognition and contemplation about teaching and learning, building the teacher’s capacity as a reflective practitioner.  As the teacher you are working with internalizes this stance, she’ll routinely ask herself the kinds of questions you have been asking.  This inquiring attitude is characteristic of a life-long learner – someone who will continue to grow in her professional abilities. 

At this point in a mentoring relationship, the teacher you are working with will need less and less from you.  Because of the relationship you’ve developed and her respect for your experience, she may still look to you for affirmation that the decisions she is making are appropriate.  When you reach Affirming, the fourth stage of the GIR model, you’ll know that your mentee is on solid ground with the new instructional approach, and your job as a coach shifts.  Praise, the coaching move for the final phase of the Gradual Increase of Responsibility model, is a form of feedback that you might provide to any colleague.  When you see something good happening, say so!  Although at this stage your intern is more confident and not necessarily feeling a need for your approval, she’ll still appreciate having the hard work she is doing recognized. 

How you move through the five phases of the GIR model will, of course, be idiosyncratic.  You’ll advance from one stage to the next when you have evidence that the teacher you are working with needs less support than what you have been providing.  It’s a gradual process – thus the name of the model.  You provide support that is successively scaled back, while the teacher shoulders progressively more responsibility for instructional success.  It’s a line-by-line, step-by-step process.

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

Tips for overcoming immunity to change (for yourself and the teachers you work with:

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/hub/blog/extension-blog/goal-setting-tips-overcoming-your-immunity-change

Grant Wiggins (UBD) blog post about why just posting objectives is a waste of time (just to get you thinking!):

http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/mandating-the-daily-posting-of-objectives-and-other-dumb-ideas/

This podcast about the best assessments for students (with Linda Darling-Hammond):

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/26/257255808/future-series-examining-education

Education Week’s “Spotlight on the Changing State of Assessments” is a free download that contains 7 articles on a variety of topics related to formative and summative assessments:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/spotlight-the-changing-state-of-assessment-sponsored.pdf

A video about learning through drama:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/explorers-lesson-plans?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

That’s all for this week – happy coaching!

Celebrating National Mentor Month

Happy 2014!  January is National Mentor Month, so it’s time to celebrate the work you do!  As a coach, your role is frequently that of consigliere: a trusted advisor and counselor.  A consigliere gets you going when you don’t know where to start.  She gives you a boost when you’re ready to climb.  You can be that guru for getting it done!

One of the reasons coaches are valuable is because we offer outside perspective.  That point of view, which gets teachers beyond the thinking in their own heads, is critical, especially when they are besieged with new initiatives and the everyday life of having 25-or-more little bodies in their charge.  Psychologist Michael Woodward  points out that without honest and informed feedback it’s easy to “get wrapped up in your self-talk and for beliefs to get in the way.”*

Having a mentor with whom thoughts can be openly shared can help a teacher to uncover strategies and ideas she may never have considered.  People benefit from a fair and knowledgeable sounding board, and research suggests that the coach benefits, too – there’s even something in it for you!

It’s a way to be reminded of the journey you’ve taken and a way to give back.  Coaching can be a calling to help people achieve their dreams, a way of honoring the profession that you care so deeply about.  It’s a chance to show gratitude for the privilege you’ve had of going to work every day to a job you care about, where you know you are making a difference in people’s lives.  It was true when you were teaching young students, and it’s true today as you support their teachers. 

But there’s more to it than fulfilling a professional obligation:  Sharing your hard-earned wisdom is a good way to get perspective.  And it’s also a way to learn.  When you are mentoring, you are also learning from the teachers you are working with – it’s a trade.  Being in a symbiotic relationship with a knowledgeable colleague is a way to keep a good thing going. 

Unfortunately, some experts suggest that informal mentoring is on the decline, due in part to the increase of a competitive atmosphere.**  That makes your job as an official mentor even more important.  Although teachers can get valuable feedback from the principal, it’s important to have someone who can give an off-the-record perspective.  A mentor can help teachers assess whether their routine is on a roll or in a rut.  Being open, honest, and direct is the best policy.  There is value in the relationships you’ve created when teachers are willing to hear your feedback and do something with it. 

So take a moment to celebrate yourself during National Mentor Month.  Thank you for all you do!

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

A series of articles in this “Spotlight on Coaching” from Education Week:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/spotlight-on-instructional-coaching-sponsored.pdf

An interesting video about developing student responsibility by offering them choices – this time about seating arrangements:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/unique-student-seating-strategy?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

A large collection of online math games for K-12:

http://www.graphite.org/

A blog that tells you about educreations, which is a great app for classroom use:

http://litlifeblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/app-breakdown-educreations/

An article with ideas for using Twitter in the classroom:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/06/20/twitter-in-the-classroom/

That’s all for this week – Happy Coaching!

*Smits, J.C. (2014).  Guidance counselors: both sides benefit from a top-flight mentor relationship.  Spirit, January 2014, 58, 62-66. 

**Webb, M. & Adler, C. (2013).  Rebooting work: Transform how you work in the age of entrepreneurship.  Hoboken, NJ, Wiley.

Running Their Own Race

Have you ever watched a horse race of thoroughbreds?  The horses charge forward with boundless grace and speed, intent on the stretch ahead and, ultimately, the finish line.  The horses wear blinders, devices that channel their view to their own course and block their vision of how rivals are progressing.  They move ahead, running their personal best, urged on by the jockey who has become one with their movements. 

It’s easy to make a connection between the horse race and the classroom.  When the objective is clear, learning is enhanced (Marzano et. al, 2001).  Students know where the finish line is.  Unpacking that objective helps students see the learning progression they will follow in pursuit of their goal.  A differentiated progression makes the path their own and increases determination.  Differentiation also channels students’ views toward their own course, and they become less concerned with how their efforts compare with the efforts of other students and more concerned with how they will navigate the path toward their objective.  The teacher provides direction as the race progresses. 

In a similar way, teachers’ own learning is enhanced when a clear objective has been set and when the learning path is differentiated.  Teachers can then channel their energy toward following the learning path that leads to the instructional improvement they’ve targeted.   As a partner in the process, the instructional coach guides progress down that unique learning path, perhaps even providing blinders to focus the work.  Using the GIR model, coaching follows a path unique to the objective that is determined by the needs of the teacher.  The coach occasionally reins in when an approach is clearly not working, but more frequently the coach provides gentle guidance, urges the teacher along, and affirms and praises as the finish line comes into view.      

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

A blog about setting goals with students: 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/back-to-school-goal-setting-students-teacher-maurice-elias

Education Week’s “Spotlight on Deeper Learning,” a free download that contains 6 articles on skills and knowledge for our changing world:

http://edweek.org/media/downloads/index.html?f=spotlight-deeper-learning-v2.pdf

An article about modeling rigorous thinking during peer conferences:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1420

A video about reasoning with division:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/common-core-teaching-division?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

An article about deepening literacy thinking through close reading:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Closing-in-on-Close-Reading.aspx

That’s it for this week – Happy Coaching!

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Learning to Ride

When I’m talking with young students about improving their writing, I like the analogy of riding a bike.  They remember when training wheels were removed and they took their first teetering ride, usually with a parent or older sibling running alongside.  We think together about how trying new things in their writing may feel wobbly at first, but soon they’ll be writing with style – doing the fancy stuff with a flourish (Look, Mom – no hands!). 

The same process happens when teachers are trying new instructional practices.  They may make their first wobbly attempt with you as a coach running along beside – co-teaching or providing support in planning and refining lessons. 

The bike-riding analogy is a good fit for the Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model for coaching.  Modeling provides the most support – like training wheels.  The lesson is not going to fall flat.  Making recommendations is running along beside; you’re right there holding onto the bike, pointing out what to do.  When you ask questions that promote reflection and examination of practice, you are still nearby, just not taking such an active role.  And affirming and praising are cheering from the sidewalk while the bike whizzes by!

As you consider the coaching cycles you are working through now with teachers, imagine yourself as the bike-riding assistant.  How much support do they need?  What coaching move will you use most?  With your support, before long your teachers will be navigating new instructional territory with finesse!

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

Education Week’s “Spotlight on Coaching” is a free download that contains 8 articles on coaching:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/spotlight-on-instructional-coaching-sponsored.pdf

A blog post about student-centered professional development (including students during the training):

http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/drill-the-teachers-educate-the-kids/

A short video about celebrating writers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xE1Ygjj6Yc

An article about the importance of working within a child’s ZPD when conferring about writing:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=108

That’s it for this week.  Happy coaching!