Unfreezing Old Practices

Are you working with a teacher who is frozen in old practices?  Being stationary is never sufficient when it comes to teacher learning.  “Teacher preparation” in universities is merely the beginning of a career-long journey in instructional improvement.  Once in the classroom, our “texts” expand beyond books and articles on a required reading list.  Our students’ responses become texts that we “read” every day, along with other professional resources.

When confronted with a teacher who is immobile in the cycle of continuous improvement, we can “turn up the heat” in ways that warm, rather than burn, those with whom we are working.  One way we can warm the teacher to new ideas is by using a strength or a positive observation as a point of departure.  For example, if we find one question the teacher posed that invoked thoughtful responses from her students, we can lift this question from the lesson and hold it up for examination.  Warming in the glow of this acknowledgement, we can sponsor reflection that focuses first on examining the effective question, then expands to other aspects of teaching.

Preparing for a coaching conversation with overconfident Katie this week, I am looking for the positive lever to use to open the conversation.  I know she is a lifelong learner, I’ll say, because I saw her at a conference this summer.  What were her take-aways? What is she working on? How can I help?  Because Katie never wants to appear vulnerable, starting by applauding her conference attendance should circumvent an icy reception.

These first steps may not initiate significant departures from past practices, but hopefully they will mobilize the learning process for these teachers, unfreezing some of their less-effective habitual practices.  I hope that my honest acknowledgments of their strengths will set in motion coaching cycles that have positive impacts on student learning.

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

High fives for teachers:

https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/1479756855393102/

Podcast on infusing social and emotional learning in the curriculum:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/tchtalks-podcast/tch-talks-episode-4

A Teacher’s Month by Month Guide to Growth Mindset:

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2eb5DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA4&ots=_1h14z-McJ&sig=LVXbArApyCv7RiiWWyxqEYjHpj4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Using blended learning in the ELA classroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op2JGVgwXXw&index=2&list=PLYmYDLb2oJqGQOvjZHPhO4ulIuiUvNYNS

What is effective teaching?  Join the discussion:

https://www.teachontario.ca/community/explore/blog/2015/09/01/excellence-effective-teaching

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Have You Noticed? Modeling Failure

If you are a mentor or coach, have you modeled failure lately?

Movies and popular media are replete with Super-Teachers:  Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, Pat Carroll in Freedom Writers, Edward Olmos in Stand and Deliver.  These caricatured teachers present a polished, uncracked model of teaching and teachers that is not only unachievable but disheartening.  It promotes feelings of inadequacy.  Failure, however, is part of the real-life of teaching, and those we mentor and coach deserve to see us working through this process. 

They deserve to see us model the ambiguity and risk-taking that is part of teaching.  They deserve to see that sometimes taking risks ends in mistakes, in debacles, in failure.  And that learning from failure isn’t a quick and easy process.  If we don’t show them this side of teaching, we create a false ideal.  If we hide our struggles from our mentees, we perpetuate the feelings of inadequacy these false ideals create. 

We have probably told our students repeatedly that mistakes are a part of learning.  Are we explicitly describing and modeling this for those we mentor or coach?  Do we model a willingness to take risks and try new things?  Do we let our colleagues see the struggle by inviting them in when we try something new?  By thinking aloud as we reflect on a disaster?  By describing some of the reasons the lesson went awry?  When we describe our analysis, we demonstrate our thoughtful review of the situation.  Was it the planning and preparation that was lacking?  Or something about the execution?  As we reflect, we demonstrate how drawing on our experience helps us revise our instructional plans so that things go better the next time.  We model the notion that being a good teacher is about being able to adjust. 

Teachers need to see other teachers fail.  More importantly, they need to see how we respond to failure.  As we model a cycle of failure, reflection, and revision, we demonstrate that teaching requires us to be pliable and that challenges are a part of real-life teaching.

Those you mentor and coach will likely breathe a sigh of relief as you unveil your own errors.  They will feel a little more confident in their own ability to rebound, knowing that those kinds of things happen to other teachers, too.  Disasters are a part of our working life.  Every teacher struggles now and then with instructional design.  We all have lessons that flop.  Modeling how to learn from them is an important part of our role as coach.   

This summer, I made a trip to Prince Edward Island, the setting for the novel, Anne of Green Gables.  As I reread the book in order to fully relish the trip, I was struck by this response by the irrepressible Anne: “But have you ever noticed one encouraging thing about me, Marilla? I never make the same mistake twice.”  We may not have Anne’s confidence of “never” making a mistake again, but it is truly our response to mistakes, not the mistakes themselves, that determine the teacher we are becoming. 

When failures happen, we don’t just recover, we discover, seeing teaching as an ongoing learning journey.  Ambiguity is part of learning.   The way we view the things that go wrong is more important than how often or how badly things go wrong.  Teaching is never perfectable (it will never be perfect!), but it is improvable.  Teachers need to see others fail.  So let them see you struggle.

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

Improve teaching by doing a few things well:

https://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WECM.CourosGDuet11.cfm

Benefits of teaching expectations:

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v13.1.htm

Pinterest board with classroom storage ideas:

https://www.pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/classroom-storage-ideas/

How to make writer’s notebooks more authentic:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2031

Teaching Shakespeare with technology:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/09/teaching-shakespeare-with-21st-century-technology.html

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Memory Lane: Coaching New Teachers

As doors open for another academic year, schools are welcoming not just new students, but also new teachers, into their classrooms.  About 322,000 new teachers were hired this year,* and mentors and instructional coaches play an important role in keeping these new teachers in the profession and in helping them achieve success in their first year and beyond.

How do these novice teachers’ needs differ from others you are coaching? As you support early-career teachers, developing empathy is key.  Take a trip down memory lane and revisit your own first years as a teacher.  What were your own struggles and successes?  How did those early experiences lead you to the teacher you are today?  I found that writing a Letter to My First-Year Teacher Self helped me remember and understand what these new teachers may be going through. Teaching is mentally, physically, and emotionally-demanding – even more so in the early years.  Reminding ourselves of our own previous experiences can help us respond with authentic empathy.  And there may be a time and place for mentioning these experiences to your novice-teacher friends.  But when an early-career teacher vents her concerns, keep the focus on her.  As you listen, temporarily set aside judgment and listen with your heart.  Don’t dismiss her concerns, but avoid letting them spiral into a negative hole.

When the venting has abated and some pressure is relieved, help the early-career teacher set measurable, achievable goals.  Small successes bolster confidence and, accumulated, lead to big improvements.  Some folks talk of setting “aspirational goals,” saying that reaching for the stars and missing is better than aiming too low.  However, when a teachers’ confidence is strained, a goal achieved, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction.  Let the teacher choose the focus and the type of feedback she needs.  A sense of control is important to adult learners, and there are probably other situations in an early-career teacher’s day that feel out of her control. 

Observations provide shared experiences for dialogue.  One option, of course, is for you to observe the new teacher in her classroom.  But a less-threatening option, early on, may be for both of you to observe a more veteran teacher.  This common experience will provide for discussion that is more fruitful than simply hearing her impressions of a lesson she has observed on her own.  Valuing description over evaluation during dialogue enhances instruction and results in improved student learning  Although such observations were likely part of her student-teaching experience, a first-year teacher is seeing with new eyes.

As a colleague, model continuous learning.  It is appropriate, at times, to share your own current struggles and frustrations with early-career friends.  Knowing that even veteran teachers aren’t perfect can be a huge relief!  Good mentors are transparent about their problems of practice and their own search for better answers.  It models the stance that we are always looking for ways to make our instruction more effective and that instruction must be responsive to the ever-changing needs of our students.  Demonstrate that you are open to learning from colleagues (even the newest ones!).  Describing struggles also demonstrates your own vulnerability, and your openness helps to build a relationship of trust. 

Perhaps most importantly, communicate optimism and confidence that the new teacher you are working with can overcome challenges and provide effective instruction for her students.  Coaching a new teacher can help her discover the joys you have found in this challenging but satisfying profession.

*https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28

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

Mentoring for new teachers:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/mentoring-for-new-teachers

Supporting successful classroom conversations:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1064

How to talk so teachers will listen:

http://smartblogs.com/education/2015/03/17/watch-your-language-how-to-talk-so-teachers-actually-listen/?utm_source=brief

Poetry lesson ideas (great for short, shared experiences at the beginning of the year):

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/lesson-plans

Pinterest board for building classroom community:

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=classroom%20community&rs=typed&term_meta[]=classroom%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=community%7Ctyped

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

What Teachers Want

I’ve spent this week working with a wise and wonderful group of teachers in a Writing Project Summer Institute.  This morning we paused to ponder what makes professional learning experiences effective.  After reflecting on their best and worst memories of PD and reading a couple of articles, we generated a list that included the following:

·         Teach as you are telling teachers to teach (interactive, not passive learning)

·         Take an inquiry stance

·         Ask effective questions to engage participants

·         Model new practices

·         Allow time for teachers to safely practice new skills

·         Put teachers in the learners’ shoes

·         Listen to teachers; value participants’ expertise and experience

·         Encourage flexible adaptation that considers context

·         Allow time for discussion and collaboration

·         Include choice (reading, groupings, etc.)

·         Ensure that learning is transferrable, applicable, relevant

·         Have a broad knowledge of the topic (in theory and practice)

·         Provide opportunities for reflection and feedback

The list generated this morning by teachers aligns astoundingly with the research.  A growing body of research suggests that professional development that increases student achievement includes active, intentional learning for teachers that allows them to collaboratively redesign their own practice.*  Professional learning experiences that meet the above criteria do just that.

With beginning-of-the-year PD experiences around the corner, the criteria these teachers created are useful for coaches as a self-assessment for upcoming activities.  I’m glad I asked for insider opinion this morning, half-way through our PD time together.  Knowing what’s working (and what’s not) helps me align my thinking with the needs of the group.

As the school year gets underway, our opening week kick-off activities set the tone for the year.  How we honor the suggestions above could determine whether the professional learning experiences we plan end up on the list of  “worst PD memories” or BEST!

*See, for example:

Gersten, R., Dimino, J., Jayanthi, M., Kim, J. S., & Santoro, L. E. (2010). Teacher study group: Impact of the professional development model on reading instruction and student outcomes in first grade classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 694–739.

Goddard, Y. Goddard, R. & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2007). A theoretical and empirical investigation of teacher collaboration for school improvement. Teachers College Record, 109(4), 877-896.

Levine, T.H., & Marcus, A.S. (2010). How the structure and focus of teachers’ collaborative

activities facilitate and constrain teacher learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26,

389-398.

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

Planning for fun all year:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2036

Foundational literacy skills for high school newcomers:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/building-foundational-literacy-sfusd

Ideas for encouraging teachers to step outside of the comfort zone: 

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/618

A Calendar of “National Days” (both serious and goofy) to celebrate throughout the year:

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/

Ideas for easing back into the school-year routines:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/cheat-sheet-first-days-school-jose-vilson

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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"Teacher" Not “Teller"

In No More Phonics and Spelling Worksheets, Marcia Invernizzi describes how important it is for learners to have the opportunity to examine and analyze words, to reflect on their observations, to orally discuss, and to test their hypotheses.  These processes, Invernizzi claims, support learning about phonics and spelling and transfer of knowledge to new contexts.  Inverness describes the teacher’s role in providing these opportunities as centered on a knowledge of each students’ stage of development.  Teachers focus students’ attention on critical contrasts and fundamental principles that they are ready to learn.  What’s critical, Invernizzi points out, is the active role of the learner.  The teacher facilitates the learning by analyzing students’ readiness, by providing appropriate learning opportunities, and by probing and questioning.  Rather than “telling” students what they need to know (by giving students spelling rules to memorize, for example), the teacher structures meaningful learning experiences for her students.  She is a teacher, not a teller.  

These principles apply not just to spelling and phonics instruction, but to learning in general.  “Rules are useful mnemonics if you already understand the underlying concepts at work,” Invernezzi says, “but they are not useful teaching tools” (p. 45).  Memorizing the Pythagorean theorem or the equation for Einstein’s theory of relativity is not very helpful if you don’t understand the underlying concepts.

Let’s apply this to coaching.  If a teacher’s goal is to improve classroom discussions, we can apply Invernezzi’s logic to help her do so.  We can record a lesson, for example, or take detailed notes and give the teacher the opportunity to examine and analyze discussion in her own class.  Or we can provide the opportunity for the teacher to visit another classroom and then discuss what occurred, using reflective questions to focus the teacher’s attention on fundamental principles that support effective discussion.  We can encourage the teacher to develop hypotheses and then meet again after the teacher has tested these hypotheses.  The coach is supportive of the teacher’s readiness to implement new strategies through the experiences she provides and the critical features she draws attention to during the coaching conversation.  By making space for dialogue, coaches create an exchange of information rather than being imparters of it.

Just as with young students learning rules of phonics and spelling, teachers who are honing their craft benefit from active learning experiences that encourage comparison and analysis.  By facilitating such experiences, a coach takes the role of teacher, not teller.

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

How mentors help first-year teachers:

http://neatoday.org/2017/06/19/lean-on-me-how-mentors-help-first-year-teachers/

This video demonstrates a True or False Equation Routine, adaptable for any skill or grade-level:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/4th-grade-lesson-true-false?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

Ideas for #articleaday to hook reluctant readers:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2410

Podcasts on emotional intelligence – with lots of applications for coaching:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-emotional-intelligence-channel/id642338902?mt=2

A Pinterest board helpful links for instructional coaches:

https://www.pinterest.com/alysoncarpenter/instructional-coaching-partnerships/?lp=true

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Like on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch for more coaching and teaching tips!

Go, Team, Go!

Many coaches find that working with grade-level or content-area teams boosts their impact.  The structure provided by Lesson Study can be an effective support for team work. 

Lesson Study is practice-based professional learning that works directly on developing home-grown, contextualized knowledge and improving instruction. In the Lesson Study model, teachers, usually of the same grade level or course, meet regularly to collaborate and plan lessons that become the focus of inquiry for effective teaching practices.

As part of the Lesson Study process, a lesson is crafted and then one teacher teaches the lesson while other members of the group observe. The lesson is then collaboratively revised and taught by other members of the group.  During Lesson Study, teachers have the opportunity to try out new instructional routines and refine and recalibrate their teaching as effective practices are identified within specific lessons and become generalized.  By starting with their own ideas, Lesson Study opens teachers to critique, learning, and an expansion of their instructional repertoire. By making teaching public and collaborative, teachers learn from their own practice, from others, and from research—both their own and studies in the field. This method of “growing your own” professional development impacts teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge and empowers them as instructional decision makers.

I’ve used this approach fluidly, following loosely the guidelines provided by Hurd and Lewis in Lesson Study Step by Step.  The approach encourages reflection, collaboration and re-visioning of practice.  When I worked with a fifth-grade team (Allie, Kim, Linda, and Alice) to boost students’ writing skills, Lesson Study opened their eyes to new possibilities. After observing a lesson on organization, Allie said, “I seriously couldn’t believe that (students) could group those ideas!” They explored, rather than being told, what worked. Linda said, “(Lesson Study) honestly has changed the whole direction of where we were going to go.” Kim verified, “I think it has made a million times difference.” Allie saw Lesson Study as a process of improvement. She said, “Now that we’ve done this cycle, I mean it’s just like anything, once you’ve done it and tried it, it’s going to go better the next time.”  These teachers’ writing instruction was transformed because of their shared experiences.

When coaches facilitate collaboration using structures such as Lesson Study, their impact is accelerated as they help the whole team go!

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

A video about Lesson Study as a collaborative model for professional development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr15SLGaSZI

Vocabulary strategies for English Language Learners:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2017/05/18/top-5-vocab-strategies-ells/?utm_source=newsletter20170520/

Fun food poems for young poets:

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poemcategory.aspx?CategoryID=30

or for older students:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/search?q=food

DIY sentence rearranging manipulative (a great PD make-and-take):

https://www.weareteachers.com/stacked-learning-with-styrofoam-cups/

The power of practice in achieving goals:

http://www.businessinsider.com/my-11-year-old-son-auditioned-at-juilliard-2017-5

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Wish I Could Be There

If I rubbed a lamp and was granted one work-related wish from a genie, I’d wish for the chance to spend more time in classes.  Not only is it energizing and a learning experience for me, my most productive coaching comes after observing a lesson.

I don’t have a magic lamp to rub, however, so I’ve settled for the next-best thing: video reflection.  If you, too, are wishing for a way to observe more lessons next year, you might consider the power of video for those times when you wish you could be there but can’t. 

Video is a pretty good stand in for an observation. And I’ve found it offers effective opportunities for self-reflection. I ask teachers to record a lesson and then reflect by selecting excerpts to share with me.  Here are the things I ask teachers to consider and be ready to share before we meet to debrief:

*What was the main objective of the lesson?

*How did you measure the lesson’s objective? What were the results?

*What was an effective aspect of this lesson?  Why do you feel this aspect was effective. (I ask teachers to note the time stamp in the video recording when this occurred so that we can look at this 3-5 minute excerpt together.)

*What was a less effective aspect of this lesson? Explain why you feel this aspect was less effective. (I ask teachers to note the time stamp in the video recording when this occurred so that we can review this 3-5 minute excerpt together, too.)

One of the great things about asking teachers to select an effective segment is that it gives us opportunities for sharing and celebration.  Often we’ll share this excerpt with the team or at a faculty meeting.  Everyone benefits from seeing and hearing about a positive aspect of a lesson.

The excerpt that a teacher has selected as less effective, along with her explanation of why she feels it was less effective, provides opportunities for collaboration and coaching.  If the “why” has to do with things outside of the teacher’s control, I help her refocus on something that she can change.  Blame-shifting doesn’t improve instruction, but problem-solving does.

When we get together to debrief, I often also ask about any modifications the teacher made during instruction.  What decisions did she make on the fly, why did she make them, and what was the effect?

I might also ask what potential modifications could have been made to increase the lesson’s effectiveness.  We talk about why she feels these modifications might have been beneficial.

I usually end by asking how the teacher felt about recording and analyzing the lesson.  Teachers have said, “Seeing myself on video made me aware of student engagement and the kinds of questions I use during a lesson” and “It’s easy to analyze how things could have been done differently to have a better outcome.” Comments like these encourage me to continue using the video reflection protocol.

Video coaching can be a comfortable approach for teachers, since they are completely in control of what they want to share.  If they don’t like the way a lesson went, they can choose to record another.  So even just the process of recording can improve instruction.  And choice and control foster motivation, so the desire for participation in coaching might be enhanced.

Because coaches are usually serving many teachers, we can’t be in every classroom.  But video recordings can be a wish come true, giving us a glimpse into many lessons and opportunities for increased buy-in and effective coaching.

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

The importance of teacher reflection:

https://www.thoughtco.com/importance-of-teacher-reflection-8322

Interesting video with Richard Blanco about teaching his poem about memory and longing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od3STsfZDYs

A principal’s choices for read alouds that the whole school benefits from:

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/97

A short TED Talk on everyday leadership and lollipop moments (a great ice-breaker for back-to-school meetings):

http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership

Thinking about a meaningful assessment approach for next year? This video describes the senior portfolio defense:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/success-portfolio-defense-eed/?utm_source=newsletter20170520/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Like on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch for more coaching and teaching tips!