Ever-Ready Prompt

The Boy Scouts have a motto that also serves coaches well:  “Be prepared.”  As coaches, we may be surprised by a comment during a coaching conversation, we might be caught in the hall for an impromptu recommendation, and we often are asked to respond when we have incomplete information.  When we’re caught off-guard or feeling confused or uninformed, it’s helpful to have a tip-of-the-tongue response to give us time to settle, think, and get the bigger picture. An ever-ready response that works well for me in these situations is, “Say more about that.”

Peter Johnston, author of the excellent book, Opening Minds, describes use of the “Say more about that” prompt as a formative assessment tool when conferring with children.  I’ve found it to be equally powerful in coaching conversations.  “Say more about that” is an invitation that prompts the teacher to give me a better understanding of the situation and think things through herself.  It gives me time to shift my focus to the current situation and gain valuable insight that allows for an informed and thoughtful response.  And as the teacher articulates the question, she often clarifies her own thinking and begins formulating solutions.

Recently, I was walking down the hall when a teacher stopped me with, “Do you have a minute?” She asked about a recommendation given at a recent training (a training I hadn’t attended), where they’d been told not to give meaning-based texts to students before they were fluent readers.  Taken aback,   I prompted, “Say more about that.”  What ensued was a healthy conversation that I hope supported her own experience and expertise as a teacher of beginning readers.  As she began talking, she seemed hesitant, but as our conversation continued, she solidified her own philosophy about the part that decodable texts might play in the balanced diet of a novice reader.  If I had jumped in with the aghast response that initially sprang to mind, I would have denied the rich thinking that ensued as we processed together.  “Say more about that” paid off.

I’m just waiting for the time when one of the teachers I’m working with turns the tables.  After I give a recommendation during a passing-in-the-hall conversation, I’ll smile and know that I am having an impact when a teacher asks me to “Say more about that.”

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

Ideas for improving peer feedback during writing workshop:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/giving-peer-feedback-helps-writers-grow

What will career-ready look like in 10-15 years? Here are some guesses:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/09/27/the-future-of-work-is-uncertain-schools.html?cmp=eml-eb-popweek+09292017&M=58214721&U=1384189

Photos sure to spark interesting conversations (and attention to detail):

https://brightside.me/article/100-best-photographs-without-photoshop-46555/

Suggestions for making grades more meaningful:

https://pernillesripp.com/2017/06/23/tools-for-changing-the-grading-conversation/

How to make a hovercraft (and other inexpensive, do-it-yourself physics ideas):

http://video.edweek.org/detail/video/5604354778001/hovercrafts-and-other-physics-lessons?autoStart=true&cmp=eml-enl-vid-p2

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Noticing Change

Our brains filter information as a matter of survival.  Think of all the data our senses are feeding our brain in one minute!  So much to see, hear, and feel!  To avoid information overload, our brains select what to pay attention to.  That is a good thing.  However, it can also make us blind to change.  If, as coaches and teachers, we want to become more aware of change (and whether or not it is happening), we need two thing:  reference points and a reason to look.* 

Reference points for change are baseline data.  What did it used to be like?  A phrase my oldest son uses to talk about times past comes to mind: “Back in the day…..”  So, back in the day before I had the habit of seting a clear purpose for each activity, what was student response like?  We can count on our memories or, better yet, we can collect data on students’ responses to answer this question for ourselves or for the teacher we coach.  Past experience and record-keeping provide a reference point for recognizing change.

Having a reason to look makes specific information relevant for our brains.  We notice change when we have a reason to compare our reference point with our present reality.  Regularly scheduled meetings, such as a PLC, give us a reason to look if there’s an expectation that we will return and report.

I had a reason to look this week when I was talking with colleagues about the importance of setting a purpose for each activity.  I thought about the differences I had noticed in my own teaching.   Now that I have been consistently providing a clear purpose for each activity, when I stop to think about it, I realize that students are more active during these learning experiences, not just passive listeners.  When I show a video clip proceeded by the suggestion, “While you’re watching this video, be sure to notice….”, students sit up a little straighter and some even take notes!  Our discussion afterwards is more fruitful, too.  Having a reason to look helped me realize the positive changes that have occurred. 

Scheduling reasons to look helps everyone recognize whether changes are (or are not) occurring.  As coaches, we encourage and celebrate change.  Providing reference points and reasons to look can make our encouragement and our celebrations more focused and hopefully more frequent!

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

Five ways to start a lesson:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2016/09/14/5-ways-to-start-your-lessons/?utm_source=newsletter20170930/

Ideas for incorporating literature (fiction and non-fiction) into history class:

https://www.middleweb.com/35728/turning-historys-stories-into-classroom-gold/

Word work that works:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2137

Narratives of our teaching lives (or could be adapted for students):

http://triciaebarvia.org/2017/07/11/slice-of-life-embarrassment/

Infographic with facts about English Language Learners:

https://k12hub.rosettastone.com/infographics/meeting-the-ell-challenge?eeid=em-e1-eq-Section4&leadsource=Collateral+Request&campaignid=7010W000002JxEX&channel=Email&emailname=2017-Q4-US-K12-EML-OctNewsletter

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Was this helpful?  Please share!

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Blind Spots

As a young adult, I was sometimes accused of being unobservant.  With my nose in a book, I could easily be lost to the world around me.  That changed, however, when I became a teacher.  Teachers develop the uncanny ability to know what is going on all around them and they are sometimes accused of having eyes in the back of their heads.  Although that would be a medical oddity, it would certainly be handy in the classroom!

Lacking that extra pair of eyes, it is helpful to have a coach around!  Although teachers have well-honed observation skills, it’s not possible to attend to everything at once.  Even expert teachers benefit from another’s perspective on the teaching and learning occurring in their classroom.  Brenda Powers points out, “When someone else is poring over notes from an observation with you, or seeking clues from student work, you can’t help but see things that weren’t in your field of vision before.”  She calls these oversights “blind spots.”  In my car, I minimize my blind spots by positioning my mirrors just so.  Coaches can be like the mirrors, reflecting back for the teacher what has occurred.

It’s helpful, if possible, to meet with a teacher before observing so that you can jointly determine a focus for the observation.  That way your noticings are more likely to be useful to the teacher, focused on a concern she has already identified.  Another way to determine what noticings you’ll share is to begin a debrief conversation by asking the teacher what she noticed during the lesson.  Linking your comments to what the teacher is already considering increases uptake.  But what if there are things that seem glaring to you but are missed by the teacher?  I can often find a way into these comments by asking a question, “What did you notice about XXX.” 

Remember the classroom management advice, “Catch them doing something good”?  We can also help to improve instruction as we notice, note, and share the moments when things are going well.  Just like with young students, improvement happens when something we only do occasionally becomes something we do regularly.  Drawing teachers’ attention to these occasional successes is likely to increase their frequency.

With all that is going on during a lesson, we want to be sure that the things we notice and discuss will be helpful. Having another pair of eyes to see, another pair of hands to record, improves instruction when the noticings are thoughtfully gathered and shared.

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

Benefits of a flipped classroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjjx-FjKUus&index=5&list=PLYmYDLb2oJqGQOvjZHPhO4ulIuiUvNYNS

Engaging students through play-based learning (not just for the little ones!):

http://www.thegeniusofplay.org/genius/expert-advice/articles/the-best-way-to-engage-students-today-introduce-play-based-learning-into-your-school.aspx?utm_source=NAEYC+Mail&utm_campaign=b86005f8dd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_158d557abf-b86005f8dd-80084053#.WbBv702ovIV

A podcast on dealing with student grammar errors:

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/grammar-spelling-errors/

Resolve of a struggling early-career teacher:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1025

Teaching children to fail well:

http://time.com/4025350/brene-brown-on-teaching-kids-to-fail-well/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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

Feedback & Fight-or-Flight

Remember learning about the fight-or-flight instinct in psychology class?  A stressful situation can trigger a cascade of psychological and physiological responses as the heart pounds and muscles tense, ready for escape.  That self-preservation instinct can kick in during a coaching conversation, too.

The scientific names for fight-or-flight, “hyperarousal” and “acute stress response” are telling.  During a coaching conversation, what might cause hyper-arousal or stress?  If teachers see feedback as threatening, they won’t be in a frame of mind for considering new ways of working.  I’ve noticed that if I jump in with a concern at the beginning of a conversation, or if I dump too much information or too many recommendations, a mental fight-or-flight kicks in.

To avoid fight-or-flight, I have to be intentional about creating a supportive atmosphere.  Recommendations will bounce like rubber balls off the blacktop unless I’m prepared.  I have to center myself first – take a deep breath, consciously relax, even close my eyes for a second or two.  The calmness I feel sets the tone.

Offering time for teacher reflection before offering recommendations gets us off to a good start, giving the teacher control of the conversation early on.  It also gives me the opportunity to tie our suggestions to a need the teacher has perceived.  The conversation is discussion-based, and I am careful not to dominate the conversation. 

Our conversations feel useful and productive when recommendations are specific, so it’s important that I prioritize a narrow area of focus.  If I’ve observed a lesson, I keep the conversation anchored in evidence from the observation.  The recommendation is couched in examples.  We create an understanding not only of current practice, but of how to elevate it.  Together, we establish a vision of what the effective practice looks like and, if time allows, we begin planning for its use.

When recommendations come with resources (including knowledge and support to fulfill them), we’re more likely to see the suggestions as an invigorating challenge. Then we are inspired to activate our creativity and our own resourcefulness.  When recommendations are offered in an encouraging way as part of a collegial conversation, coaching feels worthwhile to the teacher, and, most importantly, changes in practice are possible.

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

The power of one-on-one conversations in coaching:

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v1.2.htm

Build your own superhero and create a narrative involving the character:

http://marvel.com/games/play/31/create_your_own_superhero

Share this with new teachers – Sign up here for a month of quick, encouraging emails to get you through the hardest part of your first year:

http://roxannaelden.com/%E2%80%A6/announcing-the-new-teacher-disil%E2%80%A6/

Small groups in secondary ELA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J80MQd60UZc&index=4&list=PLYmYDLb2oJqGQOvjZHPhO4ulIuiUvNYNS

Benefits of play (find ways to make learning playful!):

http://www.thegeniusofplay.org/tgop/benefits/play-facts/genius/benefits-of-play/facts/play-facts.aspx?utm_source=NAEYC+Mail&utm_campaign=b86005f8dd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_158d557abf-b86005f8dd-80084053

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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

Don’t Just Do Something…Stand There!

“Don’t just do something…..stand there!”  This maxim caught my attention as I was scrolling through internet content.  There are many times when it is preferable to “stand there” rather than “do something.”  The pregnant pause is a teacher’s, and coach’s, best friend.  A pause after asking a question allows for think time.  A pause before responding, when you have been asked a question, gives you time for a considered response.  

One of my most important jobs as a coach is to give a teacher the space to “stand there.”  In the rush of the day, I want the time with me to be an opportunity to push the pause button and reflect.  So the tone I set for our meeting is important.  Sometimes, when I am also caught up in the rush, our meetings feel like crossing something off of a to-do list.  But when I offer a seat, take a deep breath and force my own shoulders down, I invite reflection.  When I let the teacher open the conversation by unloading about the morning, no matter what our agenda, we will be better off.  If I rush in, our work will be less effective.  If we “stand there,” our eventual solutions are more likely to be solid ones.

This is important with PLC time, too.  Sharing celebrations and concerns before we dig into the agenda may be more important than the agenda itself.  A teacher recently reminded me of this need, asking for “a quick little discussion to start so we can include specific things that are happening and meaningful to us.”  During those open discussions, examples often emerge that give purpose to our work.

“Standing there” can also mean taking a brain break.  Just like planning a lesson for students, when we plan professional learning for teachers, we need to be thoughtful about concentration capacity.  And if, despite our planning, we see that glazed-over look, we know it is time for a change.  We can’t assume that, because they are in grown-up bodies, teachers’ attention span is unlimited.  No matter how engaging the work, we all need to “stand there” from time to time, both figuratively and literally. 

As coaches, we can create a space for thinking and offer the time and tools to do so.  We can create pauses that become thought-filled.  We can also be sensitive to the need for a change of pace.  “Standing there” allows us the opportunity to “do something” better!

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

Ideas to support teachers’ resilience (and avoid burn-out):

https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-resilience-preventing-burnout

Ideas for sharing student writing:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2190

Is pacing causing a problem for a teacher you are working with? Take a look at this post:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/instructional-pacing-tips-rebecca-alber

Creating visual essays:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2618

 Teaching children to fail well:

http://time.com/4025350/brene-brown-on-teaching-kids-to-fail-well/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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

Next Step

Last week, Bethani and I talked about a lesson I’d observed.  The lesson taught students the importance of an entertaining beginning in narrative writing.  Guided by a PowerPoint, she’d walked students through four techniques author’s use to grab the reader. 

During our debrief, I first asked for celebrations.  What happened in the lesson that she was especially pleased with?  She felt students were well-behaved; they sat quietly as she presented the information.  She said she had decided on-the-spot to add in lots of all-respond opportunities and to fluctuate her voice.  She associated an action with each writing “hook,” hoping this would keep students interested and help them remember the list of techniques.  Bethani said she’d added these teaching moves because students’ attention seemed to flag, and she said the strategies worked.  Bethani felt the lesson had achieved it’s goal.  Students had been introduced to the techniques, which they’d learn more about later in the week.   

Despite these successes, Bethani was disappointed in students’ lack of enthusiasm and engagement.  She had had to work pretty hard to keep them with her. 

Before our meeting, I’d also reflected on the lesson and had jotted down a few notes.  I was glad she’d brought up students’ lack of enthusiasm, because, as I looked at the things I’d noted as questions or concerns, they all seemed to point back to that engagement issue.  “Make connections with students’ experience and interests,” I’d noted.  “Limit rote repetition; emphasize thinking.” I had also jotted a note about creating opportunities for inquiry and discussion.  We talked over these ideas and a few other recommendations in a conversational way.  I’d introduce an idea and ask her opinion about it.  After a short discussion, I suggested she pick a goal – a next step to work on.  I told her I’d check back with her later about it.  What did she think?  What would she like to work on? 

Bethani grabbed onto the idea about using more inquiry and discovery in her teaching.  “It will be hard,” she said.  “I like to have more control.”  We talked a bit about how she might balance her need for control with her students’ need for discovery.  What might that have looked like in the writing hook lesson?  We discussed how students could have examined texts and figured out for themselves what writers did that got them interested.  Inquiry didn’t have to be some big research project; it could be bounded and managed so that she still felt control.  Bethani was seeing how her hope for more enthusiasm and her need for control could co-exist.

We also talked about why taking a more inquiry-based approach was hard.  What had her own schooling experiences been like?  Did she have models of discovery teaching in her own experience?  Unfortunately, the answer was no.  But by the end of our conversation, Bethani was excited about forging forward into new territory!

Who decides the next step in improving instruction?  Just as Bethani’s students needed the opportunity for discovery, Bethani needed to engage in inquiry about her own teaching.  Bethani identified concerns and Bethani determined what her goal would be.  Although I had some recommendations, we explored them together and Bethani made discoveries about her own teaching and her students’ learning.

When teachers assess their instruction first, their voice becomes the one we respond to during the coaching conversation.  They reflect on where they are in their learning journey.  They see their strengths and where they need to grow further.  When I focus my recommendations on the next step that a teacher has identified, we can come up with a tangible plan to achieve the goal.

This week, Bethani stopped in to tell me about two lessons she’d taught that took an inquiry approach.  “It was hard,” she said, “but it worked!”  She is already moving forward on her self-selected learning journey.

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

Ideas for National Day of Writing (Oct. 20):

http://whyiwrite.us/involve-your-community/

“Why I Write” Podcasts:

http://whyiwrite.us/category/podcasts/

How to slow down the teaching treadmill (especially great to share with new teachers! – they can also sign up to get helpful monthly emails):

http://roxannaelden.com/2017/10/how-to-turn-down-your-teaching-treadmill/#more-2869

Is toy-free kindergarten in kids’ best interests:

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/the-toy-free-kindergarten/520905/

Use “What’s Going on in This Picture?” to teach history, current events, and inferring skills:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2618

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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

Who’s Asking?

Asking a question calls for more cognitive demand than answering one.

P. David Pearson

(quoted in Revisit, Reflect, Retell, by Linda Hoyt)

Questions can be extraordinary thinking tools.  They can be the spade that helps us dig for truth or the flashlight that helps us explore the unknown.*  Questions can help us think more deeply about a challenging topic or situation and get our thinking unstuck.

When coaching, we tend to give a lot of thought to the questions we ask; however, the questions teachers ask us my lead to new connections and discoveries. Many teachers intuitively ask and answer their own questions as they plan and reflect.  We can support this process by being sounding boards and discussion partners as teachers pose their own questions.  And we can support this internal practice by asking teachers to come with their own questions to our coaching conversations.

If this task seems challenging for a teacher you are working with, you can offer support to make this process easier.  Encourage the teacher to be on the lookout for assumptions that should be questioned.  For example, are we assuming that all students will benefit from a particular lesson or curriculum?  We can encourage teachers to turn reactions (their own or their students’) into questions.  If a teacher feels frustrated about how many times she had to redirect students’ attention, she might ask, “Why did I have to redirect students’ attention so frequently?”  If students gasp or laugh when they see an image projected on the SmartBoard, the teacher might ask, “Why did students react so strongly to that image?”  Such questions lead to fruitful conversations.

Just like with our students, sentence stems can be helpful in getting the thinking going.  Here are a few question stems that you might provide to the teachers you are working with to help them generate thoughtful questions you can discuss together:

How does _____ impact _____?

(e.g., How does my pacing impact student engagement?)

What’s most important about _______?

(e.g., What’s most important about this strategy?)

Why do _____ seem to ______?

(e.g., Why do students seem to get stuck on this step?)

When _____, why do(es) _____?

(e.g., When I give directions for an assignment, why do many students still act confused?)

What might happen if ______?

(e.g., What might happen if I let students choose how they would demonstrate their learning?)

Would you have done the same thing when _____?

(e.g., Would you have done the same thing when Sylvia asked about how they were going to be graded on the assignment?)

What happens when _________?

(e.g., What happens when teachers flip the classroom?)

Where did ________?

(e.g., Where did students’ understanding seem to break down?)

What is _______?

(e.g., What is project-based learning?)

Who was __________?

(e.g., Who was asking good questions?)

Praise and celebrate great questions that teachers pose!  Through the conversation that follows, you will demonstrate that if one is willing to spend time on a question, to really grapple with it, the question can lead to rewarding discoveries.

Asking questions is a critical skill – in two senses of the word:  It is critical (i.e., crucial) that teachers question not only their own practice but also what they are being asked to do.  Additionally, asking questions is a critical skill (i.e., helping one to think critically) that leads to improvement.  When teachers ask the questions, they are engaged and empowered.  They are curious and want to find answers, and they are taking responsibility for their own growth. 

  

* http://amorebeautifulquestion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/EdutopiaMakeStudentQuestioners.pdf

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

How to help students ask good questions:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/developing-better-questions

Tips on coaching a novice teacher:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-novice-teacher

Benefits of play:

http://www.thegeniusofplay.org/tgop/benefits/genius/benefits-of-play/benefits-of-play-home.aspx?utm_source=NAEYC+Mail&utm_campaign=b86005f8dd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_158d557abf-b86005f8dd-80084053

“Last Impressions” to close a book study:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=2180

What makes teamwork work?  Apply these principles (discovered by Google) at your school:

https://www.inc.com/michael-schneider/google-thought-they-knew-how-to-create-the-perfect.html?utm_content=buffer02516&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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