Questioning toward Tangible Feedback

Last week’s post focused on the benefits of focusing on tangible feedback from students during a debrief conversation. Looking at student work and students at work provides data about whether the lesson’s objectives were achieved. Kid-watching is an important part of a coach’s job!

Ultimately, the teacher should automatically focus her attention on this tangible feedback, but initially the coach might support such reflection through her recommendations. What  bridges the gap between the coach making recommendations about feedback and the teacher independently taking this action? As with other teaching moves we are trying to develop, asking questions helps build that independence.

This week, as I met with a teacher to reflect on a lesson I’d observed. I started by asking, “What do you think went really well during that lesson?” She said she thought the students really “got it” – she felt they had achieved the lesson objective - understanding about numbers between zero and one on a number line.

Next, I asked, “How did you know they got it?” She said when she looked at their work she could see most of them understood the concept. Because the teacher hadn’t brought student work to our meeting, I pulled up some photos of student work that I had taken while observing.

“What do you see in Steven’s work that shows his understanding?” I asked. We followed this pattern while looking at several other examples of students work.

Then I asked, “What are you thinking now about students’ understanding and about your next steps?”

The teacher gave a thoughtful summary that included implications for follow-up lessons. Focusing on the tangible feedback provided by students’ work helped her see what had fallen through the cracks. Even though she had “taught” it, some students hadn’t “caught” it. Shifting her focus from what she was doing to what the students were doing had made a difference in how this teacher thought about her work.

Asking questions encourages teachers to put their analytic skills to work as they reflect ways to improve their own instruction.

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

Favorite books for seasons & holidays:

https://booksavors.wordpress.com/seasons/

Tips for meeting with worried parents:

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/106

Seven Cs of Effective Argumentation:

http://www.zaner-bloser.com/seven-cs-effective-argumentation

Great non-fiction read-alouds:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=459

Life as a small-town teacher:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/03/31/396394922/live-from-small-town-america-teachers-who-blog-to-stay-in-touch

That’s it for this week. Happy coaching!

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

Tangible Feedback

When a tennis player lofts the ball, she gets immediate feedback: it either stays in bounds or it is out. Similarly, teachers get immediate feedback on their instruction: whether or not their students are learning is an indication of their success. Some teachers are very tuned in to this feedback, but others need a nudge to shift their attention from what they are doing to what their students are doing.

Whether it’s the little things (like a blank stare after new content has been explained) or bigger things (like a masterfully-completed project), helping teachers tune in to the tangible feedback given directly by students is more important in the long run than the indirect feedback they might occasionally get from us.

When I’m observing a teacher, I’ve noticed that I have to remind myself, too, to shift my focus regularly to what the students are doing. It’s easy to get comfortable in the chair at the back table and take notes on what the teacher is doing. But I don’t really know how effective the lesson is until I get up, walk around the room, and see what the students are doing.

Lately, I’ve taken to walking around the classroom with my phone, because a photo can provide tangible evidence of instructional success. Looking at a few photos of student work or students at work is tangible feedback that helps us focus on whether the lesson’s objectives were achieved.

Encouraging teachers to bring their pile of student work to our debrief conversation is another way to put the focus on direct feedback from students. As we sift, sort, and comb through the work, we learn a lot about the teaching, too.

As clearly as a ball bouncing out of bounds, students are providing tangible feedback about the effectiveness of instruction. Although at times it’s useful to talk about the position of the racket, it’s always important to note the outcome.

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

Using humor and laughter to boost retention (for learners of all ages):

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/laughter-learning-humor-boosts-retention-sarah-henderson

Have you seen this TED talk about the power of introverts? Consider the assets they bring to a classroom or staff:

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

And speaking of TED Talks – Check out these ideas about creating TED Talks as a way for students to share their thinking:

http://readwriteinspire.blogspot.com/2014/12/ted-style-talks-with-22-voices-strong.html

What is coding? And should it have a place in the curriculum? Explore these questions here:

http://www.slj.com/2015/05/technology/coding-skills-empower-us-all-the-maker-issue/#_

Lessons about having a growth mindset from learning to code:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/learning-to-code-learning-to-learn-gerard-dawson

How can art create synergy between subjects?

http://phys.org/news/2015-05-probing-art-essential-school-subject.html

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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

The “Just Right” Recommendation

As a coach or mentor, it feels good to make a recommendation that is just right for the teacher and comes at just the right time. Even better is seeing that the suggestion is actually implemented and moves the teacher’s learning forward! In previous posts we’ve talked about ways for increasing the likeliness of this outcome; for example, being specific and offering choice can increase the uptake on your recommendations. Another way to increase implementation is to make the recommendations part of a conversation.

When conferring with a teacher who might benefit from your suggestions, it helps to frame the recommendation within a comfortable context. For example, I’ve been talking with Kate about writing conferences, but writing isn’t Kate’s strong suit. She has a math brain and is a natural problem-solver. So it helped when I began our conversation about writing conferences by thinking with her about how she provides feedback in math. “I love trying to figure out what they’re doing,” she said. “If the answer isn’t right, it’s like solving a puzzle to figure out what went wrong.”

“So think about using the same approach in a writing conference,” I said. “Just like when you’re scaffolding in math, you’ll have to first figure out where the writing process has broken down. Once you solve that puzzle, you can figure out the support that’s needed.”

I noted how the light went on in Kate’s eyes when I said the word “puzzle.” It was an aha moment for her. My recommendation helped her connect with successful past experiences. Couching the suggestion in a conversation about content Kate was comfortable with made a difference.

A recommending conversation will also be more successful if dialogue continues beyond the initial suggestion. After making a recommendation (or offering a couple of recommendations as options), let the thoughts simmer for a bit; 20 seconds of silent think-time goes a long way! Then find out how the recommendation is sitting by giving the teacher a chance to respond. With a thoughtful look and openness in my voice, I’ll often ask, “What are you thinking about how those ideas might work with your kids?”

Making suggestions part of a conversation, with a comfortable context and the chance for dialogue, can create more Goldilocks moments in coaching, where the recommendation feels just right!

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

Tips about coaching language that builds buy-in:

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

Pictures books about the writing process:

https://leadliteracy.com/articles/190

Apps that support STEM lessons:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/26/five-space-apps-843/

How to make way for play (in kindergarten and beyond):

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=461

Play in 5^th Grade:

http://catchingreaders.com/2012/05/08/playing-in-5th-grade/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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

Recommendations: The Power of Choice

Recently, I met with a teacher and reflected on a mostly-successful lesson. She felt, however, that there were things she could be doing to enhance student engagement. She sensed that her pacing was somehow off, but couldn’t quite figure out the culprit. After listening and prompting, I asked, “Can I offer a suggestion?”

When teachers are coming up empty in their search for a more effective approach, coaches’ recommendations play a helpful role. Previous posts have discussed the importance of making recommendations that are specific in order to increase their effectiveness. Another way to get more uptake on your recommendations is to offer choice.

Offering choice develops feelings of power and efficacy. These are important aspects to consider if our coaching seeks to gradually increase teachers’ responsibility. Being asked to make a decision rather than being told what to do is an encouraging approach that exhibits trust in the teacher’s ability.

Another benefit of offering choice is that it usually increases motivation.* For example, when a teacher chooses among options presented for enhancing class discussion, she is more vested in making her self-selected option work.

Choice is likely to be motivating when the options offered meet teachers’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.** Offering choices that are relevant to teachers’ own goals enhances autonomy. For example, If a teacher is focused on a goal of increasing students’ reading fluency, recommendations for readers’ theatre or choral reading of poetry would likely be well-received; a recommendation related to comprehension might not be.

Offering choices that are within the teacher’s ability to implement enhances competence. For a novice teacher, recommendations regarding differentiation  through tiering might be viewed as overwhelming because the teacher does not feel capable of implementing them successfully. Suggestions to differentiated by providing open-ended tasks might be a more comfortable option.

Offering choices that are congruent with teachers’ instructional philosophy ensures relatedness. If a teacher values constructivist approaches to learning, she will be likely to appreciate suggestions for designing hands-on learning experiences but less-likely to implement recommendations that suggest a more teacher-directed approach.

Offering choice among recommendations that align with teachers’ autonomy, competence, and philosophy increases the likelihood that teachers will put the suggestions into practice. Having choice will be motivating and empowering, and successful implementation (because recommendations are within a teacher’s range of competence) will further enhance efficacy.

Because it’s difficult to consider all of these factors instantaneously and come up with more than one option that fits the criteria, it helps to plan ahead for a coaching conversation that will provide choice among two or more recommendations. The GIR conferencing guide, below, provides a template for planning for these choices.

If making recommendations is in your game plan for an upcoming coaching conversation, pause now to think about how you’ll take the factors mentioned above into consideration as you provide suggestions and offer choice in the collaborative quest for improved instruction.

* Malone, M. R. & Lepper, M. R. (1983). Making learning fun. In R. E. Snow & J. F. Marshall (Eds.), Aptitude, learning, and instruction: Cognitive and affective process analyses (Vol. 3, pp. 223-253). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

**Katz, I. & Assor, A. (2007). When choice motivates and when it does not. Educational Psychological Review, 19, 429-442.

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

More about teachers’ self-efficacy:

http://www.ernweb.com/public/teacher-self-efficacy-effectiveness.cfm?utm_source=March+Current+articles+2013&utm_campaign=current+articles+March&utm_medium=email

These blogs about giving students choice (what’s good for the goose is good for the gander!):

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/11/18/how-to-help-students-develop-the-motivation-to-learn/

http://personalmasteryandtechnology.weebly.com/32-increasing-motivation-through-student-choice.html

A podcast about an interesting science topic: “Taste with your nose”:

http://scienceunderground.org/science/ep-5-taste-with-your-nose/

A video clip modeling close reading during a teacher read aloud:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2109637168001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAPmbRRLk~,C5G7jhYNtifLHMZ3Mk1et94EXmm8Be9z&bctid=4073220644001

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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

Recommendations that Stick

Changing the way we think and act is brutally hard – and trying to change someone else is even harder!  In her book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Marilyn Ferguson says, “A belated discovery, one that causes considerable anguish, is that no one can persuade another to change.  Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be unlocked from the inside.  We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or emotional appeal.”

That gate swings open for a variety of reasons. And when it does, coaches want to be ready with recommendations that will stick.

This week, I talked with a group of coaches as they considered how to increase the likelihood that recommendations they make will be taken up by the teachers they are working with. We determined that making sure recommendations are concrete and purposeful was important.

Candace knew that an upcoming lesson would be more successful if the teacher showed students examples of what their final products might look like. She decided that having a few student samples that she could show the teacher would make this recommendation concrete. Making recommendations concrete ensures that our idea will mean the same thing to the teacher that it does to us. Chip and Dan Heath, in their book Made to Stick, remind us that concrete ideas are easier to understand and remember. Concreteness makes an idea “sticky,”  and sticky ideas are more likely to have a lasting impact. The coaches I was working with realized that making sure their recommendations were tangible, by providing a visual for teachers to connect with, would make them easier to implement.

Madelyn recognized a teacher she was working with needed to tie her assessment more closely to the objectives she had determined for a lesson. She felt an explanation of why this was important would make the recommendation more meaningful. Discussing the rationale increased the stickiness of Madelyn’s recommendation by employing higher-level thinking. As she engaged the teacher in dialogue, the reasoning for this practice was illuminated. And engaging in higher-level thinking about an idea makes it more memorable. As our coaching team discussed this example, we realized that providing a rationale for recommendations would make the suggestions more attractive and “stickier.”

By being concrete and providing rationale for their recommendations, coaches can improve the chances that their worthy ideas will stick!

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

This podcast on building a collaborative culture:

http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/sites/default/files/coloradopodcast_howtheyworked.mp3

What is “heavy coaching”?

http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/blog/taking-critical-stance

Ideas for student self-publishing to amp up engagement!

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2015/03/16/high-school-teachers-guide-students-into-self-publishing

Use a “fail tree” with teachers or students to increase resilience and learn from each other’s mistakes:

http://hechingerreport.org/three-cheers-for-failure-wait-what/

Read aloud volunteers in middle school:

https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/letting-go-of-the-reins-ten-ways-to-host-a-read-aloud-volunteer-in-the-middle-school-classroom-by-brindi-anderson/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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

Leaning Back: When Questions Don’t Work

This week I had several opportunities to coach novice teachers. At this point in the year, I thought that asking questions would be the coaching move to get me the most bang-for-my-buck. So I led with it. What happened reminded me of the importance of being flexible with my coaching plan and going where the teachers’ needs direct. I learned that when one move doesn’t bear fruit, I need to lean back in my coaching and try an approach that provides more scaffolding.

During separate coaching conversations, two teachers reflected with me on lessons that they called “boring.” Hannah’s was a 4^th-grade grammar lesson on complete sentences; Sarah taught a 3^rd-grade lesson using informational text. Each began the reflective conference with a statement about how the content of these lessons was unappealing to students.

My coaching antennae went up immediately. How would I help these teachers to see that there was nothing inherently boring about their lesson objectives, that it was the approach that needed adjustment? How best might they come to realize that if they thought the lesson was boring, their students almost certainly would? In previous conversations, I’d found these teachers to be reflective and have sound pedagogical knowledge, so I felt asking questions was the best approach to take.  

When I asked Hannah why she felt the grammar lesson was boring, her initial responses focused on fixes to that specific lesson, such as changes to the PowerPoint she was using. I recognized that these issues showed some insight about minor aspects of the lesson, but they didn’t get at bigger-picture ideas that would be more generalizable and thus have broader impact on student learning. So after fruitlessly asking several questions, I paused and said, “May I offer a suggestion?” Hannah said, “Of course!” She visibly relaxed and, with a deep exhale, opened herself for recommendations. She was off the hook! This seemed appropriate, given that my questioning was going nowhere. I then made suggestions about how group discussion was handled during the lesson. Because she went from table to table, having a conversation with each group, the time for table talk dragged on, becoming unproductive and leading to off-task behavior and signs of boredom. Hannah seemed to receive this recommendation with relief, ready to try something that would increase students’ attention and interest.

A similar situation occurred when debriefing Sarah’s lesson on using non-fiction books. She seemed sorry that students had to live through a lesson on informational texts, but emphasized that this was an important skill. She had a this-is-supposed-to-be-good-for-you attitude and pretty much said, “Non-fiction text is boring, but they really need to know this stuff.” My brain was screaming, “How could you think non-fiction text is boring!?!” and “If you thinks this is boring, what are you communicating to the kids?” But I think I did a pretty good job of masking my inner screams, and instead, I asked a few less-blatant questions. “What did you feel was boring about the lesson?” “What are some approaches you could take that might be more interesting for students?” She was coming up dry. Finally, after Sarah’s repeated references to the boring nature of the task, I explicitly dispelled her myth that students find informational text boring, saying that, in my experience, I’d noticed that young children usually seem curious about their world and excited to learn new facts about it – the kind of facts offered by these non-fiction texts. She reflected that, since she didn’t find informational books interesting, she assumed her students didn’t either. I shared some additional personal examples of children’s engagement with such texts, and she seemed ready to consider that perhaps it was her approach to the texts, rather than the texts themselves, that bored the students. After this prelude, Sarah was ready to listen to recommendations about doing less modeling of note-taking skills, with students doing mindless copying, and moving toward more active engagement as students learned how to extract meaning from non-fiction texts.

These experiences with Hannah and Sarah were a good reminder about the wiggly line in the GIR model. Just because a coaching move dominated in previous coaching sessions, that doesn’t mean it will be effective. Coaching isn’t a linear process. It is contextual, and there will be bumps along the way. On the roller-coaster ride of coaching for instructional improvement, sometimes you have to lean back and enjoy the ride!

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

A very short video clip with 2 pieces of advice for working with English Language Learners:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=575

Just say, “No”:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/educators-time-management-strategy-just-say-no-elena-aguilar

Archive of an ILA Twitter chat about literacy coaching (also check out #ILAchat):

https://storify.com/ILAToday/ilachat

Reading conferences are like coaching:

https://teachingandlearningthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/reading-conferences-and-evernote/

Using mock trial: an investment of time well spent:

http://www.middleweb.com/21146/how-our-mock-trial-improved-argument-writing/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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

Reading More than Words: Nonverbal Cues

A coach’s success depends on more than content knowledge and pedagogical experience. Reading and responding to the nonverbal cues in a coaching interaction can have a big influence on its impact.

The body is an abundant source of information. As a coach, I am more successful when I am tuned in to this information. Today, when I walked up to a teacher, I was ready to have a conversation about instruction. But in the first split-second when I looked at him, I knew something was off. The teacher’s eyes were wide, he was standing stick-straight, and he somehow seemed agitated. He was just not his normal, laid-back kind of self.

Without pausing to think, I asked, “What’s up?” Not in the “Hi, how are you?” kind-of-way, but with an “I’m really wondering” tone in my voice. His keyed-up body language made me think something out of the ordinary might be happening.

I was right!

Brent told me he’d just gotten a text from his friend, and he was going over after school to hand-craft the engagement ring he planned to propose with! In a sentence or two, Brent shared the cause of his agitated state. My response mirrored his enthusiasm, and he felt understood. That exchange laid the foundation for an equally brief but effective conversation about instruction, with ideas being shared and Brent walking away with a new approach to try.

What if I hadn’t picked up on Brent’s intensity? If I’d launched right into a conversation about teaching, I think Brent’s mind would have been elsewhere, and our discussion wouldn’t have amounted to much. It reminded me how important it is to read more than words.

During a conversation, I can listen for:

*Intonation

*Volume

*Pacing

*Language choices

And in addition to listening, I can watch:

*Gestures

 *Posture

*Facial expressions

Interestingly, psychologists have found that mirroring these nonverbal cues creates connections and builds rapport. By matching the gestures, postures, or voice qualities of my dialogue partner, I create connectedness. This mirroring tells the teacher that I know exactly what he is talking about! When nonverbal synchrony is part of a dialogue, the listener feels understood.

If you want to see the impact of this approach, you’ll have to be intentional about it at first. But, with practice, you’ll come to naturally mirror nonverbal cues. Being a blatant copy-cat feels unnatural, but subtly adjusting your own response is a way to be respectful of another’s mindset.

In addition to mirroring, coaches’ own nonverbal behaviors can convey empathy and trustworthiness. Leaning forward and making direct eye contact create engagement and confidence.

A large portion of the meaning in any social situation is carried by nonverbal cues. Reading and using these cues can create a climate for coaching.

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

This video example of a coach making a well-received recommendation:

http://www.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v4.1.htm

A nice reminder about keeping our busy lives in balance:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1820

Using attributes to teach viewpoints (in Social Studies and across other academic areas):

http://www.middleweb.com/20881/using-concept-attainment-in-social-studies-class/

Top 20 tips for using Pinterest (in the classroom!):

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-top-pinterest-tips-vicki-davis

Adding “fun” to lesson plans:

http://pernillesripp.com/2015/02/01/the-one-thing-we-forget-to-plan-for/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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