Reinforcing Emerging Practices

Because the end of the school year is approaching, some coaching cycles may be forced to an early close. Even where additional support might be warranted, affirming and praising can be effective in providing closure to a coaching cycle. When the inclination to recommend or question is still strong but time is running short, I encourage coaches to swallow the recommendation (which would not have time to take root) and instead consider newly-emerging practices they want to reinforce.

This week, I talked with Nicole’s coach, who had recommendations regarding a recent lesson she’d observed. Although the recommendations were well-founded, the fact that her upcoming coaching meeting would be the final one for the year meant that there would be little opportunity for uptake and follow-through with the recommendation. Instead, I encouraged the coach to consider areas Nicole had improved during recent lessons. “Nicole’s transitions have gotten so much better,” she exclaimed. “Why?” I asked. “Well, her instructions are more specific,” the coach replied.  I explained that affirming or praising this specific change would encourage the clear instructions to continue.

Another coach described her concern that Beth, a novice teacher, wasn’t really listening to students’ responses and building on their current understanding. This was a topic they’d discussed before, but it seemed hard for Beth to wrap her head around how this change would look. I wondered if there was any evidence of this kind of thinking in recent lessons. So together the coach and I looked over the lesson plan Beth had provided for a recent observation. I asked about a formative assessment that was included. Had Beth been responsive to students’ current level of understanding as reflected in that assessment? The coach felt there was some evidence that she had, and highlighted examples in her observational notes to share with Beth. By praising these actions, we hoped that Beth would be even more responsive in the future.

When coaching cycles end prematurely, affirming instructional practices that are just beginning to emerge can encourage their ongoing development.


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

Collaborative inquiry as professional development:

http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/collaborative-inquiry-differs


A Pinterest Board about technology learning:

https://www.pinterest.com/frankis/technology-learning/


Empowering students to try and read that which feels unreadable:

https://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1789


Thoughts about conferring:

http://readwriteandreflect.blogspot.com/2013/08/lessons-on-conferring.html


What do you want to read about today? Googling as intervention:

http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=124922



That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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