faulker008

Contrast has a way of emphasizing the truth.  Today as I was listening to the woes of a young teacher who’s been chased out of the profession by stress and negativism, it brought into clearer focus what I’d heard earlier in the week about praise.  Let me tell you stories from both sides of the praise experience. Samantha was a third-year middle-school teacher with a mind for not only trivia but also big ideas – a combination that served her well as a US History teacher.  She survived the first-year experience only a little ruffled and had a solid second year, but during her third year in the classroom, Sam faced blame-and-shame from her principal.  After test scores came back, much lower than expected, the principal didn’t listen to her explanation of the scoring change that had impacted scores throughout the district.  She didn’t listen to concerns that were school-wide about this particular group of eighth-grade students.  Instead, she took away Samantha’...

Have you ever had those moments where you just want a re-do on a conversation?  The ability to rewind, take back, and replay what just happened?  Thankfully, those moments tend to happen more in my personal situations than professional ones (my family’s pretty forgiving, and mostly they’re stuck with me!).  But, this week I had a “wish-I-could-take-that-back” moment with a student teacher. Many of my coaching moments come from interactions with pre-service teachers.  Since I’m their university supervisor, these situations can be loaded, because they include evaluation (which we’re cautioned to avoid as coaches).  So that makes my conversations with them pretty high-stakes.   Now, as I write this, it is April 21.  My student teachers are almost done with their year-long internship experience.  I expect them to be good.  I expect them to be ready.  I expect them to be proficient.  But sometimes, they’re not…..yet.  You might have...

I had a conversation with a friend this week about her moody early-adolescent son that provides some insights about coaching.  If you know or parent a young teen, you’ve probably had experiences similar to my friend’s.  Her son was on a trip to New York City, and as she checked in with him each night she noticed at pattern. “How was walking across the Brooklyn bridge?” “It was a cool view, but it was so windy!” “How was China Town?” “The food was good, but the lines were long.” “What did you think of the museum?” “The exhibits were cool, but we stayed too long. It was as if my friend’s son couldn’t allow himself to be happy. His, “but” wiped the positive out of every situation. But , the contradictive contraction, is also an enemy to coaching.  When a teacher is describing something in a lesson that she perceives as effective, I have sometimes countered with, “Yes, but ,” choosing to focus on the thing I felt needed changing. Teacher:  Students were really engage...

Change is hard, so sometimes we need a nudge to make it happen.  This week, I nudged a teacher to share her outstanding lesson with her peers.  I nudged another to take a close look at student work.  And I was nudged by my colleague to get a new writing project started.  We may lack confidence, courage, or motivation to try new things of which we are capable, but a nudge can get us moving in the right direction! Pushing, on the other hand, usually doesn’t work.  To push is to “press against with force.”  That doesn’t sound very nice, does it?  When someone pushes against me with force, I’ve noticed that I have a tendancy to push back.  It seems like the natural way to keep my equilibrium.  If I don’t offer some resistance, I might topple over from the force.  But a nudge allows me to keep my footing.  I’m not going to fall, I’m just going to move forward.  To nudge is to touch gently or urge into action.  A nudge is a reco...