faulker008

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 mys...

“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 unlo...

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 ...

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 ...