faulker008

We’re getting close to that time of year when we reflect back and look forward, and this can be a good time for helping teachers prioritize their activities and routines.   Here’s an exercise suggested by Shawna Coppola* that works well when coaching individual teachers or teams. First, ask teachers to choose which part of the day or content area they want to reconsider (if their secondary teachers, you can skip this step!).   Next, make a list of everything that could potentially happen (or that the teacher(s) did this year), during that part of the day.   Don’t get too specific; the idea is to list generalizable, repeated activities.   For example, don’t list “Read aloud of James and the Giant Peach,” list “Teacher read aloud,” or maybe “Teacher read aloud while students draw the scene.” Keep going until you run out of steam (or chart paper, whichever comes first!).   Hint: If you’re working with just one teacher, the list can be made on a piece of paper. ...

As the school year draws to a close, it’s important to pause and celebrate success with teachers.   Giving teachers the space to reflect on their own accomplishments is a precious gift during the crazy, finishing-out-the-school-year rush.   Reflection helps teachers see that their hard work and persistence have paid off.   Yesterday, I played the Beatles song, “In My Life,” followed by Trace Adkins’s, “You’re Gonna Miss This,” while teachers reflected on their best memories of the year, what would stick with them, and how they had changed.   Then they shared a memory or celebration with their shoulder partner.   The mood in the room was noticeably brighter.   A creative twist on supporting teacher reflection is to ask teachers to reflect on each others’ successes.   The “Strength Circle” protocol provides this opportunity.   Each teacher is given an envelope and a blank piece of paper.   They write their name on the outside of the envelope, f...

Confidence is optimistic belief in our chances for success.   When we are confident, we feel that our chances of success are high, that our efforts will result in a favorable outcome.   It is an optimistic self-belief.   Psychologists call this belief self-efficacy.   Self-efficacy is important for teachers because, as Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t - - you’re right.”   Like the Little Engine, teachers who “think they can” accomplish remarkable things.   Albert Bandura, a cognitive psychologist, describes ways to boost self-efficacy that have special relevance for instructional coaches.   They are: vicarious experiences, mastery experiences, and verbal persuasion. Vicarious Experiences Observing successes of people we consider as role models builds self-efficacy.   Seeing people similar to ourselves succeed through sustained effort raises our belief that we, too, can have success in that area.   This is o...