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There’s just not enough time in the day for all the conversations we’d like to have!   I ran into this problem as I worked with Meg this week.   Meg is an early-career teacher who is still struggling with classroom management.   Although she has adopted some effective approaches and worked to increase the engagement factor in her lessons, some students are hanging on to their old, disruptive habits.   I was able to stop by her class this week, but there wasn’t a chance for us to get together and talk about it. Still, I wanted to share some ideas with her before the context grew cold.   So I decided to email.   Email can be both boon and bane when coaching.   The ease of access and ability to communicate asynchronously are big bonuses.   But these serial conversations don’t give us the opportunity to read the body language of the receiver, and the teacher may not get a clear idea of our intent and tone without the face-to-face. Still, from time to ...

Today I was witness to one of those magical moments teacher live for – when learning erupts like spontaneous combustion, burning new ideas forever into students’ minds. In our PLC we’ve been working on discussion strategies – ways to support genuine conversation among students, where students initiate topics and make unsolicited contributions. We’ve been leading up to grand conversations , supporting students as they take ownership for their own learning and consider, extend, and sometimes refute one another’s ideas. Amy’s fourth-grade class has been studying Native American folktales. They had read Coyote Places the Stars and How the Stars Fell into the Sky , and today they were ready for a grand conversation. Amy invited me in to observe so that we could reflect together on the experience.  As the lesson began, I heard Amy launch the discussion with an open-ended question: “What were some of the similarities and differences between these two book?” Students jumped in with comme...

In my work with an early-career teacher named Kelli, I’m a yo-yo coach, pivoting back and forth between coaching moves in an effort to keep her moving forward. Kelli vacillates between over-confidence (is it for real?) and doubt about her teaching skills.  There has not been a clear gradual increase of responsibility for Kelli as we work together. Instead, I find myself recommending – even when she is confident. And affirming, especially when her confidence wains.  These coaching moves are a natural part of my coaching repertoire, but with most teachers, I move through them in a more systematic way.  When working with Kelli, however, I pull them out on an as-needed basis. However, now that we’ve been working together for a while, I find that questioning is becoming a more effective move. It helps with Kelli when I open with a general question about her work.  After she talks, I rephrase, trying to state back clearly and concisely what I’ve heard.  Having listene...

In the sixth century BC, Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that nothing in this world is constant except change and becoming.  His treatise, About Nature, includes the aphorism:  Everything flows; nothing stands still.   Becoming assumes a changing into and moving toward. What are you changing into? Who is the coach you are becoming? Who are the teachers you work with becoming?  Unless we cultivate an attitude of becoming, we (and those we work with) may remain stagnant. Stagnant. Even the word is unattractive. But becoming, ah, there’s a word for you! Developing, ripening, emerging, enhancing – that is what we are shooting for! The teachers we work with have not deliberately chosen a path of stagnation, but sometimes, it feels like all we can do is maintain the status quo amid the busy-ness of our lives as teachers.  We can support a becoming attitude with our colleagues through our work as coaches. When we point out teachers’ strengths , and help them build...

Andi is one of those teachers for whom instruction seems to come naturally. She is so tuned in to her students’ needs, and she radiates positivity. She loves what she does and it shows.  How does a coach support a teacher like Andi, who is doing so much so well?  Is there a need? I assert that even “Andi’s” benefit from a coach’s support. Teaching is hard work, and we all need celebrations. So even time spent working with expert teachers is worthwhile. But when our coaching “go-to” moves are highly-supportive, it may be hard to adjust the scaffolding we provide to match the needs of already-skillful teachers. That is where affirming comes in. In the GIR model (below), affirming is portrayed as a coaching move that provides less support, even, than asking questions. We use it when reflection has become automatic, when teachers are already asking themselves the questions that we might ask otherwise.  An affirmation compliments the teacher and validates what she is doing. It...

As you’ve no doubt noticed, the title for this post is, “Questions as Invitations.”  Full disclosure: The subtitle should be “Coaching for Word Nerds.” As a literacy teacher, I’ve taught lessons about the importance of word choice.  One right word is better than ten almost-right ones, or, as Mark Twain said, “The difference between the  almost right  word and the  right  word is really a large matter – ‘tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Leave out the adverbs and choose the right verb. Leave out the adjectives and choose the right noun.  When writing, words matter. When coaching, words matter, too. Take the word “ celebrate .”  I agree with Ruth Ayers that celebration is a good thing.  Even the word celebration sounds celebratory!  You can take advantage of that word power when coaching.  After an observation, you can jump right in with “What do you want to celebrate about that lesson?”  I promise,...

Over the years, I have collected stacks of GIR conferencing guides . This week, I went through one pile with a particular purpose: I was looking for some bad questions to use as illustrations.  It delighted me that I didn’t find any negative examples in the stack from the group of coaches I’ve been working with recently.  Digging a little deeper though, I found some examples from an old stack that I hope will be illustrative. As we look at questions that don’t work, we become clearer about what makes a good coaching question. Here are a few questions that seem ineffective and why I think they wouldn’t work: Question: “How are you able to check for understanding if you are lecturing?”  This is code for: You are lecturing too much.  You need to stop lecturing and check for understanding. Possible solution: Make a recommendation.  It might also be possible to help the teacher get to the same point through a series of questions, if s/he has the background and self-...