faulker008

For decades, educational reformers have called for improved student achievement. No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds, the nation’s education laws, have established superlative performance as the only acceptable goal.   Burdened by pressures for improbable outcomes, school and district leaders search for the golden fleece, the silver bullet, the guaranteed fix.   Innovations become ends unto themselves and often create diversions from the fundamental purpose of improvement (Fullan, 1989). As you can see from the date on that reference, this problem has been going on for a long, long time.   You have seen it, and so have I – the pendulum swing of education that hopes for ultimate victory. But there are no quick fixes, just hard work. Whether it is losing weight, learning to surf, or improving student learning, the key, once a practical route has been charted, is to stay the course.   Staying the course is a nautical metaphor well-suited as a prescription f...

A young teacher-friend I know is stressed and puzzled.   It is Jake’s second year teaching, and, because he was the low man on the totem pole, he got moved to a new grade level this year.   So, for the second year in a row, he is creating everything from scratch while still trying to figure out the bigger picture of classroom management and learning.   At his “Turnaround” school, there is increased pressure for improved test scores.   As an early-career teacher, Jake knows it would be easy for the principal not to renew his contract at the end of the year. All of these issues create a heavy burden for him that zaps energy and enthusiasm he could otherwise bring to the classroom. What should be good news is, Jake has an instructional coach working with him.   So far, her main recommendation is that Jake should make his lessons more interactive.   That seems like a wise recommendation!   We know that children learn best when they are active participants ...

As instructional coaches, one of our most important roles is to bring out the best in the teachers we work with.   This includes empowering them and helping teachers see the impact of their contributions. When teachers feel confident, they are willing to take risks and make changes. A teacher who is unconfident may retreat to carefully-controlled, worksheet-driven lessons that are easy to teach but not in the best interest of students. Expressing confidence helps a teacher move from what she is to what she can become. Here are a few confidence-boosting ideas to consider: Encourage During Struggles If a teacher lacks confidence, mistakes can confirm feelings of inadequacy.   Instead, let teachers know it’s okay to make mistakes, that missteps are part of the path to success. Fear of failure can be immobilizing, but knowing perfection isn’t expected makes it safe to try and then try again. Teaching requires experimenting – using an approach and examining the results.   When...

Teaching and learning are social activities, supported through interaction with others. In earlier times, most of the world’s work was learned through apprenticeship. The wheelwright, the farrier, the carpenter, all learned the art and science of their professions by watching and listening to skillful practitioners.   A decade ago, Marzana published the book The Art and Science of Teaching, stating that although instructional strategies should clearly be based on sound science and research, knowing when to use them and with whom is more of an art. The chemistry of a successful classroom can’t be reduced to a formula, and instructional decisions must be based on continuous feedback loops that demonstrate our students’ strengths and needs. I was chatting with a coach this week who is also an art enthusiast; she particularly loves Van Gough, and learned that Van Gough’s study of color theory inspired his adventurous use of color.   Understanding the laws of color allowed for thei...

Asking questions is a valuable coaching move, the centerpiece of the GIR model.   Questions can provide just enough support to push a novice teacher to consider new approaches or to nudge an experienced teacher forward in her thinking. But if questions are our first communication during a conference, they may put the brakes on the conversation rather than inviting contemplation.   To encourage productive discussion, listen and then “take up” a teachers’ story.   Tom Newkirk describes this “taking up” as a contingent response and says uptake is “a demonstration of connectiveness” (Newkirk, 2017, p. 83).   A coach who is skilled at uptake makes a teacher feel attended to; the teacher feels like her comments matter. There may be a tendency for coaches to say, “That reminds me of…..”   Such a response, however, shifts attention away from the teller.   Instead, we want to make a teller-focused comment.   We might say, “It sounds like you…..” or “You must ha...

Stacy is an experienced coach working with a teacher, Sarah, who at first seemed aloof and self-confident. Later, Stacy realized Sarah’s distance is a cover for her self-doubt, that her assurance masks uncertainty.   Like many of the students she teaches, Sarah is a vulnerable learner who sometimes responds defensively when recommendations are offered.   This week, when Stacy reviewed the lesson plans Sarah had shared via email, she was careful to couch her recommendation about the lesson focus within positive comments about other aspects of the planning. Still, when she met Sarah the next day, Sarah emphatically threw her papers on the table saying, “I changed the whole thing.”   Rather than tweak the lesson as suggested, she had dumped it and started over.   Stacy felt it was a shame that a lesson with so many positive aspects had been scrapped because her recommendation had not been received as intended.   We pondered together how such situations could be avo...

If you know four notes, teach someone who knows three. Dan Berkowitz Sharing our repertoire is the common lot of coaches. We recommend based on what we have seen, read, and experienced.   When teachers lack knowledge and experience in an area where coaches have expertise, recommending can be an effective move. Using a mental checklist of “3 C’s for Recommending” can improve the impact of recommendations. As you purposefully plan for feedback conversations, seek to be c lear, c oncise, and c onversational. Be Clear Although there are times when questioning to prompt or probe is effective, if there is a suggestion you plan to make, say it.   Don’t make a recommendation disguised as a question , and don’t rely on buzzwords.   Describe what it is you think could happen in concrete, actionable terms. What will it look like when the suggestion has been implemented? For recommendations, target something that can make a short-term, noticeable difference. Of course, it has to be i...