Coaching During a Crisis

Click Here for the Audio Version of this Post

Like the rest of the world, education has been deeply impacted by COVID-19.  From the ways that we build classroom community to instructional practice itself, we are reinventing, experimenting, and remixing almost everything we do.   Even the most technologically savvy of us weren’t prepared for the emotional toll this would take on our students, ourselves and our communities.  We’ve home for almost a month in my district and I am only just now feeling semi-comfortable in the shifts to my role as a leader.

It’s a time like this that I’m thankful for instructional coaches, especially our instructional coach at Jefferson, Pia Bartolai who jumped in from day one supporting teachers in ways I couldn’t have imagined.  In just a few weeks she has been working non-stop to help not only teachers, but students and families as well.  Her “greatest hits” have included:

• Creating tutorial videos for both staff and families to use (Seesaw, Zoom, GoogleMeet, FlipGrid, Screencastify etc.) 
• Holding virtual office hours for students and families to get help from her when a teacher is trying out a new technology 
• Creating an eLearning Dashboard that has everything teachers could need during this time all in one place with simple headings (Think 1-Page Hyperdoc Extraordinaire)
• Not overwhelming teachers by sending them a million resources at a time.  Instead, she sends out one email on Monday with a resource they might use with examples of how they might use it 
• She tries out the tools that teachers may be using first with a faux account so that she can answer questions from how students might be seeing the technology 
• She makes herself available whenever teachers may need her sharing her calendar so they can make appointments, letting teachers drive the meeting with what they need
• She attends each team’s virtual meeting each week and frequently offers to help create tutorials, videos, templates, etc.  She comes to the meeting with the attitude of, “what I can I do to help most?”
• She doesn’t, “should on people.”  (Listen to the podcast to understand this one)

When I thought about writing this post I realized that these ideas were probably best talked about in an audio form so that Pia could explain in more detail her thought process.  The recording is about 35 minutes.  I have included most of the transcript below.  To play the interview, click here.  Highlights include:

Up to 5:30:     Introduction & Pia’s Background

5:41:               Shifts in Coaching Since COVID-19

7:56:               Supporting Teachers in Technology with a Wide Variety of Experience

10:32              Rebuilding Classroom Culture & Community

13:50              Two Recommended Tech Tools for Remote Learning

17:38              Coaching Requests from Teachers

19:41              Leveraging Students Being At Home

20:38              Supporting Teachers in the Feedback Process to Students

24:56              Positive Effects & Possibilities For Teaching Moving Forward

26:41              Advice to Teachers, Coaches & Admin 

C: Can you share with our listeners how you’ve supported teachers throughout their time at home vs. at school?

P: Yeah, so I think my approach to coaching, my big rules for coaching haven’t necessarily changed. So I kind of live by two rules as a coach and one is like practice empathy and then the other one is like, don’t “should on people,” which is what was told to me I think in one of my first years of coaching, they just said, like, “Don’t should on people.” And so what I’ve noticed is in our new reality right now is that practice empathy. Empathy is hard right now because oftentimes as a coach, I’ve relied on my experience in the classroom to help to support me with that. I had nine years in the classroom so I would often ask myself as a coach like, “What would I want from a coach, as a teacher right now? If I was a teacher in their shoes right now, what would I need?” and none of us have ever experienced anything like this before, none of us have ever done remote learning. And so, you know that Brené Brown video…that we’ve watched about empathy and how she talks about… It’s got the animals and she talks about like don’t stare down into the hole and say like how’s it going down there, like actually get down in there with people. So that’s really what I’ve been trying to do as a coach is really try and get down there with teachers right now and try as much as I can to be able to put myself into their shoes. So what that’s meant for me is, I’ve been doing a lot of creating of tutorials and videos. I’ve been practicing what it would feel like in order to teach remotely, so I do a lot of screencasts, and Flipgrids, and virtual tutorials, a lot of trying to teach through Hangouts, or supporting teachers through Hangouts and sharing of screens. So it’s been a lot of just trying to get myself to understand as best as possible without ever having experienced what our teachers need right now and what they’re going through right now without having experienced it for myself.

C:  In coaching, we’re always trying to take off the plate as opposed to continually add to the plate. One of the things that I noticed that you’ve been offering in addition to making tutorials for the teachers, so that they could use those with their classes or giving those to parents is that you’ve actually offered office hours for kids to check in with you.  What’s been your feedback on that so far?

P: Yeah, so that’s something that is pretty new since we’ve been trying to move more towards some things that maybe teachers haven’t tried before. So teachers are really being asked to step outside their comfort zone right now, and teach in a completely different way than they ever have before. So, we have some teachers at our school who have been teaching for 25 years and have never been asked to teach like this. And so one way I’ve been trying to take some stuff off their plate is like you said by offering some office hours for students where they can check in with me or parents can check in with me to support them through some of the technology that they’re being asked to use that they may not have been asked to… Or been asked to use before. So, for example, with one grade level, they are gonna be doing with Flipgrids so I created a tutorial about Flipgrid from both a teacher point of view but then also from the student and parent point of view so that they can share that out with students and families, so that families can see it in action before they try it.

P: And then we set up a day where I will have office hours with those students and their families so if they needed to get in touch with me through Google Hangouts, and I can actually walk them through it, and we can share our screen so I can show them how to do it or if they just need to email me they have access to that. So that’s an option that we set up in order for me to best support not only those teachers but then also the students and the families with some of the new technology that they’re trying out.

C: Yeah, and I really appreciate that a lot. One of the pieces of feedback that we’ve gotten from a lot of our teachers through this is that the questions that they’ve been getting over email, most of them have been related to tech-related issues and so Pia really saw a need in a way to show that empathy, but also to help out our families and our community as well, and so I think that’s gonna be a really nice addition. So in talking about the learning piece, and how you’ve been helping teachers to maybe discover some new tools or some things that might just help with what they’re doing and planning, what have been your new thoughts about how you’ve been going about doing that?

P: Well, we initially set up an E-learning dashboard where teachers could go just so that they had easy access to everything that they might need. My number one goal right now is just to help teachers stay sane. And so, I know that they’re getting tons and tons of stuff so I’m trying not to overwhelm them with an overabundance of resources which is really hard and this time because there are so many ideas floating around out there. And so I’ve been trying to navigate through and mine through a lot of different ideas and kind of just share one a week with teachers. That could be really useful and beneficial to them and their students.

P: So that’s one way that we’ve been going about that, you know, it’s also, like I said, going back to just a place of empathy, we’re asking teachers to do something, a completely different teaching style. They had no warning. They had very little warning, they had very little training on this. So just reminding teachers that we’re not gonna be able to replicate their exact classrooms in a virtual environment, but they can recreate that same vibe that they had in their classrooms. A lot of their classrooms were built on relationships and community building and feedback for students. So, those things are more challenging in a digital environment but they are definitely possible in a digital environment so helping people think through how can they go back kind of to the beginning of the school year and… Like, when we were establishing our classroom community when we were thinking through how to build relationships in the community and in our classrooms. Like what were some of those things we needed to do then and how do we kind of do that now through… In our current reality with the digital environment.

C: And what have you seen our teachers kind of choosing to do that? How have they been going about setting that backup?

P: So, a lot of them are doing it through Zoom Meetings or through Google Meets, more so through Google Meets now to actually get some face-to-face time with students. I’ve seen a lot of teachers reading aloud to students which is such a huge community builder like in the actual classroom and that just carries over right into a digital environment that’s such a perfect way for teachers to just keep that classroom community going. And it allows kids to, you know, hear a great story and then talk about it and we know that those are just good things for kids all the time.

P: A lot of teachers are doing things like screencasting a lesson and then sharing it out with teacher… Or with their students or setting up Flipgrids for students to be able to actually provide feedback to each other. So teachers love Seesaw and I love Seesaw so much but one of the hardest parts about Seesaw is that kids aren’t always able to see each other’s work and comment on each other’s work, I mean you can set that up, but Flipgrid is such a perfect opportunity for kids to be able to see each other in, you know, reality… See each other’s faces at least it’s not in real-time and then actually comment back and give feedback to each other so that the teachers aren’t having to give as much of that feedback that students can actually provide that feedback to each other and cheer each other on and be each other’s cheerleader. So that’s such a huge… It’s such a great tool, and there are a whole bunch of tools but I mean if there was one that I really was like, this is working right now, Flipgrid and Screencastify are probably two of my biggest ones right now.

C: Yeah, the thing I love about Flipgrid ’cause I’ve been invited to some teachers to respond and also I’ve created some for our school is that you can respond in a video, so it’s nice that it’s more than just, I’m typing you a comment, ’cause the biggest thing you know we’re all being a little bit more isolated. A lot more isolated than we have been in the past. And so having that opportunity to connect and to see faces, I think is just so important and I love that option on there. For people who aren’t familiar with Screencastify can you talk about that a little bit more.

P: Yeah, so Screencastify is a really great tool it’s actually an extension on… Or I have it as an extension on Google Chrome and so and right now they’re offering out the ability to take off the five-minute limit which is a huge help. And so what it actually does is you can either record yourself in a video or you can record your screen. And so you can then share it and it goes automatically into your Google Drive if you’re a Google for education or district, and then share it straight from there so that students can have a link either to a video that shows the teacher, or that shows the teacher’s screen. So, for example, today I just did a tutorial using… I can never pronounce his name Steve Wyborney, sorry if you’re listening. [chuckle]

P: Exactly, exactly, but he has these amazing… His blog is amazing but on there he has these esti-mysteries. And so I actually just created like a little video for kindergarteners and first graders using an esti-mystery using Screencastify and so he has them in Google Slides and so as a teacher I was able to pull up Screencastify, bring up my… The Google slide with the esti-mystery and walk through the esti-mystery and I actually put stopping points in the video to say like okay, pause your video now and and change your estimate if you need to based off of the clues that we had in it. And then I’m sharing that out with teachers so that they can actually either use that as an exemplar if they wanted to try it out themselves or that one they could actually share with their kindergarten and first-grade students. So, I mean, Screencastify has so many options but it’s just a really seamless integration with Google Drive which makes it super useful, right?

C: Yeah, which is nice and with that asynchronous learning then kids can choose to access it when they would like to as well, which I think is also such an important thing. Knowing right now, how many demands we have upon families, and that their school day or their time for learning may be completely different than another families so…

P: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I mean that is such a… I mean, when I listened to that webinar with George Couros and with AJ Juliani and Katie Novak and when they showed that synchronous versus asynchronous image of like synchronous is you know your virtual meetings, face to face meetings versus asynchronous would be like a Flipgrid or, you know, a Screencastify and just that realization that not all families have more than one device in their home you know and so if we’re asking students to be in face to face meetings with us, that’s wonderful for community building and it’s great for instant feedback, but it may not be reasonable to expect that of all students every day and so also giving students that same opportunity to engage and see your face. And, you know, get some of that face to face time. But in an asynchronous way at a time that works for them and their family is really powerful.

C: So, when you’re thinking about like teachers and I know they’ve been reaching out to you throughout this, what have they been coming to you with the most that they’re looking for help with or for coaching on.

P: Originally it was you know tech support ’cause I think that’s just the reality of coaching right now is that a lot of us have… That’s where the need is right now is just because that’s the reality that a lot of families and students are living in at the moment, but recently in the last you know week or so it’s switched over more to. We feel like, students are spending too much time with tech and digital tools,  “Are there ways that we can recreate the same kind of experiences for kids? But in a non-digital way?”

P: And so, that’s really where I’ve been trying to support teachers through thinking through that. So I just created and I had a whole list of ideas, and I just keep adding to it, and trying to support teachers and thinking about: How can we recreate that same learning experience, but giving kids an opportunity to be creative, leverage the fact that they are at home? As much as this is difficult, it’s also an amazing opportunity for kids, that they have access to their pets, so why not encourage a kid to take notes like a scientist about what their pet is doing throughout the day, and then write a creative story about a day in the life of their pet. Or use the tools that are… Or use the things that are in their bedroom to recreate a scene out of a book that they’ve read. Or use their stuffed animals to recreate, or a public show. So those kinds of things are really where I think we’re gonna get the most bang for our buck with students, and that’s really where I’m starting to see a shift in some of the conversations that we’re having away from… Not away from the tech ’cause I don’t wanna say we wanna move away from the tech, but just so that not all options are tech-related.

C: Yeah, I love that. I think we had a conversation with our first-grade team, and they were talking about having their students create a habitat for one of their stuffed animals or a pet or something like that, out of things in their house. And I really think that we need to look at students being at home as a strength and a learning opportunity. In my morning announcements, I give opportunities for families to contribute in a variety of different ways, and one of them is the talent section. And a lot of the families have sent in videos of things that there’s no way we would have been able to replicate at school. And so, it’s just been really wonderful to strengthen that partnership of homeschool, and really look at that from an advantage, and how can we capitalize on it. So I love that you framed it that way. So moving forward, then, what do you think you’re going to start providing a little bit more support in with teachers?

P: So I know it seems like right now, the thing that is in the top of everybody’s mind is: How do I give feedback on all these things that I’m getting? There are all these different platforms. Students are submitting work on Seesaw or through Flipgrid or through Google Classroom. And I’m getting two, three, four pieces of evidence or artifacts from kids of what they’re doing and what they’re learning every single day. How do I actually navigate that and provide meaningful feedback when I’m getting 60, 70 things a day in my email? So definitely, moving forward, I wanna help start thinking with teachers and help identify, “What are the big outcomes we want for kids during this time? We have, at least four weeks, maybe eight weeks, who knows? And so, if we can really sit down together as a team and think through as a second-grade team, a third-grade team, a fourth-grade team, what do we really want students to get out of this time?” I think right now, understandably so, we’re all living very day-to-day with the uncertainty causes us to revert back to living day-to-day. But if we can think longer-term about what is it that we want students to know and be able to do by the end of this, even if it’s not academically-related, maybe it’s social-emotional, maybe it’s with their families. And then, really streamline our instruction and feedback to reflect those priorities that we set.

C: Yeah, that is something that has come through a lot in our conversations with teachers. When they were in the classroom, they were meeting with small groups or they were giving that live feedback right there. But now, they aren’t able to necessarily do that unless it’s in a virtual setting. And so, whether they are meeting with small groups of kids and giving them that feedback that way, but it’s added a much larger volume of assignments of videos of whatever it is for them to be looking at and responding to. And so, how do we give kids feedback that is meaningful? And also, how do we decrease some of that volume? Because that is a huge stressor, and we wanna make sure we’re taking care of our teachers, too, because they’ve gotta have balance in their lives, as much as everyone does.

P: And it’s… Yeah, it’s also, I think a lot of it, we’re starting to realize our students are dependent. And I think that’s just a reality of elementary school. But how much feedback, informal feedback we were giving to students throughout their learning and throughout the process, and so, we could head off some of those misconceptions and some of those mistakes that students were making before they even submitted an assignment. And I think that’s something that teachers are having a tough time with this, it’s like, “Now, I’m waiting until after they’ve submitted the assignment to catch some of those things.” So what can we do to help students start to… It’s hard in a K-5 building, but at least, start to self-reflect and self-assess. And where can they be a little more independent with that so it doesn’t all fall on the teacher to do it after they’ve already submitted the assignment?

C: Yeah, and that is another thing that I’ve seen you’re doing with teams in offering to them, and the conversations they’re having about what they’re assigning, talking about that success criteria, what should that look like. And you’ve been offering to work with them to create an example so that students have that. So if the teacher is not there live, which is really in most of the occasion right now, that they have something to look at to reflect themselves, and then make those choices for what their next steps are while they’re waiting for feedback, for the teacher. And my guess is that through this, kids are gonna end up being more independent. And that’s gonna be one of those great benefits that we’re going to have out of this time.

P: I agree, I think that is a silver lining, is that even through all of this, this is pushing some of the ownership of learning back onto students. And this is a great opportunity for teachers to experiment with some of those things that we’ve talked about like success criteria and self-reflection and goal-setting, all that kinda stuff that does empower students to take that ownership of their learning because we have to, right now. Otherwise, parents and ourselves, we’re going to go crazy because they’re still gonna be dependent on us, and we’re not right there with them. And so, really, I think going back to your original question of where do we go from here, is that’s really what I wanna start thinking about is: How can we support teachers in some of that with thinking about goal-setting, thinking about success criteria and thinking about feedback? And how all that plays together in really turning the ownership of learning back over to students so that they’re not as dependent on us.

C: Yeah, I definitely agree. And I think within that realm, giving our teachers that creativity, the creativity piece has really, not that we didn’t offer that before. I like to think that Jefferson’s a school that loves taking risks, and I see that in our teachers all the time, but there’s a different type of creativity that this offers. It’s almost like starting teacher teaching from scratch. There are certain things that we know work really well with our kids, but we can also just try a lot of new things, and see how they go, and keep reflecting and refining along and throughout the process.

P: Absolutely.

C: So if you were gonna give any advice to teachers at this time, what would be your greatest advice to them?

P: I think one of my favorite things, and then I had seen this on Twitter so many times, and it’s really striking a chord with me, is that idea of Maslow before Bloom, that we need to make sure we’re taking care of kids’ needs, and making sure kids feel safe and connected to school before we can push rigor and all that kind of… All those good educational terms on them. So really, making sure that students feel connected to you as a teacher, feel connected to their classmates, feel connected to their school. And we’ve been doing so much at Jefferson to try and support that, and I know teachers are trying to do that every single day. And just reminding them that that is first priority is making sure kids are safe and connected.

P: And then, one of our teachers said it really best, and we talked about this earlier, but take advantage of the fact that students are at home. And they can be creative, and we can try things out with them, and they can show you, I think you talked about this, what they’re really passionate about outside the confines of the school. They can build, they can create, they can make videos. We are not restricted to that bell schedule anymore right now. We’re not restricted to that time schedule that we have in school where we only have literacy block from 8:30 to 10:00, and then it’s done because we need to be moving on to the next subject because somebody’s coming in. So to take advantage of that and find those silver linings and the things that we can try out and do differently now that we have a completely… We basically have a blank slate for education right now. So I know, and that sometimes feels super overwhelming, but just small things that we can do to, again, turn the ownership back over to students and give them some say in their education, and say in their learning. Those are my two biggest ones, is take care of their needs first, their safety needs, and their need to have that sense of community. And then also, just take advantage of the fact that we have a blank slate for education right now.

C: So what advice would you give to other coaches, then?

P: Not being an expert in this by any means. I think it’s just be there to support your teachers and try the best we can to not pile on anything additional. That is my number one thing that I keep saying to myself every time I create something or do something. I’m like, “Is this adding more onto their plate? Or is taking something off of their plate?” And just really, again, same thing for us as coaches, we have a blank slate here of trying different things in our coaching practice that we may not have been able to do within the school setting. And there are some teachers that I know that I haven’t reached out to yet, and I need to make sure that I’m making those connections with everybody and making sure that they’re doing okay, too. Because our teachers are stressed right now, and rightfully so. And so, just really making sure we’re taking the time to practice what we preach for our teachers with ourselves.

C: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I was thinking about touching base with everyone is just so important because on the outside, we can all say whatever, but… And those internal moments, giving people an opportunity to share and take something off their plate, or to help out where we can. And I really see that as my job, as well as an administrator, of just taking care of my people. And that includes students, that includes families, that includes everyone. And so, that means checking in as much as you can.

P: Absolutely.

C: So then, my last question would be; What advice do you have for me as an administrator, also knowing I’m a parent?

P: I think, and this is really challenging for me, not being a parent. And so, I guess it’s, again, really just thinking about what is essential right now for our students and where can we push, maybe, and push some of that independence on our students. I think as a teacher, this was one of my hardest things that I had to learn early on in my teaching career, was the idea of productive struggle, and not jumping in and saving students. And I know that some students are probably going to struggle. And parents, as a parent, I am sure that they’re gonna wanna jump in and save when math is challenging and a student doesn’t necessarily understand that they’re gonna wanna jump in and say like, “Here, let me show you.” But allowing students the space to struggle productively is a huge learning experience for them. So for parents, that would be, I think, the biggest thing, is giving your students some space. It’s gonna be hard and that’s okay. Again, this is new for all of us. And for administrators, you’re doing such a great job. [chuckle] You’re being so…

C: Thank you for saying that. I don’t know if that’s true.

P: No, I know. As I told you, no one was ever trained on how to be an administrator or how to be a coach or how to be a teacher or how to be a student or parent during a global pandemic. So we’re all trying to figure this out together. And so, again, just being as supportive as possible of your teachers, backing up your teachers, giving them some space to do some of those creative things with students, and allowing them to know that that is okay. I think sometimes, we just need to hear it from an administrator that that’s the right thing to do. And so, really just being there and being supportive.

C: Well, thank you, I appreciate that advice. Well, Pia, I just wanna thank you again for everything that you’re doing for our staff, for our students, for our community. And I am just grateful that you took a few minutes, actually, to do this podcast with me today, as well, because I know your schedule is definitely slammed with all the work that you’re doing. So thank you again, and that’s gonna be it. Bye, everyone!

I started my newsletter this week with this quote from A.J. Juliani:

“The sooner we realize that there is no instructional manual for this situation, the sooner we can give each other grace to experiment, learn, and iterate to the best of our abilities in the worst of circumstances.”

Our coaches are the ones helping to make the experimenting, learning and iterating a little less scary and a lot more successful.  To all of the coaches out there supporting teachers during this crazy time, thank you.  The difference you are making is immeasurable.  

The One Question That Will Change Your Data Review Conversation

Ever been to a data review meeting like this?

Data is projected for everyone to see.  

You group students into those who are exceeding, meeting, and not meeting the target expectation.

Everyone gives reasons for why students have reached varied levels of proficiency.

In the last 5-10 minutes, you come up with some ideas for what to do for these students, focusing mostly on the students who are struggling.  These ideas almost always include the following:  reteaching skills in small group and/or a “double-dip” with a specialist. 

Everyone agrees to do said ideas, but these ideas either get pushed to the wayside for new standards being taught or people end up planning the language and strategies of the reteach lessons on their own.  For the most part, everyone ends up in the same place at the next meeting.

I’ve experienced hundreds of meetings like this as both a participant and facilitator.  It can be incredibly frustrating and make everyone feel like they’re wasting their time.  However, I’ve also experienced the opposite where conversations result in specific goals and rich plans for student learning resulting in huge growth for kids.

So what’s the difference?  How can we have meaningful data conversations each time?  

It’s actually a lot simpler than you think, but requires an openness on the part of the participants.  This past week we had a data review of our winter Fountas & Pinnell data planned for each grade level at their weekly 60 minute PLC.  The objective of the meeting was to answer the question, “Is our Tier One instruction meeting the needs of our students?”  

We started out similarly to the description at the top of this post.  We looked at data and gave possible reasons for the results.  This year started with 46% of our 2nd grade students not meeting the grade-level benchmark in literacy, but this percentage had now dropped to 29%, a significant amount in a short few months.  This growth had truly been a group effort that included:

• Coteaching with the EL teacher and reading specialist
• Small group instruction with the reading specialist outside of the classroom
• A deep data dive into phonics skills using the Core Phonics Inventory run by our school psychologist that was monitored and checked in with the team every six months. The results shifted instructional practice and grouping.  
• Parent volunteers who were trained by our reading specialist and one of our 2nd-grade teachers to come and read with ALL kids daily
• A 5th-grade mentor who also read regularly with students
• The instructional coach working with the team to develop a Tier One phonics progression with learning experiences
• A retired teacher from Jefferson regularly volunteering and working with groups as well as reading with individual students as well

When we got to the part where we discussed what the classroom teachers were doing instructionally they attributed the success to their small group instruction.   Like what has happened hundreds of times before, we could have stopped there.  Everyone knows what small group instruction looks like so it must be the same right?  

Nope.  

When we were about to move on, I asked a simple question to one of the teachers, the question that I would recommend asking every time you meet as a group.

“What does your instructional practice actually look like?”  

From this one simple question, we got a variety of answers that ended up resulting in a huge shift to the direction we were going in as well as a concrete plan for next steps.  One teacher explained that she has the students do the reading for group at their desks and then the time she spends with them is actually on talking about the book and developing instructional strategies.  Another teacher explained that she was working on questioning which was different from another teacher on the team.  The third member of the grade level team said that she gives students at least 10 minutes each day to just read independently.

As we delved more deeply into the specifics of their instruction we realized as a team that students were frequently meeting with teachers and getting systematic instruction, but that the amount of time students had to read independently varied greatly.  Teachers were honest in the fact that they were worried that many students weren’t able to do this for extended periods of time on their own.  This was the reason why they had come in as such struggling readers at the beginning of the year because they were mostly “fake reading.”   

We celebrated as a team how far the students had come from the beginning of the year, but really started to push one another’s thinking on independent reading.  Essentially, how could students continue to grow if they were never really reading longer than 10 minutes on their own?  

Instead of leaving saying, let’s make sure our students can read at least x amount of minutes a day without a concrete plan for how to do this, we made sure that the team was supported with ideas as well as resources to help.  Our instructional coach brought up Jennifer Serravallo’s engagement inventory that many on the team had used before. She offered to come in and do it for the teachers so that they could work with students.  Another part of the plan was freezing some of the group work that was happening so that the teachers could monitor independent reading for “fake reading” as well as independent strategy use.  This would be done by conferring.  They planned to redo their “Good Fit” book discussion as well as their processes for students filling their book boxes which was planned outside of the independent reading time.

The team ultimately decided they would set a goal for the students to read independently for 20 minutes a day.  This benchmark would be progress-monitored and discussed regularly at PLC meetings.  The conversations that they would have as a team would be explicit discussions of conferring strategies, students who were struggling with independence followed by specific plans of action moving forward.

Another realization that came out of this conversation was the importance of academic language and that students might be missing understanding simply from not knowing the vocabulary.  An additional plan was created for this outcome as well.  The meeting finished with a few minutes to spare and a sense of accomplishment.

It is amazing what can be accomplished in a short time when the goal is clear and the participants share deeply.  DuFour created these PLC Questions decades ago:

• What do we want all students to know and be able to do?
• How will we know if they learn it?
• How will we respond when some students do not learn?
• How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient?

Each of these questions plans plays a critical role in the power of a PLC, but if we don’t have deeply explicit conversations about any of the questions, then they are relegated to simply a discussion tool to run the organization of a meeting.  The power in the PLC is the expertise of the participants, trusting one another, benefitting from one another’s strengths and ideas.   The next time you are planning or participating in a PLC, give explicit time to share how you teach, not just what you did.  Making this tiny shift will create an incredible ripple of effects on student learning.  

 

 

What are Your Blind Spots?

I had the privilege of attending an amazing workshop on Monday with author and researcher Jane Kise.  It was a part of our Elmhurst D205 Professional Learning Strand initiative where teachers get to pick one topic and delve deeply into it throughout the year.  Her presentation was part of the Teacher Leadership cohort, but could have applied to any of the other four strands – Innovation, Inquiry, Behavioral Health, or Workshop Model.

The part that I found most fascinating was regarding people’s psychological preferences and how that affects pretty much every aspect of life.   She discussed four different types and had us consider which type we were.  

• Sensing & Thinking  
• Sensing & Feeling
• Intuition & Feeling
• Intuition & Thinking

We then got into groups with others who approach the world like we do and discussed the following prompts:

• Three ways we contribute to teacher efficacy
• If you want to influence us please…
• And please don’t…

It was amazing how easy it was to consider these ideas with like-minded individuals and how normal it made the little things that I had thought were weird quirks about myself seem.  I am an Intuition/Thinking type so I thrive on seeing the Big Picture.  I think about future implications and design coherent plans based on those ideas.  I love challenges and many times prefer to work alone.   It was funny answering the last two bullets because we all immediately said people who influence us have to be knowledgeable and if someone doesn’t have a plan it makes us go crazy.  

If you are reading this right now and thinking, “Wait…doesn’t everyone think this way?” then you might be an intuitive thinker.  If you are wondering why I didn’t list considering the feelings of others as important, then you might be a Sensing & Feeling type or one of the others.  The important thing to remember is that there isn’t “one best type.”  It’s just related to our preferences and how we approach things.  Like being right or left-handed, our tendency is innate, but we can learn the others.

Our preferences connect with our strengths, but can also be a source of our blind spots.  When we get so used to thinking about things and approaching them the same way we may be missing out on better ways of doing something or we may be ostracizing others causing resistance to new ideas.  One way to avoid our blind spots is to regularly collaborate and ask for feedback from trusted colleagues who have a different lens.  If you are leading a team (or classroom of students), checking in regularly with a survey or meeting is another way.  Try to create groups that include people who have diverse perspectives.  If this is not possible, consider what blind spots the group may have and work to address them when making decisions.

As a principal, I have started asking for feedback from my staff at the end of each trimester through a survey.   It is broken down into four categories to better pinpoint our strengths and areas for growth:  Operations/Logistics, Communication, Professional Learning/Instructional Leadership, & Relationships.  (click here for a copy)  I review the results independently for individual reflection, and then meet with my leadership team to create responsive plans.  The more I think about this I am realizing the importance of connecting with a coach or colleague in a different building who approaches leadership from a different lens to help me with regular reflection.

It’s impossible to think about blindspots as a leader without considering classroom implications.  What are our teaching tendencies?  Creating predictable structures and routines is a hallmark of good teaching, but what might we be missing if we always do things the exact same way?  When is it appropriate and how often are we asking students for feedback on our classroom?  If a student is struggling, is it because they lack knowledge or is it because we’re not structuring learning experiences in a way that connects with them?  

I’m not advocating changing every moment of the day to fit each child’s preference.  Just like learning to write with the opposite hand, kids can learn to work in a variety of non-preferred structures.   However, considering that they may approach or think about the world in a different way than the way we are structuring learning might help us to figure out the puzzle of students who appear unreachable or disengaged.  For example, a student who views the world through a Sensing-Thinking lens craves structure, immediate feedback, organization, and right or wrong answers.  If your classroom is filled with mostly open-ended projects, explorations and collaborative work this student may start to feel frustrated with school even though you are using practices that most students adore.   Giving students opportunities to work in structures that connect with their lens will help to engage all learners in school.  A simple way to do this is to offer choice throughout the day in your classroom.  If you are interested in learning more about the four lenses and how they connect to choices you might offer in the classroom, click here.  

Our strengths are what make us individually great, but considering our blindspots and being open to feedback and other perspectives will create a place where everyone’s greatness is maximized.  

 

Am I Doing It Right?

During my five years as a coach in Naperville, we implemented at least 15 new initiatives, maybe more.  So it makes sense that I was frequently asked, “What’s the right way to do this?” or similarly, “Am I doing it right?” Questions of this variety reflect our desire as educators to do our best.  Many of us grew up in an education environment where there was almost always only one path to the correct answer.  When we became teachers that mentality had already been ingrained in us so it makes sense that we would continue to ponder correctness of our actions in the classroom.

The problem is there are so many “right ways” to teach depending on our students that there really isn’t an easy way to answer that question.  When teachers ask me if they are doing it right, I always respond with, “what’s the impact on the students?”  If you are seeing students grow, then you are “doing it right.”  If not, it doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong, it just means it’s not working for that group of students.  And that’s okay.  It just means we need to reflect on what we know about our students, tweak our approach and try again. 

Some years one structure or teaching strategy will have a phenomenal impact on kids and other years it will absolutely flop.   The best teachers are constantly in “beta” stage, regularly creating, reflecting on student growth and refining their work in a continuous cycle of improvement.  When something doesn’t work they don’t give up or blame the students, they try something new from the plethora of strategies in their own toolbox or reach out to their PLC or PLN for more ideas. 

Change is inevitable and constant in education.  As we implement new strategies and structures, it is important to not get hung up on perfection of the thing being implemented, but instead, place greater importance on the impact we are having on students.  Asking the simple question, “what’s the impact on students?” will always lead to “doing it right” for our kids.

The Paralyzing Effect of Stress

This week was not a stellar one for me.  I found myself in the familiar place of adulthood where there is too much to do and not enough time to do it.  I followed none of the advice I know is best and instead retreated into my office for large portions of the day, worked marathon hours at home and caffeinated enough to fly a jet plane around the world.

I thought that if I scheduled every minute of my day I could get it all done, the presentations, the phone calls, the observations, the projects.  Sleeping less, and planning out the day to the finite minute would give me ultimate control resulting in maximum efficiency and total calm in the chaos.  At least that’s what I had convinced myself.

Of course, that’s not what happened.

By Wednesday afternoon, I had reached my breaking point.  I had been on all day for three days straight and was working on finishing, (ok honestly just starting) a presentation I was giving that night at a PTA meeting about our school improvement plan.  Prior to this week, I had been looking forward to giving it because I sincerely love our PTA and couldn’t wait to share the wonderful work my staff has been doing.  I had even invited my superintendent to come as an informal evaluation because I was so excited to share the work. 

Instead of excitedly starting the presentation, I felt sheer terror.  I started thinking about the numerous other projects I would have to complete even after the presentation tonight and it just seemed utterly impossible.  To make matters worse, I realized around this same time that a portion of the Jefferson Family Project, which was debuting at the all-school Thanksgiving Feast the next day had disappeared.  I had no idea where the slides had gone and hadn’t scheduled time in the day to find them.  If that wasn’t enough, it was also my day to pick up my daughter from school and take her to her School of Rock lessons followed by dinner together and it was almost time for me to leave.  Life felt like a ticking time bomb. 

I froze.  My mind went blank and I started tearing up.    My inner thoughts jumped from, “You are terrible at this job.  You are not good enough to be an administrator.  How could anyone ever give you this position?” to “How can you even call yourself a mom? You’re never home.  Other moms can do it all.  Why can’t you?  What’s wrong with you?”  I told myself things that I would never ever say to anyone, but for some reason felt free to shame myself with.  

Lessons Learned

Spoiler alert.  None of the horrible thoughts I had during those moments ever came to fruition.  The Jefferson Family Project got fixed.  I gave my finished presentation to PTA and got wonderful feedback from both the community and my superintendent.  I didn’t end up getting to take my daughter to her class that night, but we spent the entire day together today and she still loves me unconditionally.  All of the projects that I needed to complete, the phone calls, the meetings, they all happened and went well.  

So am I writing this post to tell you not to be stressed because it will all work out?  

Nope.

I wrote that post in August.  It clearly didn’t work for me so I obviously need to readjust.  

Really I’m writing this post because I learned something about myself as a leader, a human, a mother, and a friend.   I want to avoid getting into that awful mental space of overwhelmed feelings and self-doubt and shame and am hoping that what I share might help you too.  (Especially if you an overthinking stressosaurus like me.)

1.  You Can’t Do it All

Nor should you.  One of the best things I did in this was to go and seek out my instructional coach.  She was more than happy to be a thinking partner in the work I was doing.  Her help not only took some of the overwhelmed feelings I was having away, but also made the work I was doing 10 times better than if I would have done it myself.  Besides helping think, she also helped with style and made the presentation look professional.  Once I had a partner in the work it was amazing how much easier it was to get my thoughts together.   I can’t believe I didn’t go to her right away with this, and will definitely remember to do so in the future.  

You know the saying, “It takes a village?”  Well, I ended up getting help from my assistant principal, coach, secretary, PTA President and wife, 5th-grade students, and teachers to finish the Jefferson Family Project and get it ready for the next day.   They all did different components and every time I pass by it I smile.  I am grateful for their help and the lesson learned.

This whole experience has made me start re-evaluating a lot of the tasks I am doing. Do I really need to complete them on my own?  Which ones can I delegate?  Who can be a thinking partner in my work?  I work with some incredible staff.  It is clear that I have been missing out on some opportunities to use them to their full capacity.

2.  Get out of Your Head, Go Be With People

The best parts of this week, and another reason my work ended up going well, were conversations I had with staff, students, and friends.  On Wednesday night, two of my staff members stopped by my office just to chat.  It wasn’t about a need, it was about life or to share a funny story, one that I’m still laughing about.  One of those staff members surprised me with chips and salsa from my new favorite restaurant because when she was with me, the company that was delivering my food had brought me the wrong kind.  Her unexpected kindness made my day, my week honestly and got my mind in the right space. 

On Thursday, knowing this is a busy time of year, in place of a staff meeting, I organized a wellness event.  We got to pick from yoga, cardio or a cooking class.  At the end, there were other optional things to choose from.  My favorite memory was sitting with staff in a circle in the library, with acupuncture needles stuck in our various limbs telling stories about our lives.  During the day we had our all-school Thanksgiving Feast, run by the PTA where we all eat lunch together.  Because of this, I got to spend about two hours connecting with students, staff and parents.   I left school feeling invigorated as opposed to deflated.  What a difference 24 hours can make!

When you spend your day talking only to people about work-related items it can be draining, but when you connect on a personal level it is invigorating and incredibly important.  I need to remember that as I go about my day.   

3.  Stop Scheduling Everything

I am not a “Type A” person in many aspects of my life.  My house is often a mess.  It doesn’t stress me out to be late to social events.  I am happy to go on vacation without planning out every minute detail.   When I feel overwhelmed by something though, “Type A” tendencies often take over and I over plan to the point of taking the joy out of things I love.  

I have also written about this before, but this time I am committing.  Because I am going to get better delegating and partnering on work, I am much more confident that it will actually happen.  Each day is going to include a half-hour of think time that I can use as I like to reflect, close my door and be by myself if needed or catch up.  I am going to try to give myself more grace if I don’t finish “all the things” in the timeframe that I thought I would as well. 

I also need to make more time for family.  This week I failed terribly at the work/home balance.  I committed at the beginning of the year to focus Saturdays on family and friends only, but in reality that hasn’t always happened.  I am recommitting to that promise.

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When I get stressed, I tend to go internal and reach for some sort of inner strength or answer.  What I’m realizing is that it is better to get out of myself and connect with and learn from the strength of others.  I also need to be kinder in my self-talk when I am feeling overwhelmed.  Mostly, I am incredibly grateful to everyone who helped me this week for the lessons learned, the help given and the love I felt as a result.  

 

 

Who’s Doing the Thinking?

It’s no secret.  Education is a “mile-wide, inch-deep” endeavor with new ideas about what’s best cropping up in district initiatives all over the nation.  Some people attribute this to caring deeply about students and wanting what’s best for kids.  Others say the world is changing quickly and it is our responsibility to keep up.  Whatever the reason it seems like anywhere between two and ten new things are being added into initiative soup each year.  

With so many options to choose from, I’ve found myself frequently wondering how do we know what to focus on?  

A visit to my school this week from education author and presenter, Eric Sheninger, helped to shine light on the answer to this question. Initially, we were told his purpose was to visit our schools to do a “tech audit” of how the staff is integrating technology in the classrooms.  He did come into our classrooms and give us feedback on this,  but shared that his real purpose was to look at the level of thinking that was occurring in students, technology or not.  Essentially, his driving question was, 

“Who’s doing the thinking?”

I love how simple this question is, and yet how impactful it can be on any lesson. It transcends ideology as well as level and gets to the heart of what we want students to do in a lesson, become independent.  If we are the ones constantly doing the thinking for students then how will this ever occur?  

With adults, it’s the same concept.  As an administrator or coach, if I’m the one who’s doing all of the talking during a coaching session or professional learning experience, how am I really empowering my staff to continue the work when I’m not there?  

I challenge you this week as you are planning to ask yourself, who is really doing most of the thinking in this work?  If it’s more you than them, I encourage you to shift what you are doing, or just don’t do the activity at all.

Some small shifts you can make to increase the thinking in your learners:

• Make sure that students know what the success criteria of the lesson and the work they are doing.  Have them evaluate themselves at the beginning of the lesson as well as at the end.  If you’re feeling really awesome develop the success criteria with the students.  This lessens the number of, “Did I do this right? Am I done?” questions.
• Incorporate more peer discussion where students have to defend their thinking in response to a question, prompt, or idea.  Have students share their ideas and invite the class to evaluate the validity of the ideas.
• Talk less.  Pause more.  Thinking takes time.  I know it can be insanely awkward to wait, but when we rescue students at the first sign of struggle we are giving them the message that they are not capable and need someone to rescue them.  Pre-plan questions that you might ask to students who you know might struggle with the work so that they get there on their own.  
•  Plan for activities that have multiple paths of success.  It is rare that I have ever seen a worksheet or graphic organizer do this.  I know that many curriculum come with these handy options and understand why they are frequently used, but if we are really examining the level of thinking it’s usually just filling in blanks and boxes to win the school game instead of deepening or extending learning.  
• Make kids the creators.  Some of the best learning I have seen is when a teacher asks students to design something on their own based on their understanding of the learning target.  

By focusing more on increasing the level of thinking in our learners, and less on perfecting the latest initiative, we create a system for success that will transcend any subject, learning style or mandate.  As Todd Whitaker says, it’s people, not programs that make the difference in education.

Coaching for Innovation

This post originally appeared here on the LaunchPad: Official Blog of TeachBoost.

Over the past decade, innovation has become one of the more popular buzzwords in education. Thought by many as a path to make students successful or “future ready,” innovative teaching practices are highly sought after by leadership at all levels. The problem is, when many educators hear the word “innovation,” images of technological grandeur and unimaginable teaching strategies are often conjured up, instead of something that can be as simple as a small shift in practice.

George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset, defines innovation as “something that is new and better.” I love this definition because it recognizes that innovation isn’t changing things just for the sake of change. If something is to be innovative, it needs to be not only new but better for students. In order for innovation to thrive in our schools we have to build school environments that foster idea generation, collaboration, reflection, and risk-taking without fear of repudiation if something doesn’t go as planned.

So where does the role of a coach come in? To strategically enhance these key elements.

Laying the Foundation: Assessing Needs and Trends

It starts with foundational best practices for anyone in a school: build relationships, be present, and get to know those you serve. In this way a coach finds out the needs, interests, and strengths of both students and staff. Not only does this lay the foundation of a great relationship built on trust, it also gives the coach an idea of current practice around the building. If we want “new and better” practices to flourish then we have to first be experts in the great work that is currently happening with students and build from there.

One of the things that I did as a learning support coach was meet with every teacher both at the beginning of each school year and halfway through. We would discuss what they loved most about teaching, areas they were interested in, ideas they were working on, puzzles they just couldn’t figure out, what they enjoyed most outside of school, as well as areas they might want to work with me on.

In addition to meeting with them in person, I’d send out a Survey and a Needs Assessment to get to know the staff a bit better. Over the years, these tools have been modified to meet our school’s improvement plan, previous work we had done, conversations, and coaching cycles I was regularly involved in.

After my meetings, I compiled all of the information I gathered into one large document and looked for trends. From this information, I was able to personalize my coaching and create strategic groupings and partnerships based on the needs or interests of teachers, plus send them articles or videos as resources. As a result, innovative practices spread more quickly, teachers began to collaborate, and relationships built on trust flourished.

Being Vulnerable Through Modeling

An integral, and often scary, part of innovation is the possibility of failure that leads to risk-taking. In order to encourage others to take risks, we need to first model it ourselves. One way to do this is by being vulnerable and to share both your success and setbacks of a new strategy or idea you’re trying out.

In my fourth year of coaching, I found a lot of teachers asking me about the difference between compliance and engagement: “What does it look like in practice?” or “How do we know if students are truly engaged or just complying?” From these conversations the “Student Engagement Inquiry Group” was born. The purpose of this group was to define student engagement versus compliance and then explore teaching practices that would enhance student engagement during lessons. Knowing that a large part of engagement is offering choice, during the first few meetings staff members explored a hyperdoc—a master document with links to various resources.

Using Video

After creating a deeper understanding of student engagement, as well as teaching practices needed to support it, we (the student engagement inquiry group) created an observation template with student engagement “look-fors” when in a classroom.

Knowing that it’s difficult to be judged in front of one’s peers, I offered to teach and record lesson and then have the group evaluate me using our template. Afterward, we used our next meeting to evaluate how engaged the students were. This led to some great discussions and increased the learning process because teachers could focus on what the students were doing. Ultimately, the video process led our group to eventually observe and provide feedback to one another—which supported a shift in an innovative process throughout the building.

Going Further: Building Teacher Leaders

One of the greatest discoveries in my first year as a coach was that teachers who loved the work we were doing together would go back to their team and share. This would cause a ripple effect and the innovation would spread!

Coaches looking to spread innovative practices need to be adept at building up teacher leaders in their schools. Educators love learning from their peers because they’re literally “in the trenches” doing the work daily with the multitude of outside factors that might affect how successful or unsuccessful an idea might be.

Co-Presenting

There are a variety of ways to build leaders of innovation in schools. Besides selecting leaders at each grade level to work with, another great way to build leadership in innovation is to ask a staff member to co-present with you at a staff meeting or professional learning day on an idea you have worked on together in their classroom. This highlights great instruction but also takes away some of the pressure a staff member feel when they have to present by themselves.

Edcamps

Another way to build up teacher leaders is to offer an “Edcamp”-style professional learning day where teachers can learn from their peers. Teachers can present on their own or with a peer or group. The other teachers who are not presenting get to select sessions that they would like to attend. Oftentimes this results to more learning beyond the day because teachers will continue to reach out to that staff member after the event. Check out #hawthorneignites on Twitter for some examples of how this has been successful in one of the buildings I am currently an administrator at.

Making Innovation Visible

I read a recent blog post by AJ Juliani where he talked about the importance of highlighting the instruction we want to see in our schools. As a coach, I created a biweekly newsletter that I send out to staff; in this example, I organized the newsletter into different categories, all related to the practices we wanted to see in our classrooms. Additionally, I’d provide examples of the work that I was doing with staff to spark interest in new ideas as well as show cohesion in our work. Even if someone only briefly glanced at the newsletter they could see the focus of the work being done for the year.

Social media is another great way to spread innovative practices. Tweeting, or posting to Instagram, videos and pictures of instructional practices that you see in classrooms is a simple way to make practice visible. A fantastic way to enhance this is by tagging other teachers who you think might be interested in the post.

Final Thought

Innovation for the sake of doing something new is meaningless and leads to frustration by others. However, once we get to know the strengths of those we serve and connect new ideas to the needs of the building, we can truly create something new and better benefits all parties!

Making the Positives So Loud

I’ll admit it.

George Couros is one of my favourite (spelling intended) people in education.  Not only is he skilled at telling a captivating story that can cause both tears and inexplicable laughter, but his ideas about education are thought-provoking and real, grounded in his own experience or ideas he has recently read about or seen.

Since being introduced to his work and hearing him speak at a conference last year, I’ve been influenced by not only his book, The Innovator’s Mindset, but also his regular blog posts, podcasts, and tweets.

When I originally encountered his popular quote, “We need to make the positives so loud so that the negatives are almost impossible to hear,” I quickly connected it, as many people do, to the context of making sure that the positive voices are heard so loudly in the school that they outweigh any negativity from the naysayers.  In a year of rapid changes in my district, this quote resonated with me as a great strategy to build a positive school culture.

What I realized recently though is that although that interpretation is completely valid, it actually has a variety of meaningful contexts that relate to not only students and staff, but to education as a whole.  Administrators need to regularly share the strengths of their team and teachers need to do the same with students.

In one of the studies mentioned in Paul Tough’s book, Helping Children Succeed he discusses a strategy that social workers used with parents of toddlers to improve their parenting skills.  Instead of focusing on what they were doing wrong after each visit, the social worker gave feedback explicitly naming what the parents were doing correctly. The impact of this study was profound, elevating not only the overall confidence of the parents, but their parenting skills as well.

At first as an instructional coach, and now an administrator, I have tried a variety of strategies to emulate this philosophy and grow a positive culture.  

1. Every time I visit a classroom I send an email to the staff member explicitly stating positive observations related to their instruction, interaction with students or even classroom environment.  
2. “Bite-Sized Feedback” cycles are also an awesome way to highlight great instruction.  First, we talk about something they would like me to observe and then we set up a 15-minute time slot each week for me to come into their classroom. Afterward, we talk for 10-15 minutes about the laundry list of awesome things they are doing followed by me offering a tip for how to enhance one of their strengths.  I have seen more impact on instruction as a result of this practice than any traditional observation.
3. I regularly tweet out pictures and videos of the amazing instruction I see when I pop into classrooms.  Sometimes it is a student, sometimes a staff, and sometimes me reflecting on what I saw and the impact it had on students. 
4. This year we have started a podcast at one of my buildings where we interview one of our staff members about their instructional practices.  This helps our staff to get to know one another’s strengths, and also gives us an avenue to share the amazing learning happening in our building.
5. Involve students in telling the positive story of the school. This year I am working with groups of students in both of my buildings to do this.  At one of my buildings this developed into creating a documentary about our entire school and in the other building, the students have been creating short videos about individual classrooms.  

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In the book, The Multiplier Effect:  Tapping The Genius Inside Our Schools, authors Wiseman, Allen & Foster agree with the importance of not only recognizing, but sharing strengths with those whom we serve.

“But if people aren’t aware of their genius, they are not in a position to deliberately utilize it. By telling people what you see, you can raise their awareness and confidence, allowing them to provide their capability more fully.” 

Walking through classrooms or in conversations with students & staff, I am amazed daily in the creative genius that surrounds me.  Telling them their brilliance shines a spotlight on their talents and says, “DO THIS MORE!” This builds not only confidence and a positive school culture, but causes even brighter ideas and more innovation to spread in our school.  

Please know that by saying we should highlight the positive, I am not saying that we should never have reflective conversations about shifts that may need to be made in instructional practice. It has been my experience that when I focus on sharing strengths instead of telling a list of changes to be made, that we end up actually having even more of these types of conversations.  This is because when people know that you see them for their unique strengths and talents as opposed to a project that needs to be fixed a greater trust is built.  Staff members often come to me with ideas asking for feedback or I am able to ask reflective questions resulting in instructional shifts. When change comes from within, it is deeper and more likely to last.  

Educators don’t always see the amazing strengths within themselves.  As leaders, the more we recognize and celebrate the strengths of those we lead, the more we create a positive culture that drowns out negativity and grows the innate talents of our school community. 

Data Review – A Little Less Talk, a Lot More Action

Data.  It’s a four letter word.  Especially in education.

It has been argued by many to play a pivotal role in increasing student growth.  The four key PLC questions from DuFour are centered around it.  Even Danielson includes it as part of Domains, 1, 3 & 4 of the teacher evaluation rubric.

And yet, when many educators hear that it’s time for a data review meeting they either cringe, cry, or circle up their friends to plan out who’s bringing what treats to get through the agonizing process.

So what’s wrong with data?  Specifically, what’s wrong with data review and why does it get such a bad rap?  More importantly, what can we do about it?

Problem #1 We Don’t Engage All Stakeholders

When I was a teacher I remember being invited to countless data review meetings where the reading specialists would project graphs of student growth (or lack of) using something called AIMSWEB.  We would painstakingly go through each student with the specialists all sharing their insights. Periodically I would be asked for feedback on my students, but in the end the decision would be made to change some sort of intervention that I was not involved in by the other “experts” in the room. 

I sincerely hated those meetings.  I became an expert head nodder at those meetings.  Most of the time I was dreaming about what I would eat for, let’s be honest, any meal, or thinking about which member I would take from my favorite boy bands to form the greatest band of all time.  (This is way trickier than you think.  You need at least one bad boy which means you can’t just take ALL the cute ones.)

From start to finish, each stakeholder, from educator to specialist needs to be both an active creator and participant in the process and beyond.  The reason why data review has gotten such a bad name is that many educators, like myself, have experienced it as something being done to them as opposed to the collaborative process that it should be.  No one ever explained to me WHY we were having these meetings or what the expected outcomes were.  No one ever asked me what data I thought would be meaningful to look at or even to bring data with me.  I was simply told I had a substitute and was to show up to these monthly data meetings.  They were supposed to be these all important events, but I usually left them wanting two hours of my life back and needing a coffee.

Problem #2 We Never Get Anywhere

When I was an instructional coach one of the big parts of my role was Data Coach.  I ran data review meetings, helped teachers to look at formative classroom data, and facilitated discussions in PLC’s.  DATA was a four-letter word regularly used in my vocabulary.  And (gulp), I liked it.

“Here’s What, So What, Now What” was my jam.  We used it to evaluate everything from exit slips to Fountas & Pinnell assessments to reading responses and everything in between.  The feedback that I got was positive from the teachers I worked with.  It was a well-organized way to present the data (Here’s What), talk about causes (So What) and then come up with a plan of what we were going to do about it (Now What).

Unfortunately, as I have been reflecting upon this protocol in preparation for some data review with my current staff I have come to realize that there are some serious flaws in the way we used this protocol. 

Wait, what?  Did I just say the mack daddy of data protocols is all wrong?

Yep.  I did.

Here’s why.  I’m a control freak.  And I broke it.

Yep.  I’m a control freak.  Ok, recovering control freak.  Back in the hard core CF days I thought we needed a list of guiding questions, as well as categories of students, to look at when talking about data.  I needed a predictable structure that would get us from point A to point B to point C each time.  I mean how would teachers know what to talk about if I (God of Data) didn’t guide them step by step each time through the process? 

Recovering CF me realizes how incredibly idiotic this was for two reasons:  

1.  See Problem #1
2. There are so many questions and levels of students to talk about that we rarely made it to the Now What (THE MOST IMPORTANT PART) in a 45 minute PLC time and would have to continue to the next meeting

Although we had some GREAT conversations about students using this protocol I have to imagine that my staff walked away feeling frustrated when we had to wait a week to get to the action plan or meet at another time after school to finish it.  Without action, data review is just a pretty little template with some glorious notes about our thoughts, but no real impact on student learning.

Here’s What, So What, Now What is still a great protocol, it just needs to be simplified.  Don’t try to look at all the subgroups at one time.  Select the group that is most meaningful for your team to talk about and only use it for that group.  Select a few questions to focus on during your conversation.  Doing “All the Things” is not productive when discussing data.

Problem #3 Meaningless Data

Problem number three could be argued to be a large part of number one.  

Many times we are asked to analyze data that is not very meaningful because the data has gone well past its expiration date.  Standardized tests like PARCC or IAR or whatever it’s being called this year are thought to be important data to analyze because often our school success is judged by this benchmark.  However, when it comes six months into the following year it’s hard to find any correlation between the results and current teaching practices.  The kids have grown.  Our teaching has changed.  Nothing is the same.  It’s hard to have buy-in to discuss something that is related to something so far in the past.  

Another way that data can be meaningless is when it doesn’t match our strategic outcomes for students.  If we are saying that as a school we are trying to foster collaboration, creativity, communication and any of the other six C’s, then it is difficult to make the argument that we should spend hours analyzing a multiple choice test or any other form of assessment that doesn’t show evidence of those indicators.   If data is going to be meaningful for analysis it has to match with our intended outcomes.

Other times it really does go back to Problem #1.  If we don’t explain the why or ask for the feedback of everyone involved in selecting data to analyze then there ultimately will be little impact on students. We have to move beyond the idea that data review has to involve fancy charts, graphs or percentages.  Coming from a business background, I love me a big fancy spreadsheet with a pie chart or bar graph involved, but if we never move beyond simply looking at numbers data review is going to continue to lack meaning for many.

My So What

In order to combat the full fledged groans that usually commence at the mention of the word data we have to simplify the process.  Let’s stop making it this mystical thing that requires elaborate templates and official numbers. The whole point of looking at data is to cause growth in students.  The best way to do this is to select meaningful evidence that will help us to make instructional decisions that we can act on. 

That being said, I don’t have all the answers (yet), but here’s where I’m currently at:

1.  Select a facilitator.  Have this person engage all stakeholders prior to the meeting about an area they see a need to talk about. 
2. Decide on some evidence (data) that would demonstrate this need. (exit slip, writing sample, conferring notes etc.) 
3.  Decide on how you will be assessing the data prior to the meeting as a team and come to the meeting with it already “graded.” (Note:  This is not extra work.  This is simply assessing something you would already authentically be doing or have done.)
4. At the meeting answer the following questions:
   1. What does this evidence tell us about our students?  What did they do well? What did they struggle with? 
   2. How could we build on their strengths to create success? 
   3. What action steps do we need to take so that each student will grow?
   4. What questions do we still have?
   5. Create a plan of action with a follow-up date included.

Albert Einstein allegedly once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” To me this means that we need to simplify the process, but not the thinking involved in looking at student data.  It is my hope that through several iterations and feedback from my team we are able to further refine these processes and get to the heart of what will move all students forward.

Christina

 

 

Teaching Like a Coach – Part One

I’ve had a lot of great conversations since starting this blog about teaching and coaching and how the two are intertwined.  Two of the questions that have come up a lot are 

How do you ACTUALLY teach like a coach? 

What does that look like in real practice?  

This has gotten me to reflect about my own practice in a variety of roles in education as well as how for many of us, our schooling did not prepare us for teaching this way.  As many of you are doing your own reflecting and planning over Winter Break for changes and refinements you want to make in 2019, I thought that a series of posts dedicated to answering these two questions would be timely and hopefully useful. 🙂

It All Starts With…

Knowing your team.  I’m not going to try to pretend that I am the greatest basketball fan of all time, but I’ve learned a lot from Phil Jackson’s leadership philosophies via Dr. Marc Pinto.  He was a hockey coach and geneticist turned chiropractor whom I would have the most amazing conversations at our weekly appointments.  Dr. Pinto had read Phil Jackson’s books cover to cover hundreds of times and no matter what we were discussing his philosophies seemed to always creep into our conversation, especially when I was applying for the learning support coach position in Naperville.  One of the quotes from his book 11 Rings: The Soul of Success that really resonates with being a coach in the classroom is: 

“My approach was always to relate to each player as a whole person, not just a cog in the basketball machine. That meant pushing him to discover what distinct qualities he could bring to the game beyond taking shots and making passes. How much courage did he have? Or resilience? What about character under fire? Many players I’ve coached didn’t look special on paper, but in the process of creating a role for themselves they grew into formidable champions.” – Phil Jackson

I love that Phil Jackson’s goal wasn’t just to create amazing basketball players, it was to build on the strengths of his players overall and in that action he created a dynasty.  Our main job as educators is to help learners to know their strengths, develop their passions and help them to develop new abilities that sometimes feel outside their grasp.  In order to be effective at this you have to essentially know your team inside and out.   

Deciding what skills you will be looking for is a critical first step.  There are so many options that it is easy to get stuck here, weighing the options.  If the thought of that is already making your head spin, here are some ideas to start with:

1.  The 6 C’s – Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Character, Citizenship

This is helpful for:  Promoting more global skills in your students that will transfer to a variety of contexts, subjects, and ages.

Something to think about:  Because these are broad skills you might want to have a conversation with others or your PLC about what each of these look like at the age of students you teach to create a specific definition of each.

2.  The Standards – The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), College, Career & Civic Life (C3), ISTE Standards for Students

This is helpful for:  Collecting information that is more related to academic achievement in different subject areas (with the exception of the ISTE standards that are more global like the 6C’s)

Something to think about:  If your school uses standards based reporting, this is a great place to start.  Because the standards are vast, it might be good to see how the broader ideas from each of the subject standards are connected.  This document from NGSS does a nice job of making this connection already.

3.  Student Interests & Passions – This one is pretty self-explanatory.  You are collecting information on things your students are interested in, especially the topics they are passionate about!  These interests and passions are often strengths we overlook because they may not be subjects we teach in school.

This is helpful for:  Diversifying the definition of what a good student is.  Helping students to be able to name a wide variety of skills they have that aren’t necessarily taught in school, but still incredibly valuable.  Creating engaging lessons connected to your students’ interests and passions.  

Something to think about:  You may find that your students have a broad range of interests and passions.  If you are overwhelmed in how to honor these strengths or incorporate them into the curriculum, ask the students what they think.  I am always blown away by the ideas my students come up with when I can’t seem to find a solution.  

So How Do I Organize All This Stuff?

You probably have your own way of keeping data on your students.  I know I certainly tried it a million different ways as an educator, coach, and now administrator.  What I found was there are basically two different ways you can go about this: individual or whole group.  Regardless, you are going to need a system that works for you, the simpler the better. 

Individual

As an instructional coach I started with OneNote for keeping notes on each of my meetings with teachers and eventually moved to a Google folder per teacher.  If I was back in the classroom I would most likely the Google.  Here’s what I would do:

Idea #1

•  Create a Google form for the data I would like to create.  (Like this one that tracks the 6C’s) 
•  Use the Doc-Appender Add-on so that the data I collected would automatically populate into individual Google folders for each student.  (Here is a video of how to use it if you’re not sure what I’m talking about.) 
  • On a side note, this add-on is amazing because now you have a Google doc for each student that can be shared easily with other teachers working with the student or parents.  It’s great for conferring notes as well. 🙂
• As I was walking around and talking to students use my phone to use the form to quickly jot down notes.

Idea #2

• Create a chart for each student using Google docs like this one.  
• Print out each of these sheets and keep them in binder.  Create a new sheet for each student per week. (Or if you’re not a fan of paper, you could also do something similar with a folder for each student, but this might be difficult to manage as you are walking around throughout the day.)
• Keep the binder with me throughout the day.  As I am noticing strengths, ideas etc. about students jot down a quick note in their tab. 

Benefits of Individual Data:  Great for looking at students as a whole.  Also easy to share with students, parents and other staff members because your forms are per individual student.  

Drawbacks of Individual Data:  When planning for groups or looking for patterns based on the information you have collected you may be doing a lot of flipping back and forth or scrolling to find commonalities.  This can be more time consuming.  However, if you use Idea #1 Google forms will allow you to sort the spreadsheet that the form creates which solves this problem.

Group

Sometimes I found keeping individual data overwhelming and found it easier to keep track of the entire class at one time.   When taking this approach you are having the descriptors at the top of the chart while the student names go down the side of the chart.  Here is an example of what I mean by keeping track of the class’ strengths.   One of the reasons that I like this chart is the ability to write down goals for students directly in the chart so that they are all in one place. (The student can formulate these goals as well)  This makes it easy when you are reflecting at the end of the week for next steps for the following week.

Another way you might do this is by using an old plan book and assigning student names to each box.  You can then use post-its to take notes through-out the week and stick them to the boxes.   

Benefits of Group Data:  All of your data is in one place.  It is easy to create groups and see overall how your class is doing.  You can make plans for next steps without having to look back and forth at individual students.  

Drawbacks of Individual Data:  It takes an extra step to share this data with individuals because you will have to transfer the information to individual forms.  It’s not as easy to see individual progress from week to to week as it is with individual data.

When deciding how to collect your learner data think about your personal preference for collection as well as your purpose.  I would recommend starting small.  Select one type of data you wish to collect and try out different methodologies until you find one that works best for you.  You can then transfer that protocol to the other information you are keeping on your students.  

R-E-F-L-E-C-T

Even if you find the ultimate way to collect information on your students there will never be any impact if you don’t take the time to analyze and reflect upon this data.  You might find that reflecting at the end of each day is better for you or perhaps weekly is more preferable.  Again, it’s your preference, there is no perfect methodology.  Here are some questions to consider when you are reflecting each week.

1. What are patterns I am noticing in my classroom? (passions, interests, strengths, abilities that need strengthening)’
2. Who stood out as a leader? Who struggled?  What is my plan for celebrating or intervening?
3. What lessons should I plan based on this information?  
4. What groupings or partnerships might I plan as a result of the patterns I am noticing? Who might work together best?  

If you are a fan of forms, here is a Google doc with these questions that you can use in your reflection.  Another simple way to reflect is to create a daily list of 3 accomplishments that you would like to achieve by the end of the day based on the observations and patterns you are seeing.  This could be individual or as a class.

It is powerful to share your reflections with students or to even do the reflecting side by side with the student.  Share with them what you have observed and create goals together.  By involving them in the process and citing specifically their talents or skills they need to work on you are empowering them to own the next steps.  

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Recognizing and developing strengths, passions and talents in our students is not something new or revolutionary to education.  It’s what we do with this knowledge that makes the difference, positively affecting students and creating innovation in our schools.  Approaching the classroom as a coach creates a deeper understanding and connection to students because you are purposefully connecting with each student daily and reflecting upon, not what EVERY student should know and be able to do, but what is best for the individual learners.  This creates a classroom culture where students are energized to build on their strengths and empowered to learn in ways they may have thought previously was beyond their grasp.  

Part 2 of this series will be focused on the next step:  instructional practices.  I look forward to hearing your feedback!  Christina