TEACH
So, yesterday, I modeled a lesson in a third grade classroom on elapsed time. We are preparing for state tests, so the lesson was in isolation of the actual unit on time (not yet taught).
FAIL
I failed. The kids struggled...a lot. Kids were literally crying. I wondered, "What did I do wrong?" In my side coaching conversations with the classroom teacher, we wondered why the students weren't "getting it." We brought out the small Judy clocks, the big Judy clock with hands that move in sync, repeated, reexplained, and still they struggled.
REFLECT
Overnight and during conversations with the third grade team, we reflected and researched better ways to teach such a complicated skill. One teacher noticed that the math series we use had kids using a number line for elapsed time. I watched that teacher teach it and then went to the next room and taught it myself.
TEACH AGAIN
I started by admitting to the teacher and the kids my failure from the day before. Then, I modeled the new strategy. The kids practiced it with me on the carpet. The teacher and I had a few one-on-one conferences to guide the learning just a bit.
BE AMAZED
Within minutes, kids were solving elapsed time problems with no struggle. The teacher and I saw light bulbs going off all over the room. Kids were showing off their work and smiled proudly when I chose theirs to display. One girl who was in tears yesterday was all smiles today and even asked to practice more!
LEARN
As a coach, it's not the best feeling to model a lesson that fails. But, as long as you don't shrug it off and ignore the failure, you can redeem yourself and even boost your coaching by reflecting and trying again. This was a reminder for me to model dealing with failure not only for the teachers but also for the students. Coach for success, but coach moments of failure, too.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Friday, April 7, 2017
Poetry Mini Celebration
Second grade just finished the first bend of the Writing Poetry unit and held a mini celebration. They shared their work and inspired each other!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Serravallo's Writing Strategies Book Study
What a celebration! Tonight was the third and final session of a class I planned and facilitated on Jennifer Serravallo's "The Writing Strategies Book" for teachers in my district. Our work in the class loosely followed suggestions from the study guide that can be found on the Heinemann website.
The level of engagement and excitement far exceeded my expectations for teachers after long days of school and near the end of the school year. Teachers came to class the first night eager to get their hands on the book and came back each session wanting to learn more.
We learned about the strategies in class and teachers tried some out during the weeks in between classes. My favorite activities that worked well for the class were:
- Mark-Up Mentor Text
- Visualize It
For more information about the sessions and activities, please email me or comment.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The level of engagement and excitement far exceeded my expectations for teachers after long days of school and near the end of the school year. Teachers came to class the first night eager to get their hands on the book and came back each session wanting to learn more.
We learned about the strategies in class and teachers tried some out during the weeks in between classes. My favorite activities that worked well for the class were:
- Mark-Up Mentor Text
- Visualize It
For more information about the sessions and activities, please email me or comment.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, April 3, 2017
Spring Training Time!
Today, we kicked off testing season with what we affectionately call "Spring Training." We rally the students to do the work of test prep with this spin of spring training for the big game (the state test). Since we work in the Saint Louis metro area, the best baseball city in the country, we use any excuse to celebrate baseball.
To add to the fun teachers dress in Cardinals gear, refer to their classes as teams, and ask students to refer to teachers as "coaches" for the duration of spring training (approximately 10 days). We coach our teams on strategies and secrets to help them win the big game. Ironically, standardized testing really is a game! We fill our days with test taking tips and review of any content that we might need to brush up on before "opening day."
Even though it's test prep season, it's one of my favorite times of the year to coach in classrooms. We make it fun and meaningful. There's a sense of camaraderie that we're all in this together. Let's play ball!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
To add to the fun teachers dress in Cardinals gear, refer to their classes as teams, and ask students to refer to teachers as "coaches" for the duration of spring training (approximately 10 days). We coach our teams on strategies and secrets to help them win the big game. Ironically, standardized testing really is a game! We fill our days with test taking tips and review of any content that we might need to brush up on before "opening day."
Even though it's test prep season, it's one of my favorite times of the year to coach in classrooms. We make it fun and meaningful. There's a sense of camaraderie that we're all in this together. Let's play ball!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh My: 3rd Grade Nonfiction Research Clubs
Lions, tigers, and bears - what's the same? What's different? Why? It's been fascinating to observe the level of engagement and deep thinking coming from students in the Nonfiction Research Club unit of study. Students are studying animals and are at the point where they are comparing and contrasting information learned about different animals. It's hard to move on from mini-lessons and from reading workshop because the students are so engaged in the work. They want to research more and share their thinking with their club! It's exciting to see and to coach.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Now, That Was Fun!
Some of my teachers are piloting the Reading and Writing Units of Study from Lucy Calkins (and friends) and I'm supporting them with implementation. This is the first week of my kindergarten team trying the Nonfiction Writing How-To Books unit. I stopped by one of the rooms during writing to see how it was going. The teacher was just about to start her lesson, but seemed a little frazzled. She asked if I would mind modeling it for her. "Wait, what?! I have no idea what to do," I thought to myself. But, I smiled and said, "Of course!" That's what coaches do sometimes, right, we fake it until we make it!
I did admit right away that I would have my unit book with the lesson on my lap and might even be reading from it while teaching. "I'm learning this unit with you," I said and went to the front of the room to teach my kinder friends. I taught the lesson with some "freeze frames" so the teacher and I could check in and make instructional decisions together. The lesson went great and the kindergarteners learned the characteristics of how-to books. Best of all, though, the teacher and I learned the lesson together. Coach and teacher side-by-side - a great way to build trust and empower teachers! Not only that, but what seemed like a terrifying prospect - the idea of modeling a lesson totally unprepared - turned out to be fun!
Coach to coach:
Remember, although teachers want to you to have a high level of content knowledge, they also appreciate when you can be a learner right along with them. Being vulnerable goes a long way to build relationships!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I did admit right away that I would have my unit book with the lesson on my lap and might even be reading from it while teaching. "I'm learning this unit with you," I said and went to the front of the room to teach my kinder friends. I taught the lesson with some "freeze frames" so the teacher and I could check in and make instructional decisions together. The lesson went great and the kindergarteners learned the characteristics of how-to books. Best of all, though, the teacher and I learned the lesson together. Coach and teacher side-by-side - a great way to build trust and empower teachers! Not only that, but what seemed like a terrifying prospect - the idea of modeling a lesson totally unprepared - turned out to be fun!
Coach to coach:
Remember, although teachers want to you to have a high level of content knowledge, they also appreciate when you can be a learner right along with them. Being vulnerable goes a long way to build relationships!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, November 11, 2016
Post Election 2016
Without going too political, I will say that this has been a difficult election year ending with a most difficult election week. The day after the elections, I was sad to hear that many of my teachers did all they could to avoid conversations about the election with students. I understand that our students are young (kindergarten through fifth grade), but they deserve to have their voices heard, too. My belief in the need for conversation was validated by many other colleagues as I facilitated a Diversity in Action meeting yesterday.
I lead our school's Diversity in Action Committee and realize, now more than ever, that we have a lot of work to do. Not only do we need to accelerate the closing of our achievement gap, but we also need to continue to teach tolerance at all levels. At our meeting yesterday, I allowed committee members to choose an article from the November issue of ASCD's "Educational Leadership" magazine on the topic of "Disrupting Inequity." In the article I chose to read titled, "Let's Talk About Racism in Schools" by Rick Wormeli, he states, "We can't truly create equal opportunities for all until our institutions take specific actions to end that thinking and those policies. And, ground zero for an equitable, nonracist socitey is the K-12 classroom." The K-12 classroom. Not the 6-12 classroom. We must not wait until they are in middle school to have these conversations. Wormeli goes on to say, "We don't need to justify having focused conversations about racism in schools." Why not take a minute to let your first graders tell you how they are feeling? We can teach kids that we may not always agree, we must learn to work together. We must teach our students that. It IS our responsibility. It is our job. In my district, it is our mission.
As each member of the committee left the meeting yesterday, I asked them to find at least one way to move the work forward the following day. I was so glad to see one member took that to heart and pulled together a multi-grade, ethnically diverse leadership group he's been working with on Fridays for the first part of the year. He called an extra meeting to have a conversation on "Campaign Consequences," allowed the students to share their thoughts and feelings, and called them to action asking what they can do to make a difference. The session ended with students creating peace flags now displayed in the hallway of our school.
Fellow educators, I encourage you to have the conversations in your classrooms. Teach tolerance. I ask you to do what Wormeli asks of his readers at the end of the article and identify one person with whom you can have a conversation on race or just about the election.
I lead our school's Diversity in Action Committee and realize, now more than ever, that we have a lot of work to do. Not only do we need to accelerate the closing of our achievement gap, but we also need to continue to teach tolerance at all levels. At our meeting yesterday, I allowed committee members to choose an article from the November issue of ASCD's "Educational Leadership" magazine on the topic of "Disrupting Inequity." In the article I chose to read titled, "Let's Talk About Racism in Schools" by Rick Wormeli, he states, "We can't truly create equal opportunities for all until our institutions take specific actions to end that thinking and those policies. And, ground zero for an equitable, nonracist socitey is the K-12 classroom." The K-12 classroom. Not the 6-12 classroom. We must not wait until they are in middle school to have these conversations. Wormeli goes on to say, "We don't need to justify having focused conversations about racism in schools." Why not take a minute to let your first graders tell you how they are feeling? We can teach kids that we may not always agree, we must learn to work together. We must teach our students that. It IS our responsibility. It is our job. In my district, it is our mission.
As each member of the committee left the meeting yesterday, I asked them to find at least one way to move the work forward the following day. I was so glad to see one member took that to heart and pulled together a multi-grade, ethnically diverse leadership group he's been working with on Fridays for the first part of the year. He called an extra meeting to have a conversation on "Campaign Consequences," allowed the students to share their thoughts and feelings, and called them to action asking what they can do to make a difference. The session ended with students creating peace flags now displayed in the hallway of our school.
Fellow educators, I encourage you to have the conversations in your classrooms. Teach tolerance. I ask you to do what Wormeli asks of his readers at the end of the article and identify one person with whom you can have a conversation on race or just about the election.
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