I Answer 3 Questions I Often Ask Others

During the 2017-18 school year, I've definitely made a a conscientious choice to limit my online interactions. Simply put, my children are receiving my time and energy and that is what's most important to me (and them of course). That said, I feel I have learned a great deal this year in my role as an instructional coach, but haven't taken the time to share with you all. Here is a brief summary framed around three questions I often ask teachers about a lesson or task they did with their students:
• what successes did you have?
• what challenges did you have?
• what advice would you give a teacher new to this [lesson/task]?

Regarding the 2017-18 school year so far, here are answers to my own questions:

(1) What successes have you had?
Listening.
This is my fourth year as an instructional coach and I'm laughing and shaking my head at how green I was during my first three years as an instructional coach (or instructional idiot). One of the skills I have come to realize is most important in education is listening. Take the time to listen. Don't listen with the intention to make a suggestion to fix someone's problem. Listen to them. Learn from them. Find out what's most important to them. Listen to learn. Listening allows you to make connections with that person. Ask open-questions that allow teachers to share. Listen. When you think they're done telling their stories, ask questions that dig deeper, allowing you to learn even more about that person, whether it's their personal story, their educational story, or their aspirational story.

Collect stories.
This comes from the "Art of Coaching" by Elana Aguilar. Our district's coaches group has been reading Elana's book throughout the year and most of her strategies always go back to collecting the stories of the people you support. At least that's my interpretation. And how do you collect stories? By asking questions and listening!

Let me give you specific examples without identifying any of the teachers I work with.
If I didn't take the time to collect stories by asking questions and listening, I might not have learned a teacher's story about getting into education late after being divorced and losing a child. I might not have learned about a teacher's hardship with divorce and living between two places while trying to do right by their child. I might have never learned that a teacher has a farm and rides their horse frequently. I might not have learned about a teacher who loves to go thrift-shopping. I might not have learned about a teacher who is new to teaching and their previous math teacher is a teacher I supported two years ago. I might not have learned about a teacher and their adopted children. I might not have learned about a teacher going through their second battle with breast cancer. I might not have learned about a teacher's love of the outdoors and traveling. Needless to say, these personal stories take the coaching relationship to a level I never would have imagined. The work we do as professionals stems from a better personal understanding of each other.

(2) What challenges have you had?
Vision and Systems
Imagine listening to two bands play live music. The first band sounds great. You might not know why, especially if you're not a musician. Here are some reasons why they might sound great. All the instruments are tuned and their volume seems to compliment each other. The musicians know when to start and stop the song. The singer has a good voice because they are in key. And there are way more reasons why a band might sound good to your ears.
On the other hand, the other band sounds awful. Again, you might not be able to put your finger on why the second band sounds awful, but I'll give you some potential reasons. One or more of the instruments is out of tune. One or more of the instruments' volume is obnoxiously too loud. Maybe the musicians don't have confidence in starting a song, the tempo is off, they miss a transition, play off notes, or the singer is out of key. Again, multiple reasons why a band might sound awful.

You don't have to be a musician to tell a good band apart from a bad band. The point is we recognize when something is off and when something is on. Let me explain why a band might be on or off: vision and systems.

Typically, a band that performs well, started with a vision (or goal). For example, a blues band wants to perform cover songs of their favorite artists. For them to accomplish what they envision (their goal), they need to put into place a system that will accomplish said vision. Their system might include, but not be limited to the following:
• create a set list
• schedule rehearsals
• be on time for rehearsals
• establish norms at rehearsals
• have tuned instruments
• listen to each other when rehearsing their songs
• identify parts of songs that need more refinement
• and the list can go on

If a band who wants to perform well has a vision and a system, they're more likely going to sound great when performing in front of a live audience. Often times, bands that sound exceptional put a ton of time, care, passion, and attention into their system. When bands sounds like garbage, they lack the system (and sometimes talent). During the last four years as an instructional coach, I've been part of both bands. Bands that have a clear vision and system and bands that lack a vision and system.

So what's my challenge? My challenge (moving forward) is getting frustrated when I'm part of an educational "band" that lacks vision and system, especially when the strengths and passions of students and teachers are not being utilized. I don't always know how to constructively voice my concerns or ask questions when the vision is unclear and a system is lacking? How do I use my strengths and passions to create and/or enhance a vision and system I am proud to be a member of? I have more questions than ideas here and will continue to look for guidance in this area because I get frustrated when I see great potential untapped.

However, it has been beneficial that I've been part of both educational "bands". The experiences have allowed me to appreciate the effectiveness of vision and system. My high school director is amazing and has great vision and systemic thinking. Having been part of the systems this person has created, I learned a great deal. I'm not done learning as I still have plenty to learn.

(3) What advice do I have for a teacher new to this?
Listen, collect stories, and be patient.
As I expressed above, the more I listened to the teachers I support with the intention to learn more about them and what's important to them, our work will be more meaningful and productive. For example, as an early instructional coach, I often identified what I thought the teacher needed. Nope, don't do that. With experience, I learned to listen to what was important to the teacher and I often verify it by paraphrasing it back to them to be sure.

Collecting stories simply means learn more about the people you interact with. Whether it's your students, your colleagues, your neighbors, or your mail carrier, everyone has a story that's worth knowing. Imagine how meaningful it is when you share your story with someone and they remember it next time you see them or are mindful of a tough situation you're going through. Listening and collecting stories of those we interact with is a gift we can frequently give them.

Being patient is a general statement that can translate to "it takes time". The longer I'm in education, the more I realize things take time. Just like a good performing band, it takes time. I can't appreciate where I am now if it weren't for the instructional coach (idiot) I was a few years ago. Now, I'm just less of an idiot. I'm grateful for the teachers I've supported because they've had patience with me and allowing me to grow as a coach. How unfair would it be to them if I didn't reciprocate that same token of professionalism? Therefore, anytime you would like to grow as a professional, parent, friend, neighbor, or person, be patient with others and be patient with yourself.

Peace,
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New Glasses

I have a new set of glasses. With my new role as a Math and Digital Learning Coach in my district, I get to spend a lot of time in the classroom with teachers and students. Let me explain the set of glasses.

When my son was born, I received a new set of glasses. When my daughter was born, I received an additional new set of glasses. As a new parent, I saw the world in a completely different way than I had before being a parent. The oversimplification for me was the stuff that I used to think was important before being a parent, instantly (and gladly) received a huge shift the second I started caring for and loving another human being that I called my son and daughter. The perspective from behind my parent glasses continues to change and update with time as my children mature. It's AMAZING! If you're a parent, regardless if your child is adopted or biological, you know what I mean. If you're not a parent, you simply have no idea. No offense. Trust me, I had no idea either. And if you're a parent and don't know what I mean, then please check yourself. But chances are good that if you fall into this latter category, you probably aren't reading this blog to begin with.  I'd imagine anyone who does read this blog is in education, and why would you be in education if you don't care about children, yours or someone else's? This could possibly be the harshest thing I've ever said on this blog. However, I feel that if you're in education, it's your duty and responsibility to care about children. I digress. Back to the new set of glasses.

We obtain new sets of glasses throughout our life. By the way, if you haven't figured out by now, anytime I refer to glasses, it's in the figurative sense: how you perceive the world around you through the lens created by your position, role, and/or relation in life. My new set of glasses as a Math and Digital Learning Coach allow me to be a student again. Some might think I should see the role of a teacher differently. This is true, but I think that's putting the cart before the horse here. I get to be a student again. And by being a student again, it helps me refocus as a teacher.

With my new set of glasses, I get to feel like a student again. Which is humbling and powerful at the same time. It has allowed me to focus on the student perspective of learning, exploring, and receiving knowledge as opposed to the teacher perspective of preparing activities, assessing, and delivering knowledge. Think how one role greatly affects the other.

I remember when I first started subbing and was helping students with math questions. At the time, I hadn't done math in a few years, so I was rusty since it wasn't fresh in my mind. Therefore, I was literally working alongside the students trying to figure out how to solve these questions. I was trying to tap into anything I could remember, which usually meant I had to derive some solution or maybe even take the long route to the correct answer. It was exhausting, thrilling, honest, raw, and exhilarating all at the same time. That moment in time flooded my head tonight on my drive home. That was such an awesome feeling, because I felt like a student of math, exploring and persevering. It made me want to pursue teaching. But then I got my teacher glasses and my student glasses went out of focus at times. It wasn't the glasses' fault. It was me. And I'll be the first to apologize for some lousy teaching moments because I lost focus. I wish I had a mulligan for one year in particular: 2012-2013. I tried a lot of new instructional/grading/facilitation/pedagogical strategies and shifts that were not necessarily well received. But let me tell you, I not only learned what to do that year. I learned what NOT to do and I am eternally grateful for the students and parents who (indirectly) made me strive to improve and refocus on the student perspective.

The point of this post was for me to reflect on the power of having these new (or rediscovered) glasses. I'm seeing that students need less and less from the teacher so that they are given the time and room for more ownership of their learning. That's an awfully general statement so I will explain. I believe that students benefit more when the teacher keeps the lesson introduction, question, or objective simple and succinct. The students respond better when the teacher is actively listening to them, not for the correct answer as Max Ray would say. I noticed that teachers are able to better listen to students when they ask interested questions like, "Can you tell me more about what you did here?" or "I didn't get all of that, can you explain it to me again?" or give simple commands like, "Walk me through what you did here." or "I noticed you did ____, please explain that."

As the student, I'd want you to ask me questions that show me you care about what I think and not judge me because I'm wrong and you feel you need to fix me (or my math work). With my glasses, I see students are drawn toward visual representations of mathematical situations: rectangles, patterns, estimations, soda, water bottles, etc. instead of just pure numbers (pure math). With my glasses, I noticed that students appreciate someone interested in their work. I noticed that students like to share with each other, especially when they know how to do something correctly. I noticed that students like to hear a voice other than the teacher.

I was able to notice many of these while maturing as a teacher, but for some reason they are more profound now. I hope these are some examples of how I see the teacher doing less and the students doing more. When I had my teacher glasses on and lost focus of the students' glasses, there were times when I (mistakenly) thought that I had to put on a show for my students or needed to run around like a crazy guy checking every paper or student whiteboard. Have you ever caught yourself saying something like, "My hair could be on fire, and they wouldn't care." or "I'm up there doing a song and dance, and it doesn't matter."? I know I've said something like that. That's exactly my point. I was doing too much, and the students were doing too little. That's exhausting.

If you've made it this far, thanks. I don't plan on rambling/ranting like this in the future. I'm simply happy to have rediscovered those student glasses. Throughout the year, I'm sure I'll continue to sharpen the focus on both my student and teacher glasses. My takeaway is this: by regaining focus on the student perspective of education, I'm able to improve my focus on the teacher perspective so the teacher is doing less in order to create more opportunities for the students in the classroom.

Glasses,
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