Instructional Coaching Snapshot
January 2020
How might we shift math instruction towards ownership and engagement?
Check out how some D101 teachers have been working towards increasing student ownership and engagement in their math classrooms.
Chele Quintos is using gamification to make review fun and maximize time-on task in 8th grade math.
Sometimes we need to make direct instruction engaging - check out this post for an example and techniques to try out.
The 5th grade advanced math teachers have been working on rigor and differentiation with high ceiling low floor perseverance problems. They’ve also been playing around with this math practices reflective tool.
How do we work smarter not harder?
Stop feeling the pressure that YOU as a teacher need to do more, more, more and instead think about how we can push our students take on the lionshare of the work to assess and get feedback. Check out these resources for ideas how:
Utilize self-assessment techniques such as student-teacher sit downs, a flipped workshop model, and involving parents in self-assessment.
Skip grading on the couch each night and use sustainable feedback methods such as getting students to do the work of analyzing errors or try “minimalist marking”.
Use conversation as a method to assess understanding and in turn increase the impact of timely feedback on learning (as well as save precious out of school teacher-time and paper).
Focus on what matters most by using these better and saner tips for grading and feedback from Dave Stuart.
Here is how some teachers have been working on this in D101:
4th grade has been shifting from gathering evidence of learning using graphic organizers to offering choice in how kids show their learning (conversations, Flipgrid, Seesaw etc.). Ask a coach to support you in figuring out how to weave in informal conversation as evidence.
FH’s DI team has been working smarter not harder by using Seesaw as a catch-all tool for evidence of learning- check out this video interview with Beth Tortorello for more!
How do we get kids reading more?
How do we get kids reading more? Research says reading volume is crucial and engagement and choice are key elements to increase our students’ reading volume. So how do we go about improving in these areas?
Reading Engagement: Reading for long stretches of time can take practice. If your students are struggling with stamina, you might ask a coach to come to your class and do an engagement survey recording who is reading, zoning out, or off task during independent reading time . Discuss student behavior data with the coach to plan strategy groups or whole class mini-lessons centered on stamina and engagement (Jennifer Serravallo Reading Strategies book has a whole chapter of ideas). Ask FP 1st grade team about their experience with the engagement survey. Here are more qualitative ways J. Serrvallo suggests to assess engagement if you want to dig in!! Check out this 35 second video or Erin’s McKenzie’s class engaged in partner reading.
Irresistible Book Choices: Daily access to irresistible books is essential to all readers’ development. How do we make sure kids are exposed to books that excite and interest them? Check out these tips from Striving to Thriving (or contact a coach to work on improving this aspect of your classroom):
Customize your classroom library -Check out these tips to build a library for the students you expect, but customize for the readers you meet.
5 Tips for Helping a Student Find the Right Book- Create routines that encourage students to share books and find the right books for them and support your kids by book matching.
Avoid the Over-Task Trap: Instead of ALWAYS paring reading with a task, can you pare down (or skip) the task to ask kids to practice the skill or strategy by simply reading? If you need to check in, perhaps a simple structured conversation (or seesaw post) to debrief will suffice?
“Few can learn to do anything well without the opportunity to engage in whatever is being learned… to become a proficient reader one needs to opportunity to read.” - Alington
How do we bolster our own resilience?
Elena Aguilar’s book Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators lays out a month by month focus for teachers and administrators on the components and practices that strengthen resilience.
12 habits of a resilient person, which can be cultivated and grown, that she writes about are:
Know Yourself Understand Emotions Tell Empowering Stories Build Community Be Here Now Take Care Of Yourself Focus on the Bright Spots Cultivate Compassion Be a Learner Play and Create Ride the Waves of Change Celebrate and Appreciate
An excerpt from January’s theme of compassion:
“I regularly practice Pilates so that my back doesn't hurt. In the same way I have to be intentional about building compassion - otherwise I just forget to attend to it. I don't know about you but I don't have a 5 p.m. Building Your Compassion class. That's why I find myself relating to others from a frustrated place of judgement - and my annoyance, disappointment, resentment, and other yucky feelings ultimately wear me down. When we exercise compassion for others, our heart softens ,we strengthen relationships, our perspective broadens, and we see possibility. Just as we practice an instrument or hone a disposition such as optimism, we also must cultivate and refine compassion.
Try this activity from Elena’s accompanying workbook to strengthen your compassion “muscles”.