The most profound statement I heard this week did not come from a news article, a television panel of “experts”, or an academic journal. It came directly from a once struggling (and now successful) student in one of our Advisor’s peer mentor groups. The student said…
“Students who are struggling or failing don't need "encouragement" - it just feels patronizing. They need someone who understands *why* they are struggling and who will help show them how to fix it.”
I think we would all be wise to open our ears and minds to what this student is saying. Teachers across the country find themselves faced with the challenge of motivating struggling learners every day, and time after time we observe educators resorting to the role of cheerleader as opposed to the role of a coach. The two could not be more different.
A cheerleader’s role is simple. They serve as a unified voice of encouragement. Think about a cheerleader at an athletic event. You hear them at the start of the game, but after a while they just become part of the background noise. (Sorry cheerleaders) The same can be said for teachers if we play this role day after day in our classes. Students will eventually tune us out. Encouragement without results is ultimately just noise. Conversely, a coach’s job is to tell you exactly how to do things right and encourage his/her athletes along the path to success. Coaches aren’t ignored. They are revered by players. Especially when the players know their coach can help, and authentically cares whether or not they succeed.
When questioned further about the mindset of a struggling learner, this student proceeded to offer up another diamond of youthful wisdom.
“I think... I just felt invisible. Like I was one of *so many* students and there was no possible way for any of the (teachers) to reach all of us, so... it was just really discouraging. And anytime I found a teacher who took interest or checked in a little more, I would cling to them.”
There is so much raw emotion in this statement. As each of us continues with the work we do every day, let’s ask ourselves how we can reach out to kids so they know they have an adult who cares whether or not they succeed or fail. How can we be (without being too metaphorically ridiculous) a life raft for them to “cling” to? How can we coach them? If you are a teacher and this student’s statement doesn’t hit a nerve…it’s time to find a new game. For all those who work hard daily to make connections with kids and teach them exactly what it takes to be successful…thanks coach!
Remember that time you taught yourself how to read? Or how about the time you were sitting alone in your room and mysteriously realized how to count? Better yet, do you remember the time you were a baby and discovered how to effectively use language in the silence of your crib? Those were good times. Later, I’m hoping to learn how to speak Spanish, play the guitar, and unlock the mysteries of nuclear physics by passively watching a couple of instructional videos. After all, that’s how learning happens right? Alone?
Of course not. Yet, time after time we observe teachers (online & brick and mortar) who expect students to magically learn and retain information this way. I tell you “stuff”. You remember the “stuff”. You then know enough to take said “stuff” and apply it to real life. So sit down, be quiet, and listen close. And for heaven’s sake…take some notes!
Shifting the paradigm from teacher as presenter/dispenser of information to Facilitator of Learning has undoubtedly been one of the greatest challenges both Kathryn and I have encountered this year. It’s especially challenging in online learning; a medium that lends itself to more of a presentation-based style. Yet, we must remind ourselves daily that learning is not a passive activity. Learning is social. From the beginning, story times on “magic carpets” across the country serve as the catalyst for early childhood literacy. Counting “little piggies” on our feet with mom and dad introduces us to the concept of numeracy, and language begins the first time a baby looks up at a parent and utters his or her first “mommy” or “daddy”. None of these moments calls for the child to be isolated from peers or the person providing the instruction. In fact, success in each relies on regular interaction between all of the above. Why then is this concept abandoned as kids get older? It defies logic.
In an article from the McRel Newsroom entitled, Neuroscience and How We Learn, neurologist Judy Willis (2011) explains the positive emotional response in the brain when students participate in engaging learning activities in well-designed, supportive, cooperative groups: "The pleasure of learning with one's peers increases the brain's release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that increases pleasure, motivation, perseverance through challenges, and resilience to setbacks. In addition, there is a beneficial response in the amygdala."
Brain imaging studies show the amygdala, which Willis describes as a "switching station" in the brain's emotional-monitoring limbic system, may become overactive during stressful periods and actually impede the processing and storage of information; thus, learning is more difficult when we are experiencing anxiety (Toga & Thompson, 2003). On the other hand, learning with others often has the effect of reducing anxiety.
I invite all of us who are involved in online learning to keep the importance of engagement and peer interaction at the forefront of our educational agenda. There are a myriad of ways to incorporate the interpersonal element into what we do online. It’s a challenge that deserves our best effort. In fact, I’ll challenge each of you to talk to somebody about what you read here. My hope is that the conversation creates a more thorough understanding and generates some thoughtful discussion. Learning is after all, a social endeavor.
I have been privileged to work with thousands of teachers over the years, and I have yet to find a great one who doesn’t suffer from the disease of “notgoodenoughitis”. Symptoms can include but are not limited to: incessant self-criticism, temporary blindness to areas of professional strength, fits of doubt, and headache (the headache is often brought on by a multitude of assorted stimuli). No need to rush to your nearest medical journal to check on the validity of this ailment. You’ll only be disappointed. While the disease is fiction, the fact remains…great teachers are hard on themselves. If you think you might be suffering, read on. There is hope. This particular disease is similar to what kids go through when they are getting new teeth. It’s painful while you’re going through it, but if you can manage the pain, you’re left sharper and better equipped than you were before.
The critical self-reflection that oozes forth during a bout with “notgoodenoughitis” is both good and bad. Good, because it drives exceptional educators to learn more, do more, and care more. Bad, because if untreated and left to fester, it can drive our best and brightest out of the profession. The challenge is in knowing how to retain the drive to learn, do, and care while maintaining the sense of self-confidence that is necessary to sustain ourselves in education. Teaching is hard. So hard in fact that half of all people who start teaching, quit within their first five years. (National Education Association) There is a false belief that all who leave teaching were not good teachers to begin with, and/or lacked the intestinal fortitude to “stick it out” for any length of time. While this may be true for some, the unfortunate hidden truth for others is that they were excellent facilitators of learning, who suffered from the aforementioned fictional ailment and didn’t receive “treatment”.
Here’s the good news; “treatment” exists! The cure resides in all of us who have managed to survive and thrive in education. We can and should treat all teachers, not just new ones, with heavy doses of Vitamin C (Collaboration), Vitamin D (Determination), and Vitamin E (Encouragement). Consider how many teachers might still be teaching today and having a positive impact on kids if they’d had the benefit of Collaborating with veterans in the field. Imagine how many might still be teaching if they’d been afforded the tools to approach their craft with Determination and a sense of focus. Imagine how many could have encouraged kids to persevere and reach their goals, if only they had received similar Encouragement from their peers.
To my veteran teachers out there, It’s up to all of us, regardless of whether or not your title is “Instructional Coach”, to provide coaching for our fellow teachers. We became educators to benefit the lives of children. We can have an exponential effect on student success by helping to retain our new teachers who hold so much potential. For the new teachers out there, embrace those moments when “notgoodenoughitis” sets in. Use it as a vehicle to drive you forward professionally. Once it’s served its purpose, seek “treatment”. Choose determination. Choose to be encouraged by the things you already do well. Recognize your gifts, build on them, and then pass that wisdom on to the new teacher walking into a classroom near you.
_ This may not sound like it right away, but it’s a thank you. Stick with me, you'll see.
I am a firm believer that every great professional, be it a teacher, business person, musician, doctor, athlete, etc. has benefited from a person or persons in their life who cared enough to be honest with them. One of mine is a man named Kirk Daddow. He is a phenomenal teacher from Ames, Iowa who agreed to take me on as a project while I did my student teaching in college. It had been years since he’d taken on a student teacher, but I think he saw that I had potential (or at least that’s what I’ll tell myself) and agreed to work with me. I was a pretty good teacher when I started out, but I had (and still have) a long way to go to be great. We all do. Greatness in any field is a pursuit rather than a destination. As teachers, we leave it to the generations of kids we teach to judge whether or not we attained it.
In that pursuit of greatness, Kirk turned over his high school classes to me and allowed me to embark on the quest of shaping young minds. After one particularly disastrous lesson, the students shuffled out of the room and I stood at the front with my eyes focused on the floor and my hands on my hips. It wasn’t good, and I knew it. Kirk looked at me from his desk in the back of the room and said with a nurturing smile on his face, in only a way that an old coach could, “Well…that was s%*t. But don’t worry, we all have that sometimes.” He was right on both counts, and I needed to hear it. At the time it stung, but in retrospect it may be one of the most important and caring things ever said to me in my professional career. Kirk Daddow cared enough about me and my future students not to coddle my ego in that moment. He cared enough to push me.
Now, I am certainly not advocating any instructional coach tell their colleagues this. Kirk knew me well enough, and had invested the time in building a relationship with me, to know at the time that this was exactly what I needed. No frills, no warm fuzzies…just brutal honesty. Kirk walked me through exactly where I could improve, and how to do so. I’m indebted to him and everyone else who continues to be honest with me in my pursuit of “great”. My hope is that everyone in education, has a person like Kirk who cares enough to be forthright and is knowledgeable enough to help move them toward greatness. Kids depend on us to be great. They depend on us to push each other. Find your Kirk Daddow, and embrace their honesty and wisdom.
I don’t know if Kirk is still teaching. I hope for the sake of kids in Ames, Iowa he still is. I also don’t know if he’ll ever Google himself one day and have the opportunity to read this, but if he does…thank you Kirk. You push me every day to be a better teacher than I was the day before.
_ Knute Rockne once said, “One man practicing good sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it.” I feel the same way about education. One teacher practicing great teaching is far better than fifty preaching it. This exact premise prompts me to acknowledge great teachers as often as I can, and to feature their exceptional work in the 5 Minute Models on this web site. While effective teachers motivate much of the content featured on this website, great coaches are what motivate both me and Dr. Knox to adopt an athletic coaching model in our work with educators.
Instructional Coaching should look, sound, and feel like…coaching. But instead the authentic purpose behind this initiative is being watered down, on a national level, to the point where it no longer resembles coaching. Many of the initiatives I have seen or heard about are as similar to coaching as basketball is to billiards. Well, I guess both involve shooting a ball into something shaped like a bucket, so that may not be the best example…but I think you get my point. The instructional “coaching” initiatives many schools are adopting would be more aptly described as Instructional “mentoring” or even in the most severe cases, Instructional “reflection”. While neither of these practices lacks value (mentoring or reflection) they are not, in fact, coaching!
I was fortunate enough to be an athlete as an elementary, middle school, high school, and University student. A number of my friends and former teammates are currently playing and coaching at the highest levels in sports. As a result, I have been privileged to witness first-hand what great coaching looks like in practice. Frankly, it looks much different than what teachers often receive. This is to the detriment of our most important stakeholders…children.
I listened to one Instructional “coach” talk about her coaching practice. She discussed her coaching as having essentially one critical element. She would sit with a teacher and ask, “How did you feel about that lesson?” Then, during the subsequent conversation, she would try to draw out opportunities for improvement so that they were labeled, not by the coach, but by the person being coached. For anyone reading this who ever had a great coach, I’m sure you will agree this is almost nothing that resembles what actual coaching sounds like. In fact, when I heard it, I almost choked on my whistle! Alright, I joke. I clearly don’t carry a whistle. But now that I think about it… I digress.
The point I am trying to make is simple. Great coaches recognize excellent performance. Furthermore, great coaches care about their players enough to tell them quite specifically which parts of their performance are and are not excellent. The same should be true for those of us who work as instructional coaches in education. Great coaches (instructional and athletic) owe it to their players not just to provide opportunities to reflect, but also to be honest and direct with their feedback. The stakes in education are high. We owe it to teachers to be honest and direct, because students don’t have the time to wait for us to sit around and figure it out on our own. There have been countless teacher egos preserved over centuries at the expense of children. If we choose to be adults who refuse to dispense and receive honest feedback, it’s because we value the preservation of an inflated ego more than we value the education of our students. While I understand this sort of communication may be a bit “honest and direct” for some readers, I choose this path knowing that my intention is to help kids succeed. And for all the phenomenal teachers out there who choose student success over their own egos…I want a place on your team.
Want to know how to tell the difference between a brick and mortar teacher and an online teacher without having to ask? It's simple. At the end of a day if the teacher slumps down in a chair and begs for a moment of silence, you are looking at a brick and mortar teacher. At the end of that same day, if a teacher slumps in his or her chair and laments about the lack of talking in class, you are looking at an online teacher. (Another easy way to tell...if you chuckled at the irony of this statement, then you're an online teacher. If not, ask an online teacher.)
For those who don't teach virtually, I'll paint a brief picture for you. Often in the synchronous online platform there are moments when teachers ask a question, request feedback, or open up a potential discussion. If not properly designed (and this is often true in traditional brick and mortar schools too), the moments that follow are met with a deafening silence. It as an awkward stillness filled with the wishful trepadation of a teacher in front of his or her computer hoping for a single peep from a student to echo over the microphone singing the joyful sound of active participation. I've observed classes too often where the sound never comes, and the silence is bookended by the voice of a teacher seamingly talking into the air.
Why? The answer lies in instructional design. Virtual teachers MUST purposefully design their lessons, down to the moment, in ways brick and mortar teachers often do not. This is unfortunatley something a lot of online teachers have to learn through trial and error because they come from the traditional school world. Brick and mortar teachers have luxuries that include: proximity, more frequent contact, visual cues during lessons, and student face-to-face collaboration. In this case, the conversation often flows more naturally in a traditional classroom than in the virtual world. (The flip side of this coin are the intense management issues more and more school teachers are wrestling with in buildings across the country.) Does this mean online students are exposed to fewer meaningful conversations with their teachers and peers? The answer is an emphatic NO.
In the hands of a masterful online teacher who recognizes the importance of crafting a lesson, I have witnessed time and time again kids engaged in incredible dialogue with one another and their teacher. The masterful online teacher knows exactly the question he or she will be asking and when they will ask it. Everything is purposeful; crafted to ensure maximum engagament, participation, and learning. In a brick and mortar world with some of the luxuries mentioned above, teachers can afford to be more improvised. Face-to-face instruction lends itself to more spontinaity. (Unfortunately, this also lends itself to sloppy teaching at times...again, a flip side to every coin). Any masterful teacher will take the time to craft a lesson according to a gradient based design. Capturing student Attention and using it to Transition into the moment when they Label the content for the day. Then Assisting students on the path to ultimately Showing increased understanding and/or mastery. Ignoring the importance of this sort of purposeful design in online teaching will linevitably lead to? Will inevitably lead to???? Anyone? Anyone?
Silence
I will undoubtedly walk into my gym this morning and be greeted by a slew of unfamiliar faces. Almost all of which will be sporting some brand new workout gear. (The shoes with toes are a personal favorite.) Dozens of newcomers with resolutions to make "this the year they get back in shape!" Sadly, about six to eight weeks from now it will likely be the same regulars from 2011, give or take 1 or 2. The reason is simple. It's hard! There's a big difference between WANTING to do something; ie. wanting to get back in shape, and being COMMITTED to the process it takes to get something accomplished. Everyone "wants" to look and feel great. In much the same way, every teacher out there "wants" to be great in his or her classroom. When push comes to shove...being a great teacher is hard, and it's just as easy to find our once promising lesson plan ideas collecting dust next to those weird looking toe shoes.
Anyone in education will agree with the above statement. Teaching is in fact "hard". We might also agree that being open to feedback and coaching, and then USING that feedback and coaching to improve our work as teachers is both humbling AND hard. I was recently talking to my friend and colleague in education, Steve Arrowood. Steve is a brilliant curriculum designer, facilitator, and educational consultant who's worked with students and teachers all over the world. In our discussion, we were talking about instructional coaching and I began to consider this sort of New Year's Resolution approach to improving instruction and why it exists. He referenced a line from the book, Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham. In it Willingham writes, "Working on your teaching will be a threat to your ego. Teaching is very personal, so taking a close look at it (and inviting one or more other people to do the same) is scary."
I love this line and invite all of us to consider it as we move forward in the new year. In much the same way that first workout after a long absence can be a blow to our ego, so too can a re-commitment to great teaching and being open to feedback and coaching. Teaching, much like our self image, IS very personal. Moreover, inviting others to look at it (either in the gym or in the classroom) can be as terrifying as it is humbling. However, consider this...for as much as we owe it to ourselves to commit to the hard work it takes in the gym to stay healthy and happy, we owe it to our students to truly commit to great teaching. My invitation to all of us in 2012 is to commit to great teaching...for the long term. It will take more than just "wanting" to be great. It will take time, effort, and humility. Try each on for size and see how they fit. And while your at it...those toe shoes too.
PowerPoint is boring. Shocking I know. (Insert obvious sarcasm here) But now that we've addressed the elephant in the room, let's talk about why recognizing this fact, actually matters.
The work we do with virtual teachers is as challenging as it is rewarding. On one hand we are on the cusp of some exciting educational reform. On the other, we are challenged daily with how to engage students and effectively facilitate learning in the virtual world.
A very small part of engaging students in any classroom, virtual or brick and mortar, is undoubtedly the platform teachers use to display "in the moment" written information. In the online community, the teacher's whiteboard (or chalkboard...you're welcome veteran teachers) is undoubtedly PowerPoint. I know, insert audible groan here. I realize I just used the words "engaging" and "PowerPoint" in the same paragraph. To mention an "Engaging PowerPoint" seems more oxymoronic than "Tight Slacks", "Working Vacations", and "Jumbo Shrimp" combined. And there's a reason for that. Lean in close...I'm about to share a secret. Students will NEVER be engaged by what we believe is a good, great, sweet, cool, beast (fill in popular word of the moment in teen culture here) PowerPoint. I know...devastating news. And I thought my sweet clip art was really starting to make some headway.
So where does that leave us as teachers? Does this mean if PowerPoint is our best available presentation tool that we completely exclude all pictures, colors, and fancy fonts because it's not actually engaging, or even memorable in some cases? Gasp! What will I do without you Gill Sans Ultra Bold?!?! Relax...this is absolutely not what we mean. Fonts, colors, and the right graphics, when used purposefully can enhance the quality of your teaching. This is and will always be true. Students comprehend through picturing, so those pictures are important. Color can also be used as an anchor and/or cognitive trigger. I observed an English department that uses the colors of the rainbow to consistently identify key elements of an essay. Red for topic sentences. Orange for thesis statements, and so on and so forth. Masterful and purposeful! However, don't be fooled into thinking that any of these things is going to actively engage your students for any sizable period of time. Teachers are engaging! It's your interactions with kids that matter. Moreover, the most engaging part of any lesson centers around what the kids are asked to DO during that lesson. As such, it's the student DOING (see also Assist, and Show) that should be the focal point of our time and energy in crafting a lesson. Think about that the next time you're spending an hour perusing the clip art galleries.
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