School Supplies: Resources for the Reflective Educator

Too often the image of an instructional coach is that of an overworked and stressed educator with frizzy hair and coffee stains dotting their wrinkled outfit. Their schedules are maxed out and often double booked and, often removed from their personal working space, they navigate busy hallways filled with kids while balancing their computer, notebook, resources and an empty water bottle that they committed to filling during the day but have had no time for even the briefest moment of self-care.    Full time coaches often have a large caseload of teachers spanning across grades, content areas and sometimes even different school sites and teacher leaders are tasked with managing both the significant responsibility of creating and model classroom and building the capacity of their peers while juggling a number of semi-administrative tasks. School administrators often and incorrectly look for instructional superheroes who can become coaches as a way to scale the success that t...

Many discussions around instructional coaching focus on the strategies coaches use to develop their teachers as practitioners in order improve student data and outcomes. When I tell educators that I am an instructional coach they ask me structural questions about the systems I have set up  in school rather than value questions around why instructional coaching matters. It seems that everyone wants to know how to create a system and not about what makes the system operate. Questions arise such as: How does the master schedule support coaching? What does an effective coaching cycle look like for teachers? Should a coach spend their time consulting or crafting questions to elicit a response rather than give answers? All of these question matter and are certainly the foundation of a strong coaching system but none of them will translate to a create culture of coaching or sustained teacher growth if there is not a deep willingness for both the coach and the teacher to be vulnerable wi...

We hear it in schools every day! "He has no respect for adults!" "She does not follow my rules." "I told him to come to me and he walked away." "She just does not respect authority." We often allow these comments to pass us by just as we would a morning greeting or a check-in from a colleague. However, these phrases are indicators of the incorrect and dangerous assumption that power in school resides with the adults and is accepted by students. In her beautiful text Teaching to Transgress , bell hooks describes a classroom that is a "democratic setting where everyone feels responsibility to contribute" (p. 38). This statement sounds simple and straightforward but what it means is a complete transformation of the traditional power structures in a classroom and a flattening out of power, inquiry and contribution. If a teacher is determined to really know student and share power with them they must be aware of three critical elemen...

How might a lesson run if the teacher was allowed only 1000 words of whole-group instruction each class period? Speaking 1000 words at an average pace takes about 9 minutes which means that a teacher could only use 9 minutes to address instructions, misconceptions, management and assessment for an entire class. I believe that this challenge and having teachers and professional development leaders should try to accept on a regular basis because it is a limitation that, if implemented, would drastically change the way they plan, the task they asked students to do, they way they manage behavior and how they would differentiate for each student in the classroom. The implications of the 1000 Word Challenge on Planning:  First, it is important to note that the 1000 words only count in whole-group instruction. I am not advocating that a teacher spend their words and then sit at their desk while the students work. The 1000 words do not include conferring or small group instruction. Jus...

This week I was facilitating a professional development session focused on how teachers can cultivate their skills to support "new century students." The session included questions on professional development and a teacher's evolution over time and teacher engaged in amazing conversation about their work, career and how they have changed since their first days in the classroom. One teacher, who I respect deeply and who is widely respected in our school and community communicated that he has often been chided for not having "career aspirations that would lead him out of the classroom and into something bigger, like administration." This educator will likely spend his career in the classroom and in front of kids - an accomplishment that is superhuman to me and remarkably difficult in today's system. As a school administrator (admin light I consider myself) who left the classroom three years ago, I was both sympathetic to this comment and had a visceral reacti...

The work of shifting school culture can be overwhelming and often lonely because culture leaders are caught in a tension between where the school's culture currently lies and where it needs to be in order to serve students better. As a dedicated school culture leader in my building I have become comfortable with both feeling like I own the current school culture in both its good and its bad as well as the keeper of the vision for where it needs to be in order for the school to be a more dynamic place for all stakeholders. Below are four lessons I have learned as a first year Dean of Culture and shed light on the long and extensive process of shifting culture. 1. It is essential to have a shared mental model of "school culture". One of the first realizations I had as a Dean of Culture for two schools is that "culture" is such a significant bucket that encompasses the experience of of students, staff and stakeholders in a variety of ways. Culture is the summ...