Part 3: Shifting from Suggestions to Commands
Data Collection
Keeping in mind the focus question the teacher and I created guides me to develop a chart using a Google doc. I will record the teacher’s directions and how students respond. Student responses could be their actions and their verbal responses or lack thereof. I use a two column chart to record the data. Example data to collect can include how many students are adhering to the direction and/or the student responses to the directions. For example, if the teacher was to say, "Will you take out your homework from last night, okay?" data would include how many students take out their homework quietly vs talking, how many students talk out loud during this task and how many students call out a response, such as “Yeah!” The data should accurately represent the students’ responses to a teacher's direction.
During the data collection time, I type the teacher’s directions (whether they are suggestions or commands) and the students’ actions (how many students follow the direction, talk, do nothing etc.) I record the directions for a set amount of time, otherwise it can be difficult to record everything. Once I have enough data, I acknowledge the teacher as I leave her classroom.
Soon after, I set up the data display. I add two columns next to the teacher’s directions because I want the teacher to identify her directions as suggestions or commands, why they would be categorized as such, and then want to have her rewrite any suggestions as commands. An important part of an effective data display is to do just that, display the data without my interpretations. If I tell her which directions are suggestions and which are commands, I would be telling the teacher what she should see instead of leading her to reflect and learn from the data.
See Example C for a sample chart of how I set up the Data Display
Data Discussion
Once I collect the data, I share the data display with her as a Google doc. When we meet, we discuss the data. I ask her to describe what she notices about her directions and student responses. She identifies which directions are suggestions and which ones are commands. She also reflects on how the students respond to her directions when they are suggestions versus commands. I help her dig deeper in the data by asking probing questions, such as “What impact do your verbal directions have on student behavior?”
I ask her to rewrite the directions she identified as suggestions. This helps me understand her thinking about how she phrases her directions. This also opens the door for her to share why she was so used to asking people to follow directions. Her previous career was in the retail business and in order to get people to complete tasks, she had to phrase it as asking to accomplish tasks as favors to get the work done. This gave me a new perspective of her background and we are able to discuss the difference between getting tasks done in the retail world versus getting a class of middle school students to do their work and follow directions.
To conclude our meeting, we set up our next focus and data collection times. She wants me to come in again to see her progress on her verbal commands. As we continue to build our relationship, she feels comfortable asking me for help with other tasks as well, which I will be sure to follow up with.
Teacher's Reflections
During this particular coaching cycle that inspired this blog, the teacher noticed more adherence to her directions and more engagement in the class activity. Professionally, she felt more confident and more in control of her classroom.
Please add comments if you have other ideas or resources to share on this topic! Thanks for reading.
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