Lead from Right Here

Leadership doesn’t begin with a title—it begins with intentional action. Teachers can start leading from exactly where they are, even in their first years in the classroom. Early-career teachers can take small but meaningful steps such as sharing a successful instructional strategy, supporting a teammate during planning, or volunteering for a committee. These actions quietly build credibility and signal readiness for greater responsibility. When you consistently do the small things well, others begin to trust you with bigger opportunities. New teachers can also be proactive by meeting with their principal to express interest in future leadership, asking to be considered when opportunities arise. Sharing long-term goals with school leadership plants a seed that allows a teacher to grow intentionally into a mentor role when the timing is right.

Develop One Signature Strength

New teachers grow faster—and lead sooner—when they identify one strength and intentionally refine it. This might be classroom management, technology integration, literacy routines, assessment practices, or family communication. Rather than trying to be excellent at everything, focus on becoming exceptionally strong in one area. Read, observe, ask questions, and experiment to deepen your expertise. Then, share what you’re learning with others. Over time, colleagues will begin seeking you out for guidance in that area, positioning you as a trusted resource. Becoming “the go-to person” is often the first visible step toward mentorship.

Seek Micro Mentorship Opportunities

Mentorship develops through action, not appointment. Teachers build leadership capacity by intentionally supporting others—co-planning with a peer, modeling a classroom routine, or helping a colleague navigate school systems. These small, informal coaching moments are the foundation for formal leadership roles later on. When teachers have already shared their leadership goals with administrators, volunteered for committees, and established a signature strength, the groundwork for mentorship is in place. From there, it’s time to move beyond sharing ideas to demonstrating them. Instead of describing a strategy, model it. Share student work, photos, or short videos during team or staff meetings to show the impact in action. As teachers consistently lead in visible ways, their mentorship skills sharpen and their audience grows ready to follow—confident in a track record that has been building all along.

Recommended Resources

If you are interested in additional support to grow from new to mentor, browse the suggestions below:

• Book: Always A Lesson- Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success
• Mentor Kit
• Instructional Coaching
• Peer Observations

These podcast episodes and blog posts may also be helpful to you.

GO BE GREAT!

The post From New Teacher to Trusted Mentor: Growing into a Leadership Role appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will cover 3 ways in which instructional coaches can adjust their support strategies for career-changers (also known as alternative pathway teachers).

Start with Skill Translation, not Skill Deficit

Career changers bring strong skills to the game of teaching, such as problem solving, communication, and project management. However, alternative pathway teachers do not always see how those skills apply to teaching.  Effective coaches help them connect the dots with skills from the previous setting into the new one. This is done in a way that makes career changing teachers feel ahead instead of instead of behind. A coach should meet with each alternative pathway teacher individually and better understand the skillset they bring the table. Together, they will brainstorm how to leverage those same skills in the classroom. Throughout the first three years (typical of teacher support plans), the coach will help the teacher utilize those previously mentioned skill strengths and strengthen new ones. When teachers are supported in a personalized way from the beginning, teacher retention increases.  

Prioritize Pedagogy in Bite-Sized/Practice-First Doses

Alternative pathway teachers don’t need lectures on theory; they need immediate, usable strategies. Much of teacher prep programs in college focus on the history of education, famous educators and their contributions to the field, educational theory and more. Although these courses are interesting and help paint a picture, they are best used on the journey to teaching and not once teaching has started. Coaches can help career changing teachers by offering quick wins, such as modeling, co-teaching, scripts, checklists and rehearsal based practice. These best practices are strategies teachers can easily mimic from their coach and immediately implement into their lessons with students. This will enhance instruction and teacher practice. The coach can then help the teacher reflect on how they planned to use the strategy, how it went live with students and what to try differently the next day. Begin with 1-3 strategies to keep things simple and realistic. Additional strategies can be added on as the teacher is ready. 

Teach the Hidden Curriculum of Schools

The hardest part for career-changers isn’t instruction—it’s the unwritten rules like school culture, grading norms, hierarchy, communication expectations, and kid behavior patterns. These are rarely spelled out, yet they shape how successful and confident a new teacher feels. Coaches should help smooth the transition by making the invisible rules visible, from how to word an email to families, to when it’s appropriate to involve administration, to what “good classroom management” looks like in that specific building. This support can occur alongside an initial meet-and-greet between teacher and coach where transferrable skills are discussed and contextualized for the school setting. Quickly getting a lay of the land—through explicit conversations, checklists, or even shadowing opportunities—helps new teachers operate successfully within the school while honoring its unspoken boundaries. When logistics and norms are clarified early, career-changers are freed to focus their energy on teaching, building relationships, and developing a true sense of belonging rather than second-guessing every move.

Additional Resources

The following resources are recommended to provide support to alternative pathway teachers:

• Book: Always a Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success 
• Just for teachers:
  • Peer Observations
  • Teacher Leadership Professional Development
• Just for coaches:
  • Instructional Best Practices
  • Instructional Coaching Forms
  • Teacher Mentorship Kit

Continue reading more in the Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers series on the blog:

• Becoming a Teacher Without Any Student Teacher Experience
• Changing Careers: Making the Transition for Future Teachers
• Bridging the Instructional Gap: Must-Know Pedagogy for Non Traditional Teachers

GO BE GREAT!

The post 3 Things Coaches Need to Know About Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Reframe your Experience

Late-career educators bring a wealth of professional and life experience that transfers directly into the classroom. Rather than viewing a nontraditional path as a liability, reframe it as a powerful asset. Skills such as communication, leadership, organization, problem-solving, and relationship-building are foundational to effective teaching. Years spent navigating workplaces, managing projects, collaborating with diverse teams, or mentoring others provide an edge that many early-career teachers are still developing.

Additionally, real-world experience allows you to offer authentic examples that bring learning to life. Students benefit from hearing how content connects to careers, everyday decisions, and the world beyond school walls. That big-picture perspective helps students see relevance and purpose in their learning—something younger educators may not yet have the lived experience to provide.

Small, Daily Wins

Confidence grows through momentum, and momentum is built one small win at a time. Instead of waiting for a perfect lesson or a flawless observation, focus on daily progress. Maybe today you nailed the flow of a lesson, successfully redirected off-task behavior, connected with a hesitant student, or figured out a new piece of technology. These moments matter.

Celebrate progress over perfection. Teaching is complex work, and mastery comes through repetition and reflection. Consider keeping a “wins list” at the end of each day—write down one thing that went well, no matter how small. Over time, those small victories add up, creating tangible evidence that you are learning, growing, and becoming more confident in your role.

Create your Circle

Teaching was never meant to be a solo endeavor. Designing a personal support circle can dramatically impact both your growth and your well-being. This circle might include mentors, PLC teammates, instructional coaches, or trusted colleagues who offer encouragement and honest feedback. Be intentional about choosing people you admire for their expertise, mindset, and perspective.

Having a strong circle provides a safe space to ask questions, share struggles, and celebrate successes. It also helps normalize the challenges of teaching—especially in the early years. Surrounding yourself with supportive professionals reminds you that you are not alone and that confidence is something everyone continues to build throughout their career.

Additional Resources

Classroom confidence doesn’t come from having all the answers; it comes from trusting yourself to learn, adapt, and grow. By reframing your experience, celebrating small daily wins, and building a supportive circle, late-career educators can move past imposter syndrome and step fully into the impactful teachers they are becoming.

This blog series on supporting alternative pathway teachers provided tips and strategies to make the adjustment easier and make the impact immense. Catch up on the other blog posts in the series:

• Teaching Without Student Teaching: What You Need to Know
• Changing Careers: Making the Transition for Future Teachers
• Bridging the Instructional Gap: Must-Know Pedagogy for Non-Traditional Teachers

If you are in need of tangible, instructional strategies to make an impact in the classroom read my latest book “Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.”

GO BE GREAT!

The post Building Classroom Confidence as a Late-Career Educator appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This can be quite concerning if non-traditional teachers do not learn and implement that learning quickly and correctly. However, if an adult is passionate about learning new skills, attending their alternate route certification classes as prescribed, applying new skills in their daily teaching, then they can develop competency with limited negative impact on students’ academic achievement.

This post will cover four core instructional strategies every new teacher needs, even without formal education training.

A. I Do, We Do, You Do Model

This model describes the flow of a lesson from start to finish. Teachers begin by introducing the new skill or concept to students. This portion utilizing modeling and is all teacher directed which is why it is referred to as “I Do.” Explicit modeling helps students understand expectations, following sequential steps, and seeing the big picture. After 10 minutes or so, teachers transition to doing the skill with students in a supported practice referred to as “we do” since they are doing it together. Guided practice prevents student frustrations and off-task behavior as the teacher leaders the students through the process in a slow, steady pace. After multiple rounds of group practice, it is time for students to complete the skill on their own- “you do.” Following this lesson flow allows students to learn new information, make sense of it, store it in short-term and long-term memory in order to apply it in future tasks. The official description of this instructional flow is called “gradual release” since the process of passing the learning ownership to students is gradual throughout the lesson.

B. Check for Understanding

Creating multiple stopping points in a lesson to check the level of student understanding of the topic being taught is essential. If teachers can catch misunderstanding early, they can be corrected and more students will be successful mastering the skill by the end of the lesson. Check for understanding can be quick (ie. 5-7 min) to informally assess student comprehension like:

• thumbs up/thumbs down for true or false questions
• stop and jot to explain a concept in their own words
• turn and talk to chat with a peer exchanging main points, opinions, and real-life connections
• mini whiteboards where students write down their answers to rapid fire questions
• color cards indicating level of understanding (red is confused, yellow is still have questions and green is full understanding)

Based on percentage of students accurately responding to checks for understanding determines how quickly the teacher moves on in the lesson. For example, if the majority of students understand the “I do,” then the teacher can transition to the “we do” portion of the lesson while working 1:1 or in a small group with students who need more modeling before moving into practice. This helps teachers adjust pace in real time based on the quality and depth of student answers.

C. Scaffolded Learning

Teachers should break down tasks into smaller portions adding in support as needed. Ways to do this include providing sentence starters, anchor charts or visuals, graphic organizers, examples of thinking and doing, etc. As students gain proficiency with a skill, teachers can remove supports gradually until they are no longer needed. This means teachers are responsible to the data they are collecting about the level to which students understand a concept. They can do that through checks for understanding, observations, student work, etc.

Teachers should be careful to not fall into these common pitfalls when scaffolding learning for students:

• Doing the work for students – The goal of teaching is to ensure students are able to learn the material and demonstrate mastery of those concepts. If teachers continuously model for students, then they will never reach mastery on their own.

• Slowing instruction for everyone- Not every student needs a scaffold. Watching students closely as they learn will provide insight into who needs scaffold and what type would best suit them.

• Permanent supports that never fade- If students constantly need assistance and never become independent then the supports are not successful. Using them for a short period of time and providing feedback to the student to make adjustments will increase understanding in time. Permanent supports are not the answer.

D. Clear Directions and Expectations

Strong directions and clear expectations make instruction run smoothly. Pedagogy is rooted in clarity. When teachers are clear on what to do and how to do it, it reduces misunderstandings and misbehaviors. The scaffolding just discussed will ensure teachers structure lessons so that students are doing the cognitive heavy lifting resulting in mastered learning stored in long-term memory for future use. As a result, students are on task engaging in multiple rounds of practice gaining proficiency much more quickly. 

Teachers should plan their directions in their lesson plan, post them in the classroom, share them with students, and hold students accountable for following the directions. When students know what is expected of them, they can be successful. When teachers are consistent in establishing expectations and holding students to high standards of learning, students have a greater chance at reaching mastery.

Additional Resources

The following resources will help non-traditional teachers grow in capacity quickly.

• Book
  • Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials to Classroom and Career Success
  • EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach you in College
• Blog Posts
  • Lesson Design
    • 5 Myths of Lesson Design 
    • 5 Ways to Improve the Lesson Design Process
  • Classroom Management
    • 5 Myths of Classroom Management
    • 5 Ways to Reinvent you Classroom Management System
    • 3 Ways to Improve your Classroom Management Practices in the Classroom
    • Classroom Management: Moving Beyond Compliance
    • Classroom Management: How to Plan & Prepare a System
    • Crack the Classroom Management Code

• • Student Engagement
    • 5 Myths of Student Engagement
    • 4 Ways to Improve Student Engagement
    • 3 Tips to Maximize Student Engagement
  • Student Choice and Ownership
    • 5 Myths of Student Choice and Ownership 
    • 5 Benefits of Increasing Student Choice and Ownership 
    • 5 Myths of Student Choice and Ownership
• Podcast Episodes
  • 356: Beyond the Lesson Plan and How to Get Students to Care
  • 127: Classroom Management like PB & J
  • 47: Nuts and Bolts of Effective Classroom Management
  • 137: Quality Engagement is a Dance
  • 314: Incorporating Student Voice

Continue reading more in the Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers series on the blog:

• Becoming a Teacher Without Any Student Teacher Experience
• Changing Careers: Making the Transition for Future Teachers

GO BE GREAT!

The post Bridging the Instructional Gap: Must-Know Pedagogy for Non Traditional Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will share 5 ways to transfer skills from a previous careers into effective teaching practices.

Identify Transferrable Skills

Recognize that corporate, service-industry, military, or nonprofit experience naturally translates into classroom strengths. To better exemplify what skills might transfer from the old setting into the new one, review the samples below:

• Project management is similar to the process of lesson planning in that both require organization, including setting goals, managing timelines, and allocating resources.
• Customer service relates to communicating effectively with parents because both require empathy, respect, and clear communication to build relationships.
• Team leadership mirrors managing a classroom in that both require setting clear expectations, establishing procedures and routines, motivating individuals towards common goals and fostering a positive environment.
• Data analysis is a very common task for teachers as they progress monitor students since both require collecting information to track growth over time in efforts to make more informed decisions.

Leverage Real World Experience

Leverage your real world experience to bring lessons to life: use real world examples, stories and scenarios to make content more meaningful . As children grow in age, connecting to the material becomes even more important so a secondary school teacher would want to emphasize these in daily lessons. A benefit of having other career experience is being able to show students how learning connects to real careers (using your former career as an example). It is important to offer authentic problem solving tools from your field to demonstrate skills learned into school turn into superpowers at work. 

Shift from Adult Focus to Kid Focus

One major difference when moving into education from another field is that who you manage will be very different. Working with adults is different than working with children. What works with adults (emails, autonomy, extended deadlines, etc.) does not translate well to the classroom. Kids need explicit modeling, step by step directions and constant reinforcement. However, a lot of alternatively licensed staff underestimate that the same leadership skills still apply- just scaled down, simplified and more structured.

Build an Instructional Toolbox

This task will have to be done quickly and intentionally as you are literally learning on the job. Do less and get really good at it. As you gain traction, you can diversify your teaching strategies and approaches. 

• • Keep routines and procedures for students simple and consistent
  • Master 1-2 classroom management frameworks instead of trying to master a million 
    • 3 C’s: content, community, and choice
    • 5 R’s: relationships, rights, rules, routines, and responsibilities
    • Four Square:  organization, discipline, instruction, and assessment. 
  • Study a few high yield instructional strategies
    • Checks for understanding
    • Modeling
    • Guided practice
  • Use district supports, mentor teachers, and PD intentionally

Embrace the Learning Curve

It’s normal to feel like an expert in your old field and like a mess as a beginning teacher. This isn’t starting over; it’s leveling up. The shift is monumental, but the transition is smoother when you ask questions early and often. The skills that made you successful in your old role (resilience, communication, problem solving, etc.) are exactly what make you a great teacher now. And we all know, teaching is the most noble of all professions! 

Recommended Resources

The following resources will increase your preparedness for a role in education:

• Digital Downloads:
  • Instructional Best Practices
  • PD On Demand: Micro Learning Opportunities 
• Books:
  • EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach You in College
  • Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

Continue reading more in the Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers series on the blog:

• Becoming A Teacher Without Student Teaching Experience
• Bridge the Instructional Gap: Must Know Pedagogy for Non Traditional Teachers

GO BE GREAT!

The post Changing Careers: Making the Transition for Future Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

As a result, many states are allowing non-certified individuals to teach. To become eligible under these crisis conditions, individuals would have to hold a bachelor’s degree of any type and professional experience. Oftentimes, transferrable skills exist between careers so having experience in the working world is advantageous. The one stipulation if a non-certified individual chooses to teach is that they must enroll in an certification program within the stated timeframe set by the district or school.

Since emergency certification is growing in popularity, its important to outline essential classroom skills for teachers who didn’t complete a traditional student teaching experience. As part of the Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers series on the blog, this post will explore 6 tips to help individuals gaining an emergency teaching certificate without traditional training such as student teaching.

Routines and Procedures Matter 

Strong routines and procedures form the backbone of effective instruction. They create an environment where students know what to expect, how to behave, and how to move from one task to the next without constant teacher direction. When routines are tight, teachers spend less time managing and more time teaching. In fact, many highly effective classrooms look “calm” not because students are naturally compliant, but because routines make expectations automatic.

Don’t Miss the Behind-the-Scenes Modeling 

Student teaching gives educators a front-row seat to the flow of a classroom—the tiny, often invisible systems that make everything run. New teachers who skip this experience may not realize how much intentional planning sits underneath a smooth day. They don’t see the hundreds of micro-decisions: where materials live, how students move, how transitions are cued, or how procedures are retaught. As a result, they may assume a routine should “just work” without understanding the level of practice and modeling required.

The Power of Predictable Systems 

Predictability creates safety and confidence for students. When entry routines, exit routines, supply systems, and transitions run the same way every day, cognitive load drops—and academic engagement rises.

• Entry routines help students shift into learning mode immediately.

• Exit routines reinforce reflection, organization, and closure.

• Supply routines eliminate time-wasters and arguments.

• Transition routines keep momentum high and reduce the noisy drift between tasks.

Predictable Systems aren’t about Rigidity —they’re about freeing the brain to do the harder work of thinking, problem-solving, and collaborating.

Routines Reduce Behavior Issues 

A huge percentage of behavior challenges come from uncertainty, downtime, or unclear expectations. Well-taught routines eliminate those variables. Research commonly cited in classroom-management literature notes that strong routines can reduce off-task behavior by up to 80% (exact stat varies by source, but the pattern is consistent across studies). When students know exactly what to do and how to do it, they don’t have to “guess”—and guessing is where misbehavior happens.

Teaching a Routine is as Important as Teaching Content

Teaching a routine is teaching content—it’s instructional design. Routines are skills students must learn, practice, and master just like reading strategies or math processes. A routine that is taught explicitly, modeled clearly, and practiced repeatedly becomes part of the learning system for the entire year. Investing time upfront pays off exponentially because every later lesson runs more smoothly, efficiently, and effectively.

A Simple Script for Teaching and Practicing Procedures

You can teach any procedure using a simple three-step script:

1. Explain
“Here’s what we do when it’s time to transition to the carpet. You will push in your chair, walk quietly, sit criss-cross in your assigned spot, and track the speaker.”

2. Model
“Watch as I show you exactly how it looks.” (Teacher models.)
“Now watch again as a student volunteer models.” (Student models.)

3. Practice & Feedback
“Your turn. Let’s practice together. Ready… go.”
Give quick, specific feedback:
“I noticed several of you pushed in your chairs quietly. Let’s try it again and focus on getting to the carpet within 10 seconds.”
Re-practice until the routine meets expectations.

This cycle mirrors any high-quality instructional method: clear explanation, modeling, guided practice, and feedback.

Resource Recommendations

After reading this blog post, non-certified teachers can become successful in the classroom while simultaneously earning their certification.

• Digital Downloads:
  • Instructional Best Practices
  • PD On Demand: Micro Learning Opportunities 
• Books:
  • EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach You in College
  • Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

Continue reading more in the Supporting Alternative Pathway Teachers series on the blog:

• Changing Careers: Making the Transition for Future Teachers
• Bridge the Instructional Gap: Must Know Pedagogy for Non Traditional Teachers

These blog posts may also be helpful to you as well.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Becoming A Teacher Without Student Teaching Experience appeared first on Always A Lesson.

But while the pre-break buzz is inevitable, it doesn’t have to derail your classroom. With the right mix of structure, flexibility, and connection, you can finish the year feeling calm, not chaotic.

Here are practical classroom management strategies to help you make the most of the most energetic time of year.

1. Keep Routines Sacred (Even When It’s Hard)

It’s tempting to toss out your normal routine and fill the days with “fun stuff.” But routine is what keeps students feeling safe and grounded — especially during an unpredictable season.

Stick with your daily schedule as much as possible. Start with your regular morning meeting, reading block, or math warm-up, even if the rest of the day looks different. Those familiar structures send the message: “We’re still learning, and we’re still a team.”

•  Pro tip: Use consistent transition cues (like a bell, chime, or call-and-response) to help students reset between activities.

2. Channel the Energy — Don’t Fight It

Students are going to be full of energy, so meet them where they are! Instead of demanding stillness, find ways to move with their excitement. Some things to try are:

• Brain breaks that match the mood — snowball tosses (crumpled paper), “freeze like a snowman,” or GoNoodle dance-offs.

• Movement-based learning — scavenger hunts, gallery walks, or review games that get kids up and moving.

• Voice and choice — let students choose between two review activities or share ideas for how to “celebrate learning.”

Redirecting energy is easier than suppressing it — and it keeps the classroom joyful and productive.

3. Plan Engaging, Low-Stress Lessons

December isn’t the time for starting brand-new units or piling on complex projects. Instead, focus on review, creativity, and collaboration. Here are some tried-and-true favorites:

• “12 Days of Learning” — highlight one skill or topic each day leading up to break.

• “Winter STEM Challenges” — build a sled, design a snow shelter, or test paper snowflake symmetry.

• “Kindness Campaigns” — small daily acts of kindness with a classroom display to track progress.

Keep lessons meaningful, but design them so you’re not juggling extra prep or grading while wrapping up the semester.

If you are in need of ways to level up your instruction, dive into effective strategies surrounding topics like routines and procedures, student engagement, increasing student talk, and generating active response.

4. Make Space for Feelings (All of Them)

The holidays aren’t joyful for everyone. Some students feel anxious, sad, or uncertain about time away from school. Create room for emotions by checking in with your class daily. Try simple reflection prompts like:

• “How are you feeling about the upcoming break?”

• “What’s something you’re looking forward to — or something you’ll miss?”

• “What can we do to support each other this week?”

A few minutes of honest conversation can ease anxiety and remind students that they belong — even during big transitions.

5. Celebrate Progress, Not Just the Calendar

Instead of counting down days until break, count up to the growth your students have made.

Display “12 Days of Learning,” “10 Things We’ve Mastered,” or a “Gratitude Wall” where students share something they’re proud of. Shifting the focus from “almost done!” to “look how far we’ve come!” builds reflection and positivity.

6. Protect Your Own Energy

Let’s be honest — the pre-break buzz affects teachers, too. Between report cards, class parties, and personal holiday prep, it’s easy to run on fumes.

Give yourself permission to simplify. Use anchor activities, independent centers, or buddy reading when you need a breather. Keep a few “quiet moments” on the schedule — a read-aloud, mindfulness activity, or journaling time — to help everyone (including you) reset.

And remember: calm is contagious. When students see you staying grounded, they’ll follow your lead.

What’s the Lesson?

The days before break will never be perfectly calm — and that’s okay. They’re supposed to be full of energy, laughter, and a little extra sparkle. The key is to harness that energy instead of fighting it.

By holding onto structure, connection, and joy, you help your students end the year on a high note — not just ready for a break, but proud of what they’ve accomplished.

So take a deep breath, turn on the twinkle lights (metaphorically or literally), and enjoy the buzz. You’ve earned it!

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog—and don’t miss my latest book: Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Managing the Pre-Break Buzz: Practical Classroom Strategies for the Most Energetic Time of Year appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Here’s why I stopped using them in my classroom — and what I now help teachers do instead.

1. Not Every Student Is Counting Down With Joy

While many students can’t wait for holidays, some aren’t looking forward to the time away from school.
For children who experience food insecurity, unstable home situations, or complicated family dynamics, breaks can feel long and lonely. A daily reminder that the break is getting closer can unintentionally heighten anxiety instead of excitement.

Instead:

Focus on making every day in the classroom something to look forward to. Build small daily traditions — morning meetings, read-aloud time, or kindness challenges — that give students consistency and a sense of belonging, no matter the time of year.

2. Countdowns Shift the Focus Away From Learning

Once the countdown starts, students (and let’s be honest, teachers too) mentally check out.
When every day becomes “one day closer to break,” it’s hard to keep motivation and engagement strong. Learning shouldn’t feel like something we just have to “get through” until the fun starts again.

Instead:

Reframe the time before a break as a chance to celebrate growth and connection. Try a “12 Days of Learning” series, where each day you can highlight a skill students have mastered or share something everyone is proud of from the semester. It keeps energy high — and focused on learning.

If you’re looking for instructional ideas centered around the holidays, browse through these holiday-themed activities.

3. Count Up to Gratitude, Kindness, or Joy

If you love the idea of marking the days in a visual way, consider changing the focus of your countdown.
Instead of counting down to something external (like a holiday), count up to something internal — community, gratitude, or kindness.

Ideas to try:

• Kindness Chain- Add a paper link for every kind act you see in the classroom. Watch it grow!

• Gratitude Calendar- Each day, students add one thing they’re thankful for to a wall display.

• Learning Reflection Jar- Every day, add a slip of paper with one new thing your class learned or accomplished.

By shifting the focus, you build anticipation for connection rather than escape.

4. Anchor Students in Routine and Safety

Transitions can be tough for kids. A visual countdown reminds them that change is coming — which can feel unsettling. Instead of counting down, spend time previewing and preparing for the transition in gentle ways.

Instead:

• Talk about what stays the same during breaks (like friendships, routines, or support systems)

• Give students space to share their feelings about the upcoming break

• Create a plan for staying connected to reading, learning, or classroom community over the break

What’s the LESSON here?

At Always A Lesson, we strive to observe what is happening around us and compile the clues to learn valuable lessons that transform classrooms across the globe. By kicking the classroom holiday countdown to the curb, you unlock a new way to impact students.

For many, holidays are wonderful. But they’re not wonderful for everyone in the same way. When we step back from holiday countdown and step into connection, we create classrooms that feel safe, inclusive, and joyful all year long.

You don’t need a countdown to make the days before a break special — just a focus on what truly matters: community, care, and curiosity.

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog—and don’t miss my latest book: Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Kick the Holiday Countdown to the Curb and Do this Instead! appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Attend during Specials or Planning Time

The most simple way to logistically make learning walks work within the parameters of a jam packed teaching schedule is to use off-time during contractual hours to engage in learning walks. For example, when students are at specials or you have an additional planning block without students, use a portion of that time to complete the learning walk. Being organized for the learning walk ahead of time will ensure efficient time usage for the experience.

Instructional Coach Becomes Coverage

Sometimes, you cannot complete a learning walk (or enough rounds of peer observations to be worth it) during free time so needing someone to provide classroom coverage is necessary. Using a member of the leadership team, like an instructional coach, allows teachers to engage in a thorough learning walk experience while students are taught by a certified staff member. This coach could help multiple grade levels over several days so that all staff could participate. However, leaving time in the day for the instructional coach to complete their daily activities is important so that they aren’t left scrambling to meet the expectations of their day-to-day job.

Hire Substitute Teachers

The first two suggestions are free which is why they are the most popular solution among schools. However, sometimes those options are unavailable to schools. In that case, using school funds to hire substitute teachers allows them to manage learning walks. For example, a principal might have a substitute teacher come for an entire day but hop around classes providing coverage while grade levels take turns engaging in a learning walk. This requires school-wide planning and orchestration; however, it is the best use of time and funds when hiring a substitute teacher for coverage.

Blend Classes

A solution that is less popular because it is not what is best for teachers and students is to blend classes together. For example, a single teacher would disperse their students among the rest of the grade level classes so that each class only had an additional 3-4 students during the learning walk time frame. This requires a collaborative effort with the helping teachers so that it is a seamless transition of instruction for students. The teacher would work quickly to see a different grade level of teachers that did not have additional students in their classes. This solution is time bound and often bare bones just to get in a quick peer observation.

Do it Virtually

If all else fails, allow teachers to watch their peers teach via video tape. It lacks authenticity because you cannot feel what is happening in the room and it limits your line of sight. However, it still allows colleagues to watch each other teach, reflect on their own practice, and improve their teaching skill for the benefit of students.

Resources

Below are additional resources to help you successfully implement learning walks in your school building.

• Blog Posts:
  • How to Set Up Learning Walks in your Building
  • 3 Tips to Get the Most Out of Learning Walks
  • The Secret to the Most Effective PD
• Downloadable Material:
  • Learning Walks: Effective Peer Observations

Don’t let obstacles get in your way of teachers seeing each other teach. Learning walks are a powerful and transformative professional development tool.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Ways to Overcome Coverage Challenges During Learning Walks appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The Teacher Growth and Development Process

The following process is ongoing between the leader and teacher. Although the focus for improvement may change throughout the year, the process remains the same. This provides structure to all stakeholders. The goal of this process is to assist the teacher in growing their skillset. Students improve their performance in the classroom as a result.

• Pre- Conference – Teachers can submit lesson plans for an upcoming announced observation or they can co-create a lesson plan with a leader (ie. mentor, instructional coach, assistant principal. This insures a high quality lesson is formed from the start. Feedback is provided to the teacher to make final tweaks before teaching the lesson live in front of students with the leader observing.
• Observation – A leader observes the teacher deliver the lesson to students (ideally this would be the same leader present in the pre-conference, but it does not have to be). No interaction between the teacher and leader should occur as if they are simply a fly on the wall. The teacher teaches the lesson as planned in the pre-conference. This includes any changes due to feedback.
• Post- Conference – Hosting a debrief with the leader and teacher allows for a productive discussion about high quality teaching. The teacher comes to the post-conference after completing their reflection of the effectiveness of the lesson. During this time, professional goals are discussed in addition to the goal for the lesson taught. Strengths are highlighted and weaknesses are prioritized (1-2 areas only). The teacher uses this conversation to gain clarity on teaching expectations, feedback on the lesson itself, and next steps for how to continue to improve their instructional skill.

Collect Evidence of Teacher Proficiency

Teacher proficiency is a term used to describe the level of effectiveness of a teacher’s instruction. Classroom observations alone do not share the whole picture of a teacher’s development. Therefore, leaders need to collect a variety of data to showcase the many ways a teacher has grown.

• Professional Development [PD] Records – Knowing what PD teachers have attended enlightens the leader on what topics they have learned about and should be implementing. Finding patterns within the records will provide clues for next steps
• Communication with Parents– Knowing how often and the methods used by the teacher to communicate with students’ parents is helpful in knowing what feedback to provide to build strong, personable relationships with stakeholders. This also gives credit for going above and beyond requirements to keep parents informed and leverage their assistance in the growth of the child
• Use of Student Data– Understanding how teachers collect, analyze and use data to inform their instruction showcases the level of their skill. If teachers encourage students to chart their own growth, set goals, and advocate for their own learning needs then the teacher is going above-and-beyond the requirement to collect, analyze and use data in their classroom.
• Participation in Growth Opportunities– Teachers should meet with leaders to share their professional goals at the beginning of the year. This helps the leader support growth in that area of interest. Noting what additional opportunities teachers have engaged in to continue to grow in their area of expertise or interest demonstrates a self-motivated, dedicated professional.

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Summative Evaluations for Educators appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Live coaching made such a difference for me as a leader because I was able to help teachers grow stronger in the moment. We didn’t have to wait until our debrief meeting a week later to discuss changes to instructional design, classroom management, student engagement or student ownership. The impact was immediate and the results followed suit.

Lay of the Land

To kick things off successfully, provide a lay of the land. Teachers need to understand what it is, why they should engage in it, how it will help, as well as where and when it will take place.

The post Live Coaching: Tips, Strategies & Advice appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Students are not ready for choice and ownership in the classroom if they currently cannot learn well under the teacher’s instructional style, follow behavior expectations, or engage at deep levels with the content and with their peers.  If both the teacher and students have progressed through the phases of lesson design, classroom management and student engagement, then they are ready for more freedom in learning.

This post will share 5 myths related to student choice and ownership. If teachers are able to bust these myths in their own classrooms, they along with their students will be enjoying the thrills of authentic autonomy!

Myth #1

Every student should have access to choice and increased ownership. 

False. As mentioned above, students have to demonstrate responsibility as learners to earn additional choice and ownership. When teachers differentiate instruction for students, choice and ownership can be options for students who are ready for that freedom. Sometimes, the class as a whole is not ready for choice or ownership (maybe even all year) and teachers will have to reserve the urge to provide it. If students are given instructional freedom before they are ready for it, misbehaviors escalate and learning outcomes plummet. The goal is that every student has access to choice and ownership when they are ready, but that doesn’t mean it happens for every child every year.

Myth #2

Offering choice and ownership in the classroom takes a lot of work.

False. If teachers have planned well, executed their plans in a consistent manner, provided boundaries for meeting expectations academically and behaviorally, designed a variety of engaging activities that students successfully participated then, then the choice and ownership are easy to implement. This is because the teacher has created systems and consistency leading up to this point and when students are exposed to choice and allowed more ownership, they follow suit with the path the teacher has been paving all year. Systems and expectations don’t change just because students are taking over and leading the way. It’s a simple pass of the baton that has been slowly occurring all year. When teachers solidify lesson design, classroom management and student engagement, then moving on to choice and ownership is seamless.

Myth #3

Providing choices to students means differing levels of effort.

False. It can happen that a teacher offers choice in assignments that differ in level of complexity. This may mean a child finds one activity easier than another. However, if the teacher designs instruction well, then all the choices are of the same rigor level. For example, some students may prefer artistic expression while others desire to show off their comedy skills in a quick sketch. It may feel easy by selecting choice assignments in alignment with student interests, but the actual demonstration of learning is the same level of difficulty for each possible choice assignment. What students demonstrate should be the same level of rigor where how they demonstrate it can feel different. The teacher should spend time explaining expectations for quality of work regardless of which choice option they select.

Myth #4

You can have choice without ownership and vice versa.

False. Choice allows students to take ownership of their learning journey instead of being told what to do. Ownership allows students to choose how to lead in and around their classroom. These two elements are interwoven and work best in tandem. As a reminder, this is an earned perk only to be used when students have demonstrated they can adhere to content, behavior and emotional expectations in the classroom. Being clear with students about this privilege is essential to the longevity of the freedom. If students cannot be successful with more freedom, then choice and ownership go away until earned again.

Myth #5

Students are not interested in freedom and autonomy in the classroom.

False. Humans have a fundamental desire for autonomy. This psychological need is linked to motivation and growth. Having free will to make decisions in alignment with your own needs and wants is fulfilling. Therefore, not just students, but adults too desire freedom in learning and their lives. It can be comforting to be told what to do when you are first learning, but as you grow in skill you are ready for more freedom. When students experience autonomy in the classroom, they are motivated to perform well so as not to lose the freedom. Autonomy brings satisfaction, even when the task is hard.

Additional Resources

If you’d like to learn more about student choice and ownership, check out the additional resources listed below:

• Blog Posts
  • 5 Benefits if Increasing Student Choice and Ownership
  • 7 Ways the Most Successful Teachers Strengthen Student Voice
  • Student-Led Writing Conferences
• Downloadable PDF
  • Increasing Student Ownership in the Classroom 
• Book
  • Teacher Essentials for Classroom & Career Success

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Myths of Student Choice & Ownership appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will share five myths in regards to student engagement so that teachers can be successful in reaching their students year after year.

Myth #1

Behavior engagement requires control. 

False. Moving away from compliance habits by replacing them with interactive opportunities allows students to meet behavior expectations without requiring them to. We cannot control people, but we can put boundaries in place for the learning environment. If the behavior expectations are clear and the engagement task is of interest, getting students to comply will be by choice not by force. When students know why they must act a particular way during the learning experience, behavior engagement comes naturally.

Myth #2

Students don’t need to emotionally engage in a lesson. 

False. Students want to feel a sense of belonging in the classroom. They want to know their teacher cares about their needs and wants. When students do not feel welcome, they will disengage from their peers and their own learning. In order to prime students for academic growth, they need to feel safe, valued, heard and seen. This emotional engagement leads to an open mind to learn new information while also increasing their motivation to behaviorally engage in the activity.

Myth #3

Critical thinking happens without meaningful content.

False. Cognitive engagement is the most important way students can grow their skillsets. When content is meaningful and relevant, critical thinking is no longer a chore. Students engage their minds authentically because they see the value in learning the information and maybe even find it interesting. When teachers do not take the time to show the connection between the new learning and past learning, or how new learning is important to their future career or aspirations, students lose interest. They stop consuming the information which leads to a lack of skill and knowledge. They will not be prepared for the following grade or the work force. It is imperative content is meaningful to students so they can exercise their critical thinking muscle with ease.

Myth #4

Inclusion has no bearing on student engagement.

False. Including students of varying learning abilities and cultural backgrounds into class discourse has a profound impact on student engagement. When students feel included even when they are different from the what they perceive to be the “norm,” they receive the benefits of collaboration and communication with their peers and teacher.  If students need sentence starters, vocabulary wall, or think time in order to successfully engage in discussion, it should be provided. The teacher must support all learners so that they can be successful in the classroom. Student discord allows information in the brain to be processed and stored for later retrieval. If we want new knowledge to stick, students need to talk. In order for students to talk, teachers must provide a safe environment and learning supports for everyone to participate. Inclusion done well opens to the doors to high levels of student engagement.

Myth #5

Creativity and choice are just extras.

False. When teachers are creative in how students can engage during a lesson as well as allow students to share their own creativity in demonstrating learning, achievement outcomes improve. Building in choice honors student interests and strengths causing motivation to participate to deeply increase. Therefore, creativity and choice are not extra’s that teachers can sprinkle into lessons when they desire. Creativity and choice are part of building strong, authentic engagement in the classroom.

Additional Resources

If you’d like to go deeper on the topic of student engagement, additional resources are listed below.

• Blog Posts:
  • 4 Ways to Improve Student Engagement
  • 3 Tips to Maximize Student Engagement
  • Coach Focus: How to Help Teachers Engage Students
• Podcast Episodes:
  • 137: Quality Engagement is a Dance
• Book:
  • Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog—and don’t miss my latest book: Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Myths of Student Engagement appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will bust 5 myths in regards to classroom management as well as share additional resources to be successful in the classroom.

Myth #1:

Classroom management is the same as behavior management

False. Classroom management manages the space for the people, not to manage people for the space. We cannot control people. However, we can control the environment for learning (ie. lighting, sound, transition routes, material access and utility, etc.). When the systems are in place it makes it more difficult for undesired behaviors to crop up.

Myth #2:

Classroom management is something you do one time

False. Classroom management is executed all day, every day. If you plan a system or routine and explain it to students it most likely iwll not be effective. Even if you add the element of practice during your role out of expectations, it most likely will not be effective. Managing a classroom requires expectations, rationale for expectations, practice, feedback, and the opportunity for revision when necessary. This occurs every day to ensure the classroom management plan is personalize for the learners operating in the space.

Myth #3:

Classroom management is often where the root of the problem resides

False. Although classroom management reveals problems and makes them more obvious, in order to solve the problem at the root of the issue you must go back to lesson design. How you plan to prevent misunderstandings and misbehaviors (lesson design) impacts how you react in the moment when those things pop up (classroom management).

Myth #4:

There is a simple fix to solving classroom management issues

False. It’s a complicated web of interwoven aspects that affect one another. Attacking classroom management issues with the 3 R’s (relationships, routines and roping students in) is a recipe for success. Build relationships with students so they know they can make mistakes, make amends, and start over fresh. Having established routines in the classroom provides structure and predictability for how to operate in the space. Roping students in with interesting content (or atleast delivering boring content in an interesting way) keeps misbehaviors at bay.

Myth #5:

Classroom management systems work best when they change often

False. Keep it simple and keep it consistent. Students need to know what is expected of them. Reusing systems across subject areas brings familiarity and decreases anxiety of the unknown. If you switch up expectations and begin to manage the classroom differently each day, misbehaviors and misunderstandings take over.

Additional Resources

• Blog Posts
  • Classroom Management: How to Plan & Prepare a System
  • Classroom Management: Moving Beyond Compliance
  • 5 Ways to Reinvent your Classroom Management Strategy
  • 3 Ways to Improve Classroom Management Practices
  • Crack the Classroom Management Code
  • Virtual Classroom Management
• Podcast Episodes
  • 47: Nuts & Bolts of Effective Classroom Management
  • 127: Classroom Management like PB & J
  • Clubhouse Bonus: Coaching with a Classroom Management Lens
• Book
  • Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

    Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog.

    GO BE GEAT! 

    

     

The post 5 Myths of Classroom Management appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The purpose of this post is not to discuss how to effectively implement lesson design, although resources to do that are linked at the bottom of the post. Uncovering 5 myths of lesson design will help teachers better understand the value of the process required to deliver high quality instruction to their students.

Myth #1

If you write a detailed lesson plan, you are a great teacher.

False. Just because you can write a strong lesson plan on paper does not mean you can deliver a quality lesson. Remember, lesson design is not just the lesson plan itself. It thinks about all the obstacles a student might face during the learning experience and puts strategies in place to prevent those from occurring. Writing a lesson plan is only one piece of lesson design. Other important steps in the lesson design process are just as impactful like collaborating with colleagues to raise the rigor of the plan, designing an assessment that aligns to the standards and objective of the lesson, preparing physical learning materials, planning the transition routes for students to move about the classroom safely and efficiently and so much more. Great lesson plan writers do not always translate to great teachers. Design the lesson, don’t just plan it.

Myth #2

Designing a lesson by yourself is better than doing it with others.

False. When you are completing a task by yourself, you are limited to your own skillset and intelligence. When you complete a task together as a group, you put your brains and talents together elevating the limit to which you can accomplish the task. Therefore, it is always better to meet as a team to brainstorm ideas, push each other’s thinking, and bring alternative ideas to the table. The discussion begins with the standard to be covered and flushing that out to daily objectives that can be taught during the subject area time frame. Now the hard work begins of designing the learning experience.Everyone has a different strength that when they are combined during a collaboration session, a lesson grows in effectiveness and impact. Don’t limit your teaching by planning by yourself. Tap into your professional learning network!

Myth #3

You must create everything from scratch.

False. Many teachers have taught for years and have instructional materials that can be repurposed for upcoming lessons. Part of the responsibility of those in the collaboration are to bring related items to the planning session so they can be reviewed and suggested for use. If you create everything from scratch you are putting more time into the item creation than on the lesson itself. Although support materials enhance a lesson, if the majority of time is spent making instructional materials the actual lesson never reaches it potential because time was spent elsewhere. Leverage what you have and spend the bulk of your time on lesson design.

Myth #4

Every lesson has different procedures and expectations.

False. If you continue to change up procedures and expectations, students will spend their brain power relearning those things instead of learning new content. Put the emphasis on the actual learning of information instead of on the how to go about the learning. This means procedures can remain the same from lesson to lesson. This creates familiarity which then leads to efficiency. When expectations shift every lesson, students are confused as to what is expected of them. This slows down the learning process as they have questions or the teacher is busy redirecting and correcting misbehaviors due to the misunderstanding. All of this distracts from the learning experience. Save time, reuse procedures and expectations.

Myth #5

Your lesson will go exactly as planned.

Even if you follow a thorough lesson design process, the execution of the lesson could do awry. Teachers not in control of every factor in their classroom, such as early dismissal, fire drill, AC going out, or technology not working. Understanding that even the best plan doesn’t mean the lesson will go off without a hitch will save sanity. As the famous show “Big Brother” says every episode, “Expect the unexpected.” This is a great motto for teachers as well. Plan thoroughly because it just might come out exactly as planned, but also expect a hiccup or two. When you expect an obstacle, you are better able to pivot efficiently in the moment instead of getting upset which leads to a clouded brain to make decisions.

Helpful Resources

• Blog Posts
  • Powerful Lesson Planning
  • 5 Tips for Designing a Memorable Learning Experience
  • 5 Ways to Improve the Lesson Design Process
  • Lesson Design PD Options
  • Coach Focus: How to Help Teachers Design Lessons
• Podcast Episodes
  • 59: The Lesson Plan Vortex
• Book
  • Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success (Brick #1)

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Myths of Lesson Design appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline 5 ways in which an educator can become a teacher leader.

Make your Intentions Known

The best way to ensure your future becomes what you dream it to be, is to let others know your desires. When they know what you want to do or become, they will encourage you to get there. Share your ideas for leadership with your colleagues and administrative team. As opportunities arise, your name will be top of mind and they will recommend you. If you keep your dream to yourself, no one will be able to support that dream coming to fruition.

Do your Homework

Learn as much as you can prior to opportunities coming to pass. Read as many educational books on leadership, subscribe to online newsletters from current leaders, and attend conferences about teacher leadership to grow your skillset while also allowing you to create relationships with others who are where you want to be. The more you learn now, the easier the transition into leadership will be later down the road.

Lead Without a Title

Just because you don’t have an official leadership title, doesn’t mean you can’t support the growth of teachers. Have an open door policy with your colleagues, inviting them in to brainstorm teaching ideas or talk through obstacles. Follow up with others you help to see if they were successful and continue supporting them if needed. When a leadership job opens up, not only will others think to recommend you for it because they know you want to be a leader, but they now have first hand experience of how much you have helped them.

Shadow Teacher Leaders

Find colleagues who are leading with and without a title. Watch them in action. Take note of their leadership style and results. This will help you develop your own skillset tailoring your approach to your personality and leadership style. Watching someone lead live gives you a more realistic view of what the role may entail. When you shadow a variety of teacher leaders you will be exposed to the numerous ways in which teachers can be supported. This will help you nail down the role that may be the perfect fit for you in terms of alignment to your goals.

Interview, Interview, Interview

It may take numerous interviews before landing a job. Don’t take that personally. Sometimes a district has a requirement to interview a certain number of candidates before extending an offer to a candidate, even when they already know how they plan to hire. Other times, you may not be a fit for their current needs and they may not be a good fit for the environment you wish to work in. The more times you interview, the more practice you get answering hard questions off the cuff, supporting your answers with evidence (ie. specific ways you helped teachers and the results of those interactions), and exuding confidence to showcase your capability in the role. Interview for a variety of teacher leadership roles because even if you do not land your ideal role at first, it will help you gain experience and exposure that will be advantageous next time you interview.

Resources

Below are resources that will help you begin preparing for you teacher leadership role.

• Download Now:
  • Teacher Leader Interview Questions
  • PD on Demand (high leverage topics to help other teachers with)
• Blog Posts:
  • 10 Ways to Learn Over Summer Break as a Teacher Leader
  • Core Coaching Moves for Teacher Leaders
• Podcast Episodes:
  • Teacher Leadership with Sahur Augsteen
  • Teacher Leadership with John Schembari

Once you land your job, enroll in my Teacher Leadership Mastermind! We meet virtually every other week in a fall or spring cohort model. You’ll connect with other teacher leaders across the nation, set personalized goals and track your progress, as well as celebrate your wins in a supportive environment.

Best of luck to you on your journey…

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Ways to Become A Teacher Leader appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline 5 steps teachers can implement consistent to run effective small group instruction in their classrooms.

Step 1: Determine your Data Source

Before you begin to pull a small group, you have to decide which piece of data you will be using to formulate groups. Common data sources are formative assessments (formal and graded tests) or informal assessments (student observations, classwork, homework, etc.). Think about which assessment is the most recent reflection of current student learning and use that one. If you use an older assessment, you might group students who no longer need the attention.

Step 2: Make your Flexible Student Groups

Review the data and highlight low performers. Then group together students struggling with the same skill. For example, if a few students all missed question #4 that dealt with two-step word problems, create a group tackling that skill with only the students needing help in that area. Depending on how long your instructional block is will determine how many small groups you can pull. Usually small groups last 15-20 minutes with an -re-introduction to the skill, guided practice together, and independent practice with feedback. Plan out your skill groups for the week.

You may have students attend multiple skill groups a week because they require additional time and attention to master skills. If you notice this, add an additional layer of support during whole group instruction. Otherwise, these groups are meant to be flexible and the students visiting should change based on the skill being covered.

Step 3: Plan Skill Based Mini Lessons

Now that you know what skill you are focusing on and which students need to attend the small group, its time to plan the mini lesson.

• Select your instructional materials
• Write your objective
• Draft or choose an example
• Practice how you will demonstrate the skill
• Draft or choose 2-3 guided practice activities to complete together
• Draft or choose 1-2 independent practice activities for students to do on their own
• Allot time for reviewing student work, providing feedback, and allowing them to make the appropriate changes

Once a student has demonstrated mastery of the skill (ie. they can complete the independent activities with accuracy), they are excused back with the rest of the class to complete whatever assignment everyone else is working on. If after instruction and feedback, students continue to struggle, make note and send them off to the whole class activity after the 20 minute mark. You will likely have to pull those students again another day for that same skill, but do not extend your small group lesson in the moment as it throws off the pace and plan of instruction for the rest of the lesson.

Step 4: Deliver Targeted Instruction

Be sure to teach a skill in isolation. If you add in too many skills or erroneous details, it could add to the confusion that the student is experiencing. In Reading, if you are using a text to practice be sure to focus your teaching on the skill instead of on the storyline of the text. In Math, if you are working on two-step word problems and there is a secondary skill available to teach (ie. cross out irrelevant information or using multiple strategies to check work), do not address it at this time. You can use the same word problem again in a future skill group when teaching a different skill, but keep each group to one skill at a time.

Step 5: Collect & Review Fresh Data

After you have completed the planned small groups for the selected skills, its time to repeat the cycle with new fresh data. Fresh data means the student performance information you are going to use is the most recent data you have access to. As a reminder, if you wait weeks before pulling groups based on a data report, the students may have mastered skills by this time and therefore it is considered “dead data.” Continue to collect recent data and teach small skill groups throughout the year.

This 5 step small group instruction protocol will help ensure every teacher provides high quality differentiated support to students on an ongoing basis. This will lead to an increase in teacher proficiency (skill level) and student achievement (grades, scores, etc.). The domino effect of transforming this one sliver of instruction has tremendous impact on everyone involved.

Practice the steps and if you find yourself needing feedback, reach out for help to instructional leaders (ie. facilitators, coaches, administration, etc.).

Additional Resources:

• Literacy Effectiveness PD
• Novel Study Guides
• Reteaching for Mastery PD

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog—and don’t miss my latest book: Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Steps for Running Small Group Instruction appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will cover 5 of those commonalities in efforts to make a smoother transition for a new teacher.

Be Comfortable Learning as you Go

You will not be able to know every thing about everything. Set the expectation for yourself that there will be things you know, things you don’t know and things you’ll forget that you know. All of that is part of the learning process. You don’t expect your students to be perfect, so don’t expect that of yourself.

Thrive in Chaos

Until you figure out your style of teaching and routines or structure for students to operate in the classroom, chaos will be the norm. Control what you can control, make adjustments in the moment and get better every day. Thriving in chaos is possible as long as you continue to solidify your expectations and hold students accountable to meeting them every day. Slow progress wins the race.

Being New is Helpful Too

Never apologize for being a new teacher. New teachers bring energy and excitement that has diminished for veteran colleagues over the years. Just because you are new doesn’t mean you don’t have great ideas or contributions. Speak up, own your newness, and allow your true self to be seen. It’s a two-way street- your colleagues will grow because of your influence too.

Advocate for Yourself

You might think someone should know what you need or want, but many times there are so many factors at play during the school day that your confusion or lack of knowledge may go unnoticed. Let others know what you need or want, even if you feel like it is a silly request or something you’ve been told before and can’t remember the answer. Many times what is obvious to someone in the profession for a long time is not even on the radar for a new teacher. Colleagues and other staff members want to help you and want you to be successful, so don’t wait for clarity- advocate for it!

It will all Come Together

In the beginning, you might feel like you’ll never get the hang of the curriculum, friendship circles, timing of the copier machine availability, engagement strategies, or even classroom management techniques. Your path may be up and down with a upside down curly q mixed in, but overall you will grow and strengthen every month. By the end of the year, you’ll look back and remember how overwhelmed you were and how hard everything felt at once. But you’ll have found your flow and ways to manage your workload. It will all come together in the end, as long as you keep moving forward.

Additional Reading Recommendations

The following blogs and books will further set you up for success by sharing more tips in greater detail.

Blogs:

• Cultivating Capacity: Nurturing New Teachers into Impactful Educators 
• New Teacher Words of Wisdom
• New Teachers Change Lives Too – Part 1
• New Teachers Change Lives Too- Part 2
• Advice from a New Teacher for a New Teacher
• Advice for New Teachers
• 3rd Grade Only: What to Expect When Teaching Third Graders

Books:

• Elementary EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach you in College
• Always a Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

And if you love a good swag option, grab the #newteacherlife cozy t-shirt– great for dress down Fridays at school!

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog.

GO BE GREAT!

The post What to Expect as a New Teacher appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will provide 10 tips to secure a position in education due to being a stand out in an interview.

Before the Interview

1. Engage with all staff – From the moment you pull into the parking lot, begin engaging with everyone you come into contact with because the impression to leave on al staff can impact a hiring decision
2. Arrive ahead of schedule– Prepare to wait when you arrive early, but showing up early shows your dedication to the position as well as demonstrates being respectful of time for the leadership team
3. Let style reflect your personality- Although you want to look professional, add personality to pieces of your outfit to showcase personality (ie. jewelry, shoes, hair, makeup, etc.)

During the Interview

1. Let your passion shine– Don’t just talk about how much you love teaching, let them feel your passion through your words, energy, and stories
2.  Weave in school details – Show that you did your research by adding in details about the hiring school in your conversation and pair that with why that piece of information made you interested in teaching there
3. Focus on students, not yourself– Showcase your strength as an educator by sharing anecdotes about the success of your students
4. Share stories– When explaining your experience or giving an example, share a quick story as this is more memorable to the interview panel members
5. Admit your shortcomings– No one expects perfection, so when asked about a weakness, highlight what it is and how you are already taking steps to work towards strengthening that area as this shows a growth mindset and willingness to persevere during hardship

Closing the Interview + After

1. End with an impressive question– You may want to ask about next steps for logistical reasons, but its far more impactful to end the interview with a powerful question like “how might I thrive working here at this school?” or “what makes you the most proud of the teachers and students at this school?”
2. Follow-up afterwards– Not many interview candidates follow-up, so send a thank you card in the mail, make a personalized video email or try some other creative way to thank the leadership team for spending time with you and reiterate your interest in the position

Resources

Below are blog posts you can read that provide even more tips for being a stand out during an interview:

• Tips for Nailing an Interview
• 3 Tips to Prepare for a Demo Lesson
• “Please DO NOT Do that” Interview Advice

If you’d like printable resources to help with the interview process, you can download them below:

• Interview questions, rationale and practice prompts

Being a stand out in an interview will surely land you your dream job!

Want more support? Browse our full collection of printable and digital tools. You can also read more helpful posts on the blog—and don’t miss my latest book: Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post How to Stand Out in an Interview as an Educator appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will reveal a three prong method for cultivating quality teaching and learning in k-12 classrooms across the globe.

Hire

Hiring is an intentional process leaders engage in to ensure they attract and hire qualified candidates aligned to their school mission. A thorough hiring process will uncover red flags that could be a risk if that potential candidate was hired. This process could include an application, phone interview, in-person interview or teaching a demo lesson, ending with talking with references.

An application should gather basic information, a career summary, and responses to carefully chosen writing prompts. These prompts should highlight the candidate’s professionalism, experience, passion, and ability to think critically and connect with others. This helps school leaders find candidates who match their school’s goals and fill specific grade-level needs.

The interview process has two parts. First is a phone interview. This allows the interviewer to expand on the application and ask deeper questions. It focuses on the candidate’s interest in the role, why they’re a good fit, and how they think under pressure. This step helps predict how they might respond to challenges or conflict on the job.

Next is the demo lesson. This gives leaders a chance to see the candidate teach in real time. It also shows whether their teaching matches what they shared in the application and interview.

A thorough hiring protocol ensures quality candidates get hired.

Helpful resources include:

• Cultivating Capacity- Nurturing new teachers into impactul educators
• Preparing for an Interview (Print + Video)

Train

Once hired, we must train the new employee (whether brand new to the profession or new to the school). Training consists of onboarding and professional development. The onboarding process allows a colleague to walk the new employee through how to be successful while working at that specific school- everything from a campus map to getting a substitute teacher for an absence.

Professional development is an ongoing process where leaders guide new hires towards mastery in curriculum initiatives, school and district goals, instructional best practices and more. This ensures a quality candidate continues to grow in their proficiency which then allows students to grow in their capacity as well.

Helpful resources include:

• The Importance of Providing Onboarding for Educators
• Onboarding: How to Support a New Hire at your School
• Professional Development Training Options

Support

There are a variety of ways to support a new hire beyond the professional development workshops. Assigning a mentor to meet monthly about current needs, upcoming events, and trouble shooting common obstacles allows the new hire to receive a more systematic support from a high performing mentor.

Utilizing an instructional coach is another way to add a layer of support for the new hire. This coach will conduct coaching cycles focusing on areas of need aligned to high quality teaching in areas such as lesson design, classroom management, student engagement and student ownership. These cycles could last six to nine weeks honing in on high leverage areas one at a time.

Professional learning communities [PLC’s] is a final way to support a new hire. PLC’s are a collaborative  structure where colleagues work together weekly to plan lessons, design assessments, brainstorm differentiation strategies and more.

When you support a new hire in this way, your retention rate for quality teachers skyrockets and so does student achievement.

Helpful resources include:

• Success Secrets of Colleague Mentorship
• Characteristics of an Effective Teacher Mentor
• Mentor Kit
• Coaching Printables
• PLC Guides
• 5 Ways to Enhance your PLC Meetings

Wishing you a fantastic year as you cultivate quality teaching and learning!

GO BE GREAT!

The post 3 Ways to Cultivate Quality Teaching and Learning appeared first on Always A Lesson.

1. Podcast: Always a Lesson Podcast

This podcast offers a collection of simple strategies to help teachers bring mindfulness into the classroom. Each episode is short and designed to be easily digestible. Perfect for relaxing moments when you need a quick burst of inspiration. Listen here

2. Article: “10 Creative Ways to Better Engage Your Students”

Explore a list of quick and easy tips to shake up your teaching routine and inject some energy into your classroom. These ideas are low-pressure and fun, making them perfect for summer reading when you’re looking for light inspiration. Read here

3. Video: “How to Create Healthy Boundaries as a Teacher”

In this video, a teacher burnout coach discusses how to set healthy boundaries between work and personal life. Watch during a quiet moment to learn simple but powerful ways to ensure you’re recharging, both during the summer and throughout the school year. She will discuss 4 boundary types and provides some boundary prompts to help you communicate your needs. Watch here

4. Podcast Guest: “Student Language with Michael Grande” 
Join us as we dive into the importance of understanding student language and how beneficial it can be in the classroom with Michael Grande. With his expertise in coaching, he has touched the lives of many educators across the world. He says, “I finally found someone who taught me how I wanted to be taught and found my learning language which is what interested me. If we could do that with our students, we’d have a whole new universe.” Listen here

5. Blog Post: How to Implement PD on Demand at your School Site 

“PD on Demand” has become a new, engaging way for teachers to learn at their own pace and on their own timetable. Professional Development [PD] usually occurs in-person as an onsite meeting among staff. Teaching best practices or new instructional initiatives are introduced and expectations for implementation are described. Read More Here

This Summer Learning Playlist is designed to give you meaningful, yet casual learning opportunities that don’t require deep dives or long commitments. Enjoy these bite-sized pieces of inspiration at your own pace, and feel free to return to them whenever you want to reflect, recharge, or simply unwind. Happy listening and reading!

If you want more ideas to get you thinking, be sure to visit the Always a Lesson website and social media pages for inspiration! Browse these printable and digital options for more resources to get you prepped for a new year!

GO BE GREAT!

The post Summer Learning Playlist for Educators appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Every child deserves a high-quality education, no matter which teacher they have. To fix this issue, school leaders are now setting aside time to focus on consistent, high-quality teaching. When all leaders do this, every student gets a fair chance to succeed.

This post explains what causes these differences and shares a simple plan school leaders can use to fix them.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Inconsistent Quality of Teaching & How to Overcome It appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Know Your Purpose

Define the goal of the survey. In order to get the information you are seeking, you have to be clear on what the survey is about. Every question should be aligned to that single purpose. If not, it belongs in a different survey. Examples of purpose could be to seek feedback on one particular thing ( curriculum implementation, coaching cycles, staff duties, etc.), or to gather intel so that you can make an informed decision (upcoming schoolwide event, staff requirements, climate check, etc.).

Ask the Right Questions

Use clear, focused, and actionable questions to get useful insights. If your questions are too open-ended, you’ll receive answers that are all over the place. Just like your survey needs one clear purpose, your questions need to be clear as well. Reread your questions to ensure they do not lead the survey taker to respond in a particular way because you want to collect unbiased information. For example, instead of saying “what are your thoughts on our new curriculum?,” you could say, “What are 2 ways the new curriculum has made lesson planning easier?” Asking the right questions, ensure the answers given can be used to make the type of decision you intended when creating the survey.

Keep It Short & Anonymous

Respect staff time and encourage honest responses. If you want quality of information, prioritize your questions and limit the length of the survey. Decide what your most important questions will be and reserve the others for a later date. Staff have limited time to read and respond to emails, let alone surveys, so keeping it short will encourage more staff to complete it. If you allow staff to answer anonymously if they wish, then you get more honest responses due to a lack of negative consequences for sharing their thoughts. This makes it hard to follow up with data outliers but looking for trends from the responses should be the goal here.

Follow Up on Findings

Communicate results and how feedback will be used to drive change. Remember not to ask for feedback unless you intend to do something with it. This encourages staff to take time to be thoughtful in their responses knowing you will be using the information to make adjustments. Following up reveals your dedication to finding favorable solutions to common problems as well as creating opportunities of interest for staff. Transparency in the use of the data collected builds a sense of community and holds everyone to a higher standard.

Make It a Two-Way Conversation

Offer opportunities for discussion or clarification after survey results are shared. Once the data is in, engaging in open dialogue ensure additional details are shared and more questions can be asked. This is now the appropriate time to ask questions you kept off of the survey that were related but would have made the survey too arduous. This continues to build on the safe space you created while allowing staff to feel their opinions are valued and heard. Offer to continue the conversation by other means (ie. email, appointment, future surveys) if staff desires.

Next Steps & Resources

Follow the tips provided in this blog post to create a staff survey. Continue to make improvements and adjustments with future surveys to ensure they provide the information you desire to make quality decisions that impact your staff.

If you are in need of survey resources, items for teachers and leaders are below:

• Surveys for teachers:
  • Free Parent Survey- Holiday Themed Instruction in the Classroom
  • Free Back to School Learner Survey
  • Free Rate My Teacher Student Survey
  • Teacher Report Card
• Surveys for leaders:
  • Sunshine Committee- Teacher’s Favorite Things
  • PD Session Feedback Survey
  • Instructional Coaching Coach Feedback Survey
  • Instructional Coaching Staff Survey

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Tips for Creating Effective Staff Surveys appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Although an entire week of celebration is appreciated (and well deserved), it occurs towards the end of the school year. This means the entire year teachers are not feeling appreciated when the job is the most challenging. To clarify, teachers do not need things to be purchased in their honor all throughout the year. But, there are things the school can do along the way to appreciate each and every teacher. The goal of ongoing, year-long appreciation is that it will empower, motivate and sustain teachers to push through the challenges they experience at various points during the school year.

This post will outline five simple ways schools can shower their teachers with thanks throughout the year instead of waiting until the official Teacher Appreciation Week in May.

Make Recognition a Habit

Create a simple system for celebrating teachers consistently. Having a teacher appreciation committee made up of administrators and non-teaching staff allows the idea brainstorming and execution to be shared. Administration may or may not have a budget so that needs to be decided ahead of time so the committee knows particular boundaries. Attacking appreciation methods monthly creates a consistent support strategy teachers will appreciate.

Personalized Appreciation Matters

Tailor recognition to individual preferences (public praise, handwritten notes, small gifts). Send a survey to teachers asking them their preferences so that when you do show appreciation it is in a way that they will best receive it. When appreciation is personalized, teachers view the gesture as genuine and therefore place more value on it. This is what teachers will remember and cherish most.

Empower Peer Recognition

Encourage staff to acknowledge and uplift one another. Teachers collaborate often with their peers and know even more specifics of what makes an educator great. Creating avenues for teachers to recognize their own kind with specificity, highlights the amazing work teachers do daily. For example, a shout out wall in the staff lounge is an easy way to encourage teachers to write a quick note and post it on the board for their peer. Teachers can keep those appreciation notes for years to come and reference them on the roughest of days.

Celebrate More Than Just Big Wins

Recognize effort, creativity, and perseverance throughout the year. Some years are tougher than others, so if we only focus on major milestones of achievement, some teachers may never feel appreciation. Therefore, we have to make celebration of baby steps just as important as the big ones. When teachers are putting forth excessive efforts regardless of results, they should be recognized. Making celebration a piece of the culture, staff will be excited to shout out progress over perfection.

Incorporate Appreciation into Staff Meetings

Start with shoutouts or gratitude moments to build a culture of recognition. When staff meetings aren’t just a place to get down to business, teachers will look forward to showing up to engage. Building in staff appreciation into the staff meeting agenda consistently, teachers will get refueled for the days to come. Creating a recognition habit ensures your culture celebrates more than just the big wins, as said before. This is another way to open the floor for peers to recognize each other, breeding a healthy culture of appreciation.

Next Steps

Consistency is the key, not the actual act. When we give thanks to teachers often, they are willing to continue to work hard knowing their efforts are appreciated and recognized publicly. This will also model to students how to celebrate progress over perfection, habits they will soon build in themselves.

If you need additional ideas for teacher appreciation, browse below:

• Teacher Appreciation- Notes from Students
• World Teacher Day- Celebration Slips
• Sunshine Committee Cart Request Form
• Sunshine Committee- Teacher’s Favorite Things Survey
• Valentine’s Day Cups of Appreciation
• Teacher Appreciation Cups of Gratitude 
• Teacher Appreciation Week Toolkit
• 30+ Teacher Appreciation Ideas

If you want more ideas on hosting teacher appreciation events, click here. For more ideas hosting committee’s that promote positive school culture, click here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post The Importance of Year-Round Teacher Appreciation appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Set Boundaries & Stick to Them

Prioritize non-negotiable personal time to recharge. It is better to have a consistent small amount of time to disconnect than try to wait for a large chunk of time that may never come. For example, you may protect Tuesday afternoons from 4:00- 4:30 pm to walk your dog and listen to music because you know Monday is chaotic and you’ll need a breather by the next day. You create a sacred time to unwind and you work around that consistent, small time. You prioritize you and have higher output at work due to the break. What would this look like for you?

Streamline & Simplify

Reduce unnecessary tasks by focusing on what truly impacts student learning. Take a daily or weekly audit to see where your time was spent. You’ll notice common tasks you can complete in one chunk of time instead of spacing out throughout the week. Likely, you’ll find a lot of tasks that don’t move the needle in helping you improve in your practice or push student learning forward. Think about how to reduce those tasks, advocate for alternate requirements from your boss, or eliminate them altogether. Creating a weekly cycle checklist where you complete necessary tasks in efficient, pre-determined bunches allows you to work efficiently. For example, every Monday you write lessons plans for the following week (or review them if you are a leader). When you do similar tasks together, your brain is able to produce more and in a quicker time frame because you’re not switching tasks requiring different parts of your brain to fire. 

Foster a Culture of Support  

Encourage staff to check in on each other and normalize asking for help. When the possibility of burn out occurring to staff is no longer kept a secret, it brings everyone together to avoid feelings of depression, anxiety and displeasure. Share strategies for how you yourself decrease feelings of burn out and encourage staff to share theirs as well. A sense of community will be built around a common obstacle everyone wants to avoid.

Celebrate Small Wins

Acknowledge progress and successes regularly to maintain motivation. When all you hear is bad news and experience negativity in your work environment, its hard to stay interested in your current task or role. Acknowledging forward progress keeps the focus on improvement rather than perfection. Students will mirror this behavior and begin to celebrate their own small wins, embracing a growth mindset in their own life. 

Practice Intentional Self-Care

Build routines that support physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Being able to pinpoint the origin of feelings leading to burn out allows you to create a system of support to battle it. For example, if Wednesdays are full of meetings causing you to get behind on your daily tasks, carve out thirty minutes after dinner to catch up knowing Thursday after school will be spent enjoying your favorite self-care activity (ie. grabbing coffee and walking around the local pond, grabbing dinner with a friend, visiting a nail or hair salon etc.). Knowing the triggers and scheduling relief helps you push through the stress that leads to burn out. 

Next Steps & Additional Resources

Creating a self- care plan that is realistic and revitalizing is key to avoiding burnout. There will be days and weeks that you are unable to implement one of the steps above, but getting back on track with implementing preventative measures will ensure you experience fulfillment in your career.

If you are looking for additional resources on this topic, browse below:

• Blog Post
  • Beat Student Burnout- 5 Strategies to Enhance Student Psyche 
• Podcast Episodes
  • Burnout with Rebekah Shoaf
  • 5 Ways to Combat Burnout
  • Supporting Teachers in Burnout
  • Burnout with Kitty Boitnott
• Printable Guide
  • Monthly Morale Boosters: Creative Staff Meeting Activities for Building a Connected School Culture

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher leader or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Burnout in Education: How To Avoid It appeared first on Always A Lesson.

However, there is a more effective way to design and deliver an ice breaker during a professional development session. This post will provide insight into 5 ways to upgrade the ice breaker activities you provide during professional development so that they are meaningful, practical and applicable to the learning session topic.

Use Icebreakers as a Warm-Up

Beginning the learning session with an engaging activity sets the tone and expectation that attendees should continue to engage at high levels throughout the learning experience. By weaving engagement strategies throughout PD, it keeps the momentum going. When attendees are connected to each other and willing to engage, they are more likely to comprehend and apply their new learning after the experience.

Go Beyond the Basics

Choose icebreakers that build connection and trust, not just surface-level fun. Being intentional about what you choose sets the tone for the upcoming learning session. When you pick an activity that allows the attendees to come together around a common goal (ie. gain skills in the learning session) and find commonalities among one another, a relationship begins to form. This will prove fruitful during the learning because a foundation has already been created where people feel connected allowing vulnerabilities to surface. Trust starts to form as bonding solidifies.

Make It Meaningful

Align activities with professional learning goals to set the tone for the session. Just because an ice breaker can be fun and relatable to build relationships doesn’t mean it can’t also be meaningful to the topic attendees will be learning during the session. It will take time to find or create the right activity to fit the topic, but in the end it helps the learning stick. Without knowing it, attendees are warming up their brains for the upcoming learning topic while focusing instead of building relationships with those around them. Keep it light, keep it fun. But, make it meaningful.

Encourage Collaboration

Use team-based challenges that foster discussion and problem-solving. When we work towards a collective goal, we can rely on the expertise of each other. This continues to build trust and relationship while strengthening knowledge and skills. Attendees need to be doing the majority of the problem solving work in order to process, sort and save learning for quick retrieval later on down the road. Collaboration allows attendees to find their own language to explain the new learning to a peer. This deepens comprehension of everyone in the collaborative discussion. Hearing peers share newly learned information with their own perspective and expertise sprinkled on top, allows peers to make additional connections to solidify learning.

Respect Time & Comfort Levels

Provide options for participation so all staff feel included. Not everyone is going to enjoy the same type of ice breaker activities. For example, gregarious personalities might enjoy talking to new peers they don’t know whereas more shy personalities prefer silent, solo options. You can survey teachers at the beginning of the year to find out their preferences and comfort levels for ice breaker activities. No matter what option you decide to use, be respectful of attendee’s time. We don’t want to take away from the learning, we just want to kick start it.

Do you need options for ways to engage staff during PD? Download monthly morale boosters or buzzword bingo for increased staff engagement during PD sessions.

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher leader or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Effective Ice Breaker Activities for Professional Development appeared first on Always A Lesson.

School safety has become top priority for schools as of late due to the many tragedies our country has endured recently. This has caused many school districts to review their safety procedures so that all students are protected while learning at school.

This post will cover 4 ways to strengthen school safety for all students. As you browse the post, think about which of the four ways could benefit your students and implement the changes at your school site immediately.

Emergency Response Plan

All schools should have a written emergency response plan. The following information should be included:

• types of emergencies (ie. natural disasters, active shooter, power outage, etc.)
• evacuation procedures with building map (ie. exit routes and meeting points)
• designated staff members to contact for various emergencies
• communication tree to notify staff, students and parents
• special needs care (ie. assisting students with mental or physical disabilities)

Once it is created, it is time to communicate the emergency response plan to staff. As this plan is implemented on site, make note of what changes need to be made. It’s important to update and revise immediately and as often as needed.

Threat Assessment

Now that the emergency response system is designed and communicated, it’s time to conduct a threat assessment. This means a team of appointed personnel (administrator, school counselor, law enforcement etc.) think through potential threats to student safety while walking the physical spaces of the school. You want to ensure the building is free of hazards, eliminating poor lighting, placing security in secluded locations, making sure locks on doors and windows are in working condition and evaluating student behavior on and off school grounds.

This team will also create clear criteria for potential threats, outlining steps to take once a threat is identified. This allows for a proactive and urgent response to suspicious behavior or activity. If a threat is reported, this same personnel team gathers together again to analyze the details of the event. They can interview witnesses and staff, and collaborate with all stakeholders to devise an appropriate intervention to ensure safety and health of everyone involved. Keeping detailed records are essential as well as following mandatory reporting protocols by law.

Training

Once all the protocols are put in place, all staff and students should be appropriately trained. The training is comprised of two phases: inform and practice. Informing staff on the emergency response plan ensures they know when to reach out for help and who specifically to contact. Sharing the results of the threat assessment as well as upgrades made on campus to further safety will alert staff to using the new additions (and reporting when the new additions need attention). Staff will then share only the pertinent details with students to encourage their participation in making the campus safe while also alerting them to how to reporting suspicious activity, bullying or personal safety threats.

Now that staff and students are on the same page, it is time to execute what they learned. Instead of waiting for an incident to occur, administrators with the help of the crisis management personnel can run practice drills like evacuations, lockdowns, active assailant response, and mental health and medical emergencies. This will help everyone feel comfortable with protocols so when a safety threat arises, everyone can respond quickly and calmly as planned.

Recovery Plan

After a crisis occurs on campus, a recovery plan should be set in motion. But before that can happen, it needs to be designed. In the past, natural disasters were the only thing on our radar to recover from and those were rare. Nowadays, sick outbreaks (ie. Covid-19) and school shootings occur much more regularly. Planning what to do after a crisis is just as important as having a plan for during the actual crisis. (ie. Employ criss management team to secure the site, provide medical attention and emotional support via health professionals. There may be a need to provide flexible learning options for as long as needed.)

One of the biggest stressors in schools is when an incident occurs, parents tend to find out on social media or via their child’s text. This causes chaos to erupt in the community. So notifying parents of what occurred as quickly as possible allows them to support you in implementing the appropriate recovery plan until students can be safely returned to their homes. Principals should share pertinent details like date, time, type of incident, current state of safety on site and recover plan next steps.

Next Steps

After reading these four options for increasing the safety of students at school, you should be thinking about which step is most necessary for you to implement at your site. Even if you have completed all four steps in the past, its essential to review these protocols often so they themselves are up-to-date and that everyone executing the plans remain informed and equipped to keep students safe.

As you can see from this post, devising a thorough plan with the assistance of the community, informing staff and students of safety protocols and providing ongoing support ensure students can remain focused on learning while at school. All schools should remain the safest place for children and this four part post will ensure that is reality of every child.

There are two resources that could be of benefit to consume in relation to school safety:

• You can listen in on a candid discussion that occurred around the Covid-19 outbreak that discusses how to create calm among the chaos, which continues to remain relevant due to the crisis that continue to occur in our schools. Tune in here.
• I spoke about the Crisis Response in Education on the Empowering Educators Podcast sharing what you can do to make it better. I discuss resources and tangible action steps to make your school more prepared in a crisis situation.

The post 4 Ways to Strengthen School Safety for all Students appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Because lesson design is an intricate process to master, providing ongoing learning opportunities will help strengthen the skill. Instead of leading a learning workshop on the topic multiple times throughout the year, it is best to offer varied learning opportunities to keep the learning fresh and interesting.

This post will outline multiple ways to provide professional development to teachers on lesson design.

Light Options

There are ways to introduce the concept of lesson design without causing overwhelm to teachers. The following options expose teachers to new ideas in easy to digest pieces:

• Newsletters– Have a dedicated space on your weekly newsletter brief that highlights instructional best practices with tips for how to successfully implement them in the classroom. You can do a series of related topics each month or quarter. You may choose to also hang these newsletters in high traffic areas for teachers to be reminded.
• Podcast Pre-Work– While teachers are commuting to work or cleaning their classroom, they can listen to specific episodes you have hand picked related to lesson design. Providing a quick homework assignment for teachers to turn in after listening, is a way to get the discussion started with this instructional focus.
• Blog Post Reading– Select 1-3 blog posts related to lesson design (like these here), and have teachers compare and contrast their reading. This again gets their wheels spinning about an important topic before coming together to discuss implementation strategies.
• Book Excerpts– Similar to blog post reading, select excerpts from a book (like chapter 2 of this book) related to lesson design to have teachers read. Providing comprehension or reflection questions help the new information begin to percolate in their minds.

Medium Options

Once teachers are primed with an overview of lesson design, they are ready to learn more at a deeper level followed by applying their learning.

• Mini Lesson– There are four main concepts, referred to as bricks, of lesson design. Providing a targeted PD session for each brick, followed by planning for implementation allows all the key points to be collected, reflected and applied.
• Coaching Menu– Design a menu of learning options for teachers in regards to lesson design. Items could be completed individually or as a group. Also, teachers can select as many of the opportunities as they’d like. Each task will have it’s own due date and instructions so be sure to be clear where to locate that information. This builds in choice to the learning experience, increasing the likelihood teachers engage at high levels.
• PD on Demand – Provide mini training to teachers where they can learn on their own and at their own pace. Simply provide the materials and check back a week or so later to discuss implementation and share feedback. A range of topics can be provided to strengthen that specific portion of the lesson design process. Browse options here.

Heavy Options

As teachers begin applying lesson design practices more consistently, its time to fine tune them in a personalized way.

• Book Club– Building in some ownership into the learning experience, allow teachers to read a common text (like this one) and meet regularly to discuss their findings, connections, and plans for execution. It is highly suggested to provide an outline for meetings and/or chapter-by-chapter questions to aid in high level discussion.
• Coaching Cycle– Working 1:1 with teachers allows them to have the most personalized, thorough support. Conducting a coaching cycle that includes a pre-observation, observation, and post-observation debrief will ensure teachers maximize the benefits of lesson design. Teachers can engage in multiple coaching cycles until they reach the highest level of effectiveness.

Key Points to Discuss

Regardless of whether you decide to implement light or heavy PD options for staff, it is important to cover the essential key points of lesson design. For example:

• Standard and content alignment
• Backwards design
• Check for understanding
• Differentiation
• Gradual release
• High value + high meaning
• Pacing
• Technology

To gain more in depth details about strengthening lesson design processes, read my latest book “Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.”

GO BE GREAT!

The post Lesson Design Professional Development Options appeared first on Always A Lesson.

In education, adults have to continue learning through professional development [PD] to keep their licenses active. These learning experiences are usually given by experts in the field, leaders in the building or even colleagues who are teaching themselves. Either way, adults are teaching adults.

This post shares tips for making adult-to-adult learning successful.

Adult Learning Theory

When presenting material during PD, learning styles should still be considered to ensure information is retained. However, the nuances of teaching adults requires alternative planning methods than those used to design lessons for kids. Adult learning theory, commonly known as andragogy, is a 5 point framework that outlines how to plan learning experiences for adults. Be sure to explore adult learning theory prior to planning a PD session for adult learners.

Before the PD Session

After exploring adult learning theory, make note of what aspects you plan to include in your PD session. Draft a quick email to the attending teachers explaining the upcoming learning opportunity. In this email be sure to acknowledge their background and expertise, outlining how it will be used during the session to help peers grow their skills as well. When learners feel they bring something to the table to contribute, they show up to the learning session motivated to engage.

Before closing the email, explain the relevancy of the PD session. Adults need to see the value and need for the topic before they can be open to learning it. By sharing this information up front, adults walk into the session on the same page and ready to go.

During the PD Session

Adults do best when they can pour over a problem and collaborate on the solution. They do not enjoy being talked out the whole session. Although there will be a portion of new information shared, the presenter should use professional talk over their teacher persona to avoid the attendees feeling like they are being talked down to. After the new content is shared, do these three things:

• Make space for exploration – Sometimes we learn best by getting busy with what we are learning. Having an activity where adults can explore together brings the content alive and they naturally begin to imagine implementing it in their various roles.
• Allow for input – Open up for the floor to see what thoughts learners are beginning to have about what they just learned. This is a great time for problem solvers to bring solutions to the table. It also provides insight into how well learners understood the new material.
• Build in robust time for discussion – Some might have background to what was shared and can share personal experiences to help their colleagues imagine what the new learning will look like in their saturation. Others might want to share out about what they discovered during the exploration section of the PD session. Either way, allowing colleagues to compare their findings and share ideas is the most important part of the learning experience. Do not short cut this phase.

After the PD session

To ensure learners implement their new learning, a follow-up is required. This could be a quick survey teachers have to fill out that asks questions like:

• What was your biggest takeaway from your recent PD session?
• How did you plan to implement your new learning?
• What results did you notice after implementation?
• What additional support do you need to continue implementing your learning successfully?
• What topics of interest can you share for future learning sessions?

The results of the survey will help the PD session presenter know how to continue the follow-up process. Some teachers might need a quick 1:1 planning session where others might request an observation and feedback. Either way, personalized support ensures the new learning sticks!

Next Steps

Consider how adults learn differently and then plan an amazing learning experience for them. They will appreciate the time you took to understand what they need and want (and you’ll appreciate that the learning experience is full of high engagement!).

If you are in need of various PD options for teachers, browse the options below:

• Learning Walks – a peer observation tool
• Mentor Kit – create a mentorship system at your school
• PD on Demand– mini PD options teachers can learn on the go
• PD Choice Board – provide learning options for teachers based on their interests
• Buzzword Bingo – have fun during PD by highlighting key concepts through Bingo
• PD Huddle – a quick colleague PD huddle up to kick off the day

If you are looking for specific PD content to share with teachers, browse the options below:

• How to Successful Manage a Classroom
• Asking Higher Order Thinking Questions
• Increasing Student Ownership

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post The Art of Teaching Adults (not Kids) appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline strategies for creating a consistent and effective collaborative planning system. The four P’s will help all schools develop and maintain collaborative planning meetings with teachers.

Purpose

Setting the intention for collaborating planning provides clarity for everyone involved. Pondering the purpose as a leadership team allows for multiple perspectives to be shared. This ensures the purpose is intentional and clear which makes way for impactful results.

Questions to consider are:

• Why do we want teachers to plan together?
• What is the outcome we desire?
• How can teachers effectively plan on a consistent basis?

Promise

Including teachers in the development of collaborative planning increases the chances they engage fully in the process. When fully invested, teachers will experience the power of collaboration in enhancing their ideas for instruction. Asking teachers to make a pledge, or promise, for how they will engage ensures commitment to the goal and adhesion to the plan. Teachers can develop the promise together and then all sign it.

Examples of characteristics teachers should display during collaborative planning are:

• being honest and vulnerable
• including all voices
• showing up prepared and on time.

Protocol

Writing down the plan teachers must follow for collaborative planning keeps clarity front-and-center. It helps teachers develop the intended habits and holds them accountable for engaging at high levels during every planning meeting.

Aspects that should be included in the protocol are:

• Team announcements
• Daily goal
• Reference pacing guide, curriculum, standards, and backwards planning documents
• Hash out content, questioning, differentiation, instructional strategies
• Develop informal assessments
• Reflect on previous lessons to implement changes for subsequent lessons

Productivity check

Although many planning meetings tend to divide up duties to save time, they do not create effective instruction in every classroom. That’s because each teacher is only planning a portion of a lesson without discussing the lesson in detail together with peers. Inadequate planning creates inadequate instructional delivery. As a result, students are unable to master lesson objectives and skills. We must revise our collaborative planning structures so that they remain productive (ie. save time and produce outcomes) without sacrificing content understanding. Taking time every month to conduct a productivity check will keep planning meetings on track.

Questions to ask ourselves:

• Are we following the protocol as intended?
• Are we able to thoroughly plan during our meetings?
• Is everyone pulling their weight?
• Is everyone clearly understanding lesson material prior to teaching?
• Are discussions leading to idea development that is rigorous and aligned?

Additional Resources

If you are in need of additional materials to help you revise your collaborative planning process, consider these resources listed below:

• Professional Learning Community [PLC] printables 
• Lesson Planning printables

If you are looking for other blog posts and podcast episodes about planning, scan these options. Additional planning resources can also be found here. If you’d like to continue to reinvent your instructional effectiveness, read my latest book “Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.”

GO BE GREAT!

The post The 4 P’s of Effective Collaborative Planning appeared first on Always A Lesson.

It turns out that micro learning is a win-win solution for teachers and leaders. Teachers prefer a shorter PD session so they can complete the other requirements of the job. And, because learning is in smaller increments teachers are able to recall and successfully implement their new learning. There is no content overwhelm and decision fatigue. Bite-sized learning is easy to consume and execute.

This blog post will outline planning right size PD (resources included) as well as shares the benefits of providing micro learning opportunities for teachers.

Plan Right Size PD

Leaders designing PD for teachers should begin by mapping out the learning journey for the year. It’s essential to know the end goal before planning an individual session. The implementation process is then more of a progression over time, allowing application to grow in accuracy. Similar to utilizing long range planning to reach one cohesive goal, aligning right size PD options to an end goal ensures all efforts produce desired results. This creates momentum, excitement and confidence.

If a topic is extensive to cover, developing multiple bite-sized sessions can be more successful than a single, long, in-depth session. This might mean there is a single area of focus for the entire year. At each session, recapping the previous learning and setting up the future learning bridges the gap of understanding. Teachers understand the pathway of where they have been and where they are going.

When teachers are not engaging in right size PD, they are implementing micro actions that improve student learning incomes. This makes it easier to track and easier to implement. Each subsequent learning session, adds another layer of micro actions to execute, growing the capacity of the teacher and student slowly over time. This is sustainable professional learning.

Benefit of Right Size PD

Teachers embrace right size PD because its a manageable requirement in terms of time commitment and evidence production. The amount of information coming in is not overwhelming, the time it takes to learn it is appropriate, and the next steps to implement learning are realistic. Teachers buy in to the micro learning process as it doesn’t feel like an additional initiative to what they are already doing, rather it is the only initiative. Because this learning process is active with learning and implementing in ongoing cycles, teachers feel success quickly which motivates them to continue showing up to the right size PD opportunities and implementing their learning. Administrators who allow teachers to share input for focus topics, increase teacher investment and commitment to the process long-term. Overall, right size PD is more effective in improving teacher capacity and student achievement than traditional PD methods.

Resources for Right Size PD

The following resources will help you not only gain strategies for planning high quality, micro PD options, but also provides content to provide to teachers during the learning experience.

• Leading PD Bundle 
• Increase Student Ownership
• How to Successfully Manage a Classroom 
• PD on Demand (full list of updated options):
  • Routines & Procedures 
  • Increasing Student Talk
  • Student Engagement
  • Supporting English Language Learners
  • High Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities

You are now equipped to ditch learning overwhelm by providing right size PD for teachers! Check out other blog posts on professional development here. My latest book can also be a helpful resource for you in the future!

GO BE GREAT!

The post Ditch Learning Overwhelm with Right Size PD appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will cover building and executing quality professional development while also providing additional tips for success.

Building Quality PD

Building professional development sessions cannot be a haphazard process. It requires forethought and alignment.

• Review district and school goals. Select the goal that if met will make the biggest impact on the success of staff and students.
• Break up that goal into milestones throughout the year (ideally by quarter).
• Place topics related to the goal under each milestone. These will be objectives to cover during the PD session.
• Flush out each milestone topic list so that it fills the required PD time slot. If there is more content than time, select which items can be provided ahead of the meeting. This will be used as a flipped learning model where teachers read about the topic before arriving.
• Offer differentiated tracks so that teachers who are ready to more can dive deeper into the topic and those who need additional support can slow down and review content.
• Include discussion and practice time. Talking about the content helps teachers process their new learning. By implementing practice rounds, teachers get real-time feedback and build muscle memory for the new skills they are acquiring.

Executing Powerful PD

Now that you have planned and prepared a high quality learning experience for teachers, it’s time to deliver it.

• Prep yourself and the space. Review and familiarize yourself with the content and flow of the PD session. There is nothing worse than the presenter stopping the show to review notes or get confused in their language when explaining the content. Run through the talking points and double check all technology is working correctly. Arrive early to ensure all materials are set up and ready for teachers to arrive.
• Manage your time. Since you know your PD session in and out because of the intentionally planning and preparation, you can easily cut out portions if running out of time or add in additional activities if teachers are moving thorough the session quickly. By placing time stamps in your PD during the preparation phase, you’ll be able to keep on track. Highlighting locations where you can add and take away if needed ensure you can adjust quickly in the moment without getting thrown off track. Lastly, always leave buffer time to allow for questions or pause for processing time.
• Be responsive to the needs of staff during the PD session ensures the new information sticks. When you know your content well, your brain is more present when delivering it live in front of staff. You have more mental space to watch for signs that teachers need more or less and can provide that. Just like students need a variety of support while they are learning, adults do too.

Avoiding Common PD Challenges

The following challenges are common for PD presenters. Pay close attention to the strategies shared to overcome these challenges.

• Don’t shy away from challenging/difficult topics that arise. Even the most thorough of presenters, will encounter moments that are uncomfortable that they didn’t see coming. For example,  staff might push back on the effectiveness of the content or reality of the expectations. They might even  share their dislike for the presenter themselves. Have a pre-planned response ready if you have to use it and then get back to the delivery of the learning experience. (Ex. “I appreciate you sharing that with me. I’ll be sure to pass it along to your administrator and they will follow up with you. Let’s dive back into the learning.”)
• Low engagement can occur even with clear directives for participation. Providing sentence stems will allow shy or unsure participants to add value to the discussion. Use follow up prompts to extend participant thoughts when responding. When planning for engagement, create opportunities for multiple responses per question to be shared, allow participants to respond in a variety of ways (verbal, written, through technology, etc.). It’s essential not to allow low level engagement to be the standard, keep holding high expectations and be persistent that participants meet the requirement.
• Leave the “sage on stage” at home. Yes, you are knowledgeable and most likely an expert on the topic you are delivering. However, learning is about the other person, not you. Although you will speak at length when delivering the content, participants needs to discuss and work with the content just as much if not more than you are talking. Every minute you spend talking is one less minute they have to collaborate and implement learning. Be succinct and purposeful and then pass the speaking baton to the learners.
• Follow-up and follow through. A PD session continues long after the actual meeting concludes. Following up with teachers as they implement their new learning, allows them to receive feedback and continue their growth as an educator. Following through on your promises made during the session builds trust and closes the loop, bringing clarity and support to the learning process. For example, if you promised to share resources, answer questions, plan a lesson etc. then be sure to meet with those teachers and deliver on your promise.

PD Resources

The following items will enhance the development of powerful PD at your school site.

• Printable Resources
  • Leading PD Bundle
  • Teacher Leader PD Bundle
  • Instructional Best Practices PD Bundle
  • Literacy Instruction PD Bundle
  • Instructional Coaching Forms Bundle
• Video Resources
  • Teachers Who Lead Course Bundle

Wishing you success as you plan, prepare, and deliver high quality professional development sessions for teachers! If you are looking for resources for PD content, click here. Also, catch up on other posts and podcast episodes about PD here. My latest book can also be a helpful resource for you in the future!

GO BE GREAT!

The post Increasing the Power of PD at your School appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Why do we need micro PD options for teachers?

One thing that seems to be harder and harder to fit in to the schedule is teacher PD. There is so much to get done in classrooms and around the school building, that coming together to learn after school hours is difficult. The sit-and-get PD model isn’t translating to instructional proficiency. Teachers need opportunities to dig into the learning rather than passively sitting and listening. Oftentimes there is no time left for reflection and planning for execution after the teacher PD content is delivered. This is a missed opportunity to increase the likelihood that teachers are able to successfully apply what they just learned.

Intention to grow is there. Time to grow isn’t.

One way we have helped schools pivot their PD delivery is to offer smaller doses more often. Learning in micro form consistently over time allows time for reflection and planning for execution. And, as a result, the impact of PD is sticking. Teachers are growing and students are thriving.

What is PD on Demand?

PD on Demand is small, bite-sized learning opportunities based on a singular topic. Teachers and leaders can select the one offering that best fits with their current focus for improvement. Then, teachers consume the content on their own time. The content could include short video clips, articles to read, activities to try, etc. Over the course of a few weeks, teachers are slowly learning, implementing and noting their progress.

There is a deadline for proof of application for accountability purposes. Items to collect to showcase impact of learning could be pre-planning documents paired with reflection of execution, data samples, coaching cycle participation, student artifacts etc. The goal is not to just consume information, but to use new information to positively impact instruction.

PD on Demand Learning Opportunities

Once teachers start engaging in ongoing, bite-sized PD, they won’t want to go back to lengthy learning ever again! Allow them to grow their skills in a convenient yet productive way. This is how you will be able to transform learning in your building for teachers.

Below are current PD on Demand learning opportunities teachers can dig into:

• Routines & Procedures
• Increasing Student Talk
• Student Engagement
• High Leverage Practice for Students with Disabilities
• Supporting English Language Learners
• Generating Active Responses
• Exemplars for Student Work

Additional Reading

If you found this helpful and are looking for similar topics to consider, two suggestions are shared below:

• One way to warm up to micro PD options is to conduct a PD Huddle at your school site. Give this a try first before diving into more thorough options like PD on Demand.
• Read “Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success” to gain strategies for improving areas of instruction, such as lesson design, classroom management, student engagement and student ownership.

GO BE GREAT!

The post PD on Demand: Micro Learning Options for Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

What is Buzzword Bingo?

It is a staff engagement resource intended to be used during professional development sessions, faculty meetings, PLC meetings and more.  Use this morale boosting tool to your advantage to engage your staff, solidify new learning and keep their attention when you are speaking.

Staff enter the learning experience and receive a bingo card. Important terms related to the learning topic are placed on Buzzword Bingo cards. The cards are then used throughout the learning experience to solidify the main idea while also having a little fun!

Educators are listening and learning, tracking the buzz words and gathering new information in relation to those buzzword. The goal is this repetitive (and competitive) exercise will help educators implement their new learning when they return to their classrooms (or related roles). The best aspect of this process is that it can be re-used as often as necessary by simply swapping out the buzz words with each new PD topic presented.

Implementing Buzzword Bingo

Below are steps to follow when implementing Buzzword Bingo:

• When attendees arrive, they are given the card as well as directives for how to use it
• Conduct the learning experience as normal
• As learners hear those buzzwords throughout the PD session, they will mark their card
• When an entire row is full (across, down or diagonal), that staff member can receive a prize (ie. jeans pass, early dismissal, duty free lunch, dollar store items, etc.)
• Multiple winners can occur to keep engagement high throughout the entire learning experience

Buzzword Bingo Options

Below are various options for how to use the bingo card templates:

• Print off the ready-to-use cards and design a PD around those buzz words
• Use the editable cards to make your own specific buzzword cards and print off for staff to use
• Print a blank slate card and have teachers think of their own buzzwords that may be used throughout the session for BINGO
• Coaches could also pass out these cards in secret and have the staff play and use silent signals for BINGO during their meetings for a fun admin surprise!

Grab your Buzzword Bingo cards here and watch your PD sessions come alive with engagement!

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Infuse Joy into PD with Buzzword Bingo appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Rate

Get honest and realistic about the effectiveness of your current classroom management strategy. Rate your strategy on a scale of 0 -10 (0 is ineffective and 10 is highly effective). Use the following rating system below to evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy:

• 0-2 = misbehaviors and misunderstandings occur consistently throughout a lesson which limits student time-on-task and diminishes length and depth of learning opportunities
• 3-5 = misbehaviors and misunderstandings occur often during a lesson limiting student time-on-task
• 6-8 = misbehaviors and misunderstandings sometimes occur but the teacher is able to get the class back on track for learning
• 9-10 = misbehaviors and misunderstandings are prevented through intentional planning & the teacher manages the class through relationships, routines and roping students in with engaging content

Reflect

Now that you have your rating, reflect on the root cause for the classroom management strategy not being as effective as it could be.

• Walk through the lesson (or the day), making note of every instance that got the class off track.
• Look for trends, like a certain time of day or subject matter that encouraged students to be off task.
• Are there more misunderstandings or misbehaviors occurring?

Prioritize

Your reflection provided a list of potential hot spots in the classroom management strategy that need to be  reinvented. Prioritizing which area to hone in on first is based on which one if repaired will bring about the most positive change.

• Review the list of moments from your reflection where classroom management went awry
• Write numbers next to the biggest offending instances, labeling them beginning with the number 1
• Highlight your top 3 areas needing revision

Plan

Using the three areas you prioritized, develop a plan of attack. Be sure it includes a detailed description for before, during and after a lesson so that the plan is thorough in prevention.

• What procedures need to be in place?
• How will students practice and be held accountable for the new expectations?
• How will your lesson design process change to ensure your classroom management strategy is the most effective it can be?

Feedback

Allow time for the new classroom management strategy to take affect. There may be push back from students who do not want to comply with the new expectations. Or it might take time for students to build the new habit.

• Make note of positive changes you see no matter how small.
• Periodically, ask for student feedback on how they feel as a learner as it relates to the management of the class. This could be an informal question and answer activity or through an anonymous survey.
• If you have an instructional coach or teacher leader, have them observe the change in how you manage the class. Apply any feedback they provide to continue to improve.

Additional Reading:

If you are wanting more information on effective classroom management, browse the previous blog posts listed below:

• 3 Ways to Improve your Classroom Management Practices
• Crack the Classroom Management Code
• Classroom Management: Moving Beyond Compliance
• How to Plan and Prepare a Classroom Management System

By following the suggestions shared in this blog post, you will be able to reinvent your classroom management strategy so that its best for students.

If you’d like to continue to reinvent your instructional effectiveness, read my latest book “Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.” You’ll be provided a roadmap, called “The Teacher Success Pathway,” so that you can improve in lesson design, classroom management, student engagement and student ownership.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Ways to Reinvent your Classroom Management Strategy appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The California Department of Education says: “Family and community engagement greatly increases the likelihood that students will learn and thrive. Students are more prepared for school, more likely to achieve, and more likely to graduate when they are supported by schools, families, and communities working together in a coordinated manner.”

There are various ways in which schools can incorporate the community into their mission and daily operation. This post will uncover 5 ways and share the benefit of each.

Career Readiness

There are so many jobs in and around the community. Having community members come into the classroom to share information with students about their career builds a strong real world connection. Students are exposed to a variety of work options for their future while also building relationships with key figures in the community. A school-wide career fair or individual class guest presentations will build career readiness in students.

Financial

Schools are always looking for funding sources to purchase curriculum, instructional resource supplements, technology and more. They even use funding to hire additional staff members or bring in guest speakers for in-house field trips or professional development opportunities for teachers. By donating funds, schools are able to enhance their instructional and environmental offerings to students. In turn, these gifts tend to impact current and future students for the long term.

Item Donations

If a financial donation is not an option for community members, donating items for classrooms and office staff are highly recommended. Having a list of common items to share with community members at the ready, ensure partnerships are built in ways that matter. Also, physical donations are helpful because schools can save the financial offerings to purchase bigger ticket items. Common requested donations are office supplies, pencils, erasers, white out, stickers, folders, lined paper, printer paper, rulers, pens, notebooks, stapler, staples, tape, scissors, crayons, markers, glue, construction paper, and reward items for students.

Mentorship

Student mentorship options allow children to build relationships with stable, inspirational adults. Mentors can emotionally support students while also assisting them academically. The goal of these partnerships is to increase academic success, confidence, and emotional stability. As a result, students feel a sense of belonging at the school, gain life skills, improve test scores, and increase attendance rates. By involving the community in a student mentorship program, allows volunteers to use their skills and talents to make a positive impact on the lives of students living in their own hometown.

Parental Collaboration

Inviting parents into the school on a continuous basis builds relationships with the most important stakeholder in the education of the child. Offering learning sessions in regards to teaching methods, specific curriculum and how to support at home create a true partnership. When important decisions are to be made at the school level regarding students, inviting parents into the conversation and allowing their vote ensures their support throughout the year. Utilizing feedback surveys, positive phone calls home, and school-wide event participation allow parent opinions and skillsets to enhance the learning experience for their child(ren) at the school.

Next Steps

1. Continue reading about leveraging community partnership for school success by reading this past blog post entitled “How to Lead Community Partnerships.”
2. Listen to this past bonus podcast episode entitled “The Power of Community.” Hear tips from coaches in the trenches for what aspects meant the most to them in finding an empowering community.
3. Build a strong sense of peer-peer community among teacher teams via professional learning communities by downloading these printable guides.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves too! Classroom resources are also available here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT! 

How do you incorporate the community into your school?

The post Leveraging Community Partnership for School Success appeared first on Always A Lesson.

How I Used Wall Art in the Classroom

As an elementary teacher in grades 2, 3 and 5, I always utilized posters to convey positive messages to students in my classroom. Whether it was a quote or an image, I wanted my students to get inspired while they were in my classroom- even if I wasn’t directly teaching. Some students day dream while others think by looking around the room. It is the perfect time to remind them of important truths- not just content related tips.

When I called students to go to centers to complete work in small groups, I named the groupings based on the poster they were working near. For example, I’d refer to groups as  “Dream Big” or “Keep trying even when its hard.” Students knew exactly where to go in the classroom and began working. By calling out this wall art, the messages started to sink in to students’ brains. They internalized the message and even began using the language with their classmates.

Tips for Using Wall Art in the Classroom

1. Decide what images or phrases align with your goals and vision for a classroom
2. Design custom adhesive wall art  (and use this coupon code to SAVE)
3. Designate a spot for the wall art in your classroom
4. Easily apply, adjust or remove the wall art as needed
5. Call attention to it during lessons and make it a part of the classroom culture
6. Praise students as they live out the wording or image on your word art

One way to personalize wall art is to have current students create a collaborative design so it represents their interests and personalities. You can add to your collection every year displaying each year’s creation around the classroom or retire the previous class design and make a new design with the incoming class. The possibilities are endless!

Key Take-Away

Adhesive wall art is a unique, personalized way to impact students in the classroom. It can inspire, uplift and encourage learners. It is an underrated strategy teachers use to help their students persevere and grow in both knowledge and skill.

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Inspire Students through Adhesive Wall Art appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will share a productivity method to make your large workload more manageable. Learning how to manage it effectively is key to keeping your sanity while also producing quality work.

The Technique

Best-selling author, Oliver Burkeman developed a 3-3-3 model to prioritize tasks and manage his time better. He says you can actually do less every day in efforts to accomplish more in the long run. Workloads become larger because of unexpected tasks that arise as well as delays in deliverables from collaborative projects. Both of which you have little control over. However, if you learn how to manage what is coming in, you can continue to operate at high levels.

In a single day, the 3-3-3 method looks like this:

• 3 hours on important tasks
• 3 urgent tasks
• 3 daily maintenance activities

Applying the Technique

Utilizing time management techniques while also setting realistic expectations ensures you are productive in the areas that matter most. If there are tasks that can be streamlined, then make them more efficient. Or if there are tasks on your workload that are not aligned, they can be delegated to someone else.

If you are a teacher, your 3-3-3 method could look like:

• 3 hours grading students work, analyzing data, or lesson planning
• urgent tasks like replying to reviewing a student’s IEP goals or lesson plan copies for tomorrow’s lesson
• maintenance activities like taking attendance, preparing the front board with objectives and homework or responding to parent emails

If you are a teacher leader, your 3-3-3 method could look like:

• 3 hours developing PD aligned to school goals
• urgent tasks like delivering textbooks to teachers with new students or getting teachers logged in to online portals to review data
• maintenance activities like drafting staff newsletters and responding to teacher emails

Next Steps

The following next steps will help you get organized so that you can begin using the 3-3-3 method. It will get easier with time. Just know, you rarely will get through an entire to-do list. However, you will have made headway on what matters most.

• Make a list of all the tasks you need to complete
• Place them in 3 columns- important, urgent, and daily maintenance
• Use a timer to keep you on task for completing 3 hours in the important column
• Once you’ve completed all 3 columns, begin the cycle all over again until your workday is over

Working on prioritizing your large workload and being intentional with your time will decrease overwhelm and increase productivity. To read more about about the 3-3-3 method, click here. I also offer one-on-one coaching if you want to work on bettering your practice.

If you need more resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here. Be sure to also check out my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you plan to utilize the 3-3-3 method?

The post Strategies for Managing a Large Workload appeared first on Always A Lesson.

In reading the book Impactful Instructional Leadership, a Framework for Success, author Jack Hunter explained six evidence-based practices that are supported by both Hattie and Marzano. Each has large effect sizes signifying their transformative impact in the classroom. (Note– the zone of desired affects begin at an effect size of .40, which equates to one year’s growth during one year’s time. Anything over .40 means more than one year’s growth in one year’s time.)

This blog post will outline each of the six evidence-based practices, noting the effect size next to the strategy name. This will help you prioritize what to try first based on the needs of the school. It is not recommended to try more than one at a time or even more than one in a single year. These strategies take time to teach and implement to experience full results.

Collective Efficacy – 1.57

Collective efficacy means the effectiveness of a group as a whole. This occurs during professional learning communities [PLC’s] where teachers collaborate. These meetings should not focus on “how to teach,” rather the “impact of teaching” through data review and reflection. Having a criteria for success ensures planning for instruction is purposeful and clear. It also makes the data analysis process easier because teachers can reference the success criteria when evaluating student work samples. The talents, ideas, and experience of each teacher enhance the effectiveness of the group, thus positively impacting many classrooms of students.

Read past posts on PLC’s here:

• 5 Ways to Enhance your PLC’s
• Leading a PLC Data Chat
• Making a PLC Productive & Effective

Mastery-Based Learning- 1.79

This method focuses on tracking learning for power standards using a pre and post assessment system. Essentially students can work at their own pace to develop strengths, build confidence, while also receiving remediation and acceleration where appropriate. The goal is to master the standard through repetitive practice and measure growth using similar pre and post tests. Students demonstrate their proficiency before moving on to more complex topics or skills.

Microteaching- .88

Teachers can strengthen their instructional delivery through microteaching. They teach a small group of students for about twenty minutes. By video recording the lesson segment, the teacher is able to rewatch and reflect on the effectiveness of the lesson. They may even elicit feedback from students on the specific skill/process. An instructional coach or peer can also observe and provide one strength and area of focus as feedback for the teacher. At this point, the teacher may decide to reteach the lesson to another small group of students implementing the feedback recently received. When deciding what portion of a lesson to practice and receive feedback on, it is often recommended to focus on the beginning and end of a lesson for the microteaching practice.

Jigsaw – 1.20

Jigsaw allows students to become experts on a portion of a topic and teach it to their peers. It creates deep discussions through transfer of content knowledge. Teachers break students into groups of 5 to 6. They also break the content into sections and assign each student in the group to a particular section. Students leave this group to join a new group that consists of students from other groups who were also assigned the same section to read. Students read and reread together for 5 to 7 minutes. After a quick discussion and debrief on the main points of what they read, students go back to their original group and share out what they learned. Their peers are listening and taking notes. During this time, the teacher is circulating, gathering informal data on student understanding and collaboration. Jigsaw promotes critical thinking and social skills while allowing students of varying ability levels to work together.

Reciprocal Teaching- .74

This is another cooperative learning strategy. It is used specifically to enhance reading comprehension skills but can be used in all subject areas. The teacher provides a grade level passage that is no longer than 2 pages. Students are placed in groups of 5 and each member of the group has a chance to lead the learning. Students preview the passage (ie. title, pictures, captions, headings, etc.), read and reread an assigned section, and stop/jot essential information on a note catcher. Four main skills are practiced: making predictions, asking and answering question, clarifying the text (ie. context clues and decoding), as well as summarizing the passage (ie. main idea, compare/contrast, themes, claims with text evidence).  The teacher can use an informal check list while circulating to determine how well students are comprehending the text using their various strategies learned.

Spiral Review – .82

Spiral review recycles previously learned content into new learning opportunities. This ensures students retain what has been learned in the past while continuing to learn new concepts in the present. Spiral review can also be referred to as spaced practice instead of mass practice. This means that recalling information is spaced out over a period of time instead of learning a specific topic in extravagant amounts during one specific duration, only to never discuss it again. This ongoing reassessment increases transfer of knowledge. The typical flow of spiral review is:

• initial teaching of content
• weekly review during homework or morning work
• test 2 weeks later
• test a month later

The six evidence-based practices will increase teaching ability while also improving student learning outcomes. Learn more about Impactful Instructional Leadership, a Framework for Success written by Jack Hunter.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 6 Evidence-Based Practices to Implement this School Year appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will outline 5 benefits of increasing student choice and ownership in the classroom.

Realistic Goal Setting

As students become more in charge of how they learn, they become more in tune with their learning style and pace. When students plan out their workload or project runway, they are able to be more realistic with their timeline. Setting goals is fun but can be discouraging if you cannot paint an accurate picture of what it takes to reach it. The more students pay attention to how they think, learn, and produce, they will begin to goal set with more accuracy. This results in more goals attained, thus increasing student confidence and motivation to continue with the next goal.

Responsible Decision Making

Similar to goal setting, the more students get involved in making decisions in regards to what happens in the classroom, the more realistic and responsible they become. When students are invited into behind-the-scenes conversations about how to run the classroom more effectively, they start to pay attention to the details. They begin to form an opinion and feel rewarded when their opinion is taken into account. This increases their investment into the operations of the classroom. Attendance and motivation to learn increases while misbehaviors and misunderstandings decrease.

Enthusiastic Attitude

Autonomy is a huge motivator for people. Choice and ownership create autonomy. It allows students to experience freedom. When they feel a part of something greater than themselves, but that they have a say in their environment, their mood begins to shift. They feel important, valued and seen. They enjoy the room to operate in an adult-like manner. Choice and ownership bring enthusiastic attitudes, making the whole environment more joyful.

High Personal Accountability

When students are more in control of their learning, they begin to hold themselves accountable in a new way. They put worth greater effort, pay attention to their overall progress, and even report to peers on their achievements. Students track their academic growth and own up to misunderstandings and misbehaviors they have caused in the classroom. They take a high personal accountability for their performance due to the shift in more ownership. This builds their responsibility quickly.

Increased Pride in Work

Students start to see the value of hard work. They care more about their handwriting, work output, pacing to complete assignments, and effort to go above and beyond the initial requirements. Because they have been allowed to have more choice and ownership in their learning journey, they become more invested in how they show up as a learner. Their work habits morph into more responsible ones. Their grades improve as well as their confidence and pride in their work.

Next Steps

Teachers, begin to slowly build in choice and ownership into your classroom. Overtime, you’ll see these five benefits manifest before your eyes!

If you’d like more information on strategies to increase student choice and ownership in the classroom, read my latest book Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

More classroom resources are also available here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 5 Benefits for Increasing Student Choice and Ownership appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will cover 4 aspects of student engagement to consider when designing your lessons.

Motivation

Students are not going to be interested in engaging in learning activities in the classroom if the teacher has not taken time to explain how the content relates to their life. When students are motivated to learn, they will not only comply and complete the activity, but they will be willingly engage at a high level. In order to motivate students, teachers must know their students’ interests, hobbies, personalities, etc. This allows the teacher to present the information in an interesting way where students see the benefit for learning the material. Tapping into motivation first, allows students to warm up to the idea of learning and then fully engage during the lesson.

Systems

Engagement can go awry when systems are not in place before the activity begins. Teachers need to plan intentionally, paying close attention to pacing, volume level, movement and expectations for what students are to produce. Once the plan is in place, the teacher must include those details when explaining how students will be engaging with the learning material. Once students engage, the teacher must hold students accountable for meeting the expectations. This ensures the lesson progresses as planned and misbehaviors do not get out of hand. Clear, well planned systems create time time for learning.

Alignment

It can be challenging to pass up on really fun activities shared on social media. The reality is that many activities may be highly engaging but don’t actually align well to the content. This doesn’t mean teachers can’t do interesting activities with students. Alignment doesn’t equate to boring. Teachers can have fun and be creative, but it is only beneficial when it aligns to the content being taught. Carefully choosing engagement opportunities that are aligned mean that the backwards design method is used when planning. Teachers know which standard they are covering, pick a piece of the standard to teach in a single objective, and plan the assessment o determine if students were effectively able to gain the skills taught. Then, it is time to plan activities for engagement. When teachers are clear on “what” they are teaching, the “how” becomes easier to plan. If a fun engagement idea is found but doesn’t align, teachers can save it for another time. It is imperative that how students engage in class allows them to deepen understanding of the concept being taught.

Evergreen

It can be daunting to come up with new and different engagement ideas all year long. The good news is that teachers can use and reuse engagement strategies in all subject areas. The benefit is two-fold. First, teachers save time by reusing an engagement strategy previously used. Secondly, time is saved on the students part because they do not need to learn a new strategy which takes time away from learning. Since students have experience with the engagement strategy, they are more comfortable and confident allowing them to solely focus on learning the content. The new content being taught keeps the engagement strategy feeling fresh!

Next Steps

If you found this post helpful and are wanting to learn more about increasing student engagement in the classroom, read this previous blog post: 3 Tips to Maximize Student Engagement.

You can also learn more about specific student engagement strategies for the classroom in my latest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success. If you are in need of more classroom resources, visit my store here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post 4 Ways to Improve Student Engagement appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will explore 3 ways to improve classroom management practices in the classroom.

Relationships

Connecting human-to-human in terms of interests, personality and preferences brings the class together as one. When the teacher invests in their students before delivering content, trust develops. After trust, the student is willing to take more risks and be transparent in the learning process. Now the teacher is able to best help the student because they have formed a deep connection and they know how to best design lessons taking into account the uniqueness of each student. This increases student motivation to comply with class rules, limiting behavior disruptions during class time.

Routines

Routines provide structure to how the classroom operates. It is a road map of sorts, giving direction for what and how. When teachers plan routines ahead of time, they are being proactive in managing their classroom. Instead of waiting for a problem to erupt and then eating up class time remedying that problem, teachers have thought through potential hot spots and put routines in place to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Once a routine has been planned, teachers must teach it in isolation to students. Students then practice and implement the routine, receiving feedback on their performance. This can take days or weeks for a single routine. Routines can be reused for various activities such as details, volume, pace, location, format direction, and more. Learn more about routines with my PD in a Box tool. You may also find this checklist helpful!

Rope Students In

Engagement is key to having students open and motivated to learn. By making learning material appealing, teachers can entice students to engage fully in the learning experience. This is referred to as “roping students in.” Teachers can do this by utilizing pacing that feels just right for various learners (ie. fast lanes for those qho understand quickly and speed bumps for those that need to slow down and try again). Also, by including a plethora of engagement options for student discourse and interaction (ie. turn/talk, gallery walk, socratic seminar), it provides students with choice and voice. When they feel like they are not forced to learn in a specific way, can engage in a way that is interesting to them and allows them to voice their opinion, they lean into learning. Differentiation is key at this stage!

What’s next?

Want to learn more about the three ways to improve classroom management practices plus gain even more strategies to become more effective in the classroom? Read Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success. More classroom resources are also available here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

Which classroom management practice are you most excited about trying in your classroom?

The post 3 Ways to Improve Classroom Management Practices in the Classroom appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will reveal five ways to improve the lesson design process so that teachers can be more effective in the classroom.

Focus on the design process, not the paper lesson plan.

Turning in lesson plans a month in advance promotes compliance over skillful planning. Requiring all teachers to use a specific lesson plan format emphasizes filling in the requirements instead of relying on teacher personality and expertise to design instruction. The goal of lesson design is to plan effective learning experiences for all students present in the classroom. Breaking out of compliance measures while also providing boundaries, ensures quality planning occurs that produces increases in student outcomes.

Implement a nonnegotiable, quarterly backwards design planning day.

Planning instruction is time consuming, especially if teachers want to do it well. Having a road map for what content to cover, when, and for how long is extremely helpful when sitting down to plan. Dedicating half a day to a full day for a team of teachers to come together to plan the roadmap for the upcoming quarter eliminates the burden of planning being too time consuming to do a thorough job. This needs to be a protected instructional practice for all teachers in every school building during every school year.

Prepare a flexible gradual release lesson delivery format.

Gradual release refers to passing ownership from the teacher to the student during a lesson. Typically a lesson will transition from direct instruction to guided practice and end with independent practice with or without an assessment. Many teachers follow this lesson format religiously; however, it often lacks flexibility. Moving to the next portion of the lesson because pacing says so means students are pushed forward before they are ready, causing lack of understanding and lower performance. Adding flexibility means teachers use pacing in addition to gradual release but build in check for understanding practices to determine when students are ready to move forward in the lesson content. As a result, some lessons will move forward quickly and others will move slowly. Flexibility ensures teachers are using a responsive instruction approach.

Get specific with time management and pacing.

Speaking of pacing, managing time during the planning process aids teachers in successfully executing the learning experience that was designed. Instead of hoping a teacher can get through the content planned in the time allotted, teachers can almost ensure that will happen by properly mapping out the time required for each section of the lesson. (Flexible gradual release can alter this slightly, but within reason.) No more rushing through to finish or allowing students “free time” when a lesson finished too early. This results in better academic outcomes for students.

Highlight both teacher and student actions throughout the lesson.

Being detailed with what both the teacher and students are doing during each portion of the lesson ensures no individual is a sitting duck. Students will misbehave with downtime or unclear expectations. Teachers will revert to administrative duties unrelated to student learning occurring in the moment if no specific action is planned for themselves (ie. pull a small group, 1:1 check ins, confer with teacher assistant or co-teacher, etc.). Deciding teacher and student actions during the design phase maximizes every minute of instruction. This too will positively impact teacher and student performance in the classroom.

What’s next?

Want to learn more about the five ways to improve the lesson design process plus gain even more strategies to become more effective in the classroom? Read Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

What does your lesson design process look like at your school?

The post 5 Ways to Improve the Lesson Design Process appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Teachers often collect data on student learning to make adjustments to their instruction to better meet the needs of their students. Instructional coaches can also utilize data collection methods to improve instruction. Through various tracking tools, coaches can hone in on specific areas of instruction and provide support to the teacher to increase effectiveness. It is recommended to choose ONE AREA to hone in on before entering a classroom as it would be difficult to accurately track everything in live time.

Data Collection Process

The following process allows instructional coaches and leaders to improve classroom instruction through a purposeful ongoing method. It builds in partnership opportunities for the teacher to reflect and the coach to suggest potential next steps for continued growth. The data collection process is inclusive of all teachers and is done with integrity to elicit the most accurate data to inform decision making.

• Get Organized – Locate the trackers you prefer to use, make individual folders (digital of physical) per teacher to store trackers, and create a schedule so that all teachers are observed sufficiently
• Inform Teachers– Let teachers know that you are trying out a new way to observe their instructional progress by honing in on a single area and documenting the improvement over time (ie. provide a modeled example). Remind them it will be an unannounced visit, to teach as normal, and that the area of focus will not be disclosed until the debrief. This ensures data is a true representation of daily instruction.
• Observe & Track– Pop in classrooms to observe only the area of focus for 15-20 minutes. Visit a handful of classrooms at a time to maximize effort.
• Analyze Trends – Review the data of the focus area for all teachers observed and note group trends (ie. what are they doing well or need to improve on in that area). Review data per teacher comparing the same area of focus over a period of time and note trends (ie. improvements and areas of struggle).
• Engage in Debrief Meetings– Share the data collected with teachers ahead of the meeting to allow them time to analyze their own data and reflect on next steps. This increases their accountability and participation in the debrief. During the debrief, keep it brief: Glows, grows & next steps.
• Repeat Area of Focus – You may need to repeat an area of focus during an observation after a predetermined set of time to note progress. Ideal time frames for data points would be initial, monthly, quarterly and end-of-year.

Common Areas of Focus

The following focus areas move the needle of instruction and therefore should be used by a coach to improve teacher proficiency and student achievement. Examples of what to look for are included below.

• Questioning– What rigor level of questions are asked throughout the lessons? How are questions phrased? Are the same students called on?
• Student Engagement– Are students engaging with the content, each other and the teacher? How often and for how long? What tools or activities are used to drive engagement? Did engagement occur in whole group, small group or in pairs?
• Teacher/Student Actions – Did the teacher plan for specific actions throughout the lesson? Are they purposeful? Are students adhering to expectations? Are procedures clear?
• Addressing Misbehaviors– Are appropriate consequences implemented when needed? Is treatment for and reasonable for all students? Did the teacher follow through to get the student back on track? What is the relationship with students before, during and after misbehaviors occur? Was the teacher able to get the student back on track for learning?
• Content Alignment– Is the standard, objective, assessment and activities aligned? How closely do they match? Is there a common thread found throughout the lesson? Is student understanding of content deepening throughout the lesson and through supports offered?
• Feedback– Who is providing feedback (teacher or student)? To what degree is feedback being implemented? How often is feedback occurring? Is feedback personalized to the learner? What method is used most often to deliver feedback? Is feedback well received?
• Pacing – Is the lesson appropriately paced so that the teacher can complete the lesson in entirety? Are there areas where the pace was too slow or too fast? What indicators did the teacher use to adjust pacing in the moment?

Resources for Data Collection

The following resource will allow you to create and personalize data trackers to best suit the needs of your teachers while also giving them an opportunity to reflect on the data before engaging in a debrief meeting:

• Editable, digital and printable teacher data collection trackers

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves too! Classroom resources are also available here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

What type of teacher data do you collect?

The post Improve Classroom Instruction with Teacher Data Collection appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will explore how to add accountability measures to colleague collaborations.

Accountability as a Power Dynamic

Teams often get into a bad habit of coming together to plan instruction and may even delegate aspects of planning. But this leads them to working alone. Although sharing the workload is a big piece of a collaboration, it lacks input from the expertise of others. Educators can add accountability measures to what they are already doing together in collaboration by including:

• Voice – Allow everyone to share ideas before, during and after collaboration
• Iterations– Make revisions a natural part of the collaboration process, understanding the first copy is not the final one
• Task Matching – Leverage the strengths of each colleague by assigning a task to their area of genius
• Shared Ownership– Pass the baton to various colleagues during the goal achievement process so everyone gets a chance to lead and feel connected
• Established Norms– Get clear on what is expected before, during and after collaborative meetings so that everyone can meet the requirements consistently
• Naming What’s At Stake– Understanding the realities of what happens when goals or agreements within the collaboration aren’t met creates natural consequences for each participating colleague

Setting Up Accountable Collaborations

If you are need to reboot collaborations or are starting from scratch, the following 8 steps will ensure a layer of accountability is mixed into the successful partnership.

1. Discuss the power of accountable collaboration – Share the reasoning behind the intentional partnership as well as expectations for how to hold others and themselves accountable in the work
2. Review student and teacher performance data – This information (informal/formal common assessment scores and teacher evaluation rubric score), reveals areas for improvement
3. Brain dump potential goals– All members of the collaboration should place ideas for potential goals based on data findings on a shared white board or chart paper
4. Outline partnership pathway– Take the ideas for potential goals and prioritize them into a long-term work plan and ensure each team member agrees to the end goal and goal milestones
5. Flush out partnership pathway– Create a robust document outlining the details of the pathway (ie. due dates, task leaders, materials required, etc.)
6. Meet monthly to review the partnership pathway– Review the last month’s milestone goal and action items, make adjustments as necessary, and review the upcoming month’s task details
7. Seek feedback– regularly seek feedback from collaborative partners in regards to task completion, quality of work produced, attitude, and ability to work well with others (this could be built into the monthly review meeting)
8. Celebrate milestones– Acknowledge progress towards goals, even if plans diverged from the original pathway

Examples of Accountable Collaboration

If you are wondering what this might look like in action, below are three examples:

• A third grade team sits down during back-to-school planning to design an end of unit project for their first Social Studies unit. Each team member knew this was the focus of their meeting and brought in ideas they found in magazines, on social media and from former colleagues. This is accountability in showing up prepared with ideas to contribute to the team.
• This same team together determined their end of unit goal for students to be able to know and produce. They then backwards planned the sequence of lessons leading up to the final project. One team member was in charge of reviewing last year’s plans to decide what to replicate, change or omit and presented the findings to the team. Another team member reviewed all unit one assessments (formal and informal) and shared a suggested list of focus questions and ideal answers for each teacher to implement in their lessons. And another team member researched latest best practices in regards to differentiation, presenting options to their peers that can be implemented into lessons for students that needed it. (This is accountability in division of tasks.)
• Finally, this team decided next meeting they would come in with a rough outline for the first week of Social Studies lessons. Together, they would check for alignment between objective, assessment and activities. They’d also review questioning techniques and ideal student answers. One team member wants to talk through student pairings for discussion, leaning on the expertise of their peers. As a result, each member of the team agrees to review standards, draft objectives, review curriculum, and arrive ready to design an effective lesson. (This is accountability in planning, identifying teacher needs, and having a clear plan of action for each meeting.)

As you can see, teachers are collaborating in effective ways and utilizing accountability to produce stronger results for instruction.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves too! Classroom resources are also available here. Also, catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

How have you added accountability into your colleague collaborations?

The post The Power of Accountable Collaboration appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will provide a plethora of information in regards to successfully getting instructional coaching up and running in your building. You’ll be way ahead of the game by combing through the information shared below. It is organized by themed headings to direct your browsing.

I high suggest keeping two things in mind before diving in:

1. Read what is most pertinent to you and begin planning how to implement what you learned (please do not binge read and forget to apply your new knowledge!).
2. If something resonates with you and you might want to reference it in the future, bookmark it for later.
3. You can be successful without mastering everything mentioned below so consume until you hit your limit.

Happy learning!

Tasks:

1. How to Set Up Your Instructional Coaching Space
2. Get Organized for Coaching!

Coaching Cycles:

1. What is it and How do I Conduct one?
2. Starting Coaching Cycles at your School Site
3. Macro vs Micro Options

Skills:

1. Establishing Teacher Expectations of Instructional Coaching
2. 5 P’s of Meaningful Conversations with Teachers
3. How to Cultivate Trust with Teachers
4. How to Help Teachers Engage Students
5. How to Help Teachers Manage a Classroom
6. How to Provide Models of Expert Teaching
7. Building Relationships with a Large Caseload of Teachers
8. Creating Professional Boundaries with Colleagues
9. Guiding Questions that Move Teacher Performance Forward

Seasons of Coaching:

1. Summer Strategy
2. Fall Strategy
3. Winter Strategy
4. Spring Strategy

Supplies:

1. Must Have Supplies for an Instructional Coach
2. Leading PD: Must Haves for Instructional Coaches
3. Resources to Support your Leadership Growth
4. How a Mastermind can Increase Educator Effectiveness

Coach Life:

1. Not Having a Home Base
2. Wearing all the Hats
3. Being Teacher for the Day 

Tips:

1. 10 Tips for Moving into a Coaching Role as a Teacher
2. Tried-and-True Tips for Coaching
3. What I Wish I Knew About Being an Instructional Coach
4. 6 Tips for Instructional Coaches
5. Leadership Tips- Part 1
6. Leadership Tips- Part 2
7. Leadership Tips- Part 3
8. Leadership Tips- Part 4
9. Top 4 Coaching Fears & the Lessons They Teach Us
10. The Teacher Emotional Cycle with Coaching

I hope you found this compilation blog post helpful. If you prefer a community to learn along with you, join our Teacher Leader Mastermind! Wishing you a wonderful year as an instructional coach!

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

Go Be Great!

What questions do you have about setting the stage as an instructional coach?

The post I am an Instructional Coach, Now What?! appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post provides 10 ways to improve instructional coaching practice for the school year.

Pre-Work Phase

These three steps set the groundwork for the planning phase that comes next. You’ll dig into the current information (data) you have so you can make sound decisions for what to do going forward.

1. Evaluate current practices – Look at your current coaching practices and ask yourself:
   • What does coaching currently look like at your school?
   • What are the teacher support options?
   • How effective are these strategies in improving teacher proficiency and student achievement?
2. Review teacher performance ratings – Look at the performance rubric scores of each teacher on your roster for next year. Creating a spreadsheet is most helpful by placing each rubric domain across the top, teacher name down the side and fill in ratings in the middle. This allows you to sort data as needed.
3. Review student learning outcomes – Look at formal and informal data for students by grade level. Be sure to only use common assessments so you can make an accurate comparison rather than pulling random work samples.

Planning Phase

The following four steps utilize the findings in the pre-work phase to plan and prepare for the new instructional coaching practice plan. They are best completed as an administrative team, but feel free to include instructional coaches as well.

1. Set targets – Based on the data collected, set a vision and end goal. This will provide clarity once you start executing your plan. Then establish milestone markers along the way so you can celebrate progress towards the finish line.
2. Design teacher support options  – There are many ways to support the growth of teachers. Reflecting on what options worked previously, what additional supports could be added? Teachers can benefit from  various modes of learning offered. Common learning opportunities are whole or small group professional development, grade level or subject area professional learning communities, 1:1 coaching cycles, and mentor pairings. Knowing teacher and student data allow you to create options that best suit the needs of your school. (Browse instructional coaching materials here to help you plan your teacher support options.)
3. Compile coaching techniques  – Research current best practices through scholarly articles, national newspaper magazines, and published books. (See a recommended reading list here.) Make note of commonalities and suggested techniques to build into your coaching practice.
4. Plan evidence collection intervals – Now that you know where you are going and how you plan to get there, you need to design a plan to collect evidence. Deciding ahead of time what “look for’s” you’ll reference to know whether or not coaching is working ensures effective use of your time and alignment to your goals. Select how often you’ll want to review evidence and make a list of what you plan to collect (ie. student scores, teacher observation data, anecdotal notes, etc.)

Execution Phase

The final phase of 3 steps puts all the pre-work and planning into practice.

1. Train instructional coaches –  Review the teacher support options coaches can implement to support the growth of teachers and students. Discuss what these options look like in detail and create a system to hold them accountable for implementing the strategies as intended. The best way to do this is through mock practice with feedback. Then coaches can perfect their use of techniques prior to working with teachers. Check out these practice scenarios here.
2. Roll out to teachers – Growth requires assistance from all parties. Coaches cannot force teachers to grow. Including teachers in the discussion about the plan for supporting their growth in the coming school year ensures they know all options available to them. Informing them of the accountability measures for growth increases the likelihood that they take advantage of the support options.
3.  Review and revise – Each quarter or semester, review the instructional coaching program strategy and revise as necessary. You can collect and review evidence prior to these points in time, but try not to make adjustments too quickly. Make revisions slowly and intentionally, allowing the process to work.

By following these 10 steps, you will improve your instructional coaching practice and experience tremendous returns on your investment.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Also, catch up on other help instructional coaching blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

What other ways would you add to improve instructional coaching practices at your school?

The post 10 Ways to Improve Instructional Coaching Practice this Year appeared first on Always A Lesson.

5 Ways to Enhance Your PLC Meetings:

1. Name the Gap – It’s important to acknowledge how effectively the current PLC operates and set a goal for where they want to be. This is called “Name the Gap.” Devising a pathway to get from current reality to goal allows all members of the PLC to be held accountable for improving.
2. Know the Pathway– Understanding the goal of every meeting ahead of time allows for all members to be prepared for the meeting – materials to bring, pre-work to be completed, etc. This is called “Know the Pathway;” no surprise topics or meetings. The goal for each meeting should be clear so a productive meeting can ensue.
3. Push for Iteration – A great PLC doesn’t settle on the first great idea. Through discussion and research, the PLC pushes each other’s thinking. The original idea iterates, which is why this is called “Push for Iteration.”  This practice allows a good idea to turn into a great one.
4. No Final Product– Many PLC’s  operate as a place and time to complete lesson plans. Focusing on leaving the meeting with a finished product limits the depth of collaboration. Instead, a PLC should focus on the process- the thinking and doing over a final product. A “No Final Product” mindset keeps the PLC from dipping back into old habits of trying to complete a subpar agenda item instead of iterating quality ideas that can be finalized after the actual meeting.
5. Mix the Group – Hosting multi-layered PLC’s allows for a unique discussion to occur. Teachers could be grouped by grade level, subject area or based on a subset of data. By mixing team members (vertical team, content team, grade level team, etc.), various expertise and perspectives can be shared. Again, ideas become better through effective collaboration with peers.

Additional Reading for PLC’s:

The following blog posts provide additional information in regards to PLC’s:

• Leading a PLC Data Chat
• Making a PLC Productive & Effective

Additional Resources for PLC’s:

• Professional Learning Community Forms Bundle
• PLC & Data Guides Bundle

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

What tips would you add for enhancing PLC meetings?

The post 5 Ways to Enhance your PLC Meetings appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Attracting Teacher Talent

Setting the stage for teachers to want to work at a school or in a district begins with how they experience you, your staff and your offerings. Instead of advertising with a focus on the specific job openings, ask for future educators to apply who have certain attributes, goals or desires. Invite creative, passionate individuals who are dedicated to putting the learning needs of students first to a hiring event. Here they can engage in a meet-and-greet with potential colleagues, listen to school or district personnel testimonials, learn about competitive benefits and potential job perks (ie. staff lounge stocked with goodies, duty free lunch, free prep period, etc.). A personal invitation to the hiring event should also be given to current connections in the pipeline such as graduating student teachers, undergraduate university observers and other volunteers who have already begun their work in the school or district.

The most important component of attracting teaching talent is sharing the robust onboarding system available to new hires. Many districts offer new teacher orientation where teachers can receive school calendars, staff directories, site maps, daily schedules as well as the district mission and vision for instruction. A thorough onboarding system ensures the new hire acclimates to their specific school with ease (tour, building access instructions, assigned mentor, grade level expectations checklist, etc.) while also engaging in ongoing check ins to answer questions, provide feedback, and recalibrate expectations. Onboarding is not a single event; it is a continuous process. When done well over a period of years per hire, it leads to greater retention and stronger classroom performance.

Maintaining Teacher Talent

Once new hires are in place, the onboarding process continues with more intense support through professional development, coaching, and mentorship. A supportive work environment where new teachers receive personalized guidance through a clearly laid out plan diminishes confusion, anxiety, and stress. Trainings cover curriculum, district initiatives, instructional strategies and more. Based on the implementation of the knowledge and skills presented in the trainings, new teachers receive individualized feedback and coaching from mentors, teacher leaders and administrators. Additional learning can occur peer-to-peer where colleagues observe veteran teachers to see great teaching in action and engage in monthly meetings with mentors. Maintaining teacher talent allows the onboarding process to expand to deeper learning and support. This results in a reduction in staff turnover and burnout. New teachers are able to voice their concerns, have a choice in how they navigate obstacles, and feel empowered through the web of support surrounding them.

Sadly, according to the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey, 58% of teachers do not receive time to observe other teachers and 51% have never observed their mentor teaching (NCTWCS, 2022). Teachers, especially new teachers, deserve job-embedded learning opportunities led by their peers. With more than half of the teaching population missing out on these added layers of support means we will not be able to maintain that teaching talent for long. Teachers want to learn and grow, and they want to work in a place that provides that for them.

Growing Teacher Talent

Schools that invest in the future growth of their teachers are at an advantage. They can utilize the talents and skills of teachers to enhance their school offerings, climate and academic performance. This is why it is important to conduct one-on-one retention interviews to understand long term plans and interests of teachers. Leveraging the talent within the building allows a teacher’s impact to move from a single classroom to benefiting an entire student body within the school. Beyond these interviews, teachers can job shadow to experience teaching different grade levels, subject areas or working in different leadership positions. Teachers can continue their peer observations but expand them across the district to experience other school dynamics and options.  Exposing teachers to the multiple avenues in education increases the chances teachers remain in the profession. Building in ongoing, on-demand professional development with feedback that doesn’t require staying beyond contracted hours motivates teachers to perform well over a long period of time. When we support the growth of teaching talent, everyone wins.

As a result of attracting, maintaining and growing teacher talent, we are able to provide a learning environment that nurtures their capacity to thrive. This is an essential step in helping new teachers transition from knowledge acquisition to knowledge application. Moreover, when it comes to alternatively licensed new teachers, they experience an additional set of obstacles- having to acquire the knowledge at the same time as putting them into practice. This is why personalized support that matches the needs of each new teacher must be provided in the onboarding process. The three-prong approach of attracting, maintaining and growing teacher talent becomes a well-designed pathway of success to support the growth of new teachers. This allows them to experience confidence, competence and excitement for their future in education. Our students deserve to be taught by the best version of their teacher, year after year. The investment leaders make in implementing a system of support will allow schools across the nation to attract, and grow teacher talent. Together, we can help new teachers thrive and make a long-lasting impact in our classrooms!

Grab my latest book Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom & Career Success to cultivate teacher capacity!

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Catch up on other helpful blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Cultivating Capacity: Nurturing New Teachers into Impactful Educators appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will discuss setting up book clubs and supporting students during them.

Setting up Book Clubs

Begin by exposing students to the idea of book clubs by doing a whole class learning experience. Select one text that all students will be reading. Set expectations for how students are to complete assignments and come together for discussions. Students will need to practice expectations for a month or so before they are capable of reading and learning on their own with their peers.

Keep an eye on students that did well during the whole group book club learning experience. These particular students will be a great first group to engage in a self-run book club. 4 to 5 students in a group allows for them to connect together and form a bond. When groups are small enough, students feel safe to take risks and grow their skills. Students in a book club need to be on similar reading levels to avoid frustration in the text being too easy or hard to comprehend and engage in discussions.

Once you have created your first group, meet with them to select the book. Walk through the book and together create a reading schedule- what will students read and by when? Map out the reading assignments for the entire book and carve out two peer discussion meetings per week to discuss what was read and takeaways. As the teacher, check in on them once a week. During this check in, observe how students engage in discussion and provide feedback. This group can complete self-reflections for accountability purposes, detailing their contributions (as well as their peers’) during the book club.

Continue whole group book clubs with the rest of the class. As students show they are ready to engage in self-run book clubs, teachers can begin adding new groups. They can use the same text as other self-run book clubs in the classroom but meet in their own small group. Or students can use a different text better aligned to their reading level.

Some students may never be ready to engage in self-run book clubs. They may require heavy facilitation from the teacher to stay on track or make sense of the text. Either way, all students can engage in book clubs in a format that best supports their learning.

Supporting Students during Book Clubs

Just because students are engaging in a self-run book club, does not mean the teacher is off the hook for teaching. Teachers can pull a small reading group focused on a reading skill, facilitate a book club discussion, or work 1:1 with students to collect informal data. This is all while keeping eyes and ears open on students engaging in self-run book clubs around the classroom. Holding students accountable for maintaining established expectations determine how long students can engage in book clubs. The earned autonomy for students is a privilege and students need to be reminded of this.

As teachers are walking around leaning in and listening to peer discussions, they can incorporate a book club interruption. All students can pause their discussions, and turn their attention to the teacher. Calling out strong reading and peer discussion behaviors model to the rest of the class what they could be doing in their own groups. It celebrates student learning while motivating others to grow their skillset.

If students are struggling to keep conversation going with peers, teachers can provide sentence stems. Helping students move away from sharing their own thoughts at their peers, and responding appropriately to their peer while adding on their own thoughts is a challenge. Sentence stems act as a bridge to facilitate the conversation without the teacher having to do it. Over time, this support can be eliminated as students no longer need them.

[bctt tweet=”The goal of book clubs is not to finish the book. It is to help students be more reflective reading and engaged in deep, relevant peer discussions. ” username=”gschultek”]

Additional Resources

The resources below will provide more context for effectiveness.

• See how I used book clubs in my classroom here.
• If you are transitioning from doing novel studies in your classroom to self-run book clubs, learn more here.
• Read more here to better understand the shift in literacy instruction from a balanced approach to one that is more phonics based, providing a structure to seamlessly weave in book clubs.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Don’t forget to catch up on other helpful blog posts as well!

GO BE GREAT!

The post Running Effective Book Clubs in Your Classroom appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will outline ways to advocate for teachers, specifically in getting started, advocating while on site at schools and going beyond the boundaries of the school building.

Get Started

• Establish expectations – Meet with administration to set expectations for the vision and daily operation of coaching, including advocating for teachers
• Set boundaries – Explain to teachers that what is communicated or experienced while partnering together is confidential, unless it goes against school/district guidelines.
• Make the ask – Create space and time to have teachers share what it is they desire for themselves to be successful in their role and what support they need to get there

Advocate On Site

• Represent teachers – When meeting with administrators share the needs and wants of teachers as well as possible solutions to remedy them
• Set the tone – During planning and collaboration, speak up on behalf of those who don’t and hold each other accountable for doing their part
• Engage students – Remind students of the value of their education and the hard work of their teacher, bringing to light that teachers are doing their best to help students be successful

Go Beyond

• Share with parents – Be sure to share all the positive contributions teachers have had on students and the learning environment with parents to increase their understanding and support
• Make requests – Reach out to the community for items teachers need or want to enhance instruction while also sharing positive impact teachers are having on students and the community
• Show up and support – Come to school board meetings and share the great things happening in classrooms because of teacher dedication, knowledge, risk-taking, and growth in skill

Instructional coaches can implement these tips at their school sites to create safe, supportive places for growing skills in both staff and students. If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Also, catch up on other help instructional coaching blog posts here.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you advocate for teachers?

The post Tips for Advocating for Teachers as an Instructional Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

If you are moving from a school to district coach position, read this previous blog post first to gain insight on similarities and differences in roles as well as tips for the transition. The post below will outline tips for once you begin supporting teachers at multiple building sites.

Maintain Relationships

It can take longer to build relationships with the teachers you will support because you will not see them everyday. Spend a significant amount of time being out and about at each school site, meeting teachers (even if they are not on your support roster). Being a familiar face on campus to both staff and students, allows trust and interest in working together to blossom.

Before jumping into working together, make sure you spend time getting to know the teachers in terms of their goals and vision for their career. This information is helpful in designing your strategy to help them become more successful – knowing where they want to go and ultimately what they would like to do with their degree/certification. It also can reveal the root of the obstacles teachers are facing and make problem solving much more efficient. Check out this resource that may be helpful in gathering information about your staff.

Once working with teachers, continue to relate even when not on campus. Making your self available to help and showcasing your human side, will allow relationships with teachers to continue to grow even when not face-to-face. Using communication tools like Voxer or Marco Polo are helpful to stay in touch with teachers when not on site.

Personalize Tasks

Getting organized by site is the ultimate strategy to ensure your support remains effective for multiple sites. Having digital or physical folders per site, and then again by teacher on your support roster helps keep information and strategy clear.

Each teacher will require a different amount or type of support based on their area of need. Therefore, designing a schedule and implementing a coaching cycle will not look even among teachers on your support roster. Some teachers will need more intense support and more often. Other teachers will just need a quick touch point and not engage in a full coaching cycle (pre-observation, observation, post-observation).

Once you are organized, determining which teacher needs what and how you can provide the support is next. Options include: co-plan, co-teach, lesson plan feedback, lesson demo, data analysis, observation, debrief, peer learning walk, Q/A office hours, etc. It is suggested to make these support options known and available to teachers- a coaching menu like this one is a common way to do that.

Ongoing Accountability

It is essential to build partnerships with the administrators in each building. Knowing their goals for the school will help formulate your game plan for supporting the growth of teachers. Getting on the same page for what coaching is and what it will look like at their school site ensures alignment between the partnership goal and the daily tasks. This will decrease frustration and increase clarity.

Meeting on a cyclical basis with administrators from each site will ensure the partnership remains a positive experience for all involved. Things to discuss include how coaching is going, progress of teacher competence and student achievement, as well as working through any hiccups occurring logistically.

Ongoing accountability keeps relationships strong and coaching tasks aligned. Catching issues quickly and realigning expectations ensure everyone is on the same page and all efforts are producing desires results.

Next Steps

You can be an effective coach supporting teachers at multiple school sites  if you focus on maintaining relationships, personalizing tasks, and implementing ongoing accountability measures.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

How can you support teachers better at multiple school sites?

The post Tips for Supporting Teachers at Multiple School Sites appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline ways instructional coaches can build relationships with a large group of teachers.

Why Should Coaches Build Relationships with Teachers?

Before a productive partnership between coach and teacher can be established, a relationship must exist. Trust and respect lay the foundation for the partnership to grow. If coaches and teachers haven’t built a relationship then trust and respect aren’t even available to use as motivation for wanting to work together. Plus, both a coach and a teacher are humans. When they connect as people first before colleagues, they establish commonalities to relate to, which starts the bonding process. Each exchange is an opportunity to strengthen the bond, demonstrate respect for the knowledge and expertise of each individual in the partnership as well as trust that they each will hold up their end of the bargain – the teacher will implemented suggested next steps and that the coach will always have the best interest of the teacher in mind when designing supports.

How Can Coaches Build Relationships with Teachers?

Building relationships takes time. It is not something that can be rushed or saved for a “Get to Know You” activity. It is a conscious effort made by each person in the partnership to grow their connection so that they can better work together.

Below are ways coaches can build relationships with teachers:

• Meet-and-Greet: Set up a quick introduction meeting where teachers can see you face-to-face, learn a bit about your interests, and get excited for working together. Keep it brief, genuine and personable.
• Examples: Whenever possible, share details from your own life or teaching experience that allow teachers to relate to you due to similar experiences
• Ask Questions: Most people do not just come out with details about themselves. But by being curious in conversation, coaches can learn details about teachers that will help them better navigate the partnership (ie. personality, teaching style, favorites, fears, etc.)
• Be Consistent & Ongoing: Trust forms out of consistency. When teachers see that their coach continues to check in on them, deliver what they promised, show up on time, etc. trust is built. When coaches do these same things consistently over time, now their investment in the relationship increases. The coach has proven they are worthy of the time and attention of the teacher to do the hard work of growing their skillset.

For more ideas, listen to this podcast on building relationships with teachers.

How Can Coaches Build Relationships with a Large Caseload of Teachers?

The challenge occurs when taking the relationship building strategies of a smaller group and applying them to a larger group. When supporting a large caseload of teachers, the time you can physically spend with each teacher is shorter. This means coaches have to be even more intentional to establish personal connections with each teacher on their caseload.

Below are ways coaches can build relationships with a large group of teachers they support:

• Think Outside the Box– Be creative with how you show up and support the large group. The techniques of meeting 1:1 will not suffice. There is not enough time during the day to meet with each teacher, especially if they are at different campuses. Collaborate with other coaches in your same position and even ask teachers for ideas for how to best support them when you aren’t in the same building as they are some days.
• Utilize Technology– Leverage technology to communicate and be available when you are not physically in the same place at the same time. Tools like Voxer and Marco Polo allow coaches to host virtual office hours for Q/A to meet the needs of teachers in the moment. (Read this post and this post to learn more about Voxer). You do not need to be physically together to engage in a coaching session. Lots of collaborations can occur during commute time. With it being the 21st century, coaches can be available without being in the same place as the same time as their teachers.
• Split the Group into Cohorts– Coaches can leverage the expertise of the other teachers on their caseload to help each other. By grouping teachers based on area of need, coaches can address the cohort as a whole on the similar need. This allows the coach to widen their message and support when it is similar in nature for a bunch of teachers.
• Design the Ideal Calendar– Allow all teachers no matter the campus they teach on to have access to your calendar. When they know how to reach you and when you will be physically available to help them, they will continue to communicate and want to work together. If coaches inconsistently show up, teachers cannot prepare for working together and begin to feel overwhelmed. Set up a schedule so that each teacher has the same amount of time. This may mean each building does not have you on campus for the same length of time. For example, if one building has 8 teachers you support and another building only has 1 teacher, then the amount of time you spend on both of those campuses would be different. You need more time on the campus with more teachers. Make adjustments to this calendar as you execute the schedule.

These suggestions allow touch points with teachers by overcoming the obstacle of being in the same place at the same time. Relationships need to be built on a daily basis, so creating ways to reach teachers daily (regardless of where each teacher is) allows the partnership to thrive.

No matter what building relationships strategy you employ, just remember teachers want to connect with humans. Remain humble, relatable and genuine. Ask questions, show empathy, and encourage improvement. Relationships can be built in large groups!

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

Which is your favorite way to support a large caseload of teachers?

The post Building Relationships with a Large Caseload of Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The Discovery

Throughout my years as a classroom teacher, I helped numerous students become successful learners through  rigorous content delivery, preventative management of the environment via procedures, interesting and aligned collaborative activities and appointing student leaders to run various aspects of the classroom.

As a teacher coach, I helped teachers develop systems to find success in the same way I had. However, some teachers struggled. I realized the four essential aspects of instruction were correct, but the results (student learning outcomes) varied depending on the order in which I helped teachers work on their instructional planning and delivery.

The more I paid attention to what instructional aspects we worked on and what sequence had the greatest impact, the “Teacher Success Pathway” was developed. When teachers improve their instruction in the specific sequence mentioned in this pathway, student learning and teacher proficiency soar.

The Details

In the section below, each of the four aspects of instruction will be discussed in the suggested sequence that allows for greatest results. To improve your instructional impact, self-reflect on which aspect is the root of your obstacles. Making these adjustments will allow teachers to experience classroom and career success.

For example, you might want to incorporate more engaging learning activities but students cannot follow directions or meet behavior expectations. Therefore, you have to move to the layer below (classroom management) to attack the root of the issue. Let’s take a look at the teacher essentials below.

Lesson Design

Do not confuse design for planning. Regardless of what planning document a teacher uses, it should include components that allow for a thorough plan of how the lesson will flow. This requires teachers to pay attention to the details. It is not enough to just write down the standard, objective, assessment and activity for a lesson. Teachers need to script higher level questions, pace each portion of the lesson, pre-assign student pairings, pinpoint ideal answers to key points in the presented material, decide how students will transition around the room and gather necessary materials, etc. A lot of preparation goes into a lesson start to finish. A lot of obstacles teachers face when executing their lesson comes from the lack of planning of the lesson that occurred. Prevention of misbehaviors, clarity in assignment directions, differentiated support options available as needed and more allow for the other aspects of instruction to be successful, but they are planned for in the design phase. This is the foundation for which all other aspects rely.

Classroom Management

Classroom management is not the same as behavior management. We cannot control other people. When we try, it results in frustration and feelings of safety diminish. Therefore, we focus on what we can control- the classroom environment. The procedures and routines we set up in our classroom allow students to be successful learners. This requires thorough planning throughout the lesson so that during the delivery of the content teachers can be present to support the unique needs of students. If teachers are spending the majority of their lesson execution managing behaviors then is being reactive instead of proactive. Go back to the lesson design phase and put procedures in place to provide boundaries and clarity to the expectations for learning activities.

Student Engagement

This is usually the area of focus for most teachers. They want to do more fun activities with students, but have a hard time getting children to be motivated enough to want to participate. Speaking of, participation is not the same as engagement. Participation is low level interaction (thumbs up, yes/no questions, head nods, etc.). Engagement is high level interaction where students collaborate with peers, ask and answer questions with the teacher, and dig deep into the content of the text with intention. The goal for improving this aspect of instruction is not on the actual engagement activity, rather the design of the engagement opportunity. Again, all of this planning is done in the design phase. Is the engagement opportunity aligned to the standard and objective? If not, there is no reason to place it in the lesson. If it is aligned, are expectations planned out to the detail, including procedures? A breakdown in engagement rarely has to do with the students and more to do with the design of the lesson on the teacher’s part. Focus more on how students will engage, rather than on what.

Student Ownership and Accountability

The highest level of instructional success is a self-run classroom. Students are in charge of administrative tasks around the classroom, like greeting guests at the door, answering the class phone, working the overhead projector, manipulating the timer for activities, reading school announcements, taking attendance, explaining activity directions, demonstrating exemplars, and so on. This frees the teacher up to focus solely on teaching students and not on running the classroom. Students become more invested in learning because they feel like they have a part to play in the classroom. Their opinions are taken into account, they have access to leadership opportunities and feel valued for their skillsets. Although most teachers desire this type of learning environment in their own classrooms, it is not possible if the other three aspects are not strongly in place first.

Next Steps

If you’re wanting to learn more about the four teacher essentials to improve classroom and career success, click here.  Gretchen can also visit your school and provide training and coaching on the Teacher Success Pathway, email gretchen@alwaysalesson.com to learn more. Don’t wait, get started on the teacher essentials today!

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

Which aspect of instruction is going to be your focus this school year?

The post Teacher Essentials for Classroom & Career Success appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Learn

Before you know exactly what type of leadership position you want to hold and what type of leader you want to become, learning as much about leadership as possible will guide your steps forward.

• Instructional Best Practices– Familiarize yourself with the idea of peer collaboration and modeling through learning walks, increasing student ownership in the classroom, asking higher order thinking questions throughout a lesson, provide authentic feedback with actionable steps to teachers, how to effectively manage a classroom as well as design and deliver engaging PD opportunities that can mirror engaging instruction in the classroom. If you are going to help teachers adhere to best practices, you need to know develop clarity on what the techniques are and how to implement them in the classroom.
• Teacher Leader Interview Preparation– Review common interview questions, interview tips, and plan ideal responses. As a leader you will sit in on various interviews, so it is essential you are familiar with the strategy for hiring new and veteran teachers as well as teacher leaders like yourself.
• Instructional Coaching Scenario Practice– Leading peers can be challenging. Learning about common obstacles in coaching teachers and ways to move through them effortlessly will allow you to remain focused and confident in your role as a leader.
• Influence Growth– Learn quick tips for how to empower colleagues to grow and reach their goals. If you cannot build connection and understand their struggles, it doesn’t matter how many great strategies you have up your sleeve to promote their growth. Spend time knowing your people before diving into the work.

Lead

Now that you have learned about leadership, it’s time for action! Growth, even for you, is a process. Don’t expect perfection, rather allow yourself room to make mistakes so you can grow quickly.

• Data Collection & Analysis– Create processes for teachers to design seamless, practical data collection procedures in their classrooms as well as facilitate data analysis meetings to adjust future classroom instruction. Once teachers have a system in place, they can pass ownership to students and allow them to set goals and track their own academic progress. When we prioritize responsive instruction, we are able to catch misconceptions early leading to increases in student achievement.
• Teacher Observation– Getting into classrooms often will ensure you are providing timely support to the changing needs of teachers. Whether these visits are formal or informal, brief or extensive, building relationship with students and teachers is essential for learning growth. Having a predictable process for pre-observation, observation and post observation allows teachers to experience success time and time again. Each piece of the observation cycle is integral to planning and delivering quality instruction on a consistent basis.
• Mentorship & Coaching– Whether you are helping teaching partnerships thrive like those of a cooperating teacher and student teacher, or enhancing collaboration between colleagues in a mentorship pair, or delivering support to teachers as an instructional coach, having systems and areas of focus will ensure the leadership strategy is effective in producing growth. (Grab all the resources I created and use as an instructional coach here.)
• Professional Development– A big part of your role as a teacher leader is helping others grow through targeted learning sessions. You will need to have a vision for the year in terms of what areas teachers need to grow in. Create a yearly PD calendar, require teachers to track their learning sessions, provide choice in how teachers learn the material, and collect feedback to make adjustments for future PD sessions. Preparation for year-long learning ensures these PD sessions are aligned to a bigger goal and are productive and informative.

Now you have an arsenal of support to continue your growth as a leader. Take your time consuming the information and putting it into action. Sometimes, simple is best.

If you are need of more resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

Which resource are you most excited to try out?

The post Resources to Support your Leadership Growth appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline common reasons teachers feel resistant to working with a coach, ways to overcome the resistance, followed by action steps you can take as a coach to turn a turbulent partnership into a productive one.

Common Reasons for Resistance

A discussion thread recently occurred on Twitter (now called X) around the reasons teachers do not want to partner with a coach for professional learning. Some reasons were personal while others were non-cooperative in nature. Overall, a handful of reasons were mentioned multiple times throughout the thread, such as:

• Lack of credit– Coaches observe teachers using stellar instructional methods with students and then deliver professional development to all staff on those exact methods without giving credit to the original teacher demonstrating them.
• Lack of time– Teachers are required to teach at high levels, plan thoroughly, assess student achievement levels, analyze various data points, collaborate with peers, and attend numerous meetings. Many times teachers are not given a lunch break, let alone time to meet with a coach that doesn’t conflict with the rest of their required duties. Put simply, teachers want time built into the day to meet and not have to meet after school hours.
• Remove from evaluation– Some schools utilize coaching as part of the evaluation process. This means a teacher’s participation with a coach and a coach’s observation of a teacher teaching can be incorporated into a performance evaluation. Most coaches do not have administrative licenses or training for their classroom visits to be formally recorded. Teachers wouldn’t mind working with a coach if it was removed from their evaluation, especially since coaches are colleagues on the same hierarchy level.
• Brain fog and overwhelm– Teachers are emotionally and physically taxed with all the requirements they are to meet on a daily basis. They have limited bandwidth for additional meetings. They don’t mind coaching but it ends but a better balance of teacher requirements need to occur first.
• Zero trust– Coaching requires transparency and honesty in order to get to the root of obstacles teachers are facing in the classroom. Oftentimes, the discussion between coach and teacher is shared with administrators leading to poor evaluation scores or mistreatment. Teachers want to partner with a coach if information shared can be confidential.

(Please note these are reasons based on other people’s personal experiences.)

Ways to overcome Resistance

Resistance breeds from lack of trust, commitment, and/or fairness. Once these feelings begin, it is hard to stop them from overcoming judgment and motivation, especially when it requires two people to work together.

• Clear teacher expectations – The effectiveness of coaching begins with leadership. How a principal introduces the coach, requires or appoints coaching, and celebrates growth over perfection plays a major role in how coaching is perceived among teachers. If coaching is only for poor performers, is forced upon unwilling participants, and has unrealistic expectations of performance turnaround, then teachers are resistant before coaching even begins. Setting the stage for coaching, in addition to a clear outline of teacher requirements/duties, allows teachers to get on board with the idea of coaching.
• Build in time – If coaching is a priority at a school site, time during the school day should be dedicated to coaching without eliminating required breaks for teachers. This means the principal has to prioritize teacher requirements so that proper time and energy can be put into the coaching partnership.
• Establish boundaries– The coach and teacher should together create the norms for the partnership. Each should share boundaries they want to honor and create a plan for what coaching will look like for that pair. By establishing these early, many miscommunications and unmet expectations can be avoided.
• Everyone contributes– The mindset that everyone has something to contribute builds a culture of coaching. If coaches are looked at as perfect educators or gurus, there is no room for human error. But when teachers are valued for their skills or knowledge, they are more willing to engage. Encouraging everyone to showcase their strengths with each other, and celebrating these schoolwide breeds confidence and competence.
• Confidentiality– It is important that what is discussed during coaching is kept between the people in the partnership, unless of course it something is revealed that goes against school or district policy (ie. substance abuse, child welfare, etc.) Teachers should be able to talk about their weaknesses or worries without it being held against them by others not in the coaching relationship. Coaches need to create a safe place for learning and risk taking by honoring confidentiality.
• Transparency– Sometimes teachers feel suspicious for what coaches are thinking or doing. When a coach consistently is transparent with what they are doing and why, the teacher is able to trust the coach has their best interest at heart and better understands the coaching process.
• Fresh Start– When a coaching relationship is fractured, repair is necessary. Coaches and teachers can agree to a fresh start, getting all their grievances on the table and discussing each one in detail. By acknowledging the mistakes of the past and agreeing on a new way forward, coaches and teachers can have a productive partnership in the end.

Next Steps

• Meet with your principal– It’s important to be on the same page for what coaching should look like at your specific building. Outline requirements for coaching together and meet regularly together so you can make adjustments based on teacher and student performance and or needs.
• Conduct an all staff meeting– Roll out coaching together with your principal at an all staff meeting so teachers know the vision behind coaching and what it will look like day-to-day. Teachers can ask questions, coaching techniques can be modeled, and everyone can get on the same page.
• Be human– Before jumping into coaching, connect with teachers as a person. What are your common interests or hobbies? Knowing staff names, acknowledging them in common areas around the school, and connecting with them personally goes a lot way for establishing trust and interest in coaching.
• Give teachers a voice– Allow teachers to be part of the coaching process. It should be collaborative, not something done to the teachers. Provide insight, share suggestions, and allow teachers to develop next steps. Their personality, teaching style, and ideas should be taken into consideration when personalizing support.
• Build up your coaching toolbox– Browse over 350 pages of coaching resources to best support your teacher’s needs.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

What tips can you share about coaching resistant teachers?

The post Tips for Coaching Resistant Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will explore 5 things to avoid when collecting student data so that all information collected is as accurate and timely as possible.

Inconsistency

One way to ensure teachers collect accurate data is to remain consistent in your data collection practices. Teachers will want to compare data over a period of time. When data collection happens consistently (ie. similar time of day, time, subject area, method, and tools used) we can eliminate aspects that negatively impact the results. For example, comparing two different subject areas would not lead to logical conclusions or looking at a student’s math performance before lunch when they’re hungry and after lunch when they are full could lead to a discrepancy in effort, thoroughness and accuracy. Staying consistent in what and how student data is collected is essential for the information to be as accurate and usable as possible.

Time

For a teacher to gather student performance data while students are working, the assignment given to them must be long enough to keep students engaged while the teacher is making the rounds. Data collection doesn’t have to take an inordinate amount of time, and teachers do not always have to collect data from every student (ie. you might want to only collect a subset of data for a specific group of students to check progress). Giving an assignment that students complete quickly leads to misbehavior and a rushed data collection process, potentially negatively affecting results. Therefore, teachers must pace their lesson activities so that the allotted time for students to complete assignments incorporates collecting all of the necessary data.

Misalignment

In order to use the data collected from student work to make instructional decisions for subsequent lessons, the work must be reflective of the taught standard. This means if teachers are going to assess students on a specific skill recently taught, the activity students complete and that the teacher analyzes must be similar. If students are taught one thing and assessed on something different, the data will not be reflective of the level of student understanding for what was taught. Therefore, teachers need to ensure. they plan and prepare similar exercises for students to complete throughout the lesson- direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice and assessment. Aligning all parts of the lesson with data collection processes will generate the most accurate results.

Lack of Implementation

Collecting student data is useless if teachers do not take the time to review it. Even with the best of intentions, the school day can be busy and teacher requirements can be overwhelming that there is not enough time to review data. Or worse, data is reviewed but there is not enough time to develop a plan of implementation. As a result, teachers might not be able to design adjustments to their instruction before the following day’s lesson. To avoid this, administrators can build in time during the school day for teachers to review data, student work, and plan future lessons to meet student needs. If this is not a possibility, teachers can still make data reflection a part of their daily ritual before going home for the day- even if its for 5 minutes. Using the data to adjust instruction is a powerful way to improve student learning outcomes.

Teacher Owned Process

If teachers are always the ones collecting and reviewing data, students do not fully know or understand the benefits of being aware of their academic performance. Students can be part of the data collection process, not just by producing the work sample, but by comparing their efforts to a model example. This allows students to see the gap from where they are and where they need to be (and what that looks like). When students collect and analyze their own performance data, they are much more invested in the learning process. They want to improve and are proud when they visually see their performance increase. Teachers should allow students to be part of the data collection process.

Next Steps

• Grab these data tracking sheets to help students track their own academic performance
• Read the previous blog post on data tracking to strengthen your data collection procedures
• Check out my instructional coaching must-haves

GO BE GREAT! 

What obstacle have you faced when collecting student data?

The post 5 Things to Avoid when Collecting Student Data appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Teaching

The following list are books I suggest for those educators interested in teaching:

• The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator’s Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child
• The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession
• Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve–Even If It Means Picking a Fight
• Real Talk for Real Teachers: Advice for Teachers from Rookies to Veterans: “No Retreat, No Surrender!”
• Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone)
• The Excellent 11: Qualities Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children 
• Elementary EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach You in College
• Educators Who Know What To Do: Experts in Education
• Always a Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success

Instructional Coaching

The following list are books I suggest for those educators interested in instructional coaching:

• The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development
• Get Some Guts, Coach! 
• Coaching Conversations: Transforming Your School One Conversation at a Time
• Trust-Based Observations
• Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better
• Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College
• The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching: Seven Factors for Success
• Simply Instructional Coaching: Questions Asked and Answered From the Field
• The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities That Transform Schools 
• Better Conversations: Coaching Ourselves and Each Other to Be More Credible, Caring, and Connected
• The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation
• Student-Centered Coaching: The Moves

Leadership

The following list are books I suggest for those educators interested in leadership:

• Lead Like a Pirate: Make School Amazing for Your Students and Staff
• Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
• Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well 
• Leading Together: Teachers and Administrators Improving Student Outcomes
• The Together Leader: Get Organized for Your Success – and Sanity!
• Crucial Conversations (Third Edition): Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High 
• Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Talking About Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior
• Leadership Isn’t For Cowards: How to Drive Performance by Challenging People and Confronting Problems
• Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader
• Lead from Where You Are: Building Intention, Connection and Direction in Our Schools
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones 
• Leverage Leadership 2.0: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools

I’d love to hear what you have read and loved. Leave your book recommendations in the comments below this blog post.

Go Be Great!

The post My Favorite Education Books appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will explore the what, how and why of data collection.

What is data collection?

Data collection refers to the process a teacher implements in their classroom to informally or formally gather information to measure the achievement level of students. There is no one way to collect data so teachers have flexibility to try various data collection procedures until they find one that works best for their teaching style and preference. Data that teachers collect can relate to academics and/or behavior. Analysis of the information can make all the difference in how well the student succeeds in that teacher’s classroom.

How can you collect data?

It does not need to be a tedious or complicated process.  For example, when informally assessing students on classroom assignments, teachers can use a student roster and label content objectives across the top of the paper. After teaching a concept when students are working independently, teachers can walk around and peek at student work. They may even have a quick conversation to glean more information. Based on the evidence of student work (and response), teachers can notate on the roster the level to which students understand. For example, a simple 1-2-3 system can be used (1= limited understanding, 2= partial understanding, 3= full understanding).

This same system can be used with formal assessments, like tests, quizzes or projects. Teachers can grade student work and follow the same process for small group instruction for students that need additional practice. For example, teachers can translate percentage scores into the 1-2-3 system. It might look like 0%-49% equals a 1; 50%-79% equals a 2; and 80%-100% equals a 3.

Why should you collect data?

Data collection is one way teachers can ensure they provided targeted instruction to their students. When teachers have factual information (data) to reference as they plan and execute lessons, they can better meet students needs. This allows students to achieve grade level expectations and standards.

Teachers can use their student roster with their 1-2-3 system to create small learning groups to reteach or reinforce a concept. The goal would be that with additional targeted instruction, the students coded 1 and 2 will reach the mastery of a 3 before moving on to the next content objective.

Data also alerts the teacher of trends occurring in the classroom due to their instructional choices. If a lot of students are struggling, instead of pulling small groups the teacher can teach the lesson again in a different way in hopes of bringing clarity to student understanding. If a lot of students are excelling, the teacher can implement enhancements to challenge student thinking.

If the same student is continuing to struggle or excel, teachers can differentiate all future lessons to accommodate the learning needs of those students. This preventive planning helps the teacher intervene ahead of learning obstacles and support students to be successful in the classroom.

Next Steps

If you are looking for tools to help you with data collection, download this resource. This is a great tool to include students in on the data collection process. They are able to track their own performance visually so they can better understand how far their current performance is from mastery.

No matter your system, be sure to collect data consistently and use it to inform how you teach your students! Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

How has this post helped you alter your data collection processes?

The post Data Collection: What, How & Why appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Push back refers to when an individual is not in agreement with what someone else is saying, doing or requesting of them and either refuses to comply or provides reasons of opposition.

This can be frustrating for the coach, especially if their performance is linked to the compliance of teachers being in a working partnership with them.

This post will provide suggestions for how instructional coaches can deal with push back from teachers.

Prior to Experiencing Push Back

Meeting with teachers to set expectations for the teacher-coach partnership helps ward off the feeling that coaching is something happening to teachers instead of alongside them. When mandates are forced on educators, the instinct to push back is strong. However, when the coaching approach is presented to all teachers as a way to improve student learning, and encouraged from the principal, more teachers are willing to comply than push back.

After setting expectations for what the partnership will look like (ie. the clear roles of each participant, what to focus on, how often they will meet, etc.), coaches should meet with teachers individually.  By sitting down one-on-one with teachers, coaches can better understand what each teacher wants to accomplish this year. This allows the coach approach to be personalized to each teacher, giving them voice and choice in the process. This also wards off push back because they feel a part of the process.

During Push Back

There will be times that coaches can sense push back from teachers and other times where it is quite obvious. Because the coach has met with each teacher and set expectations for the partnership, a relationship has started to build. Leaning on that connection, coaches can approach a teacher individually and ask “I am sensing some push back from you in regards to some suggestions I have made. I’d like to hear what you’re thinking and feeling so we can come up with a solution pleasing to both of us.” Again, this provides teachers with voice and choice in the partnership by giving them the opportunity to voice concern and share potential strategies they think might be a better fit. By honoring the teacher’s thoughts and feelings, the relationship continues to strengthen while overcoming push back. Together, create new steps forward.

In times when push back creates a rift, and the teacher does not want to work through it, allow time to work in your favor. Sometimes teachers feel like they don’t need or want a coach, and it is being forced upon them. They may even like you personally, but do not want to work together because it makes them feel inferior. This is a common and legitimate feeling. Remind them of the expectations of the partnership, reiterate your rationale for the request receiving push back, and invite them into a conversation about why they are pushing back. Share examples of how exemplary teachers have engaged in coaching partnerships and become even greater; it isn’t always for struggling staff members. If after a significant amount of time has passed without interest in working together or overcoming the obstacle, loop the principal in for perspective and advice.

After Experiencing Push Back

Thank the teacher for being honest about what they were experiencing. Continue honoring the partnership, upholding the expectations set forth and reiterating that at any point if they have feelings of push back they be open and honest so together they can overcome the obstacle. The more you work together, the better you know each other. It becomes easier to consider their learning style and emotions when coaching decreasing the likelihood that push back will occur in the future. Push back is a natural part of the learning process. When we expect it and prepare for it, we can move through it more quickly.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you deal with push back in your role?

The post Dealing with Push Back as an Instructional Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will share all my recommendations for leading PD successfully as an instructional coach.

1. The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development by Elena Aguilar – Read as a you prep to deliver outstanding professional development for educators 

2. Sticky Easel Pad Paper–  Record key points on an anchor chart or hang around the room for reflective and engaging group activity
3. Chart Markers- Bold colors to write on sticky easel pad paper
4. Candy Variety– Place in baskets on tables for learners to enjoy during the PD experience
5. Storage Baskets– Place all learning materials in the basket and put on each table so participants can utilize the items during PD
6. Post-It Notes–  Numerous uses but mostly to track thinking and learning throughout the session
7. Colored Dot Stickers– Use for various activities where learners can place a dot on statements they agree with or vote for
8. Scissors– Place in baskets on the table for all participants to use as necessary
9. Rolling Crate– Place all your PD items in this crate and roll to and from your PD sessions
10. Sticky Name Tags– Have participants write their names and place on their chest to become familiar with everyone in the learning experience
11. Magnetic Name Tag– Wear a personalized name tag for yourself that easy stays on your clothes with a magnet
12. Highlighters– Place in the basket of materials on each table for learners to access as needed
13. Pens– Supply writing utensils to PD participants to record their learning throughout the session
14. Card Stock– Create sturdy signage for PD or use as name tents for participants
15. Bluetooth Speaker– Play music throughout your session to control noise volume and add some fun
16. Batteries – Ensure all your devices have charging power
17. Bluetooth Microphone– Enhance your voice so all learners can the room can hear you
18. Adaptor– Ensure you can connect your devices to the hosting site technology
19. Wireless Presenter Remote– Walk around while presenting and advance your slides with ease!
20. Flash Drive– Store all of your PD sessions in one place and carry with you to each location

Leading Professional Development can be a lot to tackle, but if you have the right supplies you will be successful! If you need more PD ideas & instructional materials click here. Check out my  amazon storefront instructional coaching must-haves here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Leading PD: “Must Haves” for Instructional Coaches appeared first on Always A Lesson.

What is continuing education?

It is credits educators earn from professional development [PD] they attend. Each license will dictate what type of professional development topics and amount of hours needed to renew the certificate. These requirements are usually annually based. Check your state licensing website for details.

How do I engage in continuing education opportunities?

If you are school based, someone on site will handle this for you. Each PD you attend will be tracked and entered on your behalf. However, if you are not school based, you’ll need to pay close attention to the date of your license renewal, and attend PD on your own accord. You’ll submit your PD certificates as proof of hours of learning towards your license to your state. For example, as an educational consultant, I had to locate my own PD and pay for it. I then submitted paperwork showing credits earned for each PD to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI). My license was then renewed.

(Tip: I have created virtual PD opportunities that you can attend and submit course completion forms to your district/state. Browse those here.)

Should I get another certificate or degree?

This is a personal decision and one that is a great discussion between your supervisor and yourself. Some districts pay educators more for additional license and/or certificates so check your district website for details. (And sometimes they even cover the fees to obtain the certificate or degree.)

Educators may decide to pursue continuing education even if their district doesn’t cover the costs or provide an increase in salary. The benefit of doing this would be that if you ever choose to teach in a different district, they may offer perks for the additional certificate or degree. Additionally, the course work required for those counts as PD credit towards your license, keeping you in good standing.

What should I go back to school for?

There are a few things to consider when deciding what PD you will attend or what certificate/degree you want to pursue.

• What are you passionate about?
• What is your ideal role in education?
• What topics/areas are you weakest in?
• What looks or sounds interesting to you?
• What are current or future initiatives at your state, district or school?
• What recommendations does your supervisor make for you specifically?

You not only want to be up-to-date in best practices for your current role, but you want to set yourself up for success with whatever comes next for you. For example, I attended PD to meet requirements by my district but I pursued my master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction because I knew I wanted to move into teacher leadership at some point and obtained my National Board certification twice as an Early Childhood generalist since I mainly supported elementary educators.

Next Steps

No matter what you decide to do, follow these tips for maximum results:

1. Engage fully in the experience– don’t shortchange yourself by going through the motions because what you put in is what you will get out of it
2. Connect with others– much of what I gained is not from the PD itself, but from the people in it with me because their wisdom and advice is unmatched (and who doesn’t want to make friends?)
3. Track your learning – even if your school or district is tracking your PD, it is always a good idea to keep your own records just in case (especially pay attention to the expiration dates!)

GO BE GREAT!

The post Continuing Education Tips & Advice appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Gather

Engage in a quick self-reflection.

• What actions do you take consistently?
• What thoughts do you think often?
• Which words do you use daily?

Begin making a list of your core coaching moves – habits you have developed over time. Don’t limit yourself to moves that you think are negative or need to be changed. Focus on making your list without considering ramifications.

You might want to even add coaching moves you have seen or experienced others use on a daily basis. These might be things you want to add into your repertoire over time. Check out my list of core coaching moves that I myself have used for years and know to be extremely effective in helping staff and students grow to their potential.

Analyze and Categorize

Now that you have your list, it’s time to make sense of the moves on the list. Engage in an analysis, asking yourself questions like:

• “Is this a strategy to use with everyone or just a specific subset of individuals?”
• “Can I use this daily or is it better served under certain circumstances?”
• “Is this something to say or do publicly or privately?”

Shift items in your list by priority from every day use to specific, unique purposes.

Execute

Now that you planned out your coaching moves and prepared for when and how to use them, it’s time to execute! These are strategies that you will use to increase your effectiveness in leading teachers and students. You will begin to rely on these core strategies and others will ask you “wow, how did you do x, y, z?” Then you can confidently explain what you do, how you do it, and most importantly, why it works.

Tracking your core coaching moves is one way to remain an effective teacher leader!

If you’re looking for ways to expand your leadership skillset, consider joining an elite group of teacher leaders (instructional coach, specialist, PD facilitator, administrator, etc.) in my fall or spring Teacher Leader Mastermind cohorts. We virtually meet every other week to learn new leadership strategies, share our expertise, problem solve challenges, set and track goals and more!

GO BE GREAT!

What are your core coaching moves?

The post Core Coaching Moves for Teacher Leaders appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Preparation

When training to become a teacher leader, much of the focus is on logistics of the job. Where will you work, what will you do, who reports to who, where to access materials, etc. Although this is helpful training, teacher leaders tend to struggle with the actual work they are doing every day. Therefore, make sure training is thorough and practical. Try talking through common pitfalls of the job to ensure teacher leaders are prepared and ready to be effective immediately. This means there is less learning on the job employing their best effort strategies. Preparation is key to being effective quicker, leading to a more productive outcome for yourself and those you lead.

Critical Thinking

Many teacher leaders do a very good job at their day-to-day tasks. However, some struggle when it comes to obstacles arriving without warning paired with no prior experience. When discussing common coaching scenarios with these leaders, they are able to strengthen their critical thinking skills. Brainstorming and prioritizing most effective strategies builds muscle memory. Consequently, the next time critical thinking is required, the brain can jump right into that mode and solve problems easily. Great leaders don’t avoid problems; they are just great at thinking critically through them.

Collaboration

Our ideas become better when we enhance each other’s original ideas. This means we have to sit in collaboration with others and share our ideas. Through discussion, our original idea is built up to a better version. Using the group’s prior knowledge and experience, an idea can blossom into an effective solution quickly. This is hard to do if you are only thinking on your own. Therefore, surround yourself with others in similar roles to discuss common problems and potential solutions. This will allow you to share ideas and make them better. This positively impacts each leader and the campus full of staff and students they support.

Next Steps

Want to know what some common coaching obstacles are? Grab this PD resource of common coaching scenarios so that you are prepared and ready when they come! (Don’t forget to grab some colleagues and engage in this learning experience together!)

GO BE GREAT!

What is a common coaching scenario you have witnessed?

The post Common Coaching Scenarios to Navigate as a Teacher Leader appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post will discuss examples of professional boundaries and specific tips for how teachers and teacher leaders can navigate the creation of these boundaries.

Examples of Professional Boundaries

There are physical, mental, emotional, and social boundaries to consider.

• Physical – using a non contact greeting instead of a hug or a handshake
• Mental –  setting work hours or a schedule to avoid burnout and exhaustion
• Emotional – choosing to surround yourself with positive attitudes instead of negative ones
• Social – not engaging in gossip in the staff lounge in efforts to maintain healthy relationships with all colleagues

Professional Boundaries for Teachers

Teachers will need to set professional boundaries when working with other teachers. There will be colleagues who they are friends with and others whom they are not. Regardless, professional boundaries allow the work environment to remain cordial and productive.

Tips for establishing professional boundaries with colleagues as a teacher are:

• read the code of conduct and adhere to it daily
• keep conversations about personal life to a minimum
• hold up your end of the bargain in working partnerships
• avoid gossiping about colleagues
• respect other’s chosen boundaries

Professional Boundaries for Teacher Leaders

Teacher leaders (instructional coaches, PD facilitators, specialists, mentors, etc.) will need to set professional boundaries when working with teachers they support. Although they are not an administrator, they do have leadership duties to fulfill. Leading your peers can be uncomfortable if you are friends with these colleagues, so setting boundaries ensures you can be cordial with peers but also complete leadership duties.

Tips for establishing professional boundaries as a teacher leader are:

• meet with each teacher on your caseload and discuss professionalism in the partnership
• design an availability calendar so teachers know when to schedule time to work together
• offer contact details with specific hours of operation
• share a coaching menu so it is clear how you can help teachers
• hold all colleagues accountable on a continual basis to meet expectations for the partnership

No matter your role in education, it is important to set and respect boundaries. This decreases unwanted stress and frustration while at work, allowing you to do the best you can as an educator.

Looking for more professional development on how to be an effective educator? Browse here.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you establish boundaries in your role?

The post Creating Professional Boundaries with Colleagues appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Model

Take time to reflect on what you yourself are thankful for and write it down on a post-it note. As you start collecting thankful notes, create a visual display for all to see. Draw or print off a turkey body, and place different colored post-it notes with your thankful statements all around the body to serve as the feathers. Others will take notice of your daily thankful habit and join you by either adding theirs to your turkey or by creating their own.

Collaborate

Create a thankful chain as a staff. Cut up strips of different colored construction paper. Staff can grab as many strips as they’d like and write one thing or person they are thankful for and link it together in chain form. This can hang in the front office or along the hallways in the school. Students will notice and want to create their own thankful chain too!

Need other ideas for students to build their thankful habit? Check this out.

Extend

We don’t only want to be thankful around the Thanksgiving season, but year-round too! Creating a daily, weekly, or monthly thankful habit will ensure you keep perspective when life gets hard. I use a “blessings journal” in which I write down the date and a description anytime something positive happens in my life (personally and professionally). It’s a record of blessings to help remind me that goodness is surrounding me. Find a habit you can stick to and you’ll notice how quickly you have taught your brain to pay attention to the good happening around you. Your mood will lighten, your stress will seem more bearable, and you’ll be motivated to keep going, knowing more blessings will come.

GO BE GREAT!

What thankful habit will you create? 

The post Unique Ways to Give Thanks appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Story

One of my strengths is helping people move from “I wish” or “I hate it when” or “I’ve always wanted to” to the exact destination they thought was far from reality. Just like great teachers plan backwards, I am able to help folks create a manageable, practical pathway towards their goal. But I don’t just solve their problem and send them off… do you know the likelihood that would even happen? Slim to none! I sit copilot along their journey, prompting them with course correcting questions, celebrating progress, connecting them to resources and people to best assist them in getting where they are going, and so much more. Accountability is the secret sauce to get dreamers and planners to actual achievers. Psst- that’s about to be YOU!

Rationale

I thought I would use this strength to share a lesson with you today on accountability partners in terms of teaching with coaches. Having somebody that I trusted and that I could be honest and open with, because they weren’t the administrator, and they weren’t the one doing my walk-throughs was important. I could be like “I really want to try this thing, I’m really nervous and really excited and want you to help me think this through.”

My former coach was one of those pivotal accountability partners without it being an official thing. I was always talking things out, and she was always supporting me and asking questions. It forced me to take my idea to a new level and consider things I hadn’t thought of before. I was like “Yes, this is what I was missing.”

All the way back in teaching, I can track how accountability partners have helped me grow. When I started the business side of Always a Lesson I needed other edu-mamas in my corner. It felt like I was the only one trying to be two things, and trying to be amazing at two things. I needed to talk to other people who got it, understood it, who were living it, so we could swap strategies and ideas. I found some folks and we used the app Voxer. It’s a walkie-talkie app, and it is real-life, informal conversations. I am so thankful for that group that I hand-picked, hand-selected, and then put in this Voxer group. I could talk things out and allow it to help me develop into the next phase of what Always a Lesson was going to be.

Then fast forward to when I work with my teacher leaders in my mastermind. What sets it apart from other coaching programs, is I am not the one sitting there being the guru telling you what you need to do. I have curated a group of people sitting around a virtual table, talking about your specific obstacle, challenge, idea, dream, future goal, or vision. Then we all help you decide the best pathway to get there. And that’s accountability, because the thing that these folks say each meeting when they report back on their achievements for the week, the highs and the lows, and the “oh my goodness I barely made it,” was “I knew I had to come back and report to you all, and I didn’t want to disappoint.”

And that sounds awful, because it’s like “why are you doing it for other people?” But sometimes, if we have no one to tell, and no ones going to know, we relax a little too much, we pull back a little bit, and then we have no one to blame but ourselves when we don’t get to our goal. So when we speak it into existence, we say it out loud, we tell people that we care about, “I’m doing this thing, and you’re going to help me do it” it forces you to show up and keep that commitment to yourself.

Over these years from teaching and then coaching, to having this business, and then helping teacher leaders, I’ve learned what works, which is a consistent check in. I’ve also learned what doesn’t (wishy washy partners with different dedication levels). I know how to do it better now (norms, agreements, check points, re-evaluations, etc.). I figured out how to find the right partner (psst it’s not going to be your BFF or mama unless they are already where you want to be, which is not likely). If accountability partnerships have worked REALLY well for me, it turns out they will probably work really well for you too!

Lesson

When you let others know what you want to accomplish and invite them to be part of your cheerleading/help squad, you can decrease the amount of time it takes to achieve it AND surpass your goal because of momentum and better habits. If you’re falling short of your goals or believe you can go further than imagined but not sure how, an accountability partner is just the solution you need to add to your growth strategy.

8 Tips on How to Find an Accountability Partner

1. Get clear on the goal
2. Make a list of eligible mentors and potential ride-alongs (folks going the same place but aren’t quite there yet either)
3. Put your feelers out there and make the ask
4. Try it on for size – chat informally, swap goals, keep it positive
5. If it’s a good fit, make it official – contract, verbal commitment with deadline, draft out goals and next steps, choose a communication tool and meet regularly
6. Hold them accountable- pay attention to their goals, make sure actions align, notice commitment and consistency levels, cheer-cheer-cheer, ask questions, provide suggestions when asked, ask how they need you to show up
7. Have them hold you accountable- be honest about what you need in a partner and how you wish to be held accountable (hard core or soft and nice?), be open and honest with how things are going, check in without be asked, toot your own horn, ask for feedback
8. Make adjustments as necessary- if life gets busy, pull back on how often you check in, tweak your goals, or even if you outgrow your accountability partner and are ready for whomever is at the next milestone check point, restart this process as often as needed

Your goals are only as great as your follow through. Part of that follow through is an accountability partner. Choosing the right one, staying committed through the process, and putting in the work to get to your destination. It’s a partnership, back and forth and you’ll be thankful you took the time to find the perfect match. (Not just someone who tells you everything you do and say is amazing, but someone who helps broaden your perspective and grow your skillset). That is the ideal candidate.

Being an effective accountability partner is achievable. You have 8 steps to ensure it works for you and not against you. Be your best for someone else and it will attract others to be the same for you. Together, you will go far.

Are you a more of an audio learner? Check out the podcast that inspired this blog post here.

GO BE GREAT!

Do you need have an accountability partner, or find a new one?

The post How to Be an Effective Accountability Partner appeared first on Always A Lesson.

How Does a Sunshine Committee Work?

Whether it’s simple or elaborate, the sunshine committee comes together to brainstorm and plan opportunities for the entire year. They receive a budget from the administrative team (or collect donations from the local community). Common celebrations are birthdays, personal or professional milestones, sympathy/condolences and more!

The best part of the sunshine committee is the element of surprise. When teachers least expect it, shower them with appreciation and a small treat. This can be placed in their workroom mailbox or stop by their classroom throughout the day. (Having a teacher’s favorite things form like this one on hand will help you select the perfect treat to make their day!)

If you prefer to have an announced sunshine day, try using a cart. Share the upcoming day with teachers to be spoiled with a treat. They will fill out a form like this one to request specific items, and deliver treats to teachers on a rolling cart as you pass their classroom.

Below are recommendations for items to include in your sunshine cart.

Recommendations for Sunshine Cart Items

Teacher Stickers:

Bookmarks:

Notepads:

Thank You Stickers (These could go great on a note with an item they selected on their survey.):

Keychain:

Journal:

Pencil Gift Basket (Pair this with a note and fill with candy selected on the survey form.):

Sticky Notes:

Teacher Pens:

Stamps:

Thank you for spreading cheer around the school building and acknowledging the hard work teachers do each and every day! Also check out Teacher Appreciation Notes and VIP Teacher Awards to spread some cheer around your building!

Go Be Great!

What has been your favorite way to be spoiled by the Sunshine Committee?

The post The Importance of the Sunshine Committee at your School appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The post 3 Ways to Organize your Tasks and Time appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Read the blog post below to find out what these questions are, why we need to use them, and how it actually moves teacher performance forward.

What are guiding questions?

Guiding questions are a series of questions asked of a learner (in this case teachers) to help them arrive at a solution. They are often used to problem solve, bring clarity to confusion, and empower the learner into a position of innovator. Most often, they provide insight into what, why, and how teachers make the decisions they do in the classroom.

In essence, this questioning technique “guides” the teacher towards resolution. This leads to greater performance in the classroom.

These questions can be stems where the coach or administrator fill in the specifics of that teacher’s obstacle or area of focus. Or these questions can be generated ahead of time based on the school or district goals and expectations for proficiency. Either way, guiding questions are intentional prompts to steer one’s thinking. This allows the learner to have more ownership in the problem solving experience, having an immediate positive impact on their critical thinking capability. This increases the chances that the learner will repeat this questioning technique themselves in the future to trouble shoot obstacles.

Guiding questions lead to growth.

Why do we need to use guiding questions?

When supporting the growth of teachers, specific questions allow for simple prompts to guide the mind towards expansion. Reflection and realization allow the teacher to understand what they were doing before and the impact it had on students. It then allows them to revise their actions to have a more positive impact on student learning in the classroom.

Without specific types of questions, teachers are unable to train their brain to follow a thinking pattern that leads to growth. They will rely on others to tell them what to do. If no one is around to do so, teachers will result to repeating the same behaviors and actions stunting their growth in the process.

Guiding questions empower learners and increase their ownership in their own growth journey. They ensure that the focus of coaching and mentorship remain aligned with school and district goals/initiatives. They also improve the collaborative relationships between colleagues.

Supporting learners with questions ensures they receive personalized assistance while remaining at the wheel of their own career trajectory.

How do guiding questions move teacher performance forward?

It can be hard to get “unstuck.” Sometimes teachers are faced with obstacles that they cannot see a way around. Through bite-sized questioning, teachers are able to see a clear path forward to overcome their obstacle and unleash their potential as an educator.

These questions illuminate a path forward. This allows the learner to avoid derailing on rabbit holes of frustrations and surface level struggles. Guiding questions get to the root of problems, bring clarity to a resolution, and get teachers unstuck quickly.

Instructional coaches and leaders can ensure guiding questions effectively move teacher performance forward. They need to become well versed in the types of questions to ask, and gain proficiency in varying the delivery based on the teacher they are supporting. Reading quality sample questions, developing your own, and rehearsing them in a practice round of coaching are important. This ensures all leaders are normed on how to execute guiding questions effectively.

If you’re in need of a resource to help develop strong guiding questions to move teacher performance forward, grab it here.

GO BE GREAT!

What guiding questions do you use to move teacher performance forward?

The post Guiding Questions that Move Teacher Performance Forward appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Onboarding should be the entry point from which all other training, support and development flow. Sadly, onboarding is an afterthought in many schools.

This post will describe who should receive onboarding and what should be included in the onboarding protocol. It will also include resources to support those designing and delivering onboarding to educators. Use the needs of your school to design customized onboarding systems.

Who Should Receive Onboarding

The following types of educators should receive onboarding prior to beginning their roles to ensure preparation and success:

• New Teacher
• New Hires
• Student Teachers
• Cooperating Teacher for Student Teachers
• Teacher Mentor
• Instructional Coach/PD Facilitator/Specialist
• Any Educator Changing Roles

What Onboarding Protocol Should Include for New Teachers

Onboarding support is essential for teachers who enter new buildings or roles. Some descriptors below include links to onboarding protocols. Download and customize them to fit your needs.

• New Teacher– New teachers need to bridge the gap from what they learned in college to how it applies in the exact environment they are teaching in. This could be from a school tour to curriculum digestion and everything in between.
  • Rookie teachers at the elementary level can read “Elementary EDUC 101- What They Didn’t Teach you in College” as part of their onboarding homework.
• New Hire– Any new staff member entering the school building should receive onboarding that allows them to acclimate to the new environment. They will need to get a lay of the land prior to meeting with colleagues to discuss content.
  • A protocol listed out ensures each new hire receives adequate training. Reference the New Hire Onboarding Checklist to get you started.
  • Read the blog post entitled Onboarding: How to Support a New Hire at your School to understand all that a new hire onboarding protocol should include
• Student Teacher–  When a student teacher enters your building, this is often their first experience with teaching on their own. It is a big moment full of emotions and anxiety. Aligning your onboarding with the college’s requirements will provide clarity and limit confusion and overwhelming feelings.
  • Reference the Student Teacher Kit for ideas on what student teachers might need themselves in order to have a successful experience working with a cooperating teacher.

What Onboarding Protocol Should Include for New Roles

• Cooperating Teacher– An effective teacher isn’t always able to easily teach someone else how to teach. Additional information beyond tips for invitations and collaborations with another teacher in your classroom are necessary. Teaching how to lead their growth and development can be challenging. Onboarding will provide the roadmap for helping student teachers thrive under the care of cooperating teachers.
  • Glance at the Hosting a Student Teacher Kit for ideas on what cooperating teachers should provide to their student teachers to ensure they are prepared for the experience.
• Mentor– Helping a colleague develop their craft can be tricky, just like the role of a cooperating teacher. You have to be a strong teacher but also be able to allow someone else to develop their own style AND be successful. Onboarding allows mentors to know how to provide support from a distance, unlike the cooperating teacher.
  • Use the Teacher Mentor Kit to outline expectations for the mentor and mentee so that the partnership leads to growth in teacher performance.
• Coaches, Facilitators, Specialists, Etc. – Leading others to become stronger in their roles requires training. This makes sure that each person is operating in alignment with school goals, admin expectations, and understanding of teacher’s needs and wants.
  • With over 300+ pages full of coaching support and forms to track how you’re working with teachers, the Instructional Coaching Bundle will allow you to be organized with a clear execution plan on supporting the growth of teachers.
• Any Educator Changing Roles–  Onboarding role switchers will range from simple to complex depending on how similar their new role is to their old one. You might not have a clear protocol developed every time, but acknowledge the adjustment and provide support how you see fit so that they can be just as successful as before.

Next Steps for Onboarding

The following steps will allow you to implement your own successful onboarding protocols at your school site:

• Gather all of your resources
• Decide who in your building is eligible for onboarding
• Appoint teacher leaders to run the onboarding process (and train them as such)
• Include a meeting with yourself for everyone enrolled in the onboarding process
• Track your onboarding protocols and make adjustments as necessary

Now that you know who should receive onboarding and what the protocol should include, you’re on your way to ensuring educators are supported from the start.

If you are need of resources to help you become an even stronger teacher or coach, browse these printable and digital options. Check out my instructional coaching must-haves here. Don’t forget to catch up on other helpful blog posts as well. Snag my newest book, Always A Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success here!

GO BE GREAT!

What does your onboarding protocol look like?

The post The Importance of Providing Onboarding for Educators appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Researching

If you are ready for a change in your career as an educator, researching options for what’s next is a great first step.

• Make a list of what you like and dislike about your current position
• Decide what future role includes more of the likes than the dislikes from the list
• Ask your admin team what career options are available for the upcoming school year
• Search vacancies in your district

Preparing

Once you know what role is a good fit and a potential option, begin preparing to be considered for the role.

• Read relevant articles online outlining common roles, duties, and expectations for the role you want to obtain
• Join networking groups (virtual or in-person) with others currently doing the role you wish to have
• Make a list of questions you have about the role
• Get clear on why you are ready and capable for the role so that you can share that during an interview process
• Interview for the role and follow up with a thank you, outlining your commitment and interest in the role

Diving in

Now that you have landed your new role, it’s time to dive in!

• Meet your colleagues and exchange contact information
• Gather, organize, and review all necessary resources to complete the role successfully
• Settle into your new space
• Set 2-3 reasonable goals for the first year in your new role
• Request a mentor or connect with your professional learning network [PLN] to receive support as needed

Next Steps

You now have numerous tips to transition roles or grade levels so that you can continue to grow and thrive as an educator. If you are in need of additional resources, browse the following categories:

• Instructional Coaching
• Professional Development
• Math
• Reading
• Science
• Social Studies
• Writing

Wishing you the best of luck in your new role!

GO BE GREAT!

Which tip was most helpful in learning how to successfully switch positions or grade levels?

The post Tips for Switching Positions or Grade Levels as an Educator appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will outline the characteristics necessary to have a strong mentor in your teacher mentorship program.

Logistical Non-Negotiables

• Same grade level or subject area (or only one grade level removed)- Understanding the content area and idiosyncrasies of teaching similar aged students will allow the mentor to provide the most accurate and effective guidance
• Available to meet during the day (similar planning/lunch periods)- Teachers should not be required to meet outside of contracted hours, so finding time during the day is important and easier if schedules line up
• Interested in supporting the growth of another teacher– Sometimes potential mentor candidates don’t have mental, emotional, or physical capacity to support the growth of someone else, so ensure a mentor is interested, invested, and eager to participate

Desired Attributes

• High performing on evaluations– It will be hard for a mentor to guide the performance of another teacher, if they are not able to reach a high performance themselves
• Leadership potential or interest– Just because a teacher is strong in the classroom, does not mean they are capable of helping someone else develop their skillset (leadership)
• Patient, positive attitude– Growth takes time, so a mentor should naturally be patient and remain positive no matter how quick the growth occurs, so the mentee feels encouraged to keep trying
• Strong communicator–  Mentors will be giving constructive feedback to help the teacher grow, so the need to be able to deliver clear, succinct directives
• Good listener– Teachers will face struggles and mentors need to be able to listen well enough to determine what those areas are in order to help them problem solve

Helpful Resources

Now that you are able to identify the characteristics needed in potential mentor candidates, review the following resources related to mentorship for additional support in designing your teacher mentorship program.

• Podcasts

  • 234: Why Your Mentorship Program isn’t Working

  • 229: The Future of Mentorship

• Blog Posts

  • 5 Mistakes a Teacher Mentor Makes

  • Tips for Making the Most out of Teacher Mentorship

  • Fire Your Mentor, Hire Your Idol

  • The Power of Mentorship

  • Being an Effective Mentor with Paula Rutherford

  • New Teacher Gift Ideas

  • 10 Ways to Lead Others as a Classroom Teacher

• Printable Resources

  • Teacher Mentor Kit

  • Mentor – Mentee Discussion Dice Activity

  • Experts in Education

  • Effective Teacher Mentorship

GO BE GREAT!

What characteristics did you admire most about your teacher mentor?

The post Characteristics of an Effective Teacher Mentor appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Similarities in Roles

• Purpose– Instructional coaching, whether at a school building or district level, is the same- support the growth of teachers and students.
• Skills– How coaches coach an individual teacher remains the same- listen, make suggestions, provide resources, be available, give feedback, practice specific skills, etc.
• Impact– Working with a teacher and positively impacting their classroom of students is a powerful perk of instructional coaching. Each additional classroom working with a coach receives the benefit of outside perspective and strong instructional experience. This happens regardless if it’s only a single school or an entire district. The impact multiplies success.

Differences in Roles

• Focus– The district may have a different focus for coaching than an individual school building had. Understanding how the coaching position is to be utilized prior to transitioning will ensure a coach can best prepare for the focus shift.
• PLN– Without a single home base, it can be difficult to enmesh into a school community. You will no longer spend all of your time in one place with the same group of people. Learning to build relationships and make allies throughout the district ensures your PLN remains strong and helpful.
• Time– Commuting between schools takes time out of the school day where you could be physically meeting with teachers. District coaches have to get creative in how to support teachers virtually (social media apps, various communication tools, email, text, phone, etc.) so that even when commuting they are still serving teachers. It is important to plan your days, weeks, and months intentionally. This ensures you maximize time at every campus and can be available to teachers even when you are not physically there.
• Space– When a coach supports multiple campuses, they may or may not have their own space (ie. office) to work out of. They may have a coat closet, a niche under the stairwell, a cart, or some other common place to use while in a particular building. [See past blog post on Coach Life: Not Having a Home Base.] Organization and efficient systems help district coaches travel with a lighter load and work effectively out of various spaces throughout the district’s schools.  [See past blog post on Getting Organized as an Instructional Coach.]

Tips for the Transition

• Chat with the Coordinator– Whomever is in charge of district level instructional coaches, is someone who can answer all of your logistical questions. Be sure to get all the details for your role cleared up before beginning. Hold on to their contact information as you will probably need to get in touch with them throughout the year.
• Meet with Building Principals– Drive to each school you will support and meet the principals. You do not need to have a lengthy meeting, but it’s essential to put faces to names. Any other communication can occur over email or phone if need be. But make the introduction in person and get a lay of the land so you know where to park, how to enter, where to work out of, etc.
• Introduce Yourself to Staff– You most likely are working with specific staff members rather than the entire staff. Receive a roster so you know who you are supporting at each school site. Meet each teacher in person, even if just a quick “hello.” Leave them with your contact details (ie. a business card) so they can reach you when they need to. You’ll want to see the location of their classroom at this point in time as well. Answer any questions they might have. (You can do a smaller version of “Cupcakes with Coach” and have all the teachers you support come to a central location to meet you. I also suggest visiting their classrooms so you know how to get there and what the general set up is like. This will help your feedback be as accurate as possible for the setting.)
• Get Organized– Having all of your resources accessible online helps limit what you are carrying with you into each school. Any physical items can be placed in a rolling cart or bag to not hurt yourself lugging it around. Ensure you can access any remote resources at each school site. Having folders per building and per teacher should help you stay organized.
• Coach and Adjust– Once you have prepared, it’s time to get coaching. Make adjustments as necessary to ensure you are timely, productive, and effective when at schools working with teachers. Let staff know you are figuring out your systems and get their feedback on how things are going. Reflect and adjust as needed.

Moving from school to district instructional coach is an honor! It can feel daunting but after reading this post you are now prepared for the transition. You will love widening your net of impact!

If you are in need of instructional coaching resources, browse them here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Moving from School to District Instructional Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

1. Vision– Coaching was so new that many leaders didn’t know exactly how to use a coach. Not understanding how you want to utilize a position in your strategy to support teachers makes it a frustrating, energy-wasting experience for all involved. Sit down and get clear on the north star. “We are using coaching to support teachers because __________ and we plan to do this by _________.” [Read past blog post on Coach Life: Wearing all the Hats.]
2. Execution Plan– Coaches were hired because it was the trending best practice, but admin were not taking the time to outline systems or procedures for coaches to follow. This meant they had to make them up from scratch without background knowledge. This created mayhem and unproductive busywork. Once you know your vision for coaching, plan 3-5 major tasks that only coaches will tackle. Outline expectations and brainstorm how this could be done. It can be revised along the way, but being on the same page prior to executing will avoid headaches and random task delegation. (See an example here.)
3. Feedback System– The district provided performance rubrics for teachers but not for coaches. There was no evaluative system to determine if the coach was executing their tasks effectively nor feedback for how to get better. Not having a measuring stick made it hard to know which coaches were making an impact and which were not (or exactly why they were not). Develop a performance rubric for coaching similar to that of a teacher’s in your district. Clarity will ensure coaches meet expectations. (See an example here.)
4. Loneliness– Whether a coach works for the district or a particular school, they are often one of a few (or the only one). Coaches go from being part of a thriving multiple person team to a solo job. Missing camaraderie and support from others going through a similar situation is common. Creating your own PLN virtually will allow you to swap stories, celebrate wins, share strategies, and feel connected with others just like you. Get into Facebook groups, use apps to communicate by voice or video, and join a mastermind to make the job less lonely.
5. Freedom– There are moments in the day where coaches have to be at a particular place at a specific time. But for the most part, coaches experience far more freedom than when they were teachers in a classroom. They can go the bathroom, eat lunch and complete tasks in a much more flexible timeframe. Usually coaches can create their own schedules and design them around their own habits, personalities, and needs. When I drove between school sites, I was able to quickly grab a tasty lunch and that brought me so much joy! I also loved being out and about in the building rather than stuck in one room all day. Develop a schedule for yourself with the approval of your administrator and enjoy the freedom! (Read the blog post “A Day in the Life of an Instructional Coach.”)
6. Multiply Effect- An instructional coach can have a tremendous positive impact on student achievement and teacher proficiency within a school building. Teaching teachers how to be more effective increases the quality of instruction in all classrooms, not just one. Here’s how the multiply effect equation goes: 1 teacher with 20+ kids x # of teachers per grade level x # of grade levels in the school building = one major positive ripple effect across the building.

Being an instructional coach is very rewarding, but it does come with some challenges. I wish I had been prepared, prior to jumping into the role, with the tips I shared with you in this post. Your experience may be much more organized than mine (and I truly hope that for you), but if not, these tips will provide talking points as you chat with your principal to ensure coaching is effective at your school or district.

If you are in need of resources to support your role as an instructional coach, browse here. You can also view my favorite education books here.

GO BE GREAT!

The post What I Wish I Knew about Being an Instructional Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Collaboration can:

• Increase one’s knowledge-base
• Model skills and strategies
• Multiply innovative ideas
• Bond a team together

The problem is many schools require teachers to collaborate without providing training in how to do so effectively. Establish norms so teachers know the both the expected behaviors and possible accomplishments achievable by working together. An example of norms are below.

Collaboration means we aren’t:

• Talking at – Instead of talking at each other, educators need to listen, process, and respond on topic. It is more about flushing out ideas than sharing our own unrelated ideas. Especially with efforts to be the loudest or most agreed with person in the room.
• Tuning Out– Oftentimes when someone else’s problems don’t relate to us, we tune them out.  Collectively, we are powerful. So if we ignore our colleagues concerns or obstacles, we diminish the power of the group. We need to use our own experiences, skills, and knowledge to provide potential solutions. Eventually it will be your turn to need help. You’ll want people in your corner helping you grow, not tuning you out.
• Working Against Each Other–  Collaboration should have a firm beginning and end time in order to honor other responsibilities of each group member. However, collaboration can happen anywhere at any time. Informal collaboration means everyone is supporting each other in all the nooks and crannies in their day. Working together is an ongoing process.
• Focused on self- We need to focus on the collective efficacy of the group, even when we hone in on a particular problem one member is facing. If we are selfish worrying about what we can get rather than give, we limit our own growth and that of others.

Even if schools are doing collaboration right and avoiding the pitfalls mentioned above, they might not be doing collaboration correctly on a consistent basis. The constant support of each other is how individually and collectively strengths can grow to fruition.

Build Collaboration By:

• Setting goals– Decide as a group what it is you want to achieve together
• Setting norms– Establish behaviors that are expected at each and every formal collaboration
• Establishing procedures/protocols– Create a format and flow for a collaborative meeting so that it is focused on the end goal and supportive in nature
• Meeting consistently– Put it on the calendar on a repetitive basis and honor that time so that it does not get taken away for other meetings that come up
• Holding each other accountable– Whether you said you would bring materials to a meeting, watch a colleague teach, review data, or take a risk in your own role, everyone must support each other so that we do what we say we are going to do.

If you want to experience the power of collaboration to increase effectiveness and grow your own professional learning network, join the Teacher Leader Mastermind.

GO BE GREAT!

How are you ensuring your collaborations with colleagues are effective?

The post How to Effectively Collaborate with Colleagues appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Chat with Colleagues

Before you begin, it is helpful to chat with some colleagues who are also instructional coaches. Ask them what systems and processes they use. You don’t have to replicate what they use and how they use it, but it helps keep you from starting from scratch if you don’t have to. Plus, they’ll have helpful tips so you can avoid common pitfalls in terms of organization. If you have ideas of your own, this is the perfect time to run those by your colleagues. They can point out things you haven’t thought of or support your idea and encourage you to implement it for your teachers.

Design Your Work Space

If the space you operate in is messy, your brain will also become messy. This will keep you from completing tasks in a timely manner, decreasing the impact you can have with teachers. First, take stock of what furniture is available to you in your space- table, desk, chairs, bookshelves, etc. Think about how you plan to use those things.

• Chairs- Teachers can relax while they chat with you
• Tables – A planning space for collaboration
• Bookshelves- Store manipulatives for lessons, PD books to check out, binders of standards and pacing guides, etc.

Next, decide how you want to operate in the space. How can teachers reach you if you are not in your work space? Where should teachers drop off materials to you? What furniture placement makes the best use of space while also contributing to an inviting atmosphere?

Lastly, think through how you will store your items for easy reference and confidentiality.

The organization in your workplace sets the tone for the organization in how you show up and serve teachers.

Gather Materials

Whether you plan to use digital or hard copy materials, you’ll want to gather them in one place.

• Digital- Google drive or a schools hard drive is a good place to house all of the materials you will need to coach teachers. Create folders for grade levels, content areas, assessments, lesson plans, feedback forms, etc. The more you can niche down in topic for a folder, the better. You’ll want to make sure you can access these documents no matter where you are coaching, so choose wisely!
• Hard Copy- Grab a large binder to house master copies of coaching forms and materials. You can use manila folders or small binders per grade level/subject area or even teacher. Keep these binders nearby as you’ll need to reference them often, especially to make copies.

Ask your colleagues for templates of coaching forms they use, or browse here. You’ll want to gather or design coaching forms that walk teachers through the growth process from start to finish. This means you’ll start with interest surveys to get to know your teachers better before you dive into working with them, as well as more meaty materials like lesson observation, reflection questions, and/or growth plan documentation. (Some common categories are data, observations, and professional development.)

Not every form will be used with every teacher, but it is essential to have a support document to meet each of your teachers right where they are. This is why binder storage is essential so you can grow your resources year after year!

Develop Systems

The last part of organization has to do with systems. Your workspace and material stash is set up and ready to go, but what do your operations look like? How do teachers sign up for coaching cycles? How do you deliver feedback? How can teachers check out materials? Where will you create your calendar to track meetings, appointments, PD sessions, PLC collaborations, etc.?

Think through working with teachers from start to finish, just like you did when you gathered materials. Each interaction should have a simple process to follow for efficiency. This allows you to deliver high quality coaching support to teachers. Some systems you’ll think of ahead of time (documentation delivery) and others you’ll realize after the fact (colleague learning walks). Your systems do not need to be perfect, but you do need to have a streamlined plan.

Don’t be afraid to make adjustments as you go. Being responsive to changing student and staff needs is a superpower! Once you master organization, coaching gets a whole lot easier.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you stay organized for coaching?

The post Get Organized for Coaching! appeared first on Always A Lesson.

What is i-Gap?

In the book “Trust Based Observations” written by Craig Randall, there is a chapter about delivering feedback. He reminded readers to be patient with how quickly teachers are able to successfully implement their new learning. Oftentimes, when we learn new skills, it takes a while to implement them successfully. We sometimes even regress in our performance as we figure out how to integrate the new skill. This is what author Craig Randall refers to as the “implementation gap” or what I call the i-Gap.

Introduce the i-Gap

Spend time introducing this concept to teachers. Let them know it is a normal process of learning and that if we do not understand and recognize the likelihood it can happen, the more frustrated we will be during the learning process. Without knowing about the implementation gap, teachers may give up on executing their learning in the classroom- especially if they notice their performance going backwards in proficiency.

During professional learning communities [PLC’s] or during a professional development [PD] session, introduce the i-Gap to teachers. Have them recall learning something new and how that process unfolded. As they share common experiences and pinpoint when the i-Gap occurred, they’ll realize how common it is.

They will now know what to expect and how to react as they learn new skills under your guidance.

Prepare for the i-Gap

As you design learning experiences for teachers, build in the following:

• self-reflection questions that allow teachers to notice where they are in the learning process
• collaboration with peers so they can exchange ideas and strategies for implementing new learning in their classrooms
• encouragement for teachers when they express frustration with implementing their new learning
• celebrations as teachers experience success moving through the i-Gap

It’s important to normalize the implementation gap during the learning process. As teachers learn about the i-Gap, they should apply the same principles in their classroom as students learn new skills as well.

In need of more support in helping teachers implement learning? Download these printable PD guides and/or listen to these bite-sized PD sessions.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you manage the implementation gap?

The post Managing the Implementation Gap appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This blog post shares ways to maximize your time and effort before, during, and after the conference.

Before the Conference

Preparation is key. The more you know going into the conference, the more you are able to capitalize on all of the opportunities available to you. This allows you to be physically and mentally present at the conference, rather than spending your time studying the materials and using your brain power to create a plan on the fly.

• Review the learning opportunities– Read through all the professional development sessions, keynote speeches, speaker panels, workshops, and any other learning opportunity available
• Read up on presenters and speakers– Gain an understanding of who will be sharing knowledge and strategies by reading biographies of each presenter and/or speaker as well as visit their social media profiles or websites
• Create your ideal schedule – Prioritize the sessions you desire to attend, knowing you might not be able to follow the schedule as planned, due to attendance capacity caps or other logistical obstacles
• Familiarize yourself with the conference location – Visit the location website and review any maps to get a lay of the land so that you do not spend your time getting lost, rather getting where you need to be and learning the most you can

During the Conference

Just because you go to the conference to learn, doesn’t mean all the learning happens in the sessions. Be open to all that you will learn from the people there- and not just the guru’s. Be present and open to all who you meet. You never know where your next AHA will come from.

• Know your next move– Review your ideal schedule often throughout the day to keep tabs on your next session and its location so that you can move seamlessly
• Engage with conference goers– Grow your professional learning network [PLN] by getting to know who is learning along with you, exchange contact details, and learn from one another
• Be a tourist– Take all the pictures you want of the location, attendees, and other fun things happening at the conference
• Meet the presenters/speakers– Don’t be shy; Introduce yourself and share what you learned from them as a way to give back for their time spent pouring into you
• Attend sessions that will help you grow– As tempting as it is to fuel our strengths, spend time learning the things you don’t know or need further clarity on so that you leave stronger and wiser in instructional practice

After the Conference

The conference might be over, but your learning journey is just beginning. It’s time to take all that you learned and put it into practice.  Feel free to take a breather for a day or two as your brain might be overwhelmed from taking in so much information at once. When you’re ready to dive in, follow the tips below.

• Review your notes– Refresh yourself of each session or opportunity you attended and highlight your takeaways for easy reference in the future
• Make a BIG 3 list – Choose your top 3 goals you’d like to tackle over the next few months
• Get feedback – Ask your coach or colleagues to watch you implement your new learning and provide feedback to spotlight what you’re doing well and ideas for how to strengthen the implementation
• Celebrate your growth– No matter how small, celebrate the change from where you used to be to where you are now, because of what you are implementing in your classroom
• Connect with your new friends– Don’t forget to reach out to your new PLN and catch up, hold each other accountable for making changes in your practice, and celebrate your growth as a whole

If you are looking for other ways to grow your knowledge and skillset, check out my micro learning opportunities here.

GO BE GREAT!

What is your favorite thing to do at an education conference?

The post How to Make the Best Use of Time At a Conference appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Reasons for Resistance

Resistant teachers are not horrible human beings or even poor educators. They are, however, experiencing emotions that result in resistant behaviors. Emotions such as stress, overwhelm, fear, frustration, etc. As a defense mechanism to avoid feeling these emotions, negative behaviors may surface. These behaviors could look like avoidance, negative attitudes, or lack of commitment. Teachers could also be tardy, withdrawn, or argue with others.

Working around Resistance

Leaders who notice resistance in teachers should find the reason for the struggle. Focus on building relationships with all teachers. The end goal should be working together to overcome these negative emotions. Oftentimes, teachers who show resistant behaviors can be referred to as “difficult.” The truth is they are disengaged. However, emotions can change. This means that leaders can still build effective partnerships with resistant teachers. Leaders can begin the conversation to help locate the source of negative emotions. There are a few simple ways to work around resistance:

• Interact with the teacher (greet them, cheer them on, talk when in a shared space, etc.)
• Check in on the teacher (keep tabs to ensure you know when the emotions and negative behaviors are developing)
• Ask the teacher to participate in activities that bring positive emotions (ie. their favorite hobby, with coworkers they favor, etc.).

These simple touch points keep the partnership going without diving deep into the emotions quite yet.

Working through Resistance

Now that resistant behaviors have been identified, it is time to dig into the emotions. However, this can only work if a surface level relationship exists. Trust plays an important role in the teacher being ready and willing to work through the resistance. Below are steps to follow:

• • Meet 1:1
  • Explain that you have noticed less engagement than normal
  • Ask the teacher questions to help identify emotions
  • Allow the teacher to share what they are comfortable with
  • Remind them you are there to support them
  • Share strategies for how to recognize, accept, and deal with the emotions
  • Engage in a practice exercise of a common trigger at the work place (ie. colleagues frequent absences and the having to cover)
  • Agree to meet consistently (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to check on emotions
  • Celebrate growth, honesty, and willingness of returning to an engaged state

As a leader of people, it is important to remember that resistance is temporary. It is a reactive behavior that stems from an unwanted emotion. When we can help teachers recognize, identify, and overcome resistance, they can continue to have a successful career in education. Resistance is not a label for hard-headed, veteran teachers. Resistance can happen to anyone. As leaders we need to expose teachers to the reality of resistance occurring at some point in their journey. When they know it is common and can be overcome, no one will suffer in silence. Most importantly, we can help our best teachers remain effective despite resistance.

Want to continue your growth as a leader and learn strategies to best help teachers in the classroom? Consume bite-sized learning just for leaders here. (You can also listen on the go via the Teachable app!)

GO BE GREAT!

How do you work with resistant teachers effectively?

The post Coach Life: Working with Resistant Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Instructional coaches who travel to school sites experience various challenges due to not having a home base. This post will share three common challenges as well as solutions for instructional coaches that do not have a home base.

Challenge #1: Disorganization

There are four main areas of disorganization when it comes to coaches not having a home base. First, serving numerous teachers at various school sites means having to keep documentation organized- who is housed at what school. Second, each school provides different materials for coaches to utilize to support the teachers- keeping track of what is available and where. Third, adjusting to the varying protocols used at each site for how coaches are to support teachers- what and how to serve. Lastly, the varying unique teacher needs at each school can make the mind of an instructional coach disorganized.

Challenge #2: Lack of Community

When a coach is housed in one school, they are able to enmesh themselves into the culture and community of the school. They are there every day building relationships with teachers. However, when a coach does not have a home base, they come in and out of schools on a minimal basis making it difficult to become part of each school community that they serve. It’s as if they are more of a guest than a staff member.

Challenge #3: Loss of In-Person Time

When coaches do not have a home base, they spend a significant amount of time traveling to various school sites. Commuting across the district or state takes time away from being at a school serving teachers face-to-face. Meeting the needs of teachers becomes more difficult when the coach is not physically present at the school when the teachers are needing support.

Overcoming the Challenges

Disorganization is a temporary problem. Instructional coaches can create systems so that all documentation is kept in one place for each school. Having color coded folders or crates are simple tangible solutions. A better solution, however, would be organizing documentation virtually because it eliminates the need to carry materials back and forth and diminishes the likelihood that things could get lost or forgotten. Google drive is a great tool that instructional coaches can access no matter what school they are serving. Housing all of the documentation in folders by school site is a quick way to get organized. Information about school materials available and coaching protocols used at each site could be stored there as well.

Just because a coach is not at a single school, doesn’t mean they can’t still become part of a school family. Instructional coaches need to change their mindset on what a professional learning network [PLN] is, because it can extend beyond school or district walls (and it should!). There is a benefit to building a community of effective educators who come from different backgrounds, work under different leadership styles, and serve different demographics of students. Having access to a larger community can be just as rewarding as being a part of a home base school community. Instructional coaches should build connections everywhere and bloom where they are planted.

The lack of face-to-face time with teachers can happen whether coaches have a home base or not. Get creative with how an impact on teachers and students can be made virtually. Host virtual office hours to answer questions or concerns of teachers. Conduct coaching cycles or PLC’s on platforms that allow for collaboration and presentation. Ensuring teachers have access to coaches when they need help is the most important aspect, not whether they are face-to-face or not. (Voxer is my favorite way to support on the go!)

Do not fear if you are an instructional coach who doesn’t have a home base. Yes, it can be challenging, but there are ways to make it work FOR you and not against you. Grab this Instructional Coaching Mega Bundle to help you stay organized, build community, and serve teachers in unique ways.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you manage not having a home base?

The post Coach Life: Not Having a Home Base appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This post will uncover why this is happening in schools all across the nation and what instructional coaches can do to manage (and prevent) the workload.

The Problem

Teacher leadership is often sprinkled in among substitute teaching, making copies, sitting in meetings, answering the front office phone, car and bus lot duty, among many others. These duties generally fall on the shoulders of instructional coaches because schools are short staffed. On top of that, sometimes schools can’t justify hiring an employee dedicated solely to these other tasks because the tasks (albeit random) do not occur often enough. Therefore, the next available staff member to take on these tasks are instructional coaches. This can be frustrating because coaches just want to be in classrooms coaching teachers. Although instructional coaches are team players, many times the tasks they are asked to do are not related to their hired role.

The Solution: Management

You are one person, so you cannot do ALL the things. Leading teachers towards effectiveness is your priority. So you’ll want to protect that time, and fill in the tasks around that. The tips listed below will allow you to better manage the long list of extra tasks you are asked to complete.

• Ask for your duty list ahead of time (ideally a week)- Let your administrator know that you are willing to help out, but in order for you to be an effective coach you need to have as much warning as possible so you can make adjustments in your schedule.
• Prioritize your tasks based on importance– What has the biggest impact on learning? That is what stays at the top of the list. Where do you have nooks and crannies in your schedule that you can knock off some quick tasks?
• Ask for help– When you are nearing capacity to complete your required duties and these add-on requests, reach out for help from a colleague.

The Solution: Prevention

• Meet with your administrator– Prior to the school year, meet with your administrative team and establish roles and duties so that requests will align with these boundaries.
• Share your calendar– Allow administrators to know when you have available spots in your daily schedule so they can call you for last minute help if needed.
• Delegate responsibilities– Leverage the leadership within the teaching staff and appoint tasks to capable and willing colleagues.
• Take one and leave one– If you accept a task because it is important and aligned, but are unable to complete other tasks because of this new one, swap a responsibility with a colleague (ie. I’ll sit in on this IEP meeting if you can kick start this PLC meeting until I can get there).

Resources

Utilize the following resources to help you STOP wearing all the hats, and have a focused coaching plan to best support teachers:

• Develop a Coaching Plan– Create a coaching plan with tools to get organized in your work space and develop a clear instructional strategy to help teachers.
• Teacher/Coach Role Descriptors – Provide defined roles in regards to how teachers and coaches interact, what duties they hold, and what responsibilities they have in the school building.
• Teacher’s Level of Support– Help identify which duties belong to which stakeholder- mentor, coach, team leader, or administration. This graphic organizer explains it all. Makes for a great handout for staff when wondering who to go to with questions, concerns, or support.
• Coaching Menu–  Provide teachers with support options that meet their needs in terms of method and frequency.

GO BE GREAT!

How are you managing and preventing wearing all the hats?

The post Coach Life: Wearing all the Hats appeared first on Always A Lesson.

In the event that an instructional coach is being teacher for the day, below are tips to ensure it is a successful transition.

Prior to Absence

If you have a heads up that a teacher is going to be absent and you are the one filling in for them, ask for a quick run down of the day- subjects/topics being covered, announcements or special projects, behavioral expectations/rules, etc.

If you do not have a heads up that a teacher is going to be absent, consult their “Emergency Substitute Plans.” Some schools hold all teacher’s sub plans in the front office, or they might be located in the teacher’s classroom.

If there are not any emergency plans (or you cannot access them), get in touch with the team lead of that grade level to determine what content should be covered, what activities to complete, etc.

Most importantly, be sure to consult any behavior or Individualized Education Plans [IEP”s] students have in that classroom. You will need to ensure that you provide appropriate accommodations under the law.

At this preparation phase, the more information you gather, the more successful of a day it will be.

During Absence

Do your best to follow the lesson plans for the day as well as classroom expectations. Leave specific notes for the teacher by subject area, lesson, or learning period. Talk with colleagues teaching the same content area for clarification. Build relationships with students and assist as best you can with their learning needs. Your goal is to keep students safe and on schedule as best as you can. Check in with administration throughout the day to alert them of any potential issues that arise. Knowing you were jumping in to help, they should be checking on you often.

After Absence

Follow-up with the absent teacher. Share any notes you were able to take on student progress and performance. Provide a run-down of how the day went and any potential obstacles. The teacher will often have questions for you as to what was completed and how students behaved.

Once you have debriefed each other, partner together to create a plan of action for the following day. This ensures the teacher can fill any content gaps, hold students accountable for making up missing work or adhering to behavior expectations, and so forth.

Partnering together through this absence opens the door for future work together as colleagues. This experience might open the door for a coaching cycle since they got to know you, like you, and trust you as you cared for their students during the absence.

Although it’s not ideal to have an instructional coach be a teacher for a day, it does happen. And when it does, the steps listed above will ensure it is productive and successful for students.

Below are additional resources to help create positive partnerships with teachers:

• Getting Teachers to Work with You
• Ways to Build Relationships
• Reward & Encourage Teachers
• Appointment Card Reminders
• Partner with a Coach Task Cards
• Coaching Menu
• Create a Coaching Strategy

GO BE GREAT!

What tips can you share for coaches filling in for a teacher?

The post Coach Life: Being Teacher for the Day appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Below are 5 steps called “The 5 P’s” that will help teacher coaches lead meaningful conversations with teachers.

1. Purpose– Set intention for the meeting. Why is this conversation important to have? How might this conversation propel the instructional capacity of the teacher? Share this intention with the teacher prior to meeting.
2. Preparedness– Every meeting with teachers should be held with high regard. We take time to thoroughly prepare so as not to waste anyone’s time. We value their workload and ensure we have all materials gathered and a plan to execute.
3. Plan– An agenda allows both the coach and teacher to know the flow of the meeting. This can be shared with the teacher ahead of time or a copy can be shared during the meeting. This outline provides structure to the conversation, keeps it on topic, and calms anxiety of the unknown with a roadmap of expectations for the time spent together. (Need an agenda? This guide should help!)
4. Pause- Supporting the growth of a teacher requires time. Teachers need to comprehend and process the information you provide. They need to reflect on their practice and how your feedback aligns with their perspective on their performance. They even need time to design a course of action. By pausing throughout the conversation, the teacher can think and meaningfully contribute.
5. Preview– Before wrapping things up, the coach should recap the conversation and provide a preview for what is to come next. Following up and following through on a teacher’s next steps ensures they are able to be successful implementing feedback in their growth area(s).

Coaches who follow these 5 P’s for meaningful conversations will have greater success bringing teachers’ instructional capacity to fruition.

Are you in need of more professional development to continue your learning as a teacher leader? Browse these professional development and instructional coaching resources!

GO BE GREAT!

How do you have meaningful conversations as a coach?

The post 5 P’s of Meaningful Conversations as a Teacher Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Many teachers and leaders look for new ideas to share at their Literacy Night. This post will share an activity that can be used over and over again, no matter the age of the child.

Prior to the Activity

When families arrive, they can visit their child’s desk area to see a finished work related to literacy (ie. poem they have written, a completed book report, etc.) There are a few options for what happens next.

1. Once everyone arrives, the teacher (or students themselves) can read a short story and then dismiss the family and students to play the activity together based on the storyline of the short story. This option takes more time and requires everyone to be present at the same time- which can be difficult if parents have to visit multiple classrooms in one evening.
2. The teacher can choose a common text that most family members would be familiar with (ie. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, etc.). Instead of reading it aloud then, the family and students can refresh thier memory of the story events and immediately begin playing the activity together. This allows more flexibility in allowing people to come in and out of the classroom without missing instructions.

The Activity

Literacy Discussion Dice is an activity that requires two dice, a genre-specific print out of question prompts, and a common text.

After students have read a common text, they will come together in pairs to discuss the rigorous text with ease! It is an engaging, collaborative way to comprehend difficult texts with peers.

This builds comprehension as students share their responses to the questions, deepening their knowledge of the topic.

This activity can be replicated with multiple texts throughout the year. Once students understand how to play, they can quickly complete the activity in the future with another genre or text. When students repeat activities, they use less brain power to understand the process of the activity and repurpose that brain power into better understanding the content.

Students can pair up as peers in the same class, as peer mentors with a younger class, or during Literacy Night with their family. When students showcase their learning with family, celebration ensues!

How to Play

Students will alternate turns with a peer.

• Roll the dice
• Answer the question that matches the SUM of the numbers of the dice.
• Record answer on the provided worksheet
• Repeat until all questions have been answered

After the Activity

Once parents and students have played the activity, the teacher can request students to take the activity home with them and play it again together as a family with a book they have at home. This is a fun weekend or holiday break family activity that reinforces reading comprehension. Not only do parents get to experience unique classroom instruction with an engaging activity, but they can bring it home and do it with multiple books and with every child in the home. The ease of replication makes this a win-win activity for parents and students.

Give this resource a try at your next Literacy Night! Download this resource here.

GO BE GREAT!

What engaging Parent-Student activities do you recommend for Literacy Night?

The post An Engaging Literacy Night Parent-Student Activity appeared first on Always A Lesson.

It’s essential teachers trust those that lead them. The steps listed below in the four categories will help cultivate trust with colleagues.

Basics

• Build a connection– You must know the people with whom you will work with so spend the majority of your time in the beginning of the partnership building a professional connection
  • These “Partner with a Coach” task cards are a fun activity to build a connection
• Meet where they are– As you understand who you are working with on a deeper level, you’ll be able to assess where they are in skill and emotional readiness to set expectations for where to begin your work together

Communication

• Be transparent and honest – Say what you mean and mean what you say so that there is no guess work required
• Take responsibility– When you make a mistake or hurt someone’s feelings, own up to it so you reliably take responsibility for your actions in the partnership

Demeanor

• Be vulnerable and human– Open yourself up to your colleague through showing your human side and being vulnerable so that you’re more relatable; the connection deepens as commonalities are revealed
• Give without returned expectation– Show you care through giving of your time and resources to help others without any expectation of the other person responding in kind
  • These encouragement slips are a way to showcase kindness (without critique)

Values

• Commitment– Follow up with your colleague as necessary & follow through on your end of the bargain so that your commitment to success together is showcased on a continuous basis
• Consistency – Use time to act as a track record for your behavior proving your trustworthiness in the partnership

Without trust, an effective and successful partnership cannot grow among colleagues. Trust can be rebuilt once broken. Follow the steps listed above in the four categories to initiate or rebuild trust.

If you feel like you’ve followed the steps above, and struggle to establish trust in your relationship with teachers, download this guide that shares “3 Tips for Getting Teachers to Work with You.”

GO BE GREAT!

How do you cultivate trust as a coach?

The post How to Cultivate Trust as a Coach appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Below are 7 tips to organize a successful assembly along with questions to prompt your design of the event:

Learning

• Decide your goal of the event– How does this tie to curriculum being taught in classrooms? How does it align to school or district initiatives? What do we want participants to be able to know or do by the end of the assembly?
• Research guest speakers – Who might be able to deliver insightful information? Will they share a unique experience or perspective to the audience? Are they affordable?
• Set the expectation– How will students and staff learn about the upcoming assembly? How can we excite them to come learn and engage with each other?

Behavior

• Set assembly norms– How can we set clear expectations for behavior during assemblies? How will we communicate these expectations prior to the event? How can we move beyond compliance and increase internal motivation to adhere to norms?
• Hold everyone accountable– What happens when students or staff do not meet expectations during the assembly? Who is in charge of imposing consequences if expectations aren’t met?

Outcomes

• Make clear connections– How will participants connect the assembly to school or district initiatives or curriculum topics? How will participants draw conclusions about how the assembly applies to their life?
• Share next steps– What can staff and students do to apply their learning? Who will follow up to ensure next steps are completed?

An assembly at school can be a fun, culture builder if planned thoroughly. Follow the tips above to ensure it is a successful event. You can also continue your learning with the options below.

1. Read about other ways to lead at your school site below:
   • Lead a School Committee
   • Lead Extra Curriculars
2. Browse other ways to grow your leadership skill set with the professional development options listed here.

GO BE GREAT!

What tips can you share about organizing a successful assembly at your school?

The post Organizing a Successful Assembly at your School appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Just remember, no matter what the extra curricular activity is, focus more on the people working together. The activity is what brings everyone together, but who you become as a team is most important.

To ensure you are able to successfully lead extra curricular activities at your school, this post will highlight ten tips you can apply right away.

Get Started

• Poll the audience– Find out what the students want to do, are interested in, and are motivated to be a part of
• Employ your skills & interests – Think about the topic students suggested that would leverage your own skills, talents, and interests
• Set the tone, not the rules– Establish the goals and vision for the group, but not the rules of getting there; that way students can help decide together how they should arrive at the goal

Gain Momentum

• Build community– Focus most on becoming a functioning unit that cares about one another rather than on the task you will complete together
• Gather together consistently– To ensure everyone is invested, meet regularly
• Break for life lessons & life skills– Take time to detour the mission for impromptu life lessons or life skill moments
• Share ownership– Get students involved in running the extra curricular activity rather than being passive audience members

Get Results

• Hold everyone accountable– Each member is just as valuable as the other so treat everyone’s participation as equally as important (even yours)
• Celebrate the little things– Motivate students by celebrating growth and mini milestones so the hard work makes the process more enjoyable
• Implement feedback– Be open to feedback from students about the progress towards goals, how the extra curricular activity is organized or operated, etc.

Learn More

Interested in learning more about teacher leadership? See the resources listed below:

• Read about leading a committee at your school site here.
• Read about organizing a successful assembly at your school here.
• Download the PD bundle of tips here.

GO BE GREAT!

What tips can you share about leading extra curricular activities? 

The post 10 Tips for Leading Extra Curricular Activities at your School appeared first on Always A Lesson.

This can be a frustrating process for both teachers and students. Just when they get the hang of one curriculum, it’s time to switch to something else. There is an adjustment period as schools switch over to the new curriculum. This can take months or even years until schools feel they are in the flow with the new curriculum.

There are 7 things to keep in mind when switching curriculum to ensure it’s a pleasant, productive experience for all.

Grieve the Old

Acknowledge that change can be hard, no matter what it is. Understand that changing an old habit to a brand new behavior can feel uncomfortable and frustrating. Even if a curriculum as a whole is not what is best for kids moving forward, there still might be pieces of the curriculum that were appreciated and liked. Make time to feel those feelings so that you can make room emotionally to move forward and embrace the new.

Embrace the Benefits of the New

When a new curriculum is selected, it is chosen because of the benefits it will provide to students. It’s essential to know these benefits before even getting to know the curriculum at a deeper level. This will help teachers get excited for what is to come, and move out of the mourning of the old curriculum.

Envision the Possibilities

Now that teachers know the curriculum is changing and have heard all the great things this new curriculum will provide to the student learning experience, it’s time to envision all the possibilities. Allowing teachers time to be creative and dream up what their new instruction will look like will get them excited to participate and engage in the curricular shift.

Train on Curriculum Content

Allow teachers time to understand the new curriculum. It is best to offer numerous opportunities to get to know the curriculum better. For example, teachers can read examples of it, review the scope and sequence, and collaborate with colleagues on the depth and breadth of the information. Allow plenty of time at this stage so teachers can focus on their delivery rather than understanding what they’re teaching.

Train on Instructional Delivery

Now that teachers understand WHAT they’re teaching, it’s time to focus on HOW they’ll teach it. Many instructional techniques teachers have been using in past curriculums or in other subject areas will transfer over to the new curriculum. However, sometimes new teaching techniques will need to be introduced to complement the new curriculum. Give teachers time to see an exemplar of the instructional technique and plenty of time to practice executing the technique themselves.

Push Through the Discomfort

Anytime you try something new, it will be uncomfortable. There will be easy days and hard days. It’s important that you continue to implement the curriculum even when you’re ready to give up and go back to the prior curriculum. Many curriculums take months or years to see the full effect in student learning outcomes. Keep at it!

Implement with Fidelity and Integrity

When schools purchase a curriculum, it’s understood that they will implement the curriculum 100% as it was designed. This is called fidelity. Otherwise, schools are unable to achieve the promised results because they have deviated from the proven method. Especially as schools are just starting out with a new curriculum, it is highly encouraged to implement it with fidelity. Once schools have implemented the curriculum from start to finish (ie. an entire year), then discussions can occur about what to tweak to better meet the unique needs of students at a particular school. Flexibility allows the curriculum to be more personalized without sacrificing the benefits of the curriculum. This is how you ensure curriculum is implemented with integrity- where content and personalization marry. Be cautious with any changes- small, simple tweaks only. Reflect and reassess often to ensure student achievement increases. [Listen to what Linda has to say about curriculum (especially when it comes to fidelity and flexibility) in this podcast episode about balancing it all as a reading teacher.]

These 7 reminders will help teachers and students be successful when switching curriculum. If you’re looking for more ways to improve teacher effectiveness in the classroom, download the Instructional Best Practices PD Mega Bundle.

GO BE GREAT!

What else should educators keep in mind when switching curriculums?

The post 7 Things to Remember when Switching Curriculum appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Those in leadership positions often feel isolated because there are not many staff members in their role. It’s important for leaders of all levels to depend on each other, collaborate together to solve problems, and build relationships so that camaraderie makes the role feel less lonely.

Administrators need to better know their staff so they can lead them to grow in a way that is authentic to who they are and the goals they have for themselves. Teacher leaders who are not teaching but are not the main leader in the building have a duty to build relationships with both the teachers they lead and the leaders that lead them.

This post will share ideas for how you can build relationships with colleagues in leadership.

Getting Started with Building Relationships

• Connect as people– Relationships begin when you get to know the human side of people before learning about them as their official title/role. Find out their interests, how they spend their free time, and any fun facts that make them unique. This will help you better understand why they operate the way they do.
• Meet regularly– Try to get a date on the calendar for you both to meet together on a regular basis. To prioritize the working relationship, you must make time to meet. Ask if they are open to the idea and if so, what the recurring meeting time could look like (ie. monthly, quarterly, etc.)

Keep the Relationship Going

• Engage in hallway chats– A lot of relationships are built passing by each other in the hallway so be sure to keep your head up and make eye contact with those you pass. A quick greeting and question to engage them in conversation sets the stage for a relationship to develop.
• Collaborate freely– Share ideas and resources freely with each other as a way to continue to grow and develop together.

Invest in Long-Term Relationships

• Address their love language– Find out how they feel most appreciated so that you can meet that need when necessary. If words of affirmation make them feel valued, be sure to share how you feel about them. If quality time is their love language, making sure the time spent together is intentional and uninterrupted. (See love language options here.)
• Initiate partnership– Don’t wait for someone else to approach you to work together or build a  relationship. Take initiative and approach them for ways to work together. This goes a long way in building camaraderie.

No matter if you are an administrator leading an entire staff of teachers or a teacher leader bridging the gap between teaching and building leadership, these tips will help you build relationships with those you work with. Relationships are the foundation for the hard work that occurs in schools on a daily basis. If you can follow the tips above, you have a great chance at being successful in your role.

Need more tips for how to build relationships? Download this tip guide here.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you build relationships with leadership staff (and vice versa)?

The post How to Build Relationships with the Leadership Team appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The following steps are two fold. First, it will help students not get behind in their studies while resting to regain their health. Second, educators will be able to easily manage the workload of absent students at a moment’s notice.

1. Create expectations for missed work due to absences– Decide how long students have to make up work, how they’ll access the learning materials and missed lesson, how they’ll turn in their assignments, how you both will communicate with each other during the absence, etc. As the educator, you would film all direct instruction/mini lessons and upload the clips (and corresponding assignments) at the end of each day that a student was absent. (You would only film when a student was out.)  Students can then watch and rewatch the lessons while completing their assignments within the expected time frame.
2. Design an online platform to keep learning going– Choose an online platform that you can upload videos of your lessons, upload lesson materials, and is a communication tool (email or chat function). This will need to be easy for students to access from home and simplistic to use without tech support.
3. Explain missed work expectations to students– Have a class meeting to explain the new procedures for missed assignments. Emphasize the importance of learning without getting too far behind due to absences. Students can ask questions about how to manage their missed assignments while recouping from illness or long-term absence.
4. Train students on the online platform to access missed lessons–  Walk students through the online platform and allow them to play around to get familiar with it. They can submit fake assignments, access pretend learning materials, and ask questions through the communication tool. This ensures students are able to be successful while away from school.
5. Adjust procedures as necessary– As students are absent and implementing the new protocol for catching up on missed assignments, adjust the system as necessary. Students might need lengthier time periods to submit work, the communication tool might be delayed and not efficient, or the system gets overloaded with all the content on the site. Be flexible and alert students to any changes going forward.

Please note that if students are extremely sick, the expectation is that they rest to get better. However, if students are out for numerous days due to being contagious, but feeling fine, they should begin catching up on missed assignments.

If this post was helpful in providing ideas for how to continue being an impactful educator in the classroom, peruse other professional development resources here to grow your craft.

GO BE GREAT!

How else can educators teach through extended student absences?

The post How to Teach Through Extended Student Absences appeared first on Always A Lesson.

The previous posts in the series described:

• Fall Coaching Strategy (read it here) – foundational skill building
• Winter Coaching Strategy (read it here) – more complex instructional techniques
• Spring Coaching Strategy (read it here) – revisit data and spiral skills

Just because the school year ends, does not mean your coaching work does. Summer is a time to rest and relax. The heat forces us to eliminate extra clothing as we go about our day. When it comes to a summer coaching strategy, eliminating extra’s is essential. Simple is best. An intentional, bare bones approach is appropriate during this season.

Grab the “Creating a Coaching Strategy Checklist” to help you prepare to implement the ideas below. Below are two steps to follow to create an effective summer coaching strategy.

Step 1: PD for yourself

Sprinkle in professional development for yourself that fits into your schedule so that you can continue to grow your craft. You can listen to a podcast, tune in to a virtual conference, subscribe to an educational magazine, or collaborate with other teacher leaders. Plus, all that can be done poolside or while on vacation. You do not need to accumulate lots of hours of learning, but short bursts on a consistent basis will keep your mind fresh.

Step 2: PD for teachers

It’s also time to begin thinking about the back-to-school season, planning PD that is restful and collaborative for teachers. They will be coming off of a summer break so making the learning transition seamless is important. Teachers will want to go at a slower pace than during the school year, have more movement incorporated into activities, and have plenty of time to chat with peers. You can create an impactful PD while still honoring their tired minds and bodies. It’s about warming up their brains and building comradery among colleagues, all while setting the stage for the upcoming school year.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Read the other blog posts in this series: Fall, Winter, and Spring.
2. Want help closing out the school year while still employing effective seasonal coaching strategies? Grab the printables for each step mentioned above in the Coaching End of the Year Resources.
3. If you’re looking for guidance and feedback while you begin to implement your seasonal coaching strategy, join the Teacher Leader Mastermind! It’s a community of coaches nationwide that meet virtually to chat through obstacles, celebrate wins, and cheer each other on as we grow our leadership skills.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Seasons of Coaching Blog Series: Summer Strategy appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Being responsive with a coaching strategy means you cannot have one strict way to support teachers. You have to reflect what is happening at each season of the school year. Grab the “Creating a Coaching Strategy Checklist” to help you prepare to implement the ideas below.

The previous posts in the series described the fall coaching strategy (read it here) that focused on foundational skill building and the winter coaching strategy (read it here) that focused on more complex instructional techniques.

Following the spring season that brings growth and rebirth in the outdoor environment, the same is happening inside school buildings. The following stages will keep your coaching strategy relevant and productive.

Step 1: Revisit Data

Teachers need to revisit data to decide how well their instruction in the first semester was supporting the academic development of students. Teacher leaders can have data dive chats with teachers, focusing on specific skills, students, and/or assessments. This will bring clarity to what teachers should work on in small groups or 1:1 with students. It also provides a clue to teacher leaders how they need to continue to support the development of that teacher.

Step 2: Acknowledge and Celebrate Growth

Teachers need to celebrate their growth. Teacher leaders can call out what specific instructional techniques have improved, how, and why it’s had a positive impact on student learning. Hearing this specific feedback both encourages and motivates the teacher to keep applying what they are learning daily. Handing out awards to teachers is a great way to do this!

Step 3: Make Way for Future Growth

Just as we till the soil to make way for new growth, we have to prepare for future growth in our own skillsets. We do this by applying all that we have learned and adding in new strategies before the spring testing fever hits. We don’t want teachers to assume that just because they’ve mastered fall and winter skills, that they are done learning. The spring will challenge teachers to take risks and try new facilitative learning strategies as students begin to spiral through old content to solidify understanding prior to state testing. Areas like going beyond the curriculum, incorporating more student ownership and accountability, as well as ensuring continuous collaboration will strengthen the learning in the spring season.

Step 4: Close Out the Year

With all the work that has been accomplished during the school year, it’s time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Teacher leaders should think about what coaching strategy moves they want to keep, pause and/or change. This is also a great time to get feedback from teachers on how well they felt supported in meeting their personal and professional goals during the partnership.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Read the other blog posts in this series: Fall, Winter, and Summer.
2. Want help closing out the school year while still employing effective seasonal coaching strategies? Grab the printables for each step mentioned above in the Coaching End of the Year Resources.
3. If you’re looking for guidance and feedback while you begin to implement your seasonal coaching strategy, join the Teacher Leader Mastermind! It’s a community of coaches nationwide that meet virtually to chat through obstacles, celebrate wins, and cheer each other on as we grow our leadership skills.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Seasons of Coaching Blog Series: Spring Strategy appeared first on Always A Lesson.

Having a seasonal coaching strategy ensures you are responsive to the growing needs and wants of teachers. It also continues to build momentum in teacher proficiency and student achievement. Grab the “Creating a Coaching Strategy Checklist” to help you prepare to implement the ideas below.

The previous post in the series described the fall coaching strategy. (Read it here.) Much of the fall coaching strategy is foundation building, setting the tone for a successful teacher-leader partnership for the year.

Just like the winter months bring in the cold weather, we bulk up and add layers, both in clothing and instructional support. Teacher leaders can layer in new instructional techniques on top of the foundation that was built in the fall. Because winter is made up of shorter days of sunshine, you have to be intentional with your time. The same is true with the winter coaching strategy. You must be intentional with your support, choosing how to support a teacher that provides the biggest “bang for the buck.” This is high level strategies that will have a domino effect in helping other areas the teacher might be struggling in, not just the main focus they are working on with you.

The following three steps show the trajectory a teacher leader would take to help the teacher grow in strength in the classroom.

Step 1: Lesson Design

Start here with teachers who struggle to write thorough lesson plans, experience a disconnect from what they planned and how they executed the plan, or teachers who need to think through the logistics of their lesson from start to finish. Designing a learning experience for students is more than filling in a lesson plan template. It’s like putting on a play, with lots of stage directions and behind-the-scenes prep. Do not move on until this is mastered, or the next stages will not be successful.

Step 2: Classroom Management

The next level of support is to focus on routines, structures, and systems for the classroom. Help teachers move beyond being reactive by solely managing behavior, to proactive by implementing boundaries for success. Systematizing a classroom takes vision, planning, execution, reflection, and revision. This can take many weeks to figure out what works best for a teacher’s personality, skill level, and classroom climate. Do not move on until this stage is mastered, or the final stage will not be successful.

Step 3: Student Engagement

Finally, teachers have the basics of the classroom in motion and are ready to layer in student engagement. This is accounted for in lesson design and thoroughly planned out in the classroom management stage, but now it’s time to execute the plan. Start small with simple ways for students to engage with the content, the teacher, and each other. Once students master the simple engagement techniques (ie. turn/talk or stop/jot), you can experiment with more elaborate opportunities (ie. four corners or gallery walk).

NEXT STEPS:

1. Read the other blog posts in this series: Fall, Spring, and Summer.
2. Join the virtual coaching summit this winter break to learn specific micro strategies you can employ to help teachers maximize their growth in the classroom. I am sharing more about seasonal coaching strategies in my session called “Hot Spot Coaching- Providing Targeted Support to Teachers.” Be sure to grab your ticket!
3. If you’re looking for guidance and feedback while you begin to implement your seasonal coaching strategy, join the Teacher Leader Mastermind! It’s a community of coaches nationwide that meet virtually to chat through obstacles, celebrate wins, and cheer each other on as we grow our leadership skills.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Seasons of Coaching Blog Series: Winter Strategy appeared first on Always A Lesson.

However, having one singular coaching strategy for the year is not going to be responsive enough to grow teaching capacity to its potential. The seasons of coaching blog series will focus on how to shift your coaching strategy for the upcoming season (or quarter) of the year so that both teachers and students can experience maximum success. Grab the “Creating a Coaching Strategy Checklist” to help you prepare to implement the ideas below.

To begin, your fall coaching strategy mimics the change of the season. Fall is full of a variety of colors. The back-to-school season creates a lot of variety in coaching tasks because of the hustle and bustle of getting the school year up and going. Therefore, a fall coaching strategy can also be referred to as colorful- being full of a multitude of (sometimes unrelated) tasks.

Just as trees shed leaves in the fall, coaches shed leadership strategies and approaches that didn’t work from the previous year. As we clean up the falling leaves in our yards, we must also clean up our coaching approach and space. This requires organization to clear the foundation so you can rebuild your strategy.

Build the foundation in four easy steps. Focus on people, information, learning, and strategy.

Step 1: People

Successful teacher leaders spend a majority of their role working with people. Navigating relationships and effective communication makes way for the strategy to come later. Spend time brainstorming a variety of ways to build relationships with those you serve. Any new staff members should be properly onboarded and acclimated to the school, grade level, or subject area. Ask those you support for their input before you even begin working together. Complete a quick staff survey on their impressions of their own teaching strengths and weaknesses as well as desired professional goals (and not just what the district of school says they should work on).

Step 2: Information

Teacher leaders will gather the information necessary to organize their space, bring clarity to staff on how the partnerships will work, and pave the path for a coaching strategy. Teachers need to understand the variety of supports they have on campus (ie. who to go to for what) and what the specific roles are in the collaborative partnership. Gathering this information is essential before diving into coaching.

Step 3: Learning

Providing learning opportunities is a major piece that drives the growth of both teachers and students. Designing a PD plan so that it aligns to district and state guidelines, school goals and initiatives, and teacher needs is essential. Laying out a monthly PD plan helps the topics flow from foundational to implementation. This calendar is helpful for both teacher leaders and those they support, so everyone is on the same page with the long-term plan. There should be space to build in options for topics of teacher interest that might not be covered under state, district, or school plans. These can be led by teachers themselves, but facilitated by teacher leaders. Most important though, is feedback from these learning sessions so all future sessions can be productive and of interest to teachers.

Step 4: Strategy

It’s now time to implement your fall coaching strategy. Teachers need to be aware of how they can partner together and you need a way to track who you work with, what you work on, and how they are improving. The first 30 days are most important so that the school year begins successfully. Meeting with administrators will help you prioritize your time and tasks. Then you can begin steps 1-3 above.

NEXT STEPS:

1. Read the other blog posts in this series: Winter, Spring, and Summer.
2. Want help establishing your foundation? Grab the printables for each step mentioned above in the Beginning of the Year Tools for Instructional Coaches.
3. If you’re looking for guidance and feedback while you begin to implement your seasonal coaching strategy, join the Teacher Leader Mastermind! It’s a community of coaches nationwide that meet virtually to chat through obstacles, celebrate wins, and cheer each other on as we grow our leadership skills.

GO BE GREAT!

The post Seasons of Coaching Blog Series: Fall Strategy appeared first on Always A Lesson.

What to Focus On

There are many instructional strategies teachers should employ when instructing students. However, two that have had a tremendous impact on student understanding and achievement, are asking higher order thinking questions and increasing student ownership in the classroom.

Teachers need to learn how to effectively form and ask higher order questions, both during the lesson design phase and live in front of students. This helps increase critical thinking skills in students while solidifying new knowledge in long-term memory. This life skill is not isolated to a specific grade or subject area, rather a way in which students grasp new material during learning experiences. (Grab tips for Asking Higher Order Thinking Questions in the Classroom.)

When teachers learn how to better facilitate learning, they can begin to pass ownership to students in areas such as material distribution, movement transitions, activity directives, etc. This builds motivation to learn because students feel valued as responsible individuals. When students help run the classroom, they are more invested in the learning process. (Grab tips for Increasing Student Ownership in the Classroom.)

How to Provide Learning Opportunities to Teachers

Most of the time, teacher leaders (instructional coaches, curriculum coordinators, etc.) provide PD to teachers. These PD sessions should equip teachers with instructional best practices and current pedagogy knowledge. It’s best if they are ongoing, aligned to school goals, and build off each previous session. (Grab tips forLeading Efficient and Engaging PD Sessions for Teachers.)

Teacher leaders and administrators don’t have to be the only ones providing learning opportunities to teachers. Teachers themselves can share their strengths with their colleagues by observing one another live in front of students. It’s a low pressure, highly motivating experience since teachers respect one another’s expertise.  (Grab tips for Learning Walks: Peer Observations.)

Most importantly, teachers can’t just consume information and haphazardly implement it into their practice. Teacher leaders need to provide teachers with feedback that is clear and bite-sized so that it can be applied immediately.[bctt tweet=”The follow-up after learning is just as important as the learning itself.” username=”gschultek”] (Grab tips for Creating a Feedback System for Teachers.)

It’s essential teachers engage in ongoing learning opportunities on current best practices to grow their craft. These learning opportunities should come in a variety of formats to help new learning stick and encourage teachers to continue growing. The suggestions in this post will empower educators in your school building.

GO BE GREAT!

What instructional best practices would you add to the list?

The post Instructional Best Practices for Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

What’s the Deal with PD?

Historically, PD sessions have been lengthy, rarely applicable, “sit and get” meetings. This is an ineffective way to equip teachers with instructional best practices and current pedagogy knowledge. Teachers need to learn in bite-sized sessions that apply to their current circumstances while incorporating movement and collaboration with their peers. However, this recipe for success is an art. Teacher leaders have to practice their craft of delivering high quality, engaging PD.

So how do they do it? This post will share 5 ways to better lead PD for teachers.

Plan

• Make a Long-Term Plan– Planning PD sessions as if they are solos is unproductive and does not translate to increased performance for teachers. PD sessions should be multiple sessions that align to one another and grow the teacher session by session, like building blocks. This takes intentionality and thorough planning. (Try this PD Planning Guide & Calendar.)
• Have Teachers Track their Learning– Build ownership into the learning process, by showing teachers the year long learning game plan. They’ll understand the end goal and how they will get there each step of the way. When teachers track their PD sessions, this can be used as an artifact for their performance review at the end of the year, as well as confirm any earned credits towards their licensure. (Try this PD Record.)

Execute

• Empower Teachers to Teach Each Other – Teacher leaders cannot be everywhere. Delegating learning opportunities is a way to maximize the impact a single teacher leader can have on an entire staff of teachers. Essentially, a PD huddle provides the team leader of the grade level or subject area the learning content to teach to their peers in a quick learning huddle. (Learn more about how to implement a PD Huddle.)
• Give Teachers Choice in What/How They Learn– Another way to build buy-in for learning is to provide choice in what teachers can learn (content topics) and how they learn it (listen to a podcast, read a blog/article, interview a high-performing teacher, watch video clips, etc.). (Try this PD Choice Board.)

Reflect

• Allow their Experience to Guide You– Although you have a thorough plan and put forth your best effort, sometimes the PD session doesn’t go as planned or it is so transformative teachers leave energized and thankful. You’ll want to know WHY it went either way so you know what to replicate and what to not incorporate in the future. (Try this PD Feedback Survey.)

As a bonus tip, you’ll want to hone your craft so that you gain efficient and effective PD planning strategies. Click here to listen and watch how to do just that.

If you found these recommendations helpful, you can grab them all in the PD Mega Bundle.

GO BE GREAT!

How else can you get better at delivering PD for teachers?

The post 5 Ways to Better Lead PD for Teachers appeared first on Always A Lesson.

There are a variety of ways to show up and support teachers, but below I share 10 tried and true ways teacher leaders can assist teachers during the back to school season.

1. Share a Tasty Surprise– Teachers are tired and starving so if you’re able, provide a tasty treat and maybe some caffeine to keep them going.
2. Assess Classroom Needs– Ask teachers what they need, make a list, and chat with the admin team to see what you are able to take care of for them.
3. Deliver & Confirm Student Rosters– Class lists change constantly and teachers are ready to label classroom items, so continue to provide up-to-date rosters to teachers as often as necessary (sometimes multiple times a day!).
4. Print and Pass out Paperwork– The school will often require parents to fill out necessary paperwork the first few days of school, so print and pass out those documents for teachers to share with parents during Open House/Meet the Teacher events.
5. Disperse Curriculum Materials– As a teacher leader, curriculum is one of your largest foci. Organize, track and disperse curriculum materials to each teacher in the building.
6. Check in with Team Leaders/Department Chairs– Ensure teacher leaders know how to support their team throughout the year by talking through what to discuss with colleagues, common and effective leadership strategies, and general Q/A.
7. Goal Set with Teachers– Meet 1:1 with teachers to find out what they want to accomplish this year, unrelated to what the district or school says they must achieve.
8. Provide Training and Learning Opportunities– Professional development is another large focus so plan, develop, and deliver all required trainings to staff.
9. Facilitate Quarterly Planning Meetings– Teachers not only need to set up their classrooms, but they have to plan for the upcoming quarter. Instead of just planning day one or week one, teachers should plan “big picture” for what’s coming and how to approach meeting all of the standards. Provide a lengthy block of time with appropriate curricular materials to help teachers plan.
10. Lend a Helping Hand– Jump in wherever you can doing whatever you can. Ask “how can I help?” on repeat!

No matter how you are supporting teachers during back to school, as long as you are prioritizing their needs and providing solutions to timely obstacles, your efforts are beyond helpful. Making the back to school season a smooth ride for teachers is a feat you should be proud of!

Need some resources to help support teachers? Browse theses professional development resources to build into your trainings on educational best practices for teachers as well as over 100+ instructional coaching forms to help you support the growth and development of teachers.

GO BE GREAT!

How do you support teachers during Back-to-School?

The post Supporting Teachers During the Back to School Season appeared first on Always A Lesson.

By now, many schools have added the instructional coaching role to their leadership strategy. However, instructional coaches aren’t receiving much support in their own development. Instructional coaches should receive support in areas such as (but not limited to):

• effective leadership practices
• current best instructional practices
• adult learning theory
• professional development session design and implementation
• instructional coaching approaches
• data gathering, dissemination, and analysis

Since instructional coaches need their own coaches to aide their growth and development, schools need to think about how to provide access to various support options. It could come in the form of conferences, books, or even an instructional coach’s coach- a previously high performing teacher and instructional coach. The stronger our instructional coaches become in leading others towards greatness only increases the impact of staff and students. This means, we now also have to invest in instructional coaching coaches.

Below are 6 tips to effectively coach instructional coaches.

1. Meet your People– Find out more about the person you’re going to be supporting, rather than their job title and duties
2. Set the Stage– Ask questions to find out what kind of impact they desire to have in their role (ie. what do you want to accomplish, what have you already contributed and how can we build on that?)
3. Lay the Groundwork– Together develop the roadmap to bring those goals to fruition
4. Connect Regularly– Make access to support easy (phone and video calls, app chats, texting, email, etc.)
5. Revisit Goals and Strategy– Every few months check in on the appropriateness of goals and the success of the chosen strategies to get there (revise if necessary)
6. Celebrate Progress– Leadership growth can be slow and bumpy so focus on small wins along the way

Whether you have an instructional coaching coach or not, you can still grow your leadership craft. Check out all my instructional coaching and professional development resources to better equip instructional coaches and those that coach them. Or join us in the Teacher Leader Mastermind for community with others doing the same thing as you!

GO BE GREAT!

What tips would you give for effectively coaching instructional coaches?

The post 6 Tips for Coaching Instructional Coaches appeared first on Always A Lesson.

In order to be an effective teacher mentor, there are five mistakes to avoid. Explained below are those five mistakes, as well as additional resources to help you prepare for a successful school year as a mentor.

Mistake #1: Inconsistent Meetings

A teacher mentor should meet regularly with their mentee. This allows potential problems to be discussed before they get out of hand and a coveted time to ask questions. Find a day/time that works for both of you and commit to meeting at least twice a month.

Mistake #2: Tell, Not Show

Teachers who are new or struggling need to visualize great teaching habits. It is not enough to just tell them what to do. Model and role-play as often as possible. You might even invite them to observe you live in front of students so you can demonstrate a specific action. Show more than tell.

Mistake #3: No Feedback, Follow-Up, or Follow-Through

It is hard to get better at something if you are not sure how to get better. A teacher mentor should provide feedback to their mentee on their lesson plans, lesson materials, or instructional delivery. Following up with your mentee on action items holds them accountable for doing what you both discussed during your meeting. Also, if you as the teacher mentor say you’re going to do something (ie. deliver resources), follow- through on your promise. Set the bar for excellence and dependability.

Mistake #4: Multiplying Yourself

A teacher mentor is not trying to duplicate themselves; they need to create the best version possible of their mentee. With that being said, you can share your teaching personality or preferences, but you should allow the mentee to explore how they want to do things and what feels authentic to them.

Mistake #5: No Celebration

“Teaching is hard. Sometimes you have more bad days than good. Be sure to celebrate the progress, not just the perfection.” @GSchultek

Additional Resources for a Teacher Mentor

Podcast Episodes

• Why your Mentorship Program isn’t Working
• The Future of Mentorship

Blog Posts

• Tips for Making the Most of Teacher Mentorship
• Fire your Mentor, Hire your Idol
• The Power of Mentorship

Printable Resources

• Teacher Mentor Kit
• Educators Who Know What to Do- Experts in Education

GO BE GREAT!

What mistake would you warn a teacher mentor not to make?

The post 5 Mistakes a Teacher Mentor Makes appeared first on Always A Lesson.