Thinking outside the box

Carmen Friesen, an instructional consultant from Porterville, CA,  argues that Confucius stopped one phrase too short. She adds, “I reflect and I learn.” The power of this reflection is something that new teacher Beth Britt experienced during a recent mentor/mentee observation and coaching cycle.

The power of observation and reflection is one of the greatest tools educators have in assessing their own practices and moving their own thinking beyond the box. Audra Watson, Instructional Coach at Fellows, John Crall, Mentor and Special Education Teacher at Ames High School, and Beth Britt, Mentee and Special Education teacher at Fellows visited Northwood Preschool Center (yes, elementary and high school staff coming together to visit preschool) to structure some learning around differentiated small flexible group instruction for math and literacy.

After the observation, John began posing questions to assist Beth in summarizing her impressions of the observation as well as analyzing causal factors. Audra took on the meta-coaching role by observing the conversation for future conversations with both John and Beth. Beth’s challenge was to take the information gained from a preschool math and literacy lesson and apply it to elementary standards, structures and students.

Reflecting conversations such as these aren’t always easy. Beth shared that she “would have liked to have someone just give me the answer, but John gave so much wait time to think it made me think harder and keep digging deeper. Though it got a little uncomfortable, I knew that John knew I had the answer.”

The value of deep thinking was evident due to John’s patience. Beth continued, “The moment an idea came to the surface I quickly discovered the power behind digging deep within my own thinking. The understanding of my new ideas and next steps was concrete and ready for implementation.”

From this conversation, Audra and Beth will work to implement her new learning in her own classroom. Future observations will provide even more opportunity for discussion and feedback. Ongoing reflection will help to provide Audra, Beth, and John new insights into their own teaching and learning practices.

Conversations like these are going on in every building in our district. Although instructional coaches are great reflecting partners, all teacher leaders in the district are trained in these skills. How have you engaged in these conversations in order to push your thinking? Share them with us on Twitter - @ACSDTL or #AmesCSD.