Trends of the Week @ NTA

Hi NTA Mentors and Residents,

Well, our 7^th week is coming to a close. Raise your hand if you are looking forward to Fall Intercession? Yes, my hand is up! The break will surely leave us feeling rejuvenated and ready to have a strong Fall with our students.

Since I have been “on fire” about supporting all of you this week with hallway transitions, I will start with that:

Hallway Transitions

Yes, there have been some challenges and successes this week. Successes include:

• Using ipad2’s to communicate the goal time to students (Ms. Lyons has a cool app for this)
• Increased used of nonverbal cues to communicate with students
• More consistent use of timers to collect data on students meeting (or not) their goal time

Residents, here some coaching points to consider as you address your individual challenges with leading hallway transitions:

• · Address students calmly and firmly when you need to redirect. Remember if you are getting frustrated, take a breath, and calmly and firmly restate expectations (being mindful of economy of language) and give individual consequences if needed. One suggestion is to carry a class roster with you to note if individual students receive a consequence.
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• · Make sure students know the goal time and let them know if they made it or not when the transition is done. If they are meeting the goal time, challenge them to decrease the time by a minute. Kids love a challenge!

• · Consider tying meeting the goal time to a classroom level incentive. Students may need more immediate gratification with the incentive if they are far from meeting the goal time/expectations.

• · Praise with thumbs up, whispers, smiles, or some other way but work to maintain a quiet/silent hallway

Be a student of the Signature Strategies

In my efforts to be a more effective coach, I frequently reread “Teach Like a Champion” and look at the accompanying video clips. Very often I find myself noticing something new or thinking about a strategy in a new way. This week, Dr. Gardiner shared an email response she sent to a resident who was thinking has some questions about the strategies. With Dr. Gardiner’s permission, here is a bit of what she wrote:

Historically (and contemporarily), children of color & children living in poverty achieve less, are suspended & disciplined more, and referred to special education in disproportionate amounts. So, typically, or at least too often, teachers take a deficit approach to children of color & children living in poverty. To me, the Sig Strats say, “hey, these are social, academic, behavioral skills (and teacher behaviors) that if explicated to children, can help them achieve. So, teach them, don’t blame them for not knowing what will help them be successful in the dominant culture.” So, teach the rules (for success in school and beyond) & also empower students so they can enter a system and change the system. Also, the Sig Strats are just a few tools in a much larger contextual practice with an end goal of increasing students' life opportunities.

So, for the “eyes on me” or “the book” or the “overhead”, to me that’s about focusing attention for learning, but it can slip into a means to control. When I ask for eyes on me, it’s about readiness to learn—and I only ask for it when it really matters b/c it doesn’t always.

So, to me the intent is not to "control" students, but teach them how to be successful learners—there are lots of ways to do that. Sig Strats offer some options. Framing means that I believe in you & your potential and I'm going to help you (sometimes force you—tough love) maximize your potential. And, I think the ultimate goal for children is to be lifelong, empowered learners who use knowledge for their own & the collective good.

I share this with you because I think it is helpful to be reminded of the “why” behind the use of the strategies. It is not about controlling students, although it is crucial to maintain a classroom that is safe, calm, and orderly. It is really about maximizing instructional time and the opportunities for students to learn.

On to week 8!!!

Best,

Carrie