Sharing Mentoring Practice

Debriefing Observations

2010-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Drawing from my March 28th post, I'd like to share some thoughts about debriefing observations. With strong evidence-based observation notes in hand, the purpose of a classroom observation debrief, from a mentoring perspective, is to surface the mentee's thoughts about the lesson and the evidence collected in the observation notes themselves. The point is not to tell our colleagues what transpired. The point is to reflect on the evidence of what transpired, surfacing areas of success, challenge, ongoing focus, and next steps in conversation.

As mentors, a critical preparatory step we can take prior to the observation debrief is to review our observation notes and come up with a few rigorous questions to guide the meeting with our mentee. I italicized the word "few" for a reason: too many questions can take the debrief into the realm of overwhelm for our mentee rather than that of supportive inquiry.

In crafting debrief questions, it is helpful to write them down and reflect upon them. Are the questions truly questions, or are they judgement-laden statements framed as questions? Taking a hard look at our questions and being sure they are in fact questions that open up thinking and reflection is essential.

Here's a simple example that gets at my point. Contextually, let's say you observed a teacher's classroom wherein a portion of students in the class were not participating in an interactive portion of the lesson. Your notes show this - including a seating chart detailing the nature of student participation during the interactive segment of the lesson. Your notes also include selective scripting of the lesson, detailing the nature of the teacher's instruction and the nature of student participation in response to that instruction.

These notes can lead to judgment - and a judgmental question such as:

What do you plan to do about the students at the back of the room who are distracted and not learning?

The above question, written down and reflected upon, can be reframed as:

What do you notice about this section of notes focusing on the students who are seated at the back of the room?

Be prepared to pause and wait for answer.

The notes themselves reveal that students at the back of the room are not participating. If your mentee does not see this, point out what you saw according to what the notes reveal. Then move the conversation towards problem solving and naming next steps.

What is the nature of their participation?

What are some next steps you might take to address this issue?

Again, pause and wait for answer.

Anticipate making a suggestion or asking a clarifying question as appropriate based on your mentee's response. Also be prepared to troubleshoot with your mentee, framing possible next steps together and writing down relevant ideas on a Collaborative Assessment Log* or other note-taking tool.

Finally, you may decide that you'd like to move the conversation towards verbatim teacher instruction before the debrief comes to a close.

Let's take a look at your instruction during this section. What are your first thoughts about the nature of your students' participation based on what the notes capture in terms of your instruction?

As always, be prepared to pause and wait for an answer. Perhaps the teacher shares that the instruction was somewhat confusing in retrospect. Such a response is an entry point for rethinking the nature of the instruction for greater clarity. Perhaps the conversation moves towards revising the original lesson plan, or looking forward to the following day's lesson for revision. Perhaps an instructional scaffold was necessary to enhance clarity and that can be designed collaboratively. Ultimately, the conversation steers again towards achievable next steps.

Of course, we cannot control the exact outcome of any conversation with our mentees. From just one well crafted question encouraging reflective thought, the conversation can move in an unexpected direction - one we would have never anticipated. This is exciting. When we train ourselves to let go of rigid personal outcomes, a wide space opens up for learning.

It is our job to steer the conversation. Steering is different than controlling. We come into every conversation with a clear idea about key points we'd like to surface and a clear intention to move the conversation through three essential phases: framing the problem or area of focus, surfacing possible solutions or areas to explore, and naming achievable concrete next steps to take before the end of the meeting.

We have the capacity to enter every conversation with a genuine interest in what our mentee thinks about his or her teaching practice - thus, the importance of well crafted questions that enhance inquiry rather than enforcing our opinions. In this way we steer the work respectfully and maintain an underlying expectation that our mentee is a thoughtful professional who will take thoughtful next steps to improve practice. Perhaps that next step is to ask us for direct advice on what action to take - but at least in creating the space for our mentee to make such a request, we position them as autonomous decision makers.

Laura Lipton puts it like this: "The kinds of questions we ask novices become theirs over time." I believe this is at the heart of our work as mentors.

Thanks for reading.

Alison

*The Collaborative Assessment Log is a New Teacher Center Formative Assessment System mentoring tool.

Portfolio Completion Deadlines

2010-04-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

BTSA and Intern Portfolios are due on Monday, June 21st at New Teacher Support and Development, Sankofa Academy, 2nd Floor, 581 61st Street, Oakland.

To be clear, portfolios are to be completed by:

Year 1 BTSA Participants - required

Year 2 BTSA Participants - required

Year 1 Interns who elect to complete one

If you have questions or concerns about any aspect of BTSA or Intern program portfolios, please contact your NTSD liaison.

Observing - Using Evidence

2010-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

How many of us have received observation feedback about our teaching or observation notes that were riddled with the observer's ideas about what happened in our classes, rather than some straightforward evidence-centered notes capturing what they saw? How many of us have gotten feedback that sounded something like this: "You are doing such a great job!" "Your lesson was strong - I loved it!" "You are trying really hard, but your lesson was off pace." "The students were not engaged" or "The students were engaged."

Now, I'm not one to say that a kind word or an opinion about improvement is to be excluded from observation feedback completely, but such feedback, especially if it stands alone without some captured evidence for collaborative reflection with the observer, leaves little to go on regarding reflective thought. I believe observation notes that capture as much detailed evidence as possible about what transpires within a given lesson - around a clear area of focus for the observation - is perhaps the strongest entry point to facilitate thinking about pedagogy with ANY teacher.

The two observation techniques I use most often are Selective Scripting and Movement Patterns/Seating Chart. When using Selective Scripting, teacher and student actions, around an select observation focus, are noted in two separate columns labeled "T" and "S". The time is noted on the side. The Movement Patterns/Seating Chart includes a drawing of the layout of the classroom and then involves noting evidence of what is going on in the class, usually with shorthand.

After years of conducting at least 500 evidence-centered observations, I've found that keeping the focus on writing down what is happening, as exactly as possible, leads to a few important outcomes. First, I always notice something about my mentee's classroom and students that I never recognized before as a result of the evidence I'm capturing -- this opens up future topics for conversation and a deeper understanding of my mentee's professional growth potential. It often leads to mentees noticing something about their classroom practice that they never noticed, either. I've witnessed many, many big "a-ha" moments when teachers review the observation notes I've gathered for them. Additionally, by virtue of capturing evidence, rather than opinion, it often happens that trends around equitable participation, equitable access to the curriculum, the nature of teacher talk, the nature of student talk, the nature of teacher questioning, learning needs of English language learners or special populations students, or the impact of teacher actions on student behavior are revealed. This is important, because the evidence speaks for itself, and if my mentee doesn't see it, I can then coach him or her to see it. From here we can often problem solve together around next steps to take pedagogically.

Here are a few ideas for capturing evidence when observing:

Use exact numbers -- numbers of students with their hands raised, numbers of students who are present, number of minutes a teacher gives for an activity and the number of minutes it takes, number of available or unavailable materials, etc.
Note the time regularly and randomly - this can be used to reflect on pacing in the debrief
Use direct quotes
Use student names when possible
Capture exact student language - especially when they are working in small groups
Capture exact student questions and "side talk" - especially when the student is confused
Use drawings of the room layout to note where the teacher moves, to tally nature of student participation, to record which students are absent, to quote students based on where they sit.
Note where boys and girls are sitting and capture their levels of and nature of participation if appropriate for the observation focus.
Capture specific notes about focus students whenever possible.
Talk to students quietly during independent practice time about what they are doing, what they understand or don't understand, what questions they still have, what they are learning, etc. Write down the questions and the students' answers.
Use shorthand -- some shorthand I use includes S for student, T for teacher, R for redirect, A for answer, CO for called on, an up arrow for hand raised, a down arrow for called on, ? for question. Often the shorthand emerges within the observation based on what patterns are emerging that need to be captured. Just be sure to make a list of what the codes mean.

Debriefing observations will be the topic of my next blog entry. The debrief is a world of its own - but I'll sign off by saying that the notes are the entry to a collaborative conversation that consistently leads to learning and next steps when they are treated as such. Capturing precise, thorough observation notes lend themselves to an engaging, thoughtful debrief.

If you have any tricks or strategies that have proven effective when taking observation notes, please share them in a comment!

Thanks for reading!

Alison.

The Pre-Assessment Iceberg

2010-03-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

I mentioned the Pre-Assessment Iceberg in the November Case Study Students entry on this blog. The Pre-Assessment Iceberg is a FAS Coaching tool that is an excellent guide for thinking and sharing about a student in a very holistic way. I find the use of this tool to be helpful for me as a mentor, because it facilitates a discussion that will generate information about the focus students my mentee is choosing, as well as information about what my mentee knows and doesn't know about pre-assessing student strengths, language levels, academic performance, and learning needs.

If you have been coaching with NTSD for several years, it is possible that you have not yet been introduced to the Pre-Assessment Iceberg. It is a newer FAS tool. If you would like more information and guidance on how to use it, contact your NTSD liaison.

Analyzing Student Work

2010-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, "Creating Challenge," the second half of the school year is a time that tends to be rich with inquiry into teaching practice. Mentees have identified and reflected on their goals, have developed a sense of flow in their classrooms, and have a clearer understanding of the scope and sequence of their unit planning. The efficacy of those unit plans, as well as potential differentiated refinement, is powerfully revealed by looking at student work.

During the second half of the school year, I make a concerted effort to look at student work as often as possible. I'm finding that in each mentoring session as of late, when a colleague brings up a point about student understandings or misunderstandings, I'm asking them if they have a few pieces of student work that can demonstrate their point. The work itself provides the evidence around which our problem-solving conversation can focus and proceed. Often looking at only 3 or four pieces of student work that reveal a range of achievement can lead to direct next steps a teacher can take with regard to instruction, lesson planning, checks for student understanding, or professional development.

As we underscore in our mentor trainings and forums, the process of analyzing student work involves these key steps:

• Establishing the standard for student work
• Analyzing the work and sorting the work according to demonstration of achievement of the standard (Far Below, Approaching, Meeting, Exceeding)
• Identifying the performance of students (both what they can and cannot do; what they understand and do not understand based on the work)
• Naming the students' learning needs based on these findings.
• Answering this question: How can I differentiate instruction to meet those learning needs?

In this way we plan with students' actual learning needs in mind rather than what we "think" is the next right step for instruction.

Troubleshooting Student Work Analysis:

Focus Students! Remember to always include the work of focus students in any student work analysis. The actual evidence of their work produces a non-judgmental evidence based entry point to address the specific learning needs of language learners and special needs students. Their work also consistently opens up reflection concerning effective pedagogical strategies to provide equitable access to the content standards for all students.
Establishing buy in - sometimes mentees are nervous about looking at student work - it can bring up a lot of vulnerability about their instruction. It's important to be aware of this and sensitive to our mentee's responses. I pay careful attention to entry points through which I can suggest looking at student work. The entry points often sound like this: "My students seemed to be very confused about today's assignment and I'm not sure why...;" "Even though I aligned my learning targets to the final assessment, my students didn't do so well on the test. I'm really frustrated about it...; "I tried out a new instructional strategy today. Some of the students were really engaged, but some of them weren't...." My response sounds something like this: "I have a hunch their work will show us some of the answers to your questions. Can you think of an assignment that we can look in one of our next sessions?"
Finding the time - a complete Analysis of Student Work (looking at a whole class set of work) takes time. Sometimes it can take two sessions. It is important to put the Analysis of Student work on your calendars and on your Collaborative Logs. Teacher's next step - pull together the work; Mentor's next step - follow through on doing the analysis.
Getting through it - as a mentor, it's important to be intentional about monitoring the time and moving on to the next step of the analysis to get to the important last step of differentiation. I recommend having a clock front and center and maintaining focus on each step of the process for a set amount of time. Establish the amount of time for each chunk at the start of your session together. If I know our time will be limited, I ask my mentee to select out 2 samples of student work that demonstrate each of the Far Below, Approaching, Meeting, and Exceeding categories.
Having the Work to Analyze - Some teachers use binders and all the student work is in that binder. If this is the case, I ask them to have the students turn in the work that we are going to analyze, ask the teacher to photocopy it and then return it to their students. Sometimes the work is an essay and teachers want to get them back to their students promptly - and there is a lot of work to copy. In this case, I ask them to choose 2 samples of student work that demonstrate each of the Far Below, Approaching, Meeting, and Exceeding categories and copy them. Sometimes the work is an exit ticket and the teachers read them and toss them - that one is easy - simply remind your mentee to remember to keep the exit tickets for the analysis.

Any other pointers on troubleshooting the Analysis of Student Work are welcome - please write a comment.

Of course, looking at student work is important and useful at any time of the year. It is perhaps the most powerful conversation topic to put on the table to move teacher practice. If you haven't analyzed student work yet, I encourage you to establish an agreement with your mentee to do so in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading!

Alison.

When Are the Year Two Coach Trainings?

2010-03-02T11:05:00.001-08:00

There are three one-day training sessions in the New Teacher Center Year Two Coach Training. These trainings were offered in the summer. They will also be offered once during the school year in the coming weeks.

Training dates are listed above in the "Save the Date" section of this blog.

Go to On Track via the OUSD Intranet to register.

These trainings are for our coaches in their SECOND year - or those in their third year or beyond who have not yet attended them.

Relational Trust

2010-02-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

In the sidebar of this blog, I mention that my colleague and friend, Claudia Heron and I, presented at the New Teacher Center Symposium earlier this month. Our topic? Ground Rules: Clarifying and Enacting Moral Purpose for Excellence in Leadership and Mentoring Practice. That is a mouthful, for certain. The session proved to be rich with insight and discussion and participants were inspiringly willing to dive into the topic - one that we saw as potentially charged as presenters - but rich with possibility. Why? Because we intended to surface the stuff that inspires our work - that within which we deeply believe. We were pleased to witness the complete opposite of "potentially charged." Participants wanted to engage in discussion about this most important of topics. How often do we get to talk about what called us to this work to begin with? Why we get up in the morning? What we hope to offer?

How does this relate to ground rules? It goes something like this. What does trust mean? When one looks up the meaning, we find that trust means "relying on the integrity or justice of a person; confidence." Look up integrity and we find "soundness of moral principle and character; uprightness; honesty." (American College Dictionary)

Trust is inherently linked to the alignment of our beliefs to our actions - to our integrity.

Open any book on mentoring or coaching and in the first 30 pages or so, you will find mention of the importance of establishing and nurturing trust in a mentoring relationship. Attend any training on mentoring or coaching and it is likely that trust will come up in the first day - perhaps the first few hours. Looking more deeply at trust, what it means, and how we establish and nurture it through our integrity was the focus of our presentation.

So why does trust matter? This is what I want to share with all of you in this entry. I turn now to the research of Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider from their important multi-year study published in 2002 as Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement. Through conducting qualitative research in 12 Chicago elementary schools, Bryk and Schneider established relational trust as an essential element for school improvement and academic success. In speaking of relational trust, they focused specifically on the adult relationships within a school -- parents to faculty and faculty to parents, principal to teachers, teachers to teachers -- and that these relationships form a sort of interrelational matrix that evokes relational trust when four core elements are present. These elements are respect, competence, personal regard, and integrity.

To take a step back and reflect for just a moment, think about the individuals you trust or mistrust. Do you find it possible to trust an individual who doesn't follow through on his or her word? Do you trust individuals who treat you with respect? How does trust line up with a leader who doesn't speak to incompetence? I suspect you get the gist of this.

Looking at Bryk and Schneider's findings, here is why trust matters.

Relational trust:

Reduces vulnerability and encourages risk taking.
Facilitates public problem solving.
Establishes a professional community of mutual support.
Creates a moral resource for school improvement.
Influences belief in the organization’s mission. Bryk & Schneider, Trust in Schools (p. 116-117)

I'm not at all surprised by this list. It's a bit of an "OF COURSE!" in my book. Of course individuals are going to share, be vulnerable, take risks, develop community, and have stronger beliefs in an organization's mission when they trust the people in it. Of course taking risks, collaborating, looking at weakness and changing practice is going to result in change for the better over time. Of course, at schools wherein trust is lacking one would be hard pressed to find whole faculties coming together to engage in cycles of inquiry. Of course.

The research doesn't stop at qualities present in a trust-based institution. Bryk and Schneider also found that relational trust in schools correlated with academic gains.

Schools with strong relational trust had a 1 in 2 chance of making significant improvements in reading and mathematics.
Schools with weak relational trust had a 1 in 7 chance of making improvement ONLY IF these schools strengthened trust over the course of the multi-year study.
Schools with poor relational trust did not improve and had almost no chance of making academic improvements in either reading or mathematics. Bryk & Schneider, Trust in Schools (p. 111)

I like to sum it up like this: Relational Trust Matters.

I've taken the time to share about this because we, as mentors, are integral players in establishing relational trust with our mentees and within the organizations wherein we work. I'd argue that even if a school lacks in overall relational trust in some way, our efforts towards establishing and encouraging a trust-based relationship with each and every mentee will, at the very least, impact relational trust - and all that comes with it - within the context of our mentoring work. At most, we become participants within the matrix of relational trust within an organization - strengthening collaboration and academic achievement for all concerned.

Thank you for all your hard work. It matters.

Alison

Reflecting on Goals at Mid-Year

2010-01-31T22:17:00.000-08:00

In my last entry I made the direct statement that if you haven't had the opportunity to set goals with your mentee yet, the best thing is to just do it. Many of us have, on the other hand, established goals for our work with our mentee earlier in the school year.

January or February is when I usually reserve some protected time with each teacher I'm mentoring to reflect on professional goals and refine our intended work together for the remainder of the year.

Reflecting on professional goals at mid-year is important for few reasons. First, it provides an opportunity to note successes. Looking over our work together from the start of the year, there should be plenty of evidence of decisions made, next steps taken, and successes realized. This is rejuvenating! Additionally, this time for reflection may surface a shift in focus for a particular goal. For example, while at the start of the year a teacher may have been interested in developing cooperative groups in his or her classroom, by mid-year it may be time to look more closely at what and how students are learning within those groups. Lastly, it is simply helpful to take pause and remember the big picture. Our mentee's day-to-day teaching life can easily surface multiple topics for discussion that are based on urgency. While responding to such urgency is an important layer of offering support, we are simultaneously there to facilitate each mentee's broader professional vision for his or her growth and the success of every student in their care.

I've found that it is essential to reserve a day for reflecting on goals. The next time you are with your mentee(s), pull out your calendars and decide a good time to take pause and reflect.

What if We Haven't Completed Goal Setting Yet?

2010-01-16T16:08:00.001-08:00

Three words: Just do it. Even if you are goal setting in January, it is always worth it to set goals for your work together. I'd recommend that the goals you set now focus primarily on your intended work together for the remainder of the academic year while taking into consideration your mentee's goals from the start of the year.

Creating Challenge

2010-01-13T19:16:00.001-08:00

With the holiday season and a few weeks of much needed rest behind us, this is the perfect time to raise some mentoring conversation topics that create challenge in our work with our mentees. November is perhaps the worst month to take on such an approach - new teachers are often exhausted then, and usually only a day ahead of their classes. The holiday break brings quite a bit of rejuvenation.

Just today, I met with a first-year teacher and he was really happy with how his week was unfolding. He told me about how he was able to reflect on his classes over the break and how he wanted to change them to make them more engaging. As he put it, "I had an epiphany! I was bored in my classes, so my students HAD to be bored in my classes! I've decided I can do something every day to make the content I'm teaching much more engaging. We're doing hands-on activities outside, I'm doing demos more often, we're playing games to learn vocabulary, I'm working on making every wall in my room inviting and about learning. My students love it - and I'm happy today!"

Now with this type of motivation, my mentee was energized to hear about next steps he could take with his room set-up, more challenging approaches to weave into his vocabulary instruction, additional curriculum guides that could extend his hands-on lessons.

So what are some of the steps we can take to create challenge in our work with our mentees?

Here are a few suggestions:

Dig into looking at student case studies. Look at their student work. Suggest next steps for mentees to reach out to the students' families. Note the questions that come up in your conversations and write them down on a Collaborative Log to follow up on finding the answer. Propose readings related to each case study student's learning needs and share insights together. Link mutual learning to future lesson planning and steps towards appropriate teaching strategies to differentiate instruction.

Reflect on goals together. Rather than simply reflecting on how successful your mentee is at meeting his or her goals, work together to refine the goals towards more precise next steps. Of course, we celebrate any and all accomplishments that have been made thus far in the year, but the added layer of challenge keeps newer teachers inspired to continue to learn and grow.

Design an Inquiry Action Plan. Action inquiry provides an opportunity to focus on a key question a teacher may have about a change he or she plans to make in the classroom. Together, you'll decide what kinds of evidence you want to gather to shape answers to that question over time. It's the perfect opportunity to encourage a mentee to try something in the classroom that he or she will stick with and reflect on using such evidence as classroom observation notes, student work analysis, assessment results, and lesson plans.

Analyze Student Work. This is perhaps the most powerful approach to learning about what students specifically need to enhance their learning. It is a natural springboard towards a mentee making instructional decisions to meet those learning needs.

I find January to be an inspiring month for our work as mentors. It is a time of the year when the work becomes increasingly rich and focused on refining practice.

It would be fun to hear some of your January stories - and some of the successes you have accomplished along the way.

Thanks for reading!

-Alison.

What should I be doing with a Year 1 mentee vs. a Year 2 mentee?

2009-12-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

Essentially the same thing in terms of the use of the FAS coaching model - but with different content - the content gets generated by your mentee and the conversations you have together. At the start of the year we focus on building relationship, reviewing class data, getting to know school and community resources, choosing case study students (2 of them - one language learner student and one special populations student, ideally) and goal setting. By now, if you started with your mentee at the start of the year, you are probably moving into inquiry work - observing, lesson planning, and analyzing student work.

Observing

2009-12-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

Observing in our mentee's classroom is one of the single most effective routes to learning focused conversation topics. Even spending only ten minutes in a mentee's classroom will ground us in a clearer reality of their situation - how he or she moves in the room, the names and faces of actual students, the nature of questions asked, how the time is spent, how often students are engaged, how the room is arranged - in truth, the list goes on and on. I encourage getting into every mentee's classroom at least once a month. Without this layer of experience, we are grounding our work in hypothetical conversation and planning, rather than taking it to the level of how the planning is being actualized with living, breathing learners in real time.

I've had the pleasure of co-observing with mentor colleagues in the last few weeks. In doing so, I've learned a bit about my particular observation style, which is to capture as much relevant data as possible to share with the teacher I'm observing. I always go in with an observation focus, and then keep my eyes and ears pinned on the words, phrases, questions, and actions - on the part of both the teacher and the student - that link to the focus. It's impossible to capture everything, so having a focus is essential.

I find that at the onset, I often sit at a table or desk and rely heavily on listening - focusing on the page I'm writing on (I never type) and what is going on between teacher and student verbatim. I look up to record the time, so there is data on pacing, and to get a snapshot of the nature of student engagement. In time I begin to walk the room, looking over shoulders, capturing what students are saying in groups or writing on assignments. I ask students questions. All of this ends up painting a picture of a class period with lots of specific details.

The beauty of this approach is that a mentee takes a look at non-judgmental, detailed evidence based observation notes and the reaction is always "Oh wow! That happened. I didn't realize. Instead of doing ______, I could try __________." Or, "This is really interesting to see how this group of students were working together. And I got to them 5 separate times. I'll bet that made a difference." Hopefully you get the picture - the notes are a springboard for them to SEE themselves and their students from a bit of a "distance" and to reflect spontaneously. I never, ever launch into a whole bunch of feedback about what I think after an observation. Rather, we review the notes together and the reflection begins to roll. Then, after the teacher has an opportunity to reflect, I add feedback as well as ask questions to push his or her thinking. In this way, learning happens.

I've been asked, "How do you manage to write all of that down?!" Practice. Lots of practice. The surest route to developing the skill of taking observation notes is by taking observation notes. It's certainly true that getting in to observe often enough to have regular practice, especially if you have only one mentee, can be a challenge. I'll put it out there that it may be worthwhile to look for alternate situations in your life where you can sit back and simply practice writing observation notes. Sit in a cafe and write down as much as you can, with a focus in mind, for 15 minutes. Try it at a sporting event, at a bookstore, at a staff meeting, at an after school program - you name it. Doing this in 15 minute chunks again and again will develop the skill set for capturing detailed observation notes. Why would we want to do such a thing? Because for each and every teacher I've ever observed, receiving detailed notes of their classroom in action is priceless. They rarely ever get it.

If you haven't had a chance to observe your mentee yet, pull out your calendar the next time you meet and find a few windows of time for you to observe. It will broaden and deepen your work together naturally.

Thanks for reading - more on observing to come!

Alison

Do you have a goal?

2009-11-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

Today I attended a New Teacher Center leadership meeting, where a fellow mentor colleague shared the story of a successful year of mentoring with a first year teacher. Their work together resulted in significant student gains, with 80% of the mentee's students reading at grade level by the end of the school year. At the start of the school year, most of the students were reading well below grade level. These gains aligned directly with the mentee's professional goals for the year.

Here's the point for those of us in a new teacher mentoring role: the mentor had a targeted goal for her work that aligned directly with the mentee's goal. These aligned goals on the part of both professionals kept the work right on target. At the end of the year, they were able to celebrate the resulting student successes together, and they had an understanding of how they got there as a result of their weekly reflection on student achievement and learning needs. This is what our work is ultimately about, and there is great satisfaction in realizing a stated goal.

In the coming days, I'm going to be sure to write up a specific goal for my work with each of my mentees that aligns precisely with his or her professional goals. It will be interesting to reflect on the results at the end of the year. I encourage you to do the same - and to share your outcomes here.

Thanks for reading!

Case Study Students

2009-11-05T07:02:00.000-08:00

In my work with my mentees, we are increasingly focusing on case study students at this time. We chose our case study students back in September, considering initial class data as well as each mentee's interest in learning more about particular students in their classes.

In the choosing of the case study students, I always pull out the Pre-Assessment Iceberg - a FAS Coaching tool that is an excellent guide for thinking and sharing about each student in a very holistic way. I find the use of this tool to be helpful for me as a mentor, because it facilitates a discussion that will generate information about the students my mentee is choosing, as well as information about what my mentee knows and doesn't know about pre-assessing student strengths, language levels, academic performance, and learning needs. The use of the Pre-Assessment Iceberg also opens up a variety of entry points for further mentoring - the range of questions and areas of interest are consistently wide. My mentees are led to want to know much more about their case study students - they decide to talk to them more, get to know them, ask them questions about their learning, phone their parents to find out more about their case study student's home life and academic history. We inevitably decide to do some reading and research about each student's particular learning needs - and it provides avenues for me to share resources or suggest veteran teacher observations or professional development opportunities. Yes - it's true - all from the use of one tool! If anything, the use of the Pre-Assessment Iceberg presents an excellent challenge for mentors - the challenge of strategically planning upcoming meeting topics with our mentees and having an awareness of when to create an entry point for timely new learning on the part of our mentee.

As a result of getting to know more about each case study student, the natural outcome of the pre-assessment work is to make come instructional decisions. As mentor, it is my job to ensure that each of my mentees comes to this place in the work. While we will continue to get to know more and more about each case study student over the course of the year through interpersonal relationship building, it is also essential to get to know them through inquiry into teaching practice. This is the juncture I find myself at with my mentees at this time. Each of them is making instructional decisions about specific instructional strategies, modifications, and interventions that they plan to take in their classrooms with their case study students in mind. Of course, this involves lesson planning. It also involves my coming in to observe the plans in action - and student engagement and learning within the context of the plan - as well as follow up conversations with my mentees about the efficacy of the instructional decisions and pointed next steps for pedagogical improvements. We will also look at student work, with a lens focused on the case study student work in particular. The process of analyzing student work inevitably leads to differentiated lesson planning - and thus, the cycle continues.

Lesson plan, observe, analyze student work, lesson plan, analyze student work, lesson plan again, observe, lesson plan, etc. The inquiry cycle is not linear. It is truly cyclical and we make choices about which component of the inquiry cycle would be the most beneficial for our mentees' reflection on practice in the interest of student learning. The key three processes in the inquiry cycle are: lesson planning, observing, and analyzing student work. When the time is right we can build in an Inquiry Action Plan - but that is another topic for another post.

This is a rich time of year for learning together with our mentees.

How do I get additional hard copies of the FAS Coaching Tools?

2009-11-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Hard copies of the tools - including the shrink wrapped packets of them - are in the Make and Take Center at the new NTSD offices - 581 61st Street, Oakland at the corner of Shattuck Avenue. Electronic versions of the tools can also be emailed to you - contact your NTSD liaison for further assistance.

Survival and Goal Setting

2009-10-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

We've reached the "survival" time of the school year for most teachers. We've been working for several weeks straight without much of a break, and without one in sight until Thanksgiving. I, too, am finding that I'm spinning my wheels a bit - trying to keep up with a long list of tasks that seems to grow each day. This is what "survival" is like - going day to day and trying to keep up in a very momentary way. It is short-sighted, but also understandable - especially when we consider a new colleague and the steep learning curve that they face. Most of the teachers we are mentoring are probably in "survival" mode right now, and it is essential that we are aware of and responsive to this state of mind, as it can be stressful and difficult for a novice teacher to maintain for very long.

If goal setting hasn't crossed the table with your mentee yet - this is the perfect time to set aside a meeting to attend to it. Goal setting provides us with direction and clarity for our work. It also sets the stage for moving into the inquiry cycle (lesson planning, observing, analyzing student work, reflecting on case study students) with focus rather than a haphazard "let's do one thing this week and something else the next week" approach that is reactive rather than responsive. Ultimately, clarity around our work together saves time, leads to identifiable efficacy in the classroom, impacts student learning positively, and provides the groundwork for intentional weekly reflection.

What if my mentee already has goals written? Fine. Perfect. It's still essential to take the time to have a conversation about those goals and to identify how you are going to work with those goals together. Also, it's important to consider the language of the goals. Often, teachers will write goals in terms of student achievement. For example, "90% of all students will move by 1.5 points on the writing rubric this year." What can sometimes be left out are the specific steps the teacher will take to move in the direction of reaching that goal.

In my work, I consistently use the New Teacher Center's Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) for goal setting. I use the ILP even if the goal setting meeting is conducted for the purposes of getting mutual clarity on existing goals. With the framework of the CSTP to guide the conversation, we are able to take a very comprehensive look at the mentee's goals. We consider how engaging students, classroom environment, lesson planning, knowledge of content, assessing learning, and professional development will be approached with the goal in mind. While it can seem big, (6 goals!) it's actually manageable. This approach takes a big picture goal like "90% of all students will move by 1.5 points on the writing rubric this year" and breaks down the mini steps that will need to be taken to attain it. So the 6 goals are actually mini goals or supportive goals linked to an overall goal.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have a goal setting or goals-oriented conversation with each mentee we support. Taking the time to stop and consider goals in a focused way - with clear and manageable next steps for both our mentee and ourselves - helps to stop the spinning wheels. With a named focus in mind, it also sets the stage for us to name successes. It has been found that one of the single most important factors influencing a teacher's decision to remain in our profession is his or her ability to identify ways in which he or she has been successful in the classroom and successful in terms of student learning. Naming such successes, I would argue, hinges on a clear understanding of one's goals and how one is reaching them in an ongoing way.

Thanks for reading!

Alison

What is the Early Completion Option?

2009-10-07T21:29:00.001-07:00

The Early Completion Option for BTSA provides exceptional teachers with a PRELIMINARY CREDENTIAL the opportunity to complete BTSA in one year instead of two. The candidate must have at least TWO YEARS of teaching experience at an accredited school and be BEGINNING the BTSA Program when he or she applies for Early Completion. Candidates must apply for this option. You will find all the details on the NTSD website: ntsd.ousd.k12.ca.us Open the BTSA link. Here you will find the link for the ECO application, as well as a link providing detailed information about necessary criteria to qualify. The deadline to apply for this year is October 30, 2009.

Give them Golden Time

2009-10-01T22:37:00.001-07:00

I held a Mentor Forum this week. One of my mentor colleagues there shared her intention to offer her mentee an hour of "golden time" each week. By this she meant that she wants to attend fully with her mentee when they meet throughout the year. It can be easy for us to be swept away by our phones, emails, "to do" lists, and the hectic concerns of our teaching lives - especially if we share a common content-area prep with our mentee. Ironically, diving into such "to do" lists can often lead to our getting very little done.

My colleague realized that she needed to put all the "chatter" aside to provide her mentee with protected time to reflect on her classroom: her successes, her questions, her challenges -- as well as attainable pedagogical, personal, and professional next steps. In my experience, such focus in collegial mentorship does lead to concrete achievements on the part of teacher, mentor, and most importantly, students.

We are fortunate to have a simple tool to provide a clear architecture for our meetings - The Collaborative Assessment Log. This tool provides us with a straightforward means to support a focused, reflective conversation.

How do you use the Collaborative Log, and how does it support your work?

Laying out a Timeline

2009-09-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Need some ideas for possible next steps to take with your mentee? Not sure about how to think about your mentoring year in terms of “the big picture” month by month? Check out Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman’s Mentoring Matters pp. 13-17. Here you will find an array of ideas for mentoring conversations that are appropriate at various stages of the academic year.

Lipton and Wellman identify the mentoring role in terms of three functions: As mentors we Offer Support, Provide Challenge, and Facilitate Vision.

Their calendar of options suggests appropriate monthly mentoring topics that align with each of these three functions. An effective mentoring relationship balances the functions – we keep the work challenging, with overarching goals and vision in mind, and we give support or guidance when it is needed.

Go grab your copy of Mentoring Matters and check it out!

Lipton, L. & Wellman, B. (2003) Mentoring Matters: A Practical Guide to Learning-Focused Relationships. Sherman, CT: Mira Via, LLC.

Coach Training and Orientation - What's what?

2009-09-22T19:09:00.001-07:00

What is the difference between the "coach training" and the "BTSA or Intern Orientation"?

"Coach Training" is a multi-day training provided to introduce you to the New Teacher Center's Formative Assessment System. The first year of coach training includes a three day training on the foundations of coaching including goal setting, observations, analyzing student work, and understanding context. In the second year, the training covers coaching strategies to address equity, the learnin g needs of special populations students, and English Language Learners.

BTSA or Intern Orientation is a one-time meeting wherein the requirements for BTSA or Intern program completion is reviewed. It is important to attend the Orientation for the program in which your mentee is enrolled. BTSA teachers have a Preliminary credential and are obtaining their Clear credential. Interns are enrolled in a university program and are earning their Preliminary credential.

All coach training dates are now posted on the NTSD website. Look for the google calendar link at the top of the page. Please register for trainings.

The Way is Right Before You

2009-09-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

The title to this entry summons a fairly commonplace Zen saying - "The way is right before you." As it is true in life, so it is true in mentoring practice. Our mentees give us countless opportunities to introduce new information or offer support in specific ways that are meaningful to their professional lives. In mentoring terminology, we call these opportunities "entry points." Come to mention it, this term has a bit of Zen flair to it, too. By paying attention, and then acting strategically in our mentoring role, we are offered the "entry" by our mentee colleague to focus our work together. In the last two weeks, I've come across plenty of entry points with my mentees. Among them: "I don't understand how teachers find the time to develop daily plans, link them to standards, and on top it all, write whole cohesive units. I don't know where to begin..." or "I feel very confident about what I'm teaching, it's finding the resources to make labs happen that's feeling like a challenge right now..." or "Our school is nestled here in this community, yet there is little parent involvement. I'd like to learn more about how to involve parents in the school community - I intend to start right here in my classroom." What are some of the entry points you have heard this week? How will your mentoring be strategic in terms of steering the two of you along the way? By acting on offered entry points, we simultaneously reinforce trust -- trust that is established as a result of our attention, integrity, skill, knowledge, and respect. Fortunately, we have a pretty hefty toolbox to draw from. I view our mentoring tools as the skeleton around which the heart of the work forms - meaningful, reflective conversation. Mentoring is the practice of guiding our colleagues towards actualizing their professional potential. Remember, it is always right before you.

Calendar the Time

2009-09-10T22:38:00.001-07:00

Why do we set aside a regular, weekly, calendared time to meet? Because it establishes a rhythm to the work we are engaged in with the colleague we mentor. It also establishes a core message -- you matter, I matter, and what we will learn together matters. It's that simple. There are other benefits. I have found over the years that meeting with a mentee every week at a set time results in the greatest growth in practice -- and growth in practice that our mentee can name within the mentoring relationship is a powerful weekly boost to professional esteem and energy. It also results in a habit of mind on the part of each of us to "show up" for reflection on pedagogical practice. Last year, a mentee said to me, towards the end of the year, "this time...our time together...this is the real work...this is where it happens!" That was nice to hear - but the real reason "it happened" was because he showed up. Every week. So I encourage you to get out your calendars this week - do it face to face with your mentee, or make a phone call - but do it. Set aside the time. Both you and your colleague will benefit beyond words from this simple action.

Thanks for reading.

Alison.

Beginnings

2009-08-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

One can be drawn to the idea of needing the right words to begin. I'm going to put that aside and share what I can, with the best words I can find, about being a mentor to new teachers. After eight years of mentoring, as well as benefitting from hundreds of hours of professional development on mentoring, it only seemed right to take the time to share what has been shared with me. I will begin by acknowledging that most of what I have learned about being a mentor has been learned through the process of mentoring - through relationships with the teachers I've mentored - teachers who, from the first day, I always consider my colleagues. My gratitude extends to them for trusting me and for trusting the work.

So we begin. This week marks the beginning of a new school year. While we are probably accustomed to first-day-of-school jitters by now, for many of us, mentoring a new teacher may be an entirely new aspect of our professional life. For others, we are entering yet another year of mentoring - and we know just how much craft goes into doing it well! My goal in writing this blog is to offer succinct weekly insights about the art of mentoring a colleague. In some cases, I will share what I am doing in my own mentoring work. In other cases, I will offer a key concept regarding the craft of mentoring. On other occasions, I will draw from a book, article, or professional journal that may be of use to all of us. Lastly, I will write about a variety of mentoring tools we use in our work and align those entries to the time of year that we are most likely to use specific tools. I welcome your insights, feedback, successes, and challenges and hope this blog will become a place where we can support each other and share our best practices.

For this week, for tomorrow and the next day, the heart of our work is about getting to know our mentees - getting to know everything we can know about them. This is a time to build a relationship based on trust - one that is grounded in mutual understanding. Even if you are in your second year of mentoring a colleague, take some time this week to approach your mentee with "I don't know you" eyes. Find out something completely new about them, and avoid relating via assumptions. Operating on assumptions can lead us to guide our colleagues in areas where guidance is unnecessary, or to overlook pivotal areas of practice wherein reflection is key. Assumptions also create a relational block - what you are actually meeting via an assumption is your own idea about a person rather than who they may be. That makes the work about you, rather than the individual being guided. This breaks down trust rather than building it.

We want to build trust.

A central aspect of building trust is creating the space in our work to put ourselves aside and listen. Rather than walking through a mentee's classroom door this week with our own personal agenda about what they should do or what they need, the only agenda we should have is to sit down and ask them questions about themselves - and then listen. Where did they go to school? What brought them to teaching? What are they passionate about with regards to their content? What are their dreams for the coming year? Where do they feel confident? How are they unsure? Where did they grow up? What do they want to know about their students? What do they want their students to learn? Their answers to these and any other questions that may surface in the midst of the conversation will show you the way to the next "right step" for offering genuine support around areas of strength and need that you identify together.

Enjoy this week - and at the end of every meeting, I encourage you to say "thank you."

Thanks for reading - and welcome!

Alison.