Have You Asked For Feedback Lately?

Instructional Coaching

As coaches and facilitators of professional learning, our work revolves around providing teachers with constructive feedback that will help them improve their instruction.   This process makes good sense to us and we likely feel pretty comfortable with it.  I wonder though, how comfortable we feel with asking for and receiving feedback on our own practice?  Hmm…

My school designer and I wrapped up our last session of professional development this week (we’re on a construction calendar and finish the school year next month!) and included 20 minutes in the agenda to collect feedback from teachers.  Comfortable or not, we both feel that this feedback is a critical piece in providing high quality professional development that supports our Work Plan targets and teacher needs.  To collect teacher thoughts, we designed a survey using Survey Monkey (you can also use Google Docs to create a survey).  In building the survey, we asked ourselves what information would be most useful to know to improve PD next year.  We then started brainstorming different questions and revised from there.  Here’s our final product:

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We haven’t yet reviewed the results, but I look forward to doing so.  Hopefully there will be several “Woo Hoo’s!” and some “Ah Ha’s!”  While there may also be a few “ouches,” no big deal…we’ll grow to be better as a result.

Another idea is to design a similar survey to collect feedback from your coachees on the structure of coaching in your school.  I did this last year and received some great feedback to grow on.

I hope this post will give you some ideas and motivation for collecting feedback of your own.

Thanks for reading,

ms-houser

Book Review: “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character”

Teaching Tips

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Last week I went to Baltimore to learn from and alongside other educators in the Expeditionary Learning Network.  The keynote speaker for the conference was Paul Tough, the author of “How Children Succeed:  Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.”  Tough’s book has become quite popular among those involved or interested in K-12 education.   I finished reading it on the plane ride back to Denver and thought I would provide a quick review.

Throughout the book Tough describes how character supports academic achievement and overall success in life.  Among these skills are persistence, self-control, grit, and self-confidence.

I enjoyed how Tough shares his ideas through a series of different stories involving teachers and students he got to know while writing the book, most notably Kewauna Lerma’s story, a Chicago teenager.  In Kewauna’s story, Tough explains how the development of important noncognitive or character skills (conscientiousness, volition, ability to delay immediate gratification) can help even the most struggling students turn things around for the better.

This book was an enjoyable read that got me thinking about how we can better teach and develop important character strengths such as those Tough outlines in his book.

If you have read this book, what did you think?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This is one of the great books for educators that I have read.  Take a look at some of my other favorite top teaching books.

Thanks for reading,

ms-houser

Organizing for Professional Learning

Teaching Tips

I have just arrived in Baltimore for the Expeditionary Learning National Conference.  I can’t wait!  During this three-day conference I’ll be participating in a mix of interactive master classes and a variety of structured discussion groups.

To ensure I maximized this professional learning experience, I did some essential pre-planning and organizing.

Before leaving I made sure my mind was free and clear of any mental clutter.  I whipped up a travel planning printable to help me with this.  Now I won’t have to worry about whether I forgot to pack anything or if any loose ends were left untied at school.  Ahhh…

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Click Here to Download

During the conference, there is going to be so much great information to record.  My notes won’t mean much though unless they are aligned to specific next actions…now that I know this, what does this mean for me?  What can I share with others?  To support me with this, I created a note catcher for the conference.

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Thanks to Behance Products for inspiring this note catcher.

Click Here to Download

You’ll see at the bottom I included a “Contacts” and “Backburner” session.  At the conference I may meet other educators with great ideas who I want to connect with in the future and I want to make sure I get their contact information.  Additionally, thoughts may come up that aren’t necessarily next actions, but may lead to important next steps in the future.  I’ll plan to record this thinking under “Backburner.”

I hope you can also use these printables to help you plan and prepare for professional learning experiences of your own now or in the future!

Thanks for reading,

ms-houser