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So this is another, actually Jim
spurred me to read this book, its
actually written by a surgeon,
it's on, and I've got the resource in the back, it's Better, A Surgeon's Reflection,
something like that? And
he really is talking about system change, throughout this whole book. So it's
written by a surgeon but it really systems change.
And some things that he said you really need to have if you're going to have
success is diligence, is his top one.
So making sure that you're
giving the change enough attention.
It's not going to happen in the first month of the school year.
A lot of this change will take multiple years to happen,
but we need to stick with it and have diligence and work on that.
A difficult task for those taking on change that involve risk and
consequences.
Again setting high expectations. We're gonna get there.
Map out where you wanna be. This is something that you and your principal
or your leaders in your district, maybe you need to sit down and say
by the end of the school year we'd like to have this
implemented. By the end of the school year two,
this is what we want to see in place. Because if you look at the whole system
of SRBI, its humongous.
And it seems overwhelming, so we're just not going to try it.
So break it up, for what you think your district, your school, your building
can do in a year's time. So that you can celebrate the success of
we did this. Otherwise you're just not going to get points. Make that list
and work on it and have a plan in place. Do right,
I thought this was interesting. Working to avoid failings inherant when working
with the living and breathing people.
We're human, we're going to make mistakes.
So we want to try to avoid as many mistakes as possible. And by
doing that we're going to be doing right.
So we want to try to anticipate what's going to be a stumbling block
How can we avoid that possible stumbling block?
If I have a form for a person ready to go,
maybe that's going to avoid them coming to a problem solving team meeting
without the data they need and they're told they have to go back and collect.
And that's where a teacher really gets annoyed.
I collected this and now you're telling me I have to go back and do more?
I've done six interventions already! Where's your data?
Well, I didn't collect it. Well we can't do anything until we have the data to show
that the student did not respond.
So that's something that inherant, with working with people are gonna make mistakes
not do what they need to do.
But set them up for success by having the appropriate forms, by having the
appropriate tools,
and giving them the appropriate knowledge up front, so they're ready to
do that.
Having some ingenuity,
avoiding the "ostrich syndrome" as I've said,
teachers will stick your head in the sand as long as they possibly can
to avoid a change. Because if they stick it in there long enough its gonna,
pendulums gonna go another way, and I don't have to do that change.
SRBI, MTSS/RTI, whatever alphabet you want to call it
is not going to go away. Because
research is telling us time and time again, that doing the interventions,
collecting the data is good for kids.
Minnesota has a real, there's a factoin
that's really pushing to totally eliminate
discrepancy. You know there's
pros and cons of that.
We all know the research says the discrepancy formula is not
good, but it's the best we've got. Because there's a lotta districts that
aren't ready to do
eligibility through MTSS/ RTI.
So if we get rid of it, you know, we could have a bigger problem on our hands.
So, it's, wanna make sure we're working on that
So reflection on failure,
we don't want to do that if it's a failure we don't want to use that word
but you're searching for new solutions. This intervention didn't work,
this data didn't indicate what you're doing with those sight words
because you weren't measuring what you were intervening on.
It's not a failure, it's just something that we need to go back and reflect and
see how could we have done it differently.
From that point on, she knew that she didn't collect that type data.
You wanna make sure using those partnership principles.
He goes through each of those in the book, a lot, and I'm gonna do
a very short snapshot on them. They are
equality, choice, voice dialogue, reflection, praxis, and reciprocity.
And then to do and go through some of these,
page 93 of your book has some good questions that you can ask,
as you starting to do some coaching. He's got a lotta resources in there for you.
So equality, it really, this is a
really critical element that you are equal to the person that you're coaching
with.
You may be coaching a principal, at that point,
you're equal with him or her.
So you really thinking that equality.
That equality has to be established through your behaviors and your dialogue.
And sometimes you need to remind someone, I'm not your administrator.
What we say here stays here. Anything that
happens does not go in your permanent file.
The observations that I might do are not your formal observations that are going
into your evaluative file.
They're formative evaluations,
because we're going to think about it as a learning process.
Some teachers need to hear that very clearly from you,
so it takes that fear out of "Well she's gonna go and tell the principal".
You may communicate with the principal, but it's not anything that can be used
against, take the fifth, can't be used against you.
The teacher's opinions are just as important as yours.
You may come and thinking this is what we need to work on,
and that's going to put the wall up right away.
The teacher may have one perception of what used to be worked on,
you may have another.
You have to come to a common understanding,
what's going to be the best.
And sometimes it's not what you wanted to. So make sure you don't come in with
an agenda,
when you're working with those teachers.
Both view points are worth hearing.
Choice, both of you have to have a choice in your plan development.
And I'm always talking about a one on one, you may be coaching a whole
grade level or so on, but whatever plan, whatever development
you're gonna do, I'm making these changes, making the system changes,
everyone has to agree that that's the way it's supposed to be.
So there is that choice. You make prompt the person with some guiding questions,
to think a bit differently,
think about something else might have more impact on change,
but they still, everybody, has to have some choice.
This where listening really comes into play like Terry was saying.
Listen not only with your ears, but listen with your eyes.
If you mention something and the teacher kinda does this or
starts shuffling the papers,
you know that that something she's a little anxious about, or he.
So listen very carefully to what they're saying,
not just with their words. And you really have to choose to work together.
It seems very obvious,
but you have to make that conscious choice that you and this person or the
small group are going to work together.
And it's an agreed-upon thing. That's how systems change.
It's difficult to live in others answers regardless of the amount of
goodwill with which it is offered.
How often does that happen in education,
that we are living someone else's answers?
A lot.
And that's why people are hesitant. That's why people are frustrated.
But remember Jim says that teachers don't resist change, they just resist
poorly planned and poorly thought out change.
So giving them that voice, giving them the answers as to why.
So you have to have that voice, everybody has to feel free to express their
opinions.
This is that safety net of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas".
So they can spout out and
share their frustrations and you have to keep that within you. don't
There's that trust factor that yeah, listen
empathetically, provide teachers with the point of view other than the
principals.
Sometimes the principal's philosophy and the teachers philosophy are very
different.
Sometimes you can be that mediator between those two.
"Well he says I have to do this", Well, let's talk about why he might say that.
This is what I see, how can we work by,
you have to follow what your principal says you need to do, but how can we do
that
as well as do some things we know we need to do.
We can't coach
teachers and psychs to go against their principal,
but we can coach them to follow what their
told, what the edict is, as well as follow some of the new rules and
regulations.
Does that make sense?
Teacher's need to know that you're not the snitch. I talked about that. What is said
in coaching stays there.
The only time that what is said in coaching
and you would need to report to the principal is if its a safety concern for the
student,
or an abusive situation, those types of things.
I've never had that happen,
hopefully we'll never had that happen, but you may see something that you
really do need to report.
But otherwise what you, what happens in that coaching sessions is very private.
Do you know, now
Rochester people you're gonna be meeting with your other coaches,
are you gonna meet with administrators on a regular basis too?
(I think we have bimonthly meetings set up
for most of the year, and I think part of that meeting we'll be meeting
with some of the Special Ed supervisors. So part of the meeting
will be with the General Ed instructional coaches, and we'll do like a book study thing
and the other part is just Special Ed and there'll be a supervisor or two there).
How much do you guys do? Do you have to meet with administrators at all?
(I don't know)
(We call meetings,
with the elementary principal, but she is actually on leave)
Okay.
And what, the reason I'm asking is if you have those regular meetings,
what are they expecting you to report? How are they expecting you to
justify your position?
And your coaching time?
(We're not even technically coaches so...
They're in kind of support...)
So sometimes they want to have
some justification for your time. (And I think thats a little bit
different, because it goes back to what we talked about earlier. It
sounds like some of you in Rochester, that's your position
to be that instructional coach. Whereas many of us, it's an add on,
it's something you fit in where
you can fit it in.
And for us, (so it's not as formalized). Sometimes an administrator will ask you to work with someone
specifically, because of concerns that maybe came up with an observation.
If administrators can be coached
to make that as a positive, rather than as a negative, that,
you know, I saw in this observation and,If you're talking to a teacher, on this observation that you're
really having some struggles with some behavior management.
You have a couple options, because I'm going to come and see how things doing in another
couple months.
One of your options is to research some behavior management strategies and implement some
of those things. Another option might be to meet with so and so because she has
some strategies that she might do.
So it's, it can be more of a choice rather than a "You are really a bad
teacher, you need to meet with this coach".
So, make it as a choice type thing. Coach your principals in using that kind of
language,
especially for those who that might be formal coaches on that.
Making sure that you listen more than you tell.
Again, not modeling that very well, cause all you're doing is listening to me right now.
But see you're practicing those listening skills.
Conversation should be encouraged , and those conversations are then going to
encourage more conversations.
So if they're positive and there some results that you want to make sure that
you are
encouraging those. A true partnership in relationship must involve dialogue.
It's important not to manipulate the conversation.
If you come in with an assumption and all you're trying to do is defend your
assumption,
You're not going to get very far.
I really have to work on this. This is something, because I'm so passionate
about doing a
really good MTSS/RTI/SRBI whatever letters you want to use model,
that sometimes I go in and I don't always listen.
So I really have to think and stop and make sure that I'm not just defending
mine
and listening to what the teacher is telling me. Because sometimes it's like,
"You know, you're right this is difficult in this
area. How can we work through that?" but if I continue to say "Well, you can do it,
you know, this was you're doing, this is what you need to do, this what you need to do",
we don't get anywhere.
The wall gets built a little bit more. And dialogue is not a win-lose
it's a win-win. So you're gonna learn something from listening to that teacher
that you can help
use them to work with another teacher. And then that teacher is also going to learn
something from you.