H-e-l-p is a four letter word. It's not hard to sound out and shouldn't be hard to use, but for some reason it is for some of the people in education. If you added up the years of experience in any given school building it would be in the hundreds. That is a lot of experience and a wealth of knowledge. But how many of us turn to our friends and colleagues and say, "Help. I'm not sure if my kids are understanding." Too many times we are too scared to let our colleagues know we aren't perfect, we don't know it all, and we need...H-E-L-P. So don't be afraid to let the other teachers know you need them and the knowledge and tools they own. Don't be afraid to ask for help. The other day I was feeling pretty discouraged about whether teachers were receptive to the coaching process and whether I was accomplishing anything. Then I had a coaching session with one of the teachers and we had a very productive session full of growth and learning for both of us. She was energized and optimistic about where she was headed with classroom instruction and I was energized and optimistic about being a coach again.
Today I got to co-teach with the high school Spanish teacher. Now, remember all my experience is at the elementary level. Our purpose was to get the students to practice saying and reading their numbers. So we did a number talk. A number talk is where you present the students with a number sentence and they have to use mental math to solve the problem and then explain how they did it. I handled the math side and she handled the Spanish side of it. I learned (or was reaffirmed of) 2 things.
1. Lessons go 100% better if you clearly state the purpose or goal to the students at the beginning of the lesson.
2. Not very many of our High School students are risk takers.
So let's talk about number 1. I knew this already, but it is one of my flaws when I teach. I know where I'm headed and what my purpose is, but sometimes I forget to tell the students. As a district we are working on this very thing. But the second time we did the number talks I remembered to clearly state the purpose of the lesson and the engagement and understanding went up from the beginning of the lesson. Which just reaffirms that we are doing the right thing by working with ALL our teachers on connecting standards and curricular goals to daily lessons.
But what really shocked me was how reluctant many of the high school students were to take a risk to try something new and to participate. The Spanish students aren't fluent when they use the numbers in conversation, so it's something they really have to think about, and they make a lot of mistakes. For several students this was huge. When I taught elementary I worked hard at making my classroom an environment where students weren't scared to take a chance, but somewhere along the line that changed. Is this what we want for our kids? So scared about making sure they are right that they won't even take a chance? What if Thomas Edison or any number of inventors and innovators hadn't taken a chance? What if they had been afraid to fail? Or is it because as teachers we model the fear of failure? Are we afraid to take a chance?
