Can I Give You a Tip? #sol22

During the month of March I will be writing every day in the company of my fellow slicers in our writing community annual Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. This is Day #19.

March 19, 2022

I’ve more introspective lately.

I’ve been trying to think about what I do as a ‘literacy specialist’, ‘ a coach’, and an interventionist.

Recently I have a string of interns, teachers in the building studying to be literacy specialists themselves. For reasons of their own, they have looked at this position and said, It’s for me. Because I’m the literacy specialist they know, they have looked to me for advice.

It’s not that I’m trying to discourage anyone from the work that I do. I am fairly certain that whatever it is that I’m doing won’t be their work. I’m equally certain that this work is like the iceberg metaphor we’ve been teaching the third grade readers and writers who are studying character, whatever it looks like to you on the surface, there’s a lot going on underneath the water. Perhaps it’s more like treading water.

What is completely apparent about the work is the trifecta: co-teaching, coaching, and intervention. That work is always out there in the public eye, simple enough. Two things are much less apparent. One, the preparation, is familiar to most, teacher write plans. Interventionist write plans. People that provide professional development write plans. I write plans. I would say that a good deal of my day is spent planning and executing those plans. The other, I would say is the connections.

Think about a really good student conference. You approach a student or perhaps the student comes to you. You notice something amazing, something right on track, or a potential bump in the road. You say, in your best Lucy Calkins’ way, can I give you a tip? And there is, ‘the magic’. You make the sandwich, as I like to say. I notice you are….. Everyone under the sun likes to be noticed for their current work. Can I give you a tip? There is definitely a pause there where the recipient is allowed a choice. Let me know how that goes or I’d love to come by and see that.

The trouble is, you don’t usually see the trouble coming. Someone drops by with a worry, a problem, a need stuffed into their pocket haphazardly. They will say something like, do you have a book about Lebron James for Charlie. Oh, and quite a few of my students can’t retell a story.

This calls to mind a magic trick someone was explaining to me the other day where you make it seem like you’ve put a hole in the dollar bill only to produce it whole at the end. It looks a little like this. Hmmm…. I think I might have a biography of LeBron James over here. Let’s look. Have you tried making a story box or a mountain or maybe, a turn and talk about each of your picture book read alouds? (Teacher hums or nods) I go on… remember that read aloud….., you might... This is a gross underrepresentation of the scramble that’s going on in my mental file draws because frankly the questions are rarely that simple.

Let’s peek inside my mental file drawers. I shift through all the ways I’ve taught retell (summary) to any age student. I consider the age of these students. I think about where the teacher has asked this of the students. I think of any clever visual, quick tool, or analogy that might help the teacher. Then I say something. Often, I stall. Hmmm, Let me think about that. I’ll look for that Lebron James biography. Do you want to stop by at your planning. I could come by this morning with that book, when do you have reading? (I know when that class has reading)

There you have it. In 500 words, the secret to my moderate success. Redirection, timing, and … a little je ne sais quoi.