Hopeful Reflection #sol22

March 30, 2022

This little paper with some first grade phonics might look that remarkable… at first. Seemingly this is the work that students are doing in phonics each day. For me this little paper is monumental.

I have been blessed this last month with a literacy specialist intern. A teacher I know is spending this year finishing her literacy specialist certificate. Her presence has made more introspective about my work, my motives, and my philosophy of coaching. Narrating your decisions is eye-opening. Hearing someone else’s perceptions of you as a practitioner is humbling.

Let’s return to this word work. Last month, we had collaborative data meetings with each teacher in the building. Devoting a morning to each grade level, I met with each teacher individually to discuss their assessment data, their observations, and their concerns for their students. We set goals and instructional plans for each student whose body of data and observations caused some concern. Pretty routine school work, but this work is so powerful. Taking the time to process the data, examine it carefully, look for classroom based trends, and talk it out.

During the process, I suggested a strategy to our primary teachers to use a composition book to alternate between decoding individual words in a phonics patterns and composed sentences to using those same words and sentences in dictation the next day. When you offer suggestions as a coach, they are just tips. Teachers may use them and they may not. You hope for the best. So when we returned to our six-week progress monitoring meetings this week with those same teachers, I was hopeful.

Most students had made progress based on the platform-based progress monitoring and I was eager to hear how the teachers thought it was going. I scheduled meetings asking each teacher to bring evidence along with her so we could take a closer look.

This is just a part of one teacher’s evidence. Each teacher had phonics assessments, writing samples. They brought book bags and work samples. So much evidence of great teaching, careful observations, and … hope. It is so uplifting to have these special opportunities. I spend hours each day co-teaching and conferring with teachers, however these meetings feel sacred.

During this meeting, I pulled out the sample that I had created in February to share with my intern. She flipped through it, consider the strategy presented. When the teacher left, she observed that the teacher had taken that tip and made it her own.

That’s all we want as a coach, to help a teacher or student find success. In this case, the teacher and the students are both experiencing success. The worry and concern that this teacher expressed early in February has been lessened. I was able to share joy with this teacher and other colleagues. It’s been a pretty great week so far.

a little sample of brave spelling in kindergarten

6 thoughts on “Hopeful Reflection #sol22”

I can feel you smiling!

I have really missed this kind of PD! Our province has been focusing money on math PD for about 5 years now. That means very little literacy learning with my colleagues. All of it has completely shut down since March 2020. It makes me sad! And worried for teachers in the first few years of their career. They need the PD most.

I really like the glimpse into how you work as a coach, especially the meeting with each teacher individually. That alone is powerful. Clearly the teachers want to grow and want to teach their children the best they can as they all showed up with the data and work samples! I got excited for you! This slice is a testament to my belief that teaching is a shared responsibility and it’s better for kids when we talk it out and do it together. Yay you..yay brave teachers…yay brave young writers!