The Coaching Corner

Good classroom management is mostly invisible. While outbursts and disruptions are inevitable in the course of an academic year, they can be kept to a minimum by employing subtle techniques that work behind the scenes to create a positive classroom culture. The article below focuses on the importance of creating procedures for teachers and students that will allow them to concentrate on the job at hand and prevent distractions from escalating in ways that can impede learning or even create safety hazards. An awareness of the right strategies, and the right mindsets, can put teachers on the fast track to adopting tactics that work.

The article shares a few ideas that can save hours of extra effort down the line by creating that just-right environment for learning-where students can commit to learning because they're confident that you've got their back. As a reminder, classroom management begins with building relationships. Please watch the accompanying video to hear from students on the importance of relationships and how it impacts their learning. I truly believe, "students don't learn from teachers they don't like."

Asia Hamilton-District Instructional Coach-New Teachers Middle/High

Parent Teacher Conferences can be intimidating to any teacher, but particularly to new teachers. I remember my first Parent Teacher Conference. The dad, holding his daughter’s report card in his hand, looked over his glasses at me, saying, “Ms. Deffenbaugh, I am studying to be a surgeon, I have a lot of knowledge about a lot of things. But what does a “D” in reading even mean?” After a second or two of processing exactly how I needed to respond, I began to share his daughter’s running records, my anecdotal notes from her times in my small group, and other meaningful data that detailed what his daughter was doing well and in what she needed more work to excel. I am thankful for a mentor teacher who encouraged me to keep a student conferring notebook and who taught me the simple sandwich technique – to sandwich what the student needed to improve in between two areas in which he or she excelled.

The article below gives tips for before, during, and after the Parent Teacher Conference. The author speaks of the importance of remembering the child is an ego extension of the parent. If you tell a mother her daughter is failing a subject, the mother hears that she, too, is a failure. If you tell a father his son is an excellent science student, this father will be mentally congratulating himself the rest of the evening. Because of this, and other factors, Parent Teacher Conferences take careful planning – before, during, and after the conference. The video, from Happy Teacher, details 6 tips for successful Parent Teacher Conferences. While the teacher is a kindergarten teacher, her tips can be easily adapted for all grade levels.

As you prepare for Parent Teacher Conferences, don't forget self-care, as well. A few snacks, a quick list of discussion topics in case you experience a brain freeze, and a little chocolate will go a long way toward keeping the evening stress-free and beneficial for all!

Parent Teacher Conferences - Before, During, and After: Teacher Vision

Julie Deffenbaugh - District Instructional Coach - New Teachers/Elementary

What is sounds-first instruction?

We have been hearing from the state of Tennessee over the last 2 years all about "sounds-first instruction." So, what is it?

A sounds-first approach acknowledges the fact that children's ability to notice and manipulate sounds is the first step in foundational skills development. This approach puts "sounds first" in two ways: (1) the youngest children work extensively in isolated sound practice (phonological awareness) even before beginning to identify letters, and (2) foundational skills lessons continue to begin with sounds of words and emphasize sound patterns even as children shift their focus to phonics and decoding (practicing letter-sound correspondences, word recognition, and fluency along with advanced phonemic awareness). Older research indicates that students should move away from phonological awareness and focus on phonics in first and second grade. Current studies (Liben, Kilpatrick, and Paige) indicate that all foundational skills lessons should emphasize the progression from sounds-based activities to fluency in daily lessons. The emphasis inside each lesson should shift as students' development of automaticity changes. Frequently, students are at different developmental rates and will need multiple avenues for practice and reinforcement in daily lessons.

What is the Instructional Practice Guide?

Another resource our district is using to support good classroom practices is the Instructional Practice Guide. This guide helps administrators and peers to provide content-specific feedback for teacher professional development. The IPG is a K-12 classroom observation rubric that prioritizes what is observable in and expected of classroom instruction when instructional content is tied to standards.

Designed as a developmental rather than an evaluation tool, the IPG supports planning, reflection, and collaboration, in addition to coaching. The IPG encompasses the three Shifts by detailing how they appear in instruction.

• Complexity: Practice regularly with complex text and its academic language.
• Evidence: Ground reading, writing, and speaking in evidence from text, both literary and informational.
• Knowledge: Build knowledge through content-rich nonfiction.

The IPG starts with Culture of Learning: Environmental Readiness. As we know, students on-task and meeting expectations are learning. As educators, we need to ensure our students are in an orderly, effective learning environment so learning can happen.

There are 3 Core Actions associated with the IPG:

1. Core Action 1: Focus each lesson on a high-quality text (or multiple texts). Using the HQIM provided by the district (Wonders, My Perspectives) helps group this core action.
2. Core Action 2: Employ questions and tasks, both oral and written, that are text-specific and accurately address the analytical thinking required by the grade-level standards.
3. Core Action 3: Provide all students with opportunities to engage in the work of the lesson.

10 Ways to Imbed ELA Skills into the Math Curriculum

1. Analyze story problems for story elements

2. Read story problems

3. Have students paraphrase story problems

4. Ask students to tell, rather than show or write, their explanations

5. Write stories using math data

6. Make graphs from stories

7. Ask students to explain, orally or written, why certain mathematical solutions are illogical

8. Use Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast

9. Use literature in math class

10. Use your favorite graphic organizer for math story problems

See this link for more details about the 10 ways to imbed ELA in Math:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1059655.pdf

Blending Social Studies and ELA

Social studies is more than just teaching children facts, dates, states and capitals. It's about the stories - it's the "why" behind each individual's choices, their interactions with each other and the world.

Here are 4 ideas to blend the two subject areas:

1. Use Interactive Notebooks

2. Create a Presentation

3. Create a Supported Response

4. Hold Collaborative Groups

See this link for more details about blending social studies and ELA: https://www.studiesweekly.com/blending-social-studies-and-ela/

Using Science to Bring Literature to Life

We know that language is best learned through context. Learners have to talk about something, listen about something, read about something, and write about something. When students engage in literacy practices during science investigations, they make sense of their own thinking, listen to the ideas of others, become aware of multiple perspectives, rethink their own ideas, are able to evaluate another's ideas, and frame their own ideas before writing (Worth, 2008).

For more details about using science to support ELA, use these links: https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-science-bring-literature-life

https://www.nsta.org/science-and-children/science-and-children-julyaugust-2020/science-plus-ela-natural-fit

Email: contact@mauryk12.org
Website: mauryk12.org
Location: 501 West 8th Street, Columbia, TN, USA
Phone: (931) 388-8043