The work of an observational coach for the “Grow Your Own” program is both as natural as breathing and as foreign as space travel. When I step into the classrooms of the interns I’m observing, my shoulders relax and my breathing slows, “Ahhh, home.” Classrooms with their anchor charts that create walls that teach, books everywhere to entice students to become readers, and curious young ones who crane their necks to see who I am when I enter the room. That all feels right. The part where I quietly find a place to sit out of the way unobtrusively is the part that is still quite odd to me. I’m used to being center stage, after all. As a 7th grade English teacher, the very last thing you want to be to your students is invisible!
I’ve noticed a few things about myself as an observer. First of all, I’m most comfortable asking the intern or mentor teacher where they would like me to be during the lesson. It’s a practical way to start a conversation, and I feel like it shows deference to the mentor teacher and the intern as the leaders in the room. In addition, asking for direction on where best to stand or sit often leads to a brief discussion of what will be happening during the lesson in terms of teaching and student work time. It’s almost like a cliff notes version of the lesson plan.
While I’m observing as a teacher intern conducts a lesson, I pay a lot of attention to their nonverbals. I’m drawn in by those interns who seem to really enjoy the students and I can tell, for example, by the gentle way they guide a rambunctious child to his/her spot on the reading rug with gestures and leaning down to talk at the child’s level. I can tell by the way they can’t help but warmly smile at and gladly receive hugs from their students when they return from a special or from lunch recess. Or when a student offers a particularly astute observation during a class discussion and the intern shoots me a glance and a proud smile, I notice that. I notice that they love those children and they want to do right by them as their teacher.
Now , of course, I also pay attention to the instruction and how information is delivered to the students. I think about where the intern is standing and how many students he/she is engaging in the lesson. I find myself paying a lot of attention to the sound of their voices and the expression or modulation of the interns’ speech as they work to capture and keep student attention. I also notice the intern’s level of enthusiasm or excitement for the lesson. Do they seem to generate a buzz about the learning? Do they seem to encourage curiosity by allowing time for more in-depth questions and discussion?
I think what I’m discovering as I put these words on the page is that I watch the interns and look for the skills and the techniques that I think helped make ME successful in the classroom. What an interesting realization and important reminder! I will need to be extra diligent to watch for the aspects of teaching I didn’t always prioritize when I taught myself such as stating and unpacking the content learning standards with students. I understand setting a purpose for learning but always felt extended conversations about standards with students was overkill and, quite frankly, not best practice in a process-based subject like writing.
But that said, I do want to make sure I help prepare teacher interns to be successful in all aspects of the teaching jobs for which they will someday be hired. Even if some of those practices I found distasteful. Even if I, maybe, didn’t do them.
Shhh…
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