Reflection Strategies for Adult Learners

It has been a great week in the world of Professional Learning.  I have had the opportunity this week to work with 2 groups of great educators.  One group was a group of Instructional Resource Teachers and the other was with Middle Grades teachers from our K-8 Academy in our district.  With the Instructional Resource Teachers we were learning about coaching strategies and with the Middle Grades teachers we were learning about engagement strategies for students.  A big thing for me is that adult learners extend their learning and reflect on their learning.  Often, I am asked to come in for a one and done style workshop, so reflection is extremely important.  I will share two I used here:

March Moments 

March Moments is based on March Madness: This idea was born out my need to be topical and change themes in my workshops to reflect the season.  Well, we are getting ready to head into the thick of March Madness, so I decided that I would try some on-going reflection.  I created a bracket style reflection card, and introduced it at the beginning of the session.  I asked participants to reflect as we were going through the day.  The idea is that they will gather four ideas on the left they will start doing and 4 ideas on the right they will stop doing.  Then at the end, the participants will narrow down until they reach the final two-- one action they will stop and one they will start.  I tell the participants on the front end to think about two final ones they may be able to do before the end of the year in this case

Block Reflection:

This idea was born out of the fact that the purpose of my being with the middle grades teachers was to help with transitioning to  the 90 minute block schedule, hence the block.  The purpose of the block is to have participants at  the end think about 6 domains of their own practice and reflect on each side of the block.  When they are done, they cut out the block pattern, put it together and keep it with them for on-going reflection.

This block model asks participants to focus n 6 areas:

1. One idea you want to find out more about
2. One takeaway that will change your practice
3. One  thing that you will have to stop doing
4. Something you will start doing
5. One idea that you will collaborate with others on
6. One new strategy that you will incorporate into a plan.

Reflection is a key part of learning for adults, so these are just two ways that I have incorporated reflection for groups I have worked with this week.  Try to keep it fun and topical!

Collaboration on a Pre-Snow Day

My kids always teach me a lot about thinking and learning.  Today, we were home because my wife had to have a surgical procedure on her foot.  While she was resting, my kids came to me and said they wanted to make chocolate eclairs.  Chocolate eclairs.  They have been watching the Food Network and have seen the Kids Baking Challenge, Chopped Junior and Cake Wars.  This was all they needed to see: young people making eclairs and other fun stuff!  So, they started on the eclairs.  I have never made eclairs, but they are a determined group!

What I learned about learning today.  One, children are still natural inquisitors. They watched the show, rewatched the show, wrote down directions, and found the recipe on foodnetwork.com. After our inspiration and entry activity (We had to go to the store!) and research, we were ready to begin.

We went through trial and error to determine if we were on the right track! We had a visual exemplar, directions and a model.  Well, they did.  They went through the recipe like troopers, collaborating all along the way.  They took turns mixing, stirring, reading, and because they were engaged, there was no arguing.  They had a problem to solve and were on a mission, and that engagement made them motivated.  I have talked about identity on this blog before. Today, my kids identified themselves as bakers; therefore, they pressed on.  As the facilitator of their learning, I asked questions, answered questions and sometimes demonstrated.

In the end, they made perfect pastries-- they even added in cinnamon and maple syrup to give distinctive flavor to the filling and decided that instead of chocolate, they used caramel and created a bacon, pecan, and brown sugar topping to top it all off.

Here are the eclairs after baking.  Nice and flaky

Here they are with the caramel bacon topping!

 The 4 C's were alive and well in our house today, so here are my takeaways:

1. Children need the time and space to delve into curiosity: When my children came to me, my first inclination was, "Can we just relax and watch the Disney Channel"-- that translates into them watching the Disney Channel and me playing a game on my phone.  They needed the time to satisfy their curiosity, and I was able to give them that space and time.
2. The end result is sometimes satisfaction in completing the project and not a test; the reward is an eclair: In our testing society, the sense of accomplishment and figuring out something is the better reward than a test score.  My kids learned about tempering an egg mixture with warm milk, mixing a batter for the right consistency, and knowing when the pasteries were done!
3. When kids are engaged, collaboration comes naturally. My kids get along OK, but they do fight like siblings, and they do often.  However, with a common identity and common mission, collaboration became a necessity to complete the task.  They naturally figured out what parts they could do and set out to collaborate and communicate to make  this happen.
4. When faced with a challenge, kids need the time for innovation and problem-solving: My kids had never made eclairs before.  Mostly what they have done is made a sandwich or microwaved some macaroni and cheese, so to take on this challenge was quite the task.  Once they felt comfortable with the process, they were able to innovate. They added maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon to the filling.  Instead of chocolate covering, they covered with caramel and made pecan maple covered bacon to sprinkle on the top.  This was similar to what the kid on  the baking show did, but they were creating and felt confident to add this or that. When things weren't going exactly the way they thought, they had to figure it out so that the filling wasn't soupy or the fact that they did not have heavy cream for the caramel topping, so they improvised.
5. As a facilitator, I must know my role:  I have always seen myself as a facilitator in the classroom when I was an English teacher.  I would strive to design experiences for students, and that is where I need to know my role.  When we were making  the eclairs, I had to allow for failure and I had to design the space for problem-solving.  At times I was the guide, modeling.  In the end my power is giving them the power, skill and knowledge to do this again without my help.  I am confident that they could go in and replicate this recipe or find another one and apply their learning to the new one.

This experience on a day when I would have probably checked emails, played a couple of rounds of a virtual trivia game or watched television was the most powerful example of the work we are doing in our schools--or should be doing in our schools--We need to work on the identities of children, of teachers, of administrators to take us to that level where we need to be.   I have used the iceberg image in a previous post and the one below is more linear.  

Here, as we often do in schools, we work on changing the environment-- add technology or make collaborative spaces. Or, we focus on changing the behaviors of teachers or students, or we focus on skills development and drill skills or develop professionals professionally.  When we get to values and beliefs is when we start seeing the change.  When students believe in their work, they invest in in more.  When they identify as critical thinkers or collaborative learners, they think critically and collaborate.  This state does not just happen, but it is a process, and that is why teachers need the skills to help students reflect on values and beliefs.  That is why administrators need to be able to help teachers uncover their values and beliefs.  When we identify as learners, innovators, collaborators, chefs, or thinkers, our behaviors display this identity!

We are All Coaches

This week, I edged back into the second week of work after the holiday.  The first week was a nice ease into work, but this week came in like a ton of bricks.  I had the opportunity to do some good learning, but it is exhausting.  I participated in two days of Cognitive Coaching, delivered some professional learning for Instructional Technology Facilitators and ended the week doing some work with Adaptive Schools.  It was good to get back into learning to help me reflect on the work that I do as a supporter of Instructional coaches in our district.   I had the chance to ponder on a lot this week, but the main theme that kept circling back around is that in a dynamical system like a school system, we are all coaches or at least need to be coaches to move the district forward.


I love this graphic that depicts Robert Dilts's Levels of Logic:

Image: http://tomorrowsconsultant.com/journal-club-month-1-week-2-logical-levels/

As the graphic above shows, the environment and behavior are what is at the top, so those are the elements that get attention.  When we focus on the beliefs and values and a person's identity, then the behavior and environment change.  I am convinced that this kind of change comes only from communication and dialogue among educators. Here are some ways that I think we will impact change in our district with a focus on coaching skills:

School Leaders Are Coaches:

I cannot tell you how many times I sat with a teacher to go over their last evaluation, and the crux of the conversation was what the teacher did well and what the teacher could improve upon.  Our discussions centered around where the teacher landed on the rubric for teacher evaluation.   Inevitably, I would interject some strategies that the teacher may want to consider or offer some ideas that I know would help achieve higher ratings on the rubric.  When the teacher left my office, I had sufficiently shared with him or her how he or she can improve, and inevitably and unknowingly, the change I wanted to see-- the change our school needed to see-- had a small likelihood of happening because I had not really gotten to the underlying ideas and identity that the teacher held.  I offered strategies, but many of the teachers that we needed to see change in needed more than strategies.  Now enter coaching.  I have played back in my head some of the teachers that I have worked with that I know needed to change to be innovative and effective, and I wish I understood that as an administrator I was a coach, but I was not coaching; I was judging.  I wish that I had asked questions to the teacher about their practice:  What might be some possible ways that you could engage students in your class?.  I wish I had the skills to paraphrase and to listen to the teachers: "One thing that you hold value in is students' having passion for the content that you have."  Or, you feel frustrated because students do not have the passion you have and you are looking for a way to make that happen." The good news is that in my role I can help spread the word about the need for administrators needing coaching skills to have the impact that we desperately need to change schools.

Teachers as Coaches:

I see this as twofold:  Teachers need to be coaching each other, asking questions to each other about what they value and what they see through peer observations.  Teachers are also coaches to the students.  If we want students to be be critical thinkers, innovators, collaborators, question askers, creative participants, and communicators, they have to identify themselves as these. Coaching skills help all of us help others understand though processes to think about how they identify as a learner. We can bring as many strategies as we want to the classroom, but unless teachers and students identify themselves as innovators, we will not have innovative environments.

District Leaders as Coaches:

Often times at the district level, we design professional learning with the best intentions, but this professional learning focuses on changing behaviors or changing the environment.  We make mottos and statements that paint a picture of the end result.  This end result, if it is a god one, will require people in the organization to have common beliefs, values and in turn a collective identity of innovation and change.  Often, we fall short of impacting these deeper rooted characteristics and stay focused on the surface.  As district leaders, we must focus on what is underneath the surface.  It seems simple, but this kind of change is difficult.  If changing behaviors changed cultures, then we would have turned that corner a while ago.  As leaders, we need to employ the skills of coaching so that we ask the right questions, listen to those we guide, and focus on what is beyond the surface.  To have change that is sustainable, we have to challenge the beliefs of those we are trying to change and often guide some through the thinking that engenders that change.

I am a believer that a lot in this world happens for a reason.  The role that I am in in my district is giving me the opportunity to have the time to reflect and the ability to help influence change.  I am convinced that we can change the culture of a school and a district, but we have to be asking the right questions and authentically listening and communicating to see the change we want.  Together, I am convinced that we will get there.

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