And this past week MG hired him to come train MTT coaches. So they can be like Mike.
Lee is perhaps best known 'round these parts for developing a method for coaching teachers in real time. But not, like, calling timeouts and telling kids to
freeze. No no. He gives his teachers ear buds and sits in the back of the classroom with a walkie-talkie barking one or two word directions."Narrate compliance. Narrate. Narrate. Louder. Louder. Scan Jose. Jose. Jose. Narrate."
Three MTT's actually got to be coached by Lee. Who is an intense dude, I might add. His main critique of our operation was that our coaches need to convey a higher degree of urgency in debrief meetings. "Hey, that classroom is chaos. You know the only thing between those kids and the street? YOU. You gotta dig deep and find that stronger voice or it's the STREET."
Yikes.
Anyway, having gotten the Pimp yo' Program makeover advice from Mssr. Canter, MTT Admin Orin let me test drive the new protocol. Slapped the ear bud in my ear, came up with 2-3 focus areas (narrate compliance, "why" stretch it moments), and set up shop in the back of room 205.
"Question, Nathalie?"
"I think this relates to our Essential Question."
KKRRZZT Why? KKRRZZT
"...Why?"
"Well..."
Boom. Instant coaching. Same great taste, none of the calories. The experience was kind of jarring at first, and it did draw my attention away from other stuff (I practically forgot to do an opening altogether); but the benefits were tangible and immediate. After a few minutes, Orin all but stopped reminding me to ask "why" or narrate compliance. It was "sticky" over that hour, as MG would say.
"Trudeau, what's that in your ear."
"I'm a secret service teacher."
"Are not."
"Oh yeah? KKRRZZT Take Felico down KKRRZZT."
"HEY!"
Ross,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by narrate compliance? Can you explain more?
Sure thing. Narrating compliance is also called "narrating the positive" or "positive framing." It's a big part of Doug Lemov's taxonomy, because it's so easy to implement and to see the results of a relatively simple rhetorical strategy for classroom management.
ReplyDeleteYou give a direction in class. "Go." Several kids start, say, getting out their binders. But not everyone. You say, "I see Jose is taking his binder out. Mary has get binder out. So does Jamilla." As you "narrate" kids who are complying, you're doing 2 things. First, Aaron was kind of checked out, and he hears this little verbal cue and (shazam) starts to take out his binder (without the shame of rebuke). Second, you're normalizing the simple process of following directions. "Look," you're saying, "This is what everyone is doing. Don't you want to be part of the group?"
Thanks Ross...Lemov is full of typical teacher moves that I use all the time, but he gives them all kinds of names that I don't remember. Anyway, best of luck in Cali.
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