Changing Teacher Behavior

I ended my mentoring and coaching sessions with a third grade teacher from a small charter school on January 6, 2011. I spent three days working with, listening to, planning with, and advising a teacher who was struggling greatly with the diverse children in her class this year. According to her, these were the worst students she'd ever had. This teacher wanted teaching to be easy, to be the way it was when her children were in school, the way is was when she was in school, the way is was supposed to be. Working through this mindset was no easy task! The simple fact was this: These kids were not responding they way one would expect. They were, in this teacher's opinion, passive, lazy, and downright rude. And the stress of it all was debilitating to her.
A good deal of time was spent listening to her many concerns and disappointments, and reassuring her that I truly understood the depth of the problem and the way she was feeling. These kids, in her opinion, had nearly insurmountable problems, most of them stemming from their lives at home. She seemed to need my permission to keep trying as she had all but given up. I'd say she was hanging on by a thread. Personal problems at home, including the poor health of her spouse, were also defeating her emotionally and physically. Her classroom management based on (to put it mildly) letting off steam when things went downhill, needed to change.
But where to start?
I suggested she remember the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. There are simply things we cannot change and she needed to focus on the things she could. Because she was so downhearted, I suggested she focus on doing things outside of school just for herself. The idea was almost shocking to her. Why is it that some people, women mostly, just need to always take care of others, whether successful or not? The thought of taking care of oneself, well, wasn't that selfish?
I am sure my advice won't be found in any text book, but we both agreed she needed to replenish her energy and motivation. I'd say she needed to examine her soul. There I said it! Teaching is as much about soul as it is about anything else. While I sit here waiting for the book I ordered, Depok Chokra's The Soul of Leadership, I convince myself that my advice was right on the money. We needed to strengthen her as a person before she could resume her former joy and success in teaching.
Behaviorally, I suggested individual contracts for three students. Together we decided which students needed the greatest intervention and would benefit from not just daily reports, but feedback after each class period. All we wanted them to do, for a start, was to stay on task and be respectful to others. This teacher adamantly did not want to follow through on this. She just wanted to teach. But, ultimately she could not teach with so many distractions due to student behavior throughout the day.
I modeled several lessons from whole-body spelling practice, to six syllable word patterns, word sorting activities, to a read-and-think-aloud activity. There were many times throughout our sessions that she told me she needed my help and just felt so much better when I was there. I'm still not exactly sure why she felt that way, but when I look at those poor students' faces, I feel like I would do anything, andI am glad I could help. At the end of my three day session we reviewed our experience and tried to define our success.
For clarity I asked her to name, specifically, what she will do differently. She promised that she would incorporate more hands-on activities into her lessons. She will use parent volunteers to help with copying and cutting out words and letters so she could do Patrica Cunningham's Making Words activities. She will incorporate more vocabulary instruction into her teaching including using learning strategy terminology and teaching the students to use these words, too. She will be more consistent, even when she doesn't want to be. And perhaps best of all, her New Year's resolution was to be more positive. I thought the combination of what she was willing to do along with her New Year's promise was encouraging. But, had she really tried to incorporate anything new while I was there? Would she really do so now? This very question was at the heart of discussions with the administration on whether or not I might have the privilege of extending my contract and continuing to work with her.
I am very grateful that the wise principal of this school is providing me with two more days in this teacher's class (among many other new responsibilities and more teachers to mentor). The original three days of mentoring and support left this teacher feeling that she would strongly benefit from more support.
We'll keep working on continuous improvement, with more reflection and we'll keep our fingers crossed!
I'll be checking back in with her, and with you, soon!