Grow Your Glow
Guest post by Kulsum Vakharia
I love getting to the point. Generally, I wait impatiently at meetings to get through establishing norms, introductions and check-ins, and small talk; I’m eager to dive into the meat of a conversation. I’m usually the first to say, “So what are we going to do about this?” when discussing a problem. And, my husband will attest, I don’t often spend time easing into a conversation when I have a point to make.
Often, this tendency is beneficial - it’s efficient, productive, and honest. But, as I’ve reflected on my coaching over the past few months, I’ve found that my instinct to dive right in is often counterproductive to the progress I’m making with a teacher. I’ve started to see that those anticipatory moments - the ones that come before we get to “the work” - are often the point.
My coaching meeting with a teacher might be the only time they hear positive feedback about the world they are creating for students in their classroom. So, it’s critical that I make the praise I offer them purposeful and relevant.
As coaches, we are in the business of facilitating transformational change in others. But the first pillar to facilitating that change is to provide a place of refuge - and a key way to do that is to offer authentic, meaningful praise to a teacher during a coaching meeting. This is especially true for teachers, who spend so much of their time affirming and encouraging the progress of others, but hardly ever receive that affirmation themselves.
My coaching meeting with a teacher might be the only time they hear positive feedback about the world they are creating for students in their classroom. So, it’s critical that I make the praise I offer them purposeful and relevant. My praise, or “glow”, will highlight how they are positively impacting their students with their work and show their own professional growth in a skill. It will provide them with an opportunity to recognize the power of their own actions on students, and feel empowered and excited about the work that they do. It may be just the thing that motivates them to continue to hone their craft.
3 Strategies for Growing Your Glow:
I’ve been working on “growing my glow” - creating an authentic, meaningful place of refuge and reflection for my teachers as an integral part of the work I do with coaching. Here are some strategies that have been working well:
Use data. Hearing “You did a great job building relationships with your students” isn’t as energizing as hearing, “You greeted all 27 students in the first 2 minutes of class by name, and made 3 students smile when you checked-in with them during the warm-up.” Take as much time analyzing the data that shows what’s going well in your teacher’s classroom as you do analyzing what needs improvement.
Help your teacher own it. More often than not, your teacher will deflect the glow as circumstance. I’ve heard, “Oh, it was quieter because a few kids were absent that day,” or “Oh yeah, they were more engaged because they noticed I was recording the class,” and plenty of other excuses for positive change that highlight a lack of self-efficacy within teachers’ mindset. Acknowledge that there are, of course, external factors that impact students - but kindly insist on the teacher taking credit. Ask how their actions altered student behaviors, or why they’re proud of a particular strategy they used in class to help guide reflection.
Emphasize the growth. I love asking my teachers the question, “So what have you been doing to make this happen?” A few weeks ago, I had a teacher stumble as she answered that question, and then answer, “I’m realizing now that I think what we’ve been working on has made me more intentional about wanting every student to participate. I’ve changed the way I talk to my students pretty significantly.” It was a breakthrough moment that not only helped the teacher feel accomplished, but also created more buy-in to the impact of coaching.
Practicing these strategies has helped engender a mindset shift in myself. Even in a 30-minute meeting, I’ve benefited from being deliberate about facilitating a slow start to my meetings. I’ve created opportunities for joy within my coaching relationships. I have more confidence that my teachers leave our meetings feeling happy and empowered, and that, in turn, has impacted their effectiveness.
Teaching is urgent work. But, as coaches, we have the opportunity to foster pride and a growth mindset within our teachers - and it may just be the fuel teachers need to give their all to their students.
Kulsum Vakharia started her work in education as a Spanish teacher in DC Public Schools, and then as a social studies teacher at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate. She worked as an instructional coach for four years, supporting teachers to build relationships with and engage students, and to infuse joy into their classroom. She currently serves as the Director of Coaching at EdConnective, where she leads a team of over 150 instructional coaches as they work with educators across the country. Connect with Kulsum on LinkedIn.