We Don’t Talk About “How Did That Lesson Go?”
If you are like me, you’ve heard “We Don’t Talk About Bruno/No Se Habla de Bruno” multiple times a day for the last month! This (admittedly great) song and the rest of the soundtrack from the recent Disney movie, Encanto, along with Kid Nuz, fills our daily drive to school.
I’m going to suggest we revise this song title for a coaching-specific rendition: “We don’t talk about ‘How did that lesson go’?” It’s time to throw out that question, and I’ll tell you why.
When I first started coaching, asking teachers “How do you think that lesson went?” was one of the only tools in my toolbox for coaching meetings. It at least got teachers talking. But after observing hundreds of coaching meetings, I have almost never seen that question be helpful for coach nor teacher.
If you’ve asked that question in coaching meetings, what response do you typically hear from teachers? In my experience, the teacher almost always goes to beating themselves up, completely missing any amazing things that happened. Additionally, teachers often have a very fuzzy response to this question because they’ve taught multiple lessons or even multiple days since the lesson you observed. Not to mention, because the question is so broad, teacher’s answers tend to be long and rambly, even steering into negative territory of complaints or blame-shifting.
It’s time to throw out “How do you think that lesson went?”
I know you may be wrestling with getting rid of this question, especially if it has been a backbone of your coaching meetings. But let me suggest a few ways to help teachers reflect well, and keep the meeting focused.
Data first, question second: After checking in with the teacher, start the coaching meeting by sharing a few pieces of clear data about the teacher’s glow area. One data point might sound like this, for example, “There was such a positive energy in the room when you were working on X activity, and I saw 100% of students engaged at that point!” After hearing something specific, the teacher’s memory is triggered and they have something concrete to reflect on. Now is the time to ask a question that’s no so broad, such as “How did X activity help you increase student activity in that lesson?” A similar pattern can be followed when you move to the “grow” section of the coaching meeting. Share the data first, then ask the teacher to reflect on what they’ve heard.
Ask much more focused questions: Instead of asking about how the class went in general, zoom in on some key pieces, both opportunities to celebrate and grow, that you believe could be highly impactful for your teacher. For example, “What did you notice about your students’ engagement in that lesson?” or “How did using a hook prompt student thinking right at the beginning of the lesson?” help teachers produce a focused and purposeful response.
By including class observation data and asking focused questions, you’ll support teachers in reflecting to grow their practice, instead of leading to beating themselves up and then ending a rambly statement with, “Wait, what was your question?” Both our kids and teachers deserve the best teaching and support today; let’s not waste our time on questions that really don’t help anyone.