Teachers become teachers for many different reasons. The style of teacher they want to be may also vary. Some want a classroom that is quiet and orderly while others love to have lots of interaction. If you ask a teacher why they want their classroom to be like that, the answers will be many and varied. Some will be able to tell you about their values and beliefs as they relate to teaching and learning. Others will relate experiences they had as learners and how they want the same for their classroom. Still others will say what they don’t want and strive to match the opposing picture. These pictures of what teachers want drive teacher behaviours in the classroom.
When we talk with teachers about what they do in the classroom; what is behind the choice of what they do, many have not considered this. Like an iceberg, there is much more below the surface. Teachers will often be able to describe what they do on the behavioural level, but investigating the beliefs that lie beneath the choice in behaviour, can be a new experience for many.
The process of investigating beliefs about how learning occurs best in the classroom is not simple. It requires time, and some well crafted questions, to draw out the reason behind that choice. In doing this, a teacher is able to identify and explain the reasons behind choices made to enable themes to emerge.
A teacher in a classroom of eight and nine year olds may have planned a lesson that involves learners engaging in a mathematics activity to develop the key concept of place value. The activity requires each student to write a three digit numeral between 100 and 999 on a ‘Post-it note’. As a class they mingle and form groups of three or four with other learners who have numerals they identify as having some similarities.
In answering the following question about this particular activity, the beliefs can be more easily uncovered.
“You would have considered many ways to develop an understanding about the concept of place value. What is behind your choice of doing it this way?”
When considering this, the teacher is able to explore her choices in terms of her beliefs. The teacher might say things like,
“I want students to really consider numerals in a way that engages their ability to compare and contrast and evaluate them. I want to have them using language such as more and less, and hundreds and tens and ones from the perspective of understanding place value rather than just looking at a number and saying this is the hundreds, this is the tens and this is the ones. “
Focussing on emerging themes, this discussion can be synthesised to some agreed upon belief statements for this teacher. In this lesson, the collaboratively agreed-to beliefs included:
- engage in higher levels of thinking to develop deep understanding of complex concepts;
- discuss concepts with others to think out loud on these higher levels;
- be provided with opportunities for interaction as a motivator for engagement that results in learning.
When teachers articulate these beliefs, they usually become more conscious of them and can be more aware of them in action in the classroom.
This process of uncovering what is below the surface for the teacher is very powerful. Collegial Coaching is a tool that uses a reciprocal process where a teacher plays both roles; coach and inviting teacher. Having a Collegial Coach who facilitates this professional dialogue encourages reflection and self-evaluation by the inviting teacher, thus resulting in continuous improvement.
A Collegial Coach can not only help the teacher uncover her beliefs about effective learning and teaching but can also gather data to facilitate the self evaluation process. Once he or she has clarity about the driving motivations, the Collegial Coach can act as a ‘mirror’ in the classroom to enable the teacher to see how closely they matched the pictures with the reality of classroom practice. This becomes ‘reflection-on-action’, keeping the control in the teacher’s own hands. The process takes coaching out of the realm of supervision and evaluation to one of self evaluation and continuous improvement.
We are all motivated by how we want to feel. Over a period of thirty years, many hundreds of teachers in Queensland have experienced Collegial Coaching both as a coach and as an ‘inviting’ teacher. As a needs satisfying activity, teachers really buy into it.
Teachers want to feel competent and confident. Like learners in the classroom, by being in control of their own learning, by having their personal beliefs accepted and valued by others, they will continue to be inspired to have classrooms where students want to learn.