The Silence Spot

The Silence Spot

I recall a day when I had become tired of the noise in the classroom. I stood by my desk and called for attention. I told the pupils to be quiet and get on with your work. I must have used a little too much serious volume in my voice because they went very silent. Too silent.

I returned to my work at my desk and the noise level gradually grew. I stood up again and they suddenly went very silent. This was not good. I was looking at a class of children who were scared of me. I gradually backed away from the place where I had stood, acting as if it had been a dangerous place to stand.

We talked about what had happened. We agreed that my loud voice was scary and I agreed not to use it. Instead I would stand in that spot, look at them, and wait. It worked! Whenever I needed to, I would walk towards that Silence Spot and they would hush by themselves.

It also worked by accident when one sunny afternoon, I happened to walk past my desk to look out of the window, they all went quiet. I had been standing in the Silence Spot. It gave us the biggest laugh of the week.

Step 5 of 12 Action Steps to a Coaching Classroom: Feedback

Rationale:

For the sake of this article, I am suggesting that feedback moves in two directions, Giving feedback and Receiving feedback. I am also suggesting there are also two kinds of feedback: Organic feedback and Cultivated feedback.

Organic feedback

Organic feedback is what your students do every day. In any class, at any time, students are showing that they are listening, learning, and enjoying what they are learning.

Receiving feedback. What signs have you seen or heard?

Giving feedback. How do you demonstrate your ongoing feedback to your students?

Rationale:

We need to know if our students are teachable (ready to learn), and if we might need to use a particular strategy to gain and focus their attention and motivate their actions. When we enter the classroom, we look around to see what’s going on between the students before we start any teaching. This gives us the chance to see who is there and who is not, and if any of them might be in a ‘bad mood’ for some reason.

Cultivated feedback

When we decide that we will give or receive feedback from our students, there is a range of tools and strategies that we can choose from:

Receiving feedback. What strategies have you used to get feedback from your students?

Giving feedback. What strategies have you not used yet, to give your students feedback?

Rationale:

We give feedback to our students in various forms depending on the strategies we know about and which strategy seems to be needed. There is a risk of us reusing the strategies we are comfortable with a little too often. Adding one more strategy every term is a good way to broaden our feedback palettes.

Some feedback is difficult for young students to put into words. What can we do to make it easier for them to give AND for us to receive?

Exit slips

One use of exit slips is to check how much knowledge has been transferred from lecturer to student.

What else can they do for you?

You can ask a range of questions depending on the effect you wish to achieve:

Communication with you - What could the teacher do differently to help you better?

Formative assessment - What is your current understanding of what we studied today?

Student responsibility - How hard did you work today? What could you have done differently to learn better?

Instructional strategies - How well did the group work support you in your learning?

There are benefits for the students too:

Recalling recently-learned knowledge gives long-term memory benefits

Students are encouraged to reflect on their part in the lesson, and take more responsibility for their actions.

Reflection on their learning process helps students become better learners.

Summary

Reflecting on your teaching is as important as reflecting on their learning

Exit slips can tell you the answer to "Are they learning?"

Exit slips can open up a safe line of communication between student and teacher

Being courageous and asking questions shows vulnerability and true leadership.

Connection to Coaching

Not all coaching questions are forward-focused. Some are designed to guide the coachee in reflecting on the recent part. "What have you done that you are proud of?" is a great question to end a coaching session or a lesson.

If you are looking for even more coaching ideas and activities to bring the benefits of coaching to your classroom, they are available online here and in paperback here .

INTERESTED: Speak with Martin about the 12 Steps, or other coaching questions, book your personal meeting here .

EDUCATORS: Become certified as an Empowerment Coach in the classroom or school, check out the nonprofit i.b.mee .

COACHES: Provide pro-bono coaching to educators as a part of a coaching in the classroom certification, join a Rountable here .

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