Teachers Dress for the Occasion

In this edition of the 12 Steps, , I will show you what happens when a teacher chooses to dress differently in class. And when I say differently, I mean outside the box differently. Hold on to your hat, this story will grab you by the heartstrings. You do have a hat, don't you?

Why do we dress up for special occasions? To make them special, of course. Teachers can dress up for lessons. It makes them special too. Dressing up has many different purposes:

• bridging between us and them
• bridging between past and present
• increasing vulnerability
• increasing understanding of different perspectives and values.

I believe that teachers are coaches too. When teachers learn to use coaching strategies they quickly realise the benefits for themselves and their students.

Teacher Interview - Edmund Pitts

For the sake of maintaining confidentiality, I have created Edmund, a composite character based on the many conversations I have had with teachers, to carry the story below.

I would like to introduce you to a teacher, let's name him, Edmund Pitts, who works at an Adult Education Centre in the US. You can read more about Edmund here. He teaches "The History of the Americas".

Edmund is trying out the idea of dressing up, in front of the class and in front of a video camera, so that his lessons are more memorable. It's his way of reaching out to his adult students. Edmund is an introvert and has a wealth of detailed information about his passion, the history of the USA.

I have written Edmund's story in the form of a dialogue between her and a colleague. The dialogue comes in three parts.

• The Preparation and Action Steps were done on the same day.
• The Follow Up was done later.

For clarity, the guiding questions are written in bold and Edmund's replies are in italics.

Preparation

What are you teaching?

I’m teaching adult students about the lives of people involved in a series of events that led up to well-known significant events that formed America’s history and legacy.

How do you feel about that?

My story-telling skills are not so good. I overload people with the facts. Facts are important and the students are expected to recall them at exam time. But when I lecture, I see their faces turn grey at the pile of information there is for them to memorise.

What would you rather see?

I want to see them smiling, lapping up the facts and story and gaining clear insights into their history. I need something more engaging. I love this history and I want them to love it too.

How would you feel about that?

I would be excited. I know the events are important and it would give me great joy to bring out the importance and show them the impact that ordinary people have on their history.

Action Steps

What is one thing you could develop during the next two-four weeks?

I am going to take some risks here, this is a challenge for me. I have heard that this works so I am going to put on different clothes for each of the people in the story.

And this is important because...

I hope this makes the story seem more real, and memorable.

What's your overall strategy?

I thought about putting on a one-man play. There are too many characters for this to be practical. So I decided to make a video, with me in the news-caster role, interviewing the characters, also played by me.

So, what's on your Action Plan?

I will make a video of me asking questions and the characters telling the story from several perspectives, wearing some typical clothing or a hat to signify who they were.

Follow Up

What have been the results so far?

It took a long time to make the video. I only managed to record a couple of answers to my interview questions.?

When I used the video in the lesson, I gave a live introduction and occasional explanations in between the interviews. I interacted with the videos.

Who have been your supporters?

The students loved it.?

What are some observations you'd like to make?

They pay more attention to the video than they do to me.

I can use this every year.

What feedback have you had?

The first time I used the videos, it felt clumsy and faked. Several students came up to me at the end of the lecture and said, “Thanks for making the effort!”. They saw how uncomfortable this was for me, and their thanks encourages me to have another go at this, next term.

What are some of your reflections on this?

Time investment well-worth it

Any conclusions?

I could use a similar dress-up, role-playing strategy with my other courses.

Activity

Dress up in attire that represents the person whose life you are exploring. Role-play, acting as though you were that person.

the Connection to Coaching

One of the key skills that a coach is expected to master is non-judgement. To achieve that, they metaphorically put themselves in their coachee's shoes. Coaches leave behind their personal perceptions and values; and temporarily adopt their coachee's perceptions and values. This dressing up and role-play activity, apart from making lessons more memorable, makes the teacher more able to adopt others' perspectives and values. It grows an important coaching skill - non-judgement.

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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