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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
Effective and practical coaching strategies for new educators plus valuable online coaching tools Many teachers are only observed one or two times per year on average--and, even among those who are observed, scarcely any are given feedback as to how they could improve. The bottom line is clear: teachers do not need to be evaluated so much as they need to be developed and coached. In Get Better Faster: A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo shares instructive tools of how school leaders can effectively guide new teachers to success. Over the course of the book, he breaks down the most critical actions leaders and teachers must take to achieve exemplary results. Designed for coaches as well as beginning teachers, Get Better Faster is an integral coaching tool for any school leader eager to help their teachers succeed. Get Better Faster focuses on what's practical and actionable which makes the book's approach to coaching so effective. By practicing the concrete actions and micro-skills listed in Get Better Faster, teachers will markedly improve their ability to lead a class, producing a steady chain reaction of future teaching success. Though focused heavily on the first 90 days of teacher development, it's possible to implement this work at any time. Junior and experienced teachers alike can benefit from the guidance of Get Better Faster while at the same time closing existing instructional gaps. Featuring valuable and practical online training tools available at http://www.wiley.com/go/getbetterfaster, Get Better Faster provides agendas, presentation slides, a coach's guide, handouts, planning templates, and 35 video clips of real teachers at work to help other educators apply the lessons learned in their own classrooms. Get Better Faster will teach you: * The core principles of coaching: Go Granular; Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat; Make Feedback More Frequent * Top action steps to launch a teacher's development in an easy-to-read scope and sequence guide It also walks you through the four phases of skill building: * Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching): Dress Rehearsal * Phase 2: Instant Immersion * Phase 3: Getting into Gear * Phase 4: The Power of Discourse Perfect for new educators and those who supervise them, Get Better Faster will also earn a place in the libraries of veteran teachers and school administrators seeking a one-stop coaching resource.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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Praise for Get Better Faster
“In Get Better Faster, Bambrick-Santoyo powerfully guides leadership teams to provide novice teachers with expert coaching. He reveals beyond the shadow of a doubt that leaders not only can diagnose and overcome the challenges their new teachers are facing, but must do so for schools to realize their promise to students.”
—William Robinson, executive director, Darden/Curry Partnership
“Our journey with Paul Bambrick-Santoyo began five years ago when our school district had six out of the ten worst-performing schools in the state. Paul's first book, Driven by Data, became our district bible for school turnaround, followed soon after by the implementation of the seven levers shared in Leverage Leadership. Now, with Get Better Faster, Paul shows more clearly than ever how educators can drive learning through true instructional leadership. I highly recommend this book to anyone who strives to lead a school, not as an evaluator, but as a coach.”
—Sandy Coroles, superintendent, Ogden School District
“Get Better Faster is a powerful tool for anyone who supports new teachers. Every part of this book is designed to be eminently usable for leaders who strive to spend their time on what matters most for learning. It's rich with practical, detailed advice that empowers coaches to give teachers highly individualized support.”
—Dawn R. Robinson, Ed.D, chief school performance officer, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
“Gallup McKinley County Schools has spent the past two years rededicating itself to transformational school improvement, and Driven by Data and Leverage Leadership by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo are the tools at the forefront of our positive results. Get Better Faster has made our destiny even brighter. Shifting our leaders from evaluation mode to coaching mode is already fueling a cycle of change in our classrooms. It's creating better leaders, who are then building better teachers, who are using better techniques to make every student a stronger learner.”
—Frank Chiapetti, superintendent, Gallup McKinley County Schools
“Only Paul Bambrick-Santoyo could have written this book. Get Better Faster is practical guidance from a leader with a history of success for educators determined to change students' lives. It's easy-to-use and relentlessly focused on practices proven to move progress—and yes, it will drive achievement faster than ever!”
—Billy Snow, district transformation and innovation officer, Caddo Parish Public Schools
“We've all seen that teacher—the one who kindles student learning and does the most important daily work in our schools. But too often, we fail to acknowledge that school leader—the needle-moving, difference-making, transformative force of nature that helps every teacher become that teacher. If you believe this is the what, then the book you hold is the how. Read it. Do it. Harness the power to become that leader.”
—Brian Conley, chief school improvement officer, Salt Lake City School District
“Paul Bambrick-Santoyo is making a profound difference in the lives of leaders and teachers. His approach to this work is framed by a vision that all children will succeed if we improve learning every day, in every classroom, in every lesson, for every child. Thank you, Paul, for sharing your work, so that we can all get better—and smarter—for our children.”
—Eric J. Becoats, assistant superintendent, Turnaround Network
“New teachers and the principals who hire them can leave their fears at the door! Paul Bambrick-Santoyo's new book is a must-read for all educators who develop, impact, and influence teachers in the art of teaching and learning. New teachers need a roadmap to success: this is it.”
—Mauriciere de Govia, district #23 superintendent, New York City Department of Education
Get Better Faster
A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo
Foreword by Jon Saphier
Copyright © 2016 by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo. All rights reserved.
Videos © 2016 by Uncommon Schools. All rights reserved.
Online materials and these documents: Teacher Annotated Handout for Warriors Don't Cry, Sample Exit Ticket, Sample DDI Lesson Plan, Monitoring Pathway Seating Chart, Daily Data Tracker for 3rd Grade Math, Weekly Data Meeting One-Pager ©2016 by Uncommon Schools. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul, 1972- author.
Title: Get better faster : a 90-day plan for developing new teachers / Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.
Description: San Francisco, CA : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016008688| ISBN 9781119278719 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781119279013 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: First year teachers—Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC LB2844.1.N4 B29 2016 | DDC 370.71/1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016008688
Cover design: Wiley
Cover photograph by ©Jacob Krupnick
CONTENTS
How to Access the Videos and Additional Material
Video Contents
Additional Materials
Foreword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About Uncommon Schools
Get Better Faster Scope and Sequence
Introduction
Changing the Game
Why Focus on New Teachers?
Myths and Realities of Coaching New Teachers
What Is “Better,” and How Fast Is “Faster”?
How This Book Is Structured
How to Use This Book
Dive In—Meet Your Teachers Where They Are
Ready to Dive In!
Notes
Principles of Coaching
Principle 1: Go Granular
Principle 2: Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat
Principle 3: Make Feedback More Frequent
Start Here Quick Reference Guide
Notes
Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching): Dress Rehearsal
Phase 1 Coaching Blueprint: Leading PD
Phase 1 Management—Develop Essential Routines and Procedures
Phase 1 Rigor—Write Lesson Plans
Conclusion
Notes
Phase 2 Instant Immersion
Phase 2 Coaching Blueprint: Make Time for Feedback
Phase 2 Management—Roll Out and Monitor Routines
Phase 2 Rigor— Independent Practice
Conclusion
Notes
Phase 3 Getting into Gear
Phase 3 Coaching Blueprint: Looking at Student Work
Phase 3 Management—Engage Every Student
Phase 3 Rigor—Respond to Student Learning Needs
Conclusion
Notes
Phase 4 The Power of Discourse
Phase 4 Coaching Blueprint: Respond to In-the-Moment Data
Phase 4 Management—Set Routines for Discourse
Phase 4 Rigor—Lead Student Discourse 101
Conclusion
Notes
Stretch It: Ready to Paint
Stretch It Coaching Blueprint
Stretch It Rigor—Lead Student Discourse 201
Conclusion
Note
Appendix: Get Better Faster Coach’s Guide
Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching)
Phase 2: Days 1–30
Phase 3: Days 31–60
Phase 4: Days 61–90
Stretch It: The Next Steps
Index
EULA
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
Figure 1
Chapter 3
Figure 2
Figure 3
Chapter 4
Figure 4 Task Management Tracker
Figure 5 Meeting Notes Template
Figure 6
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
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How to Access the Videos and Additional Material
Go to
http://www.wiley.com/go/getbetterfaster
Follow the instructions on the website for registration.
Video Contents
See How to Access the Videos and Additional Material.
Here is an overview of the video clips for your quick reference.
Introduction
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
1
Teacher Radar—Scan
Plan/Practice
“I look for eyes, hands, and feet.”
Nikki Bridges coaches Jackson Tobin in identifying the key student actions to look for when he scans the room.
Principles of Coaching 2: Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
1
Teacher Radar—Scan
Plan/Practice
“I look for eyes, hands, and feet.”
Nikki Bridges coaches Jackson Tobin in identifying the key student actions to look for when he scans the room.
2
Exemplar and Aggressive Monitoring
Leading PD
“The quality of your prework dictates the quality of your students’ classwork.”
Kelly Dowling leads PD using an exemplar annotated handout to identify what makes aggressive monitoring effective.
3
Habits of Discussion
Plan/Practice
“Roll out a hands-down discussion.”
Syrena Burnam and Norvella Dunwoody script language for rolling out the habits of discussion.
4
Mark Up Student Work and Cue Students
Leading PD, Practice
“The three Fs: feedback, fix it, and follow up.”
Ramy Abdel-Nabi and Jackie Rosner work with Jasmine Romero to improve her feedback to students during independent practice.
5
Develop Effective Lesson Plans 101
Follow-Up
“Film your lesson in upcoming weeks.”
Julie Jackson and Rachel Kashner plan how they’ll review Rachel’s lessons for the upcoming week, starting with the independent practice.
Principles of Coaching 3: Make Feedback More Frequent
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
6
Go Conceptual
Real-Time Feedback
“Can I ask a question? Does that show progress over time?”
Art Worrell asks Michael Cheely’s students an important critical thinking question at the end of a class discussion. Then the two debrief how that question increased rigor.
7
Teacher Radar—Pause and Scan
Real-Time Feedback
[Written on whiteboard] “Track (Scan).”
Ashley Anderson coaches Ijeoma Duru without pausing the lesson by holding up a whiteboard in the back of the room that cues Ijeoma when to scan.
8
What to Do and Teacher Radar—Scan
Real-Time Feedback
“When I put my hand over [the student’s head], stop, make eye contact, and give a What to Do direction.”
Nikki Bridges gives whispered and nonverbal feedback to Jackson Tobin while students work independently.
Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching)
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
9
Routines and Procedures—Plan and Practice
Leading PD, Practice
“Try one more time, and use fewer words.”
Serena Savarirayan models opening classroom procedures for a cohort of new teachers, and then coaches new teacher Noel Borges as he tries to replicate those procedures.
2
Exemplar and Aggressive Monitoring
Leading PD
“The quality of your prework dictates the quality of your students’ classwork.”
Kelly Dowling leads PD using an exemplar annotated handout to identify what makes aggressive monitoring effective.
10
Strategic Prompting
Leading PD, Practice
“Teacher 1, please stand and begin practice.”
Kelly Dowling leads teachers to role-play teaching reading in PD.
11 and 12
Routines and Procedures—Rollout
Leading PD, Practice
“Tracking me with those laser eyes.”
Julie Jackson and Andrea Somerville model rolling out routines, and then Alison Komorowski repeatedly practices getting students to transition from the cafeteria to their classroom.
13
Square Up, Stand Still
Leading PD, Practice
“I need to work on my posture.”
Nikki Bridges gives Jackson Tobin immediate feedback to square up and stand still as he practices monitoring breakfast.
5
Develop Effective Lesson Plans 101
Follow-Up
“Film your lesson in upcoming weeks.”
Julie Jackson and Rachel Kashner plan how they’ll review Rachel’s lessons for the upcoming week, starting with the independent practice.
Phase 2
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
8
What to Do and Teacher Radar—Scan
Real-Time Feedback
“When I put my hand over [the student’s head], stop, make eye contact, and give a What to Do direction.”
Nikki Bridges gives whispered and nonverbal feedback to Jackson Tobin while students work independently.
14
Do It Again
Real-Time Feedback, Follow-Up
“What’s the value of doing it again?”
Ashley Anderson prompts Ijeoma Duru to initiate a Do It Again at key points in the lesson. Then they debrief what made those moments the right time for a Do It Again.
7
Teacher Radar—Pause and Scan
Real-Time Feedback
[Written on whiteboard] “Track (Scan).”
Ashley Anderson coaches Ijeoma Duru without pausing the lesson by holding up a card in the back of the room that cues Ijeoma when to scan.
1
Teacher Radar—Scan
Plan/Practice
“I look for eyes, hands and feet.”
Nikki Bridges coaches Jackson Tobin in identifying the key student actions to look for when he scans the room.
15
Teacher Radar—Break the Plane
Plan/Practice
“What is the drawback of that position?”
Erica Lim and Laquan Magruder rehearse the way Laquan will circulate as students are working independently.
16
Write the Exemplar
Leading PD, Practice
“Who can share a piece of feedback they just got from their partner?”
Jesse Corburn leads a group of teachers in writing exemplar responses to prework questions.
17
Monitor Aggressively: Mark Up Student Work and Cue Students
N/A (Math teaching clip)
“How did you know to use addition?”
Sari Fromson aggressively monitors as her students complete their independent practice in math, giving meaningful feedback to each student multiple times in one lesson.
18
Monitor Aggressively—Mark Up Student Work and Cue Students
N/A (Reading teaching clip)
“I’m coming around now.”
Julia Goldenheim aggressively monitors her reading class to greatly enhance the quantity and quality of feedback her students receive.
19
Monitoring Pathway and Collect Data
Plan/Practice
“Why do we go to the higher students first?”
Syrena Burnam and Norvella Dunwoody make a concrete strategic plan for Norvella to collect data while monitoring aggressively.
4
Mark Up Student Work and Cue Students
Leading PD, Practice
“The three Fs: feedback, fix it, and follow up.”
Ramy Abdel-Nabi and Jackie Rosner work with Jasmine Romero to improve her feedback to students during independent practice.
Phase 3
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
20
Weekly Data Meetings—Unpack the Exemplar
Looking at Student Work
“Break down what you see the student doing.”
Nikki Bridges has her teachers review student work that reflects mastery to identify what an ideal student response looks like.
21
Weekly Data Meetings—Identify the Gaps
Looking at Student Work
“They’re adding rather than expanding.”
During their weekly data meeting, Nikki Bridges guides her teachers in identifying the gaps in student understanding.
22
Weekly Data Meetings—Plan the Reteach
Looking at Student Work
“What is the ideal that you would see in their work?”
Nikki Bridges and her teachers identify the components of the ideal student response they will seek out when they reteach the content they are reviewing.
23
Turn and Talk, Middle School
Plan/Practice
“How do you turn that into a Turn and Talk that’s meaty?”
Jesse Rector and Allison Kelly review her plan to include a Turn and Talk in an upcoming lesson.
24
Turn and Talk, Elementary School
Real-Time Feedback
“This would be a good Turn and Talk moment.”
Juliana Worrell quickly whispers to Najee Carter to alert him to a powerful opportunity to use Turn and Talk, and then lets him know what to look for in a response as students are conferring.
25
Narrate the Positive
Plan
“Where should you have been looking?”
Juliana Worrell and Clare Perry watch footage of Clare’s lesson to identify where her eyes should have gone as she narrated the positive.
26
Check for Understanding
Real-Time Feedback
“How many chose A?”
Serena Savarirayan polls the room during Allyson Reynolds’s lesson, and then debriefs what made this strategy effective.
27
Target the Error and Close the Loop
N/A (Teaching clip)
“Would that help or hurt the poor?”
Ryan Miller asks a series of probing questions to correct his students’ misunderstanding of the impact of a law created in the aftermath of the revolution.
28
Think-Aloud—Set Listening Task
N/A (Teaching clip)
“I want you to write down what I’m doing.”
Art Worrell prepares his students to take notes during the think-aloud.
29
Think-Aloud—Model the Thinking
N/A (Teaching clip)
“When I think about the Era of Good Feelings, right away I’m thinking about nationalism.”
Art Worrell walks his students through the thought process he uses to read a history text effectively, modeling annotation skills and providing the rationale for them step-by-step.
30
Think-Aloud—Model the Thinking
Plan
“Uh-oh. Now I’m starting to understand why these bones are so important.”
Juliana Worrell models a think-aloud for Sarah Sexton, who is teaching her elementary students about the skeletal system.
Phase 4
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
31
Strategic Prompting—Call on Students Based on Their Learning Needs
Real-Time Feedback
“I’m going to show the class how to do it more efficiently.”
Nikki Bridges and Sarah Engle identify the errors students are making during independent math practice, and roll out a strategy for correcting student misunderstanding during the next part of the lesson.
32
Guided Discourse—Show Call (Math)
N/A (Teaching clip)
“One-third black, one-third white, one-third gray.”
Andrew Schaefer shows students three different examples of how their classmates have solved a math problem, pushing them to determine through discourse which one is correct.
33
Guided Discourse—Show Call (Literacy)
N/A (Teaching clip)
“Which is the best evidence?”
Nicole Willey guides her students to identify the best evidence in the story they have been reading.
34
Prompting: Universal (Roll Back) and Strategic (Provide a Resource)
Plan
“Let’s go back to this moment with Jessica.”
Nikki Bridges and Nicole Willey watch footage of Nicole teaching her students the definition of the word vindicate, and plan what Nicole could do differently to correct misunderstanding more thoroughly for a greater number of students.
27
Target the Error and Close the Loop
N/A (History teaching clip)
“Would that help or hurt the poor?”
Ryan Miller asks a series of probing questions to correct his students’ misunderstanding of the impact of a law created in the aftermath of the revolution.
26
Check for Understanding
Real-Time Feedback
“How many chose A?”
Serena Savarirayan polls the room during Allison Reynolds’s lesson, and then debriefs what made this strategy effective.
35
Close the Loop
Plan
“I didn’t go back and tell them why those aren’t real reasons.”
Serena Savarirayan and Allyson Reynolds plan how Allyson can close the loop to make sure her students comprehend the true difference between histograms and bar graphs.
3
Habits of Discussion
Plan/Practice
“Roll out a hands-down discussion.”
Syrena Burnam and Norvella Dunwoody script language for rolling out the habits of discussion.
Stretch It
Clip
Teacher Action Step
Key Leadership Move
Description
34
Prompting: Universal (Roll Back) and Strategic (Provide a Resource)
Plan
“Let’s go back to this moment with Jessica.”
Nikki Bridges and Nicole Willey watch footage of Nicole teaching her students the definition of the word vindicate, and plan what Nicole could do differently to correct misunderstanding more thoroughly for a greater number of students.
31
Strategic Prompting—Call on Students Based on Their Learning Needs
Real-Time Feedback
“I’m going to show the class how to do it more efficiently.”
Nikki Bridges and Sarah Engle identify the errors students are making during independent math practice, and roll out a strategy for correcting student misunderstanding during the next part of the lesson.
6
Go Conceptual
Real-Time Feedback
“Can I ask a question? Does that show progress over time?”
Art Worrell asks Michael Cheely’s students an important critical thinking question at the end of a class discussion. Then the two debrief how that question increased rigor.
Additional Materials
See How to Access the Videos and Additional Material.
Here is quick overview of additional materials available online.
Resource
Description
Get Better Faster Scope and Sequence
A print-friendly version of the sequence of all the action steps in the book in one document. Ideal for carrying around with you when observing classes and trying to identify the highest-leverage action step.
Get Better Faster Coach’s Guide
The all-in-one summary document of the entire book: each action step with the best probing questions, scenarios for practice, and cues for real-time feedback. The best guide to have by your side when planning your feedback meetings with your teachers.
Real-Time Feedback PD
All the materials needed to lead a professional development session for instructional leaders on real-time feedback:
Session plan agenda
PowerPoint presentation
Handouts (including one-pager on real-time feedback)
Leader resources to accompany coaching principles/tips
Latest version of guides to accompany the coaching principles/tips throughout the book:
Six Steps for Effective Feedback (updated version of original guide that appeared in
Leverage Leadership
)
Time/task management tools to use with teachers
Teaching resources to accompany coaching of specific skills
Useful materials to accompany the coaching of specific skills in the Get Better Faster Scope and Sequence:
Routines and procedures planning template (Phase 1)
High School Habits of Academic Discourse (Stretch It)
Foreword
If you are an educator, you probably remember that at the end of your first year of teaching, you had many new resolutions and strategies lined up for the start of the next year. Year two would be different. Class expectations would be clear; routines would be established quickly; transitions would be seamless. You knew how to structure lessons so that pace and interest would diminish management problems from the get-go.
You had endured that midyear funk when you thought all was lost—perhaps this was not the profession for you after all—and you had finally risen from the fatigue of nonstop work that had left you drained and craving respite. Now you were ready.
But what if you had mastered all these aspects of classroom management in your first ninety days? What if not only management but classroom dialogue with robust student thinking and high participation were hallmarks of your instruction—all because you had received expert coaching? Your first year would have been profoundly different. But more important, your students would have experienced productive learning for far more of their year, because downtime, distraction, delays, and inattention would have all but disappeared. This is the promise and the possibility of Paul Bambrick-Santoyo’s Get Better Faster.
Not all beginning teachers experience the debilitating scenario I described, but a large and significant portion of newly minted teachers do. The cost to students and to the retention of promising adults in the profession is huge. And it does not have to be. As Paul says in the introduction, “For a teacher, succeeding early is more than a predictor of the trajectory his or her career will take. It’s a matter of immense urgency.”
This is a book for coaches as well as beginning teachers. It would have been easy to write another book about routines, getting attention, and structuring lessons. Get Better Faster is vastly more than that: it is a coach’s guide to step-by-step instruction, support, and development of teachers’ thinking and planning skills, scaffolded in bite-sized pieces.
Because there is a predictable sequence to what a rookie teacher will need to master for sound management, there is a sequential blueprint for what the coach will undertake. Those who are supporting beginning teachers can use it as a diagnostic tool to decide where to begin with rookies who aren’t starting from absolute scratch.
The approach to coaching is an artful blend of directive and nondirective techniques that one sees in coaches of performers and premier athletes. The focus is on small, specific, and focused moves and responses (“Go Granular”) that make a marginally big difference. These are followed by direct rehearsal and practice of the moves with the coach (“Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat”). This actual practice and feedback, sometimes in role-playing mode without students present, is a distinguishing feature of this “playbook” for successful teaching. Yet the learning for the beginning teacher is not rote or formulaic; it is like coaching a football quarterback in how to anticipate and adjust. The objective is mindful behavior with proficiency and rigor.
Review of lessons is framed by probing questions that are congruent with more nondirective approaches. Samples of questions and dialogues are provided for the many concrete situations beginning teachers face.
Real-time feedback (side-by-side co-teaching) is illustrated with more concrete examples and presents a model in which the students cannot tell who is the coach and who is the teacher. This approach makes feedback more frequent and more actionable.
Paul never loses sight of the importance of rigor with the content and constant teacher learning about how to teach it. Embedded within the experience of the beginning teacher is the presumption that academic proficiency for all students is a must. Thus coachees learn how to define for students what good performance and good work look like. Similarly, they learn to spread out student work and analyze for patterns of errors as a standard prep event for the next day’s lesson. This is essential value-based learning for teachers new to the profession, for this analysis is then followed by planning with the coach for small-group reteaching for students who didn’t get it the first time. If that were expected of every teacher in America, we would be in a very different position with closing the achievement gap.
Carrying out the complete coaching regimen of this book will seem time-intensive and incredibly rigorous to some readers. That it is. But don’t let that hold you back. With whatever time one has, cultivating thinking-rich classrooms is the agenda with beginning teachers, and it is achievable. Coaches and mentors are teachers of teachers. The capacity to fill that role with effectiveness, integrity, and commitment is significantly increased by the expertly crafted contributions of Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.
Jon Saphier Jon Saphier is the founder and president of Research for Better Teaching, Inc., and the author of many books on education, including The Skillful Teacher
Acknowledgments
It is hard to believe how much has happened since the publication of Driven by Data in 2010. I have enjoyed the gift of interacting with thousands of educators across the globe, and they are the heroes of this book. I firmly believe that if we get better at sharing our best practices across one another’s schools, we can transform education. Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to share with me your struggles and successes: your words of wisdom pervade this book that couldn’t have been written without you.
Without realizing it, I ended up sharing more personal stories in this book than in previous ones. That probably reveals how my world feels so dependent on my family. I wrote this book while my wife was completing residency (a dream fifteen years in the making) and my three children were at three different grade spans—elementary, middle, and high. This context gave me a unique window into the life of an adult learner (my wife) as well as extra at-bats at trying to be a good father. Many a night, my children and I would sit side by side at the dinner table, they completing homework while I was writing. The interruptions—working through challenging problems on parabolas, conducting a line-level analysis of A Tale of Two Cities, engaging the complexities of adding fractions, or getting emotional over the scenes in Wonder—kept me rooted: they reminded me of the daily struggle and subsequent joy of learning. I was also constantly aware of the importance of great teachers. I’ve said repeatedly: Gaby and the kids make me a better person. Without them, the world wouldn’t shine as it does.
On the writing side, I couldn’t have had a better partner than Alyssa White. This was the first book project where she took the lead of our team from the beginning, and the fruit of her work is present throughout the text. She regularly came up with new angles and hooks that helped bring the text alive. We’ve now worked alongside each other for five years, and I hope for many more to come. Your imprint is everywhere!
Back in 2012, we launched a new teacher working group at Uncommon Schools focused on what highly effective leaders do to develop new teachers quickly. Those original leaders have gone on to do extraordinary things. Nikki Bridges, Juliana Worrell (co-author with me on Great Habits, Great Readers), Julie Jackson, Jesse Rector, Serena Savarirayan—each showed us a higher level of excellence than we had seen before. The foundational work that we did required countless hours of filming, critiquing, and redoing. We didn’t realize at the time that we were embodying what would become Principle 2 of this book: Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat. This virtuous cycle of continuous improvement is the foundation on which the book was built. Thank you to every leader who contributed to this book (too many to count!) over the past years: from my first leadership family (keep bleeding blue! Mike Mann, Kelly Dowling, Jody-Anne Jones, Eric Diamon, Vernon Riley, Tonya Ballard, Yasmin Vargas, Lauren Moyle, Desiree Robin, Tameka Royal, Andrew Schaefer, Autumn Figueroa, Tildi Sharp, and Keith Burnam) to my second leadership family (Julie Jackson, Kathleen Sullivan, J. T. Leaird, Maya Roth, Paul Powell, Dana Lehman, and all forty-four principals), your example lives on in the videos and words you contributed here.
Finally, a shout-out to the large team of support around me that allowed me to thrive in my work and complete this project: Brett Peiser, Angelica Pastoriza, Michael Ambriz, Jacque Rauschuber, David Deatherage, Jared McCauley, Steve Chiger, Sarah Engstrom, Britt Milano, Kate Gagnon, and every other principal and leader who worked with us: thank you. You all kept me focused and made this possible. Thank you one and all!
About the Author
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo is the chief schools officer for high schools and K–12 content development at Uncommon Schools. Prior to assuming that role, Bambrick-Santoyo spent thirteen years leading Uncommon’s North Star Academies in Newark, New Jersey. During his tenure at North Star, the schools grew from serving fewer than three hundred students to more than three thousand, while at the same time making dramatic gains in student achievement. North Star’s results make them among the highest-achieving urban schools in the nation and winners of multiple recognitions, including the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Award. Author of Driven by Data, Leverage Leadership, and Great Habits, Great Readers, Bambrick-Santoyo has trained more than fifteen thousand school leaders worldwide in instructional leadership, including multiple schools that have gone on to become the highest-gaining or highest-achieving schools in their districts, states, and/or countries. On the basis of that success, Bambrick-Santoyo cofounded the Relay National Principals Academy Fellowship and is founder and dean of the Leverage Leadership Institute, creating proofpoints of excellence in urban schools nationwide. Prior to joining North Star, Bambrick-Santoyo worked for six years in a bilingual school in Mexico City, where he founded the International Baccalaureate Program at the middle school level. He earned his BA in social justice from Duke University and his MEd in school administration via New Leaders from the City University of New York—Baruch College.
About Uncommon Schools
At Uncommon Schools, our mission is to start and manage outstanding urban public schools that close the achievement gap and prepare low-income scholars to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college. For the past twenty years, we have learned countless lessons about what works in classrooms. Not surprisingly, we have found that success in the classroom is closely linked to our ability to hire, develop, and retain great teachers and leaders. That has prompted us to invest heavily in training educators and building systems that help leaders to lead, teachers to teach, and students to learn. We are passionate about finding new ways for our scholars to learn more today than they did yesterday, and we work hard to ensure that every minute matters.
We know that many educators, schools, and school systems are interested in the same things we are interested in: practical solutions for classrooms and schools that work, can be performed at scale, and are accessible to anyone. We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to observe and learn from outstanding educators—both within our schools and from around the world—who help all students achieve at high levels. Watching these educators at work has allowed us to derive, codify, and film a series of concrete and practical findings about what enables great instruction. We have been excited to share these findings in such books as Teach Like a Champion 2.0 (and the companion Field Guide); Reading Reconsidered; Practice Perfect; Driven by Data; Leverage Leadership; Great Habits, Great Readers; and now Get Better Faster.
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo has committed his career to identifying the key levers that can support and develop great teachers. In Get Better Faster, he provides an instructional manual, designed specifically for school leaders, that provides a comprehensive ninety-day plan for training first-year teachers to proficiency. Based on ideas developed together with teachers and leaders from across Uncommon Schools, the book includes powerful techniques that make teacher coaching more effective, as well as concrete skills necessary for all new teachers to be successful.
We are very thankful to Paul, the Uncommon Schools New Teacher Working Group, and the entire Uncommon Schools team for all the hard work that led to such an influential and inspiring book. We are confident that the material covered will help teachers and leaders become even better, faster!
Brett Peiser
Chief Executive Officer
Uncommon Schools
Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit network of forty-nine high-performing urban public charter schools that prepare nearly sixteen thousand low-income K–12 students in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts to graduate from college. A 2013 CREDO study found that for low-income students who attend Uncommon Schools, Uncommon “completely cancel[s] out the negative effect associated with being a student in poverty.” Uncommon Schools was named the winner of the national 2013 Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools for demonstrating “the most outstanding overall student performance and improvement in the nation in recent years while reducing achievement gaps for low-income students and students of color.” To learn more about Uncommon Schools, please visit our website at http://uncommonschools.org. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/uncommonschools, and on Twitter and Instagram at @uncommonschools.
Get Better Faster Scope and Sequence
Top Action Steps Used by Instructional Leaders to Launch a Teacher’s Development
Management Trajectory
Rigor Trajectory
Phase 1: Pre-Teaching (Summer PD)
Develop Essential Routines & Procedures
Routines & Procedures 101: Design and roll out
Plan and practice critical routines and procedures moment by moment:
– Explain what each routine means and what it will look like.
– Write out what teacher and students do at each step, and what will happen with students who don’t follow the routine.
Plan & practice the rollout: how to introduce the routine for the first time:
– Plan the “I Do”: how you will model the routine.
– Plan what you will do when students don’t get it right.
Strong Voice
: Stand and speak with purpose
Square Up, Stand Still: when giving instructions, stop moving and strike a formal pose.
Formal register: when giving instructions, use formal register, including tone and word choice.
Note: Many other topics can be introduced during August training. What are listed above are the topics that should be addressed to reach proficiency. Other topics to introduce—even if teachers will not yet master them—could be:
Least Invasive Intervention
Narrate the Positive
Build the Momentum
Teacher Radar: know when students are off task
Do It Again: practice routines to perfection—have students do it again if it is not done correctly (and know when to stop Do It Again)
Write Lesson Plans
Develop Effective Lesson Plans 101
: Build the foundation of an effective lesson rooted in what students need to learn
Write precise learning objectives that are
– Data driven (rooted in what students need to learn based on analysis of assessment results)
– Curriculum plan driven
– Able to be accomplished in one lesson
Script a basic “I Do” as a core part of the lesson.
Design an Exit Ticket (brief final mini-assessment) aligned to the objective.
Internalize Existing Lesson Plans
: Make existing lesson plans your own
Internalize & rehearse key parts of the lesson, including the “I Do” and all key instructions.
Build time stamps into the lesson plan and follow them.
Phase 2 (Days 1–30)
Roll Out and Monitor Routines
What to Do:
Give clear, precise directions
Economy of language: give crisp instructions with as few words as possible (e.g., 3-word directions). Check for understanding on complex instructions.
Routines & Procedures 201:
Revise and perfect them
Revise any routine that needs more attention to detail or is inefficient, with particular emphasis on what students and teachers are doing at each moment.
Do It Again: have students do the routine again if not done correctly the first time.
Cut It Short: know when to stop the Do It Again.
Teacher Radar:
Know when students are off task
Deliberately scan the room for off-task behavior:
– Choose 3–4 “hot spots” (places where you have students who often get off task) to scan constantly
– Be Seen Looking: crane your neck to appear to be seeing all corners of the room.
Circulate the room with purpose (break the plane):
– Move among the desks and around the perimeter.
– Stand at the corners: identify 3 spots on the perimeter of the room to which you can circulate to stand and monitor student work.
– Move away from the student who is speaking to monitor the whole room.
Whole-Class Reset
Implement a planned whole-class reset to reestablish student behavioral expectations when a class routine has slowly weakened over previous classes.
Implement an “in-the-moment reset” when a class veers off task during the class period.
– Example: Stop teaching. Square up. Give a clear What to Do: “Pencils down. Eyes on me. Hands folded in 3-2-1. Thank you: that’s what Harvard looks like.” Pick up tone & energy again.
Independent Practice
Write the Exemplar:
Set the bar for excellence
Script out the ideal written responses you want students to produce during independent practice.
Align independent practice to the rigor of the upcoming interim assessment.
Independent Practice:
Set up daily routines that build opportunities for students to practice independently
Write first, talk second: give students writing tasks to complete prior to class discussion, so that every student answers independently before hearing his/her peers’ contributions.
Implement a daily entry prompt (Do Now) to either introduce the day’s objective or review material from the previous day.
Implement and review a longer independent practice and/or a daily Exit Ticket (brief final mini-assessment aligned to your objective) to see how many students mastered the concept.
Monitor Aggressively:
Check students’ independent work to determine whether they’re learning what you’re teaching
Create & implement a monitoring pathway:
– Create a seating chart to monitor students most effectively.
– Monitor the fastest writers first, then the students who need more support.
Monitor the quality of student work:
– Check answers against your exemplar.
– Track correct and incorrect answers to class questions.
Pen in Hand: mark up student work as you circulate.
– Use a coding system to affirm correct answers.
– Cue students to revise answers, using minimal verbal intervention. (Name the error, ask them to fix it, tell them you’ll follow up.)
Phase 3 (Days 31–60)
Engage Every Student
Build the Momentum
Give the students a simple challenge to complete a task:
– Example: “Now, I know you’re only 4th graders, but I have a 5th-grade problem that I bet you could master!”
Speak faster, walk faster, vary your voice, & smile (sparkle)!
Pacing:
Create the illusion of speed so that students feel constantly engaged
Use a handheld timer to stick to the times stamps in the lesson & give students an audio cue that it’s time to move on.
Increase rate of questioning: no more than 2 seconds between when a student responds and teacher picks back up instruction.
Use countdowns to work the clock (“Do that in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”).
Use call and response for key words.
Engage All Students:
Make sure all students participate
Make sure to call on all students.
Cold-call students.
Implement brief (15–30 second) Turn & Talks.
Intentionally alternate among multiple methods in class discussion: cold calling, choral response, all hands, and Turn & Talks.
Narrate the Positive
Narrate what students do well, not what they do wrong.
– “I like how Javon has gotten straight to work on his writing assignment.”
– “The second row is ready to go: their pencils are in the well, and their eyes are on me.”
While narrating the positive and/or while scanning during a redirect, look at the student(s) who are off task.
Use language that reinforces students’ getting smarter:
– Praise answers that are above and beyond, or strong effort.
Individual Student Corrections
Anticipate student off-task behavior and rehearse the next two things you will do when that behavior occurs. Redirect students using the least invasive intervention necessary:
– Proximity
– Eye contact
– Use a nonverbal
– Say student’s name quickly
– Small consequence
Respond to Student Learning Needs
Habits of Evidence
Teach students to annotate with purpose: summarize, analyze, find the best evidence, etc.
Teach and prompt students to cite key evidence in their responses.
Check for Whole-Group Understanding:
Gather evidence on whole-group learning:
Poll the room to determine how students are answering a certain question.
– “How many chose letter A? B? C? D?”
– Students answer the question on whiteboards: “Hold up your whiteboards on the count of three . . .”
Target the error: focus class discussion on the questions where students most struggle to answer correctly.
Reteaching 101—Model:
Model for the students how to think/solve/write
Give students a clear listening/note-taking task that fosters active listening to the model, and then debrief the model:
– “What did I do in my model?”
“What are the key things to remember when you are doing the same in your own work?”
Model the thinking, not just a procedure:
– Narrow the focus to the thinking students are struggling with.
– Model replicable thinking steps that students can follow.
– Model how to activate one’s own content knowledge and skills that have been learned in previous lessons.
– Vary the think-aloud in tone and cadence from the normal “teacher” voice to highlight the thinking skills.
We Do and You Do: give students opportunities to practice with your guidance.
Phase 4 (Days 61–90)
Set Routines for Discourse
Engaged Small-Group Work:
Maximize the learning for every student during small-group work
Deliver explicit step-by-step instructions for group work:
– Make the group tasks visible/easily observable (e.g., a handout to fill in, notes to take, product to build, etc.).
– Create a role for every person (with each group no larger than the number of roles needed to accomplish the tasks at hand).
– Give timed instructions, with benchmarks for where the group should be after each time window.
Monitor the visual evidence of group progress:
– Check in on each group every 5–10 minutes to monitor progress.
Verbally enforce individual & group accountability:
– “You are five minutes behind; get on track.”
– “Brandon: focus.”
Lead Student Discourse 101
Reteaching 201—Guided Discourse:
Let students unpack their own errors & build a solution
Show-Call: post student work (either an exemplar or incorrect response) & ask students to identify why that answer is correct/incorrect.
Stamp the understanding:
– “What are the keys to remember when solving problems like these?” or “Can someone give me a rule?” (Students use their own words.)
Give them at-bats: give students opportunities to practice with your guidance.
Universal Prompts:
Push the thinking back on the students through universal prompts that could be used at any point
Provide wait time after posing challenging questions.
Precall: let a student who needs more time know you’re calling on him/her next.
Roll back the answer: repeat the wrong answer back to the student. (Give the student time to think and you time to build a plan!)
Ask universal prompts to push the student to elaborate:
– “Tell me more.”
– “What makes you think that?”
– “How do you know?”
– “Why is that important?”
Close the loop: after correcting their error, go back to students with wrong answers to have them revise their answers.
Habits of Discussion:
Teach and model for students the habits that strengthen class conversation
Keep neutral/manage your tell: don’t reveal the right/wrong answer through your reaction to the student response.
Agree and build off: “I agree with ____, and I’d like to add . . .”
Disagree respectfully: “While I agree with [this part of your argument], I disagree with ____. I would argue . . .”
Stretch It (Next Steps)
None!
Once you get this far, you can focus entirely on rigor and deepening your content knowledge.
Lead Student Discourse 201
Strategic Prompts:
Ask strategic questions to targeted students in response to student error
Prompt students to access previously learned knowledge:
– Point students to resources (notes, posted concepts and content, handouts).
– “What do we know about _____ [content learned in previous classes]?”
– Use a prompting guide (e.g.,
Great Habits, Great Readers
Guided Reading Prompting Guide) to design questions.
Call on students based on their learning needs (data driven).
– Call on lower- and middle-achieving students to unpack the question.
– If they struggle, try a higher-achieving student.
– If they are easily unpacking, try a lower-achieving student.
– Create a sequence of students to call on based on the rigor of each prompt (e.g., first ask middle student, then low, then high, etc.).
Students prompting students: push students to use habits of discussion to critique or push one another’s answers.
– Probe deeper: “[Peer], have you considered this point . . .?”
Go Conceptual:
Get students to do the conceptual thinking
Ask students to verbalize a conceptual understanding of content, not just the answer to a specific question:
– “That’s the procedure. Now tell me why that works.”
– “Can you generalize that idea to apply to all problems like this one?”
– “Use the following terms [terms learned in previous classes] in restating your answer.”
Upgrade vocabulary: ask students to use technical/academic language when answering questions:
– “That’s the right idea generally. Now state it again using proper mathematical/historical/scientific language.”
– “Correct. Now state it again using your Academic Word Wall as a resource.”
Stretch it: ask particular students to answer a more difficult extension to a given question:
– “What would the answer be if I changed it to [change the problem to something more complex]?”
– “Is there an alternative way to solve this problem/do this task?”
– “What do you think is the strongest counterargument to yours, and how would you refute it?”
Introduction
“Which one do you want to practice?” asks elementary principal Nikki Bridges. She’s talking about the list she and new teacher Jackson Tobin have just made together: a list of the instructions Jackson most often delivers during reading lessons, and the actions he expects his students to take in response. They’re the kind of small actions that can make or break his reading lesson—actions as simple as looking up at the teacher when listening to instructions or saving your place in a book you’re not finished reading.
And Nikki’s not one to let reading instruction—or any other kind of instruction—wait. Her school, Leadership Preparatory Ocean Hill (LPOH), serves students in Brooklyn who don’t normally have educational success. Ninety-two percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced lunch, and few are reading when they enter kindergarten. Yet Nikki has a phenomenal track record for overcoming these obstacles: by the end of fourth grade, LPOH students were number one in the entire state of New York on the state math exam and in the top 1 percent for reading. But for all her prowess, Nikki could never traverse this path alone: to get results like these, she needs every teacher to fly.
That’s where Jackson comes in. Right now, he’s furrowing his brow at the list Nikki referred to a moment ago. “God,” he says, laughing ruefully, “I want to practice all of them.” Jackson’s in his first month of teaching second grade, and although he’s focused and eager to learn, he’s somewhat anxious, too. Like any teacher, Jackson longs for a classroom where all the simple instructions on the list before him are followed swiftly and smoothly, with every student ready and willing to learn. And like any new teacher, he’s intimidated as well as driven by the enormity of that task.
But when Jackson chooses the first direction on the list—Finger Freeze, which requires students to mark their place in the book they’re reading with a finger, then look up from the page to watch for their teacher’s directions—something changes. Nikki settles at a desk to role-play the part of one of Jackson’s students. Jackson rises, taking on the role of teacher.
Watch clip 1 to see what happens next.
Watch clip 1: Teacher Radar—Scan (Key Leadership Move: Plan/Practice)
http://www.wiley.com/go/getbetterfaster
Jackson ends up practicing the Finger Freeze maneuver three times. The first time, Nikki suggests that he add a quick positive narration as he checks that all students are performing Finger Freeze correctly (“Nikki’s got it!”). The second time, a bit flustered, he goes through the motion of praising Nikki’s responsiveness without realizing that, in fact, she’s staring at her book and not at him. But the third time, when Nikki gazes into the distance rather than following Jackson’s directions, he makes eye contact with her, then leans in and points to the spot on the page where she should be placing her finger. He has her full attention.
“How’d that feel?” Nikki asks, slipping back out of character. Jackson grins. “Better,” he admits.
It’s true: Jackson has just become a better teacher. Without his realizing it, his voice, and even his posture, have grown stronger. He’s internalized a new teaching skill that he will be able to access immediately when he returns to his classroom tomorrow morning. What’s more, he’s learned this skill after teaching for a remarkably short time. Nikki didn’t wait until a midyear review of Jackson’s teaching to coach him on this skill; instead, she practiced it with him in depth just a handful of weeks into his career. The result? Jackson got better faster than he could have without her guidance.
It would be easy to underplay the impact of Jackson’s learning such a small skill. Teaching is a vast, complex art—there’s still so much more for Jackson to master on that list of reading lesson procedures alone. Considering this long path ahead, Jackson and Nikki could throw up their hands in discouragement, forgoing coaching and leaving Jackson to learn almost exclusively by trial and error. Or, just as dangerously, Nikki could give Jackson a long list of broadly worded feedback, leaving him with fifteen things to work on at once on the grounds that each is too important to implement later. Despite the good intentions of both leader and teacher, Jackson would be hard put to respond to all this feedback at once; the likely result would be all fifteen pieces of teaching wisdom falling through the cracks.
But what Nikki and Jackson’s work goes to show is that there is another way: that skill by skill and week by week, teachers can get better far faster through coaching than they ever could without it. Over the course of Jackson’s first year, improvements like these, ones that looked infinitesimal on their own, had an enormous impact. By June, when the second graders Jackson worked with were preparing to make their way to third grade, all his students were reading at or above grade level. The following year, Jackson had even more success. Jackson’s results matched those of a seasoned virtuoso, even though it would take many more years for him to reach that level of artistry himself. He’s like a violinist who wouldn’t yet book a solo concert, but who can certainly contribute great music to an orchestra of other musicians who are among the most skilled in the nation.
This book tells the story of how school leaders guide new teachers to success. It reveals the practices of master teaching that every new teacher can learn and replicate within a few months of beginning to teach, and it breaks down the tools great leaders use to pass those practices on. More important, it will show you how you can use these tools, too.
Changing the Game
“What made you better?” Nikki asks Jackson next. “What enabled you to be so effective just now?” At first, Jackson focuses on the specifics of how he redirected Nikki when she was off task. He gave clear, precise instructions, he remembers; and he made direct eye contact with Nikki when she didn’t comply, letting her know that his instructions applied to her.
But while all these actions are important, the one that interests Nikki most is something much more basic. All Jackson’s newfound success was possible because of two key root actions: identifying what he would have to do to implement Finger Freeze effectively, and practicing doing exactly that.
