A new coaching cycle focused on conferring and small groups in reading workshop was starting, and Kate had asked teachers to sign up for a debrief time slot so that she could meet with them for 20 minutes each week to discuss what they’d worked on together in the classroom, as well as a goal for the teacher to try for the rest of the week before they met again.
We know how valuable a teacher’s time is, and don’t want them to feel like it’s being wasted, but we also know that coaching work becomes much less effective when there isn’t time to talk afterward.
This was on our mind when we were in Sarah and Lisa’s room. As Kate wrapped up a conference she had been doing alongside Sarah, she asked, “Do you guys know when you’d like to debrief? I notice you haven’t signed up yet.”
Sarah hesitated and then said, “I’m not sure when will work for us. We have so many meetings already, I don’t really know when we’d be able to add another one.”
Because it was clear that Sarah and Lisa didn’t have time to add one more thing to their schedule in that moment, Kate said, “Okay, well, just let me know if you figure out a time that you find would work” as she gathered her things to head to the next room.
Alternatives to Meeting for Debriefs
Later, we were thinking more about the demands on teachers’ time. It’s true both that teachers have very limited amounts of time and huge demands already on their time and that time to talk after coaching work is necessary for the work to be the most effective.
After some brainstorming with another coach, we decided to give a digital debrief a try. We knew we wanted it to be interactive for the teachers, to increase the likelihood that they would take action.
Using a Google Doc, we created a table with a column with three possible things for the teachers to try during reading conferences before we worked together again the following week:
We chose the three foci from things that Kate and Sarah had discussed and tried during their reading conferences together in Sarah and Lisa’s room. An explanation and context for each goal was given, and we added links to any relevant resources that might support Sarah and Lisa in trying the work in the Google Doc.
In the next column was a place for Sarah and Lisa to choose one of the focuses as their goal for the following week, and to say what steps they would take to try the goal in their conferences.
Within a few minutes of emailing the Google Doc to Sarah and Lisa and offering it as a way to debrief when we weren’t able to meet face-to-face, they edited the document to show which of the three focuses they were choosing as their goal and also named a step they’d take toward the goal.
And so, although a face-to-face meeting is still our preference because of the conversation around the work that gets to happen, this debriefing option gave Kate a lens through which to enter their classroom the following week. We decided to call that a win.
