(General question to invite input)
PAUL: Thinking back to the lesson I observed, how do you think you could have tightened up the transition to group work?
WILL: Um, I guess a lot of kids jumped up to use the bathroom and sharpen pencils and things like that. Maybe I could have limited bathroom trips to certain times, or maybe I could have had a jar of sharp pencils on my desk?
(Redirecting toward an action step that addresses the larger issue)
PAUL: I agree that the three bathroom requests and the five students sharpening pencils slowed things down, but I also noticed there were several questions about the activity instructions.
WILL: Oh, right. I guess that did gum up the works.
(Specific question to invite input)
PAUL: Maybe you could anticipate that the students are going to ask you to repeat your directions a few times. How could you plan for that?
WILL: Well... I guess I could make a handout with directions, or write them on the board, but... I'd feel a little silly. I mean, they're in seventh grade. They should be able to remember directions.
PAUL: I know it might feel a little strange, but the bottom line is, writing out directions is helpful. I don't know about you, but even I have trouble remembering directions sometimes. And this way you don't have to feel like a broken record, they can just look up at the board and see a reminder.
WILL: Okay, I'm with you. I can do that.
(Modeling the action step)
PAUL: So for your activity yesterday, I would have scripted my exact directions ahead of time. I might have written on the board, "1. One student from each group picks five adverbs from the bin. 2. The group writes a one-page story using all five adverbs correctly. 3. If you have a question, raise your hand." Does that make sense?
WILL: Yeah. Yeah, I see. So... full directions with all the details. Got it.
(Practicing the action step)
PAUL: Let's think about what kind of directions you could write on the board. What's an activity you're doing tomorrow that you'll need clear directions for?
WILL: We're doing conjunctions tomorrow, so... I could write... "1. One student from each group gets a stack of conjunctions and sentence fragments from the front table. 2. Together, use the conjunctions to combine fragments into sentences." Does that sound right?
PAUL: Sounds great--what should they do if they need help?
WILL: Oh, right: "3. Raise your hand for help."
PAUL: And how long do they have for this activity?
WILL: Right, so I'll add, "You have 10 minutes."
PAUL: Perfect. And planning directions in advance like this, you can make sure you cover all your bases.
(Encouraging reflection on the action step)
PAUL: If your students can look up at the board to remind themselves of directions, what will that do for your lessons?
WILL: Well, I hope they'll spend less time confused and more time working. And I won't have to keep repeating myself.
PAUL: What can you do with the time you save?
WILL: Maybe spend more time circulating and working with students, which would be nice.
(Summarizing the action step)
PAUL: So how would you summarize what you're going to do and how you think it'll affect student learning?
WILL: I'll write detailed, clear directions for my activities, which will help students focus on the activity and let me spend more time circulating and working with students.
(Connecting to a master teacher)
PAUL: You know who does this really well is Ms. Heining.
WILL: Oh, yeah?
PAUL: Definitely. She plans and writes out all of her directions out beforehand and puts them on the whiteboard. Her transitions are quick and her students know exactly what to do. If you want, we can arrange for you to see what transitions look like in her classroom.
WILL: Okay, that sounds fine.
PAUL: I think you have a really good grasp on this step and you're ready to put it in place. Let's talk about a timeline for making this change.
WILL: Sure.
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