Inviting Teachers to Share

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here for more of Heather's thinking.

As lit coaches, we can share all sorts of great resources, data, or ideas, but what ends up being the most powerful is when teachers see their teacher colleagues sharing what they are doing.  

This year, I have made it a priority to ask teachers to share what they are doing in their classrooms regarding our school initiatives.  I also ask my principal for ideas on who could share, since he gets into everyone’s classrooms.  

This has been really powerful.  Here is how I help teacher prepare:

• When asking them I make sure to share what the great thing they are doing is that we want to see.  I make sure to be specific, so they know what we are hoping to see.
• I make sure to tell them it’s an option. We all know it can be hard to share in front of our peers.  I never want anyone to feel like they are being forced to share and feel uncomfortable.
• I share out Slides for the day, so they can add any visuals or talking points to the slides.  Then they can also see where they fall in the agenda.
• Check in with them the day before.

Staff seem to really appreciate seeing inside their colleagues classrooms. We all know it is important to have teachers share their thinking, but making it a priority in an already full schedule can sometimes seem tricky.  When was the last time you set up a teacher to share their thinking?