"So your action step is..."
Ways to assertively and clearly introduce an action step to teachers
Related readings:
Let’s go gambling! 🎲🎰
But let’s see if it moves teacher practice.
The truth is coaching is a lot like a gamble. We have to have JUST the right amount of coach skill and teacher readiness to really make magic happen. But we actually know how to play the odds. 🎰
Let’s break this down: 👇
“One thing you could try is…” - 🤷♀️this is TOO passive and implies that action is optional. It also indicates that there may be more… better… options, wishing them to dream for more rather than focusing on your action step that they will learn and master. 🏃♀️
Alternative: Based upon the evidence, the best course of action is to narrow in on this action step.
“I used to…” - great. 😬No one cares.
Alternative: Building off of something that I have experienced success with in situations we just analyzed, our action step is this.
“If you wanted to try…” - yes, we are trying - but mastery is the goal. 🎯 and there aren’t any “ifs” here. We are doing it because we have analyzed the evidence effectively and know that it will improve kids’ outcomes. 📈
Alternative: Our next step towards mastering our goal is to work on this action step.
“Ms. Ramirez is…” - we love Ms. Ramirez! But this move can put teachers in a real negative head space. Everyone grows on their own journey. Let’s focus on the person you are supporting to be excellent. They are the most important thing that matters. ❤️
Alternative: Let’s build off of your skill by practicing this action step.
“Back when we had this curriculum, we would…” - 📖 ah! No! We cannot steer them away from their expectations for YOU to live your glory days. It’s over. Focus on this generation of teachers and making them successful. And IF your curriculum is actually up to date, using the science of reading, meeting the needs of all kids, culturally responsive, meeting the standards and (crap… do any curriculums do all that?)…. Then stay focused on executing that curriculum the best you know how. 📖
Alternative: While I know that this is different than the previous curriculum, we are going to practice new skills by focusing on this action step.
“We could try to…” - who is WE? You ain’t doing s**t. They are the ones doing the hard work. You may think this makes you feel more like partners. 🧑🤝🧑And it can do exactly that. It depends on the relations, but in general - “we” is not the vibe. 😎
Alternative: Your action step this week is this.
“We can work on that over time.” - kids need us to act now.
Alternative: This week, practice this one step so we can see it pay off big later.
Do you have some other great sentence frames to share? Write it in the comments!