The Ms. Alice Files

As I struggled to find my legs in this new role of Instructional Coach, I remembered Ms. Alice.  Ms. Alice was a teacher who retired from my building after forty-years, the year before I started teaching.  Unannounced or introduced, she showed up in my new classroom during my first week teaching.  She made her way slowly from observing at the door, to sitting beside a student, to standing next to me, to inserting herself into my rough lesson presentation.  Later as I lined up the kids, she returned to provide specific pointers of the things in her opinion that this new teacher was doing unacceptably wrong.  It was an ego boost to say the least.

This scene repeated for about three days when I realized that if I listened, I could probably learn a lot from Ms. Alice, but she might benefit from knowing me too.  I ended up giving her a notebook and requesting her to allow me to teach lessons on my own, but to come often and pass the notebook back and forth to share her observations of my teaching and my students’ learning.  I could then respond with questions or alternate theories that we might make a better whole together.  This notebook came to be known as “The Ms. Alice Files” and travels with me today as I learn ever-evolving good teaching.
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Though my classroom door has always been open for critique and continuous improvement from the outside, I recognize that’s not the case in every room or building.  This made me a bit uncomfortable of this aspect of my new gig.  However in the first few weeks, I have received numerous invitations to be a part of many classrooms from observing for specific teaching behaviors, to co-teaching and modeling lessons that enhance routines and curriculum for kids, to simply discussing tools for managing and organizing student progress.  I am grateful for these teachers who have shown me the value of my role through their action and for their gratitude that my outside opinion improves their teaching for kids.  Ms. Alice, though unorthodox in her approach, inadvertently taught me that significant self-awareness can grow from unexpected places and uncomfortable beginnings.

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