A Teacher Perspective: Advice for

Principals
O C TOB ER 28, 2013

Being back in the classroom has given me a refreshed perspective. Below, I would
like to share with administrators some helpful observations and suggestions that
may improve your relationship with the teachers you serve.
Observation #1: Students are different than when we were students
Lesson learned: Teachers must either engage students at their level with interesting
learning activities or fight the battle of wills to force them into compliance with
worksheets and controllable activities. In the former, students will want to learn, in
the latter, passive aggression will force the teacher to always watch his back and
not trust students. In this situation, even good students will actively try to
undermine the teacher.
Rather than tell the teacher he needs to work on his classroom management, help
the teacher gain control of the classroom by being there and identifying and dealing
with the ring leaders (you know who they are because they do the same in every
class, but the teacher may not know that). All it takes is an extra pair of eyes to see
that just a few instigators in the classroom can destroy an effective learning
atmosphere.
Observation #2: Teachers need support with materials, textbooks, and
technology
Lesson learned: Teachers can make do for a while without some things, but don't
you want teachers to be as effective as possible from the start? Make sure that your
teachers not only have the necessary tools, but that they are trained on how to use
them best to instruct students and to manage their classroom, before you require
them to produce with them. It may seem to you that teachers are whining and
complaining about little things, but sometimes a little thing makes the difference
and gives the teachers an edge on being able to reach the students more
effectively.
Observation #3: Teachers are among the busiest people on the planet
Lesson learned: Teachers resent being pulled away from their daily work of
improving their effectiveness as a teacher for trivial or unproductive reasons. For
example, personal learning communities (PLCs) are not meetings called by
administrators for administrator agendas. To be productive and to be valuable uses
of time, PLCs must be teacher-driven and focused on resolving student-learning
concerns through teacher capacity (for example, what do I as a teacher need to
learn to help students learn better?) This also means that the teachers need a

defender at the district office level who will protect their time from those who have
forgotten how busy teachers are. You can do that for the teachers.
Observation #4: Teachers talk and are always trying to guess the direction
of the principal
Lesson learned: Help the teachers out and just tell them what your direction is.
Make it crystal clear in every newsletter, blog, faculty meeting, and message. If this
is done well, teachers can actively help the school reach those goals. If you believe
that teachers need to use cooperative learning, mind maps, or lesson framing, then
help teachers by first stating that is what you want, and then focus training in
faculty meetings on those things so teachers have a clear picture of your vision.
Observation #5: Teachers are asked to do a lot of extra things besides
teach
Lesson Learned: Teachers know busy work when they see it. Make sure your
requirements make sense and honor the teacher's time and efforts. Don't have a
meeting just because it is on the calendar. Have the meeting to either train, discuss,
or plan (all of which are essential things you need teachers help with) and not one
to inform; that can be done with an email or newsletter.
Observation #6: Elective teachers have to fend for themselves next to
content teachers
Lesson Learned: Elective teachers can help content teachers in significant ways by
reinforcing what content teachers do especially in reading and writing. Don't ignore
them.
Observation #7: Parents Are as Frustrated with Their Students as the
Teachers Are
Lesson Learned: While we communicate with parents and enlist their help, we
cannot count on all of them to be successful. Behaviorist principles work and must
be applied in these situations -- stimulus and response. We do no favors by being
lenient about established consequences.
Observation #8: Teachers Have Good Days and Rough Days
Lessons Learned: It makes a world of difference when the principal shares a kind
thought, a smile, and a handshake.
I would be interested to know what advice you would give to your administrators.
Please share in the comment section below.

Mastering the Teaching Game

JU LY 17, 201 4

Recently, I heard Sven Groeneveld being interviewed on my car radio. He is one of the top tennis
coaches of all times, having helped four players become grand slam winners, among many other
achievements. The BBC reports that the coach can "see things in the other players, read a match, second
guess what the game plan would be, what a certain player was doing wrong, and crucially how he could
put it right."
My knowledge of tennis is thin, so I almost switched to another station, until I realized that Groeneveld's
message was the kind of advice that I give to my young pre-service teachers at the University of Virginia's
Curry School of Education -- only he is more articulate and confident than I am.
There are several paraphrased points that I hope will resonate with other educators as affirmations,
challenges, or both. These eight ideas synthesize what four decades in classrooms have taught me are
the most important principles for teachers to understand.

1. Innate Potential
All human beings can achieve far more than they believe they can.Groeneveld holds a bedrock
conviction that an individual has within him- or herself the capacity to become significantly better than he
or she is at the moment. "It's not about talent," he says. "They all have enough talent to succeed.

2. Desire to Succeed
Success comes from the desire to work hard to achieve a goal. There's a difference between a
dream and a goal, Groeneveld states. A dream is just an idea in your head. A goal is something you can
reach. We have to pursue goals, not dreams. Human beings were designed with motivation to grow and
learn. Pursuing goals helps them do that.

3. Hard and Soft Skills

It's not enough to only teach skills. Players, Groeneveld says, have the fundamental abilities needed to
achieve goals. A good coach ensures that individuals are willing to do the hard work of setting goals and
refining their skills. Mechanics of the game, or hard skills need to be taught, but so dosoft skills, the
mental side of the game where the individual learns how to think about what he or she must do.

4. Responsibility
Make sure the player takes responsibility for his or her decisions. How they practice, how they think,
when they ask for help, how they respond -- these things are absolutely coachable.

5. Overcoming Resistance
When there is resistance from a player, don't take no for an answer. It is our job to find another way
of getting learners to the goal. When this is successfully achieved, it's because we have reached the core
of the individual.

6. Adaptability

There's no single way to coach players. All learners are different. My work is about getting to know
each one, determining the goals we share in common so that we have a path to walk together. I begin my
work by talking with them over a cup of tea, listening, asking questions. Until I understand what makes
them tick, I don't know how to work with them effectively. I approach every person as an individual.

7. Observation and Analysis

Being a good coach means dissecting the player's game. I have to know learners' strengths,
weaknesses, and barriers. I have to discern patterns in what they do. I unfold the layers in the individual
in order to understand. Then I become an architect of a better learning space, based on what I learn.

8. Service
I'm in a service industry. In the broadcast, the interviewer suggested to Groeneveld that it must be
difficult to work so hard and never be celebrated by the public, whose only focus is the athlete. The
coach's response was swift. "It's not about me. I give them the tools, information, and education. They
have to do the work. They are being celebrated for doing that work. I have been asked to coach the
players. That's the greatest compliment."
Coach Groeneveld's eight principles are the essence of powerful teaching. The teacher walks into a
classroom and accepts the reality that the only way to reach students is to know them as individuals. After
that, by unfolding layers to access students core, the shared goal setting ensues. The teacher knows the
content well and can teach "mechanics" in a way that compels attention. But the instructor also realizes
that until the young student thinks like a successful student, the mechanics will fall short. And so the
educator -- the learning architect -- assiduously teaches each individual to take responsibility for his or her
own game or learning plan. Each success empowers the next success. And these successes belong to
the child. Teaching itself is reward enough.