Get Better Faster

I ran into mention of this book in something I was reading and tracked down a copy to see what gems it had to share. Paul Bambrick-Santoyo wrote Get Better Faster: A 90-day Plan for Coaching New Teachers to highlight steps instructional leaders can help their staff improve at a faster rate than normal. He is a representative of Uncommon Schools- a network of charter schools that focus on improving urban school outcomes. They are based in the northeast with locations in Rochester, the large city near me. Some of Uncommon Schools have had exceptional results, especially considering the mainstay of its staff is young. At least in my location, pay is limited to perhaps 7 years experience in the public sector.

The book includes a DVD that has additional materials and video clips that highlight the text. While it is somewhat disruptive to go back and forth between the text and the video, seeing the steps in action is valuable.

The book details a scope and sequence for teaching staff how to manage a classroom. It breaks down the process into 5 phases: the first a preparatory one that begins school starts and the last a stretch it for people who have developed skill in the first sections. The book provides lesson plans for teaching professionals the skills, relies heavily on role playing to become comfortable with the skills and videos to show skills well implemented or areas where skills could be refined. One premise of Uncommon Schools is frequent observation and feedback cycles- at least every other week. They utilize data heavily to inform next steps. Teachers in the videos are seen with clipboards to record student understandings throughout instruction.

Scripted conversations are often a focus based on the premise that you have one chance to deliver instruction to students or staff so having it firmly thought out is critical. Writing out what instruction the teacher will give, what the expected student response will be and what to do if there is a lack of compliance is a strategy seen in every step of teacher development. While this focus enables teachers to practice prior to implementation, it is unrealistic in the grand scale of teaching. Presumably there will be generalization from the scripted component to the rest of the day. An interesting approach to helping teachers develop and refine skills at a faster rate than traditional models. Elements could certainly be used by coaches in other programs to help identify problem areas and help teach staff to improve their approaches.