3 Ways Being a District C Coach Will Help Me Ai-Proof My Students for Complex Writing Situations

Over the past summer, I became a District C certified coach, an organization that brings design thinking to the classroom in practical…

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Over the past summer, I became a District C certified coach, an organization that brings design thinking to the classroom in practical ways.

This means that I:

• Spent hours working with a group of educators to help Tesoros Maya shift from in-person sales to online

• Observed students solving complex problems for an actual business using the same design thinking techniques

• Practiced coaching students in messy situations.

Teachers need to focus on these Ai-proof skills… not just content or tests. For writing, this means focusing beyond the product or even language skills and helping students manage and apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems using their words and ideas.

Artificial intelligence can do a lot of that.

Teaching writing is about giving students the tools to break down complex problems and ideate solutions with their writing in human-focused ways.

Ai can’t do this.

When teaching writing, it’s important to be both teacher and coach. A coach doesn’t take over a student’s brain. Instead, a coach guides students to discover new ideas, and then helps them figure out how to communicate and implement those ideas.

What really separates teachers from coaches isn’t the content they teach, nor even the tools they use. It’s how they create a classroom culture where learning is meaningful, intentional, and active.

Here are three ways District C will help me focus on coaching and not just teaching.

Focus on the tools.

I’ve always been about embracing the mess. Confusion is good in the writing classroom, because most writing situations are confusing. I want students to learn to make their own choices and help them practice understanding when and how to use a specific writing or problem-solving tool.

To coach students through those moments, they need concrete tools to help them sort through what’s going on. That’s what a District-C coach can do for the classroom.

Focus on the why.

I don’t just give students tools for something to do in the classroom. Students need to connect practice to theory. They need to understand the purpose of a tool, how it will serve them later in their education, and how they can use it in their own work. They need to practice how to think and why to think that way in order to create effective thinking tools for themselves.

For example, asking each other questions is a great tool to leverage group diversity and increase equity. Students need District C coaches to help them see this in the moment.

Focus on delivery

Coaching students in complex situations isn’t just about the words… it’s about how you deliver the words. As a teacher, I sometimes feel like the more words, the better, just in case I’m not getting through. But delivering the words properly is vital to building understanding and creating effective plans of action. The delivery of the words can make all the difference between getting through and not getting through to students.

Slowing down, pausing, emphasizing keywords, and being concise helps students focus on what’s most important.

Sometimes teachers want to be seen as the leader in the classroom. However, if we are always taking the lead, students are less likely to learn anything new or lasting. We need to learn to coach… not just teach… our students to make decisions, to think for themselves, and to work together. Students need to learn how to take responsibility for their own learning. As teachers, wehave to learn to let go of your power and become a coach instead.

If you and your students are solving complex human problems, no robot is ever going to take your jobs.

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