Download the full version of the ebook at ebookname.

com

High impact instruction a framework for great

teaching 1st Edition Jim Knight

https://ebookname.com/product/high-impact-instruction-a-
framework-for-great-teaching-1st-edition-jim-knight/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Download more ebook instantly today at https://ebookname.com

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

A Guide to Teaching Development Psychology 1st Edition

Elizabeth Brestan Knight

https://ebookname.com/product/a-guide-to-teaching-development-
psychology-1st-edition-elizabeth-brestan-knight/

ebookname.com

Teaching Interculturally A Framework for Integrating

Disciplinary Knowledge and Intercultural Development 1st
Edition Amy Lee
https://ebookname.com/product/teaching-interculturally-a-framework-
for-integrating-disciplinary-knowledge-and-intercultural-
development-1st-edition-amy-lee/
ebookname.com

Becoming a Great High School Tim Westerberg

https://ebookname.com/product/becoming-a-great-high-school-tim-
westerberg/

ebookname.com

Surface and Interfacial Forces First Edition Hans-Jürgen

Butt

https://ebookname.com/product/surface-and-interfacial-forces-first-
edition-hans-jurgen-butt/

ebookname.com
Gynecologic Oncology Evidence Based Perioperative and
Supportive Care Second Edition Steven A. Vasilev

https://ebookname.com/product/gynecologic-oncology-evidence-based-
perioperative-and-supportive-care-second-edition-steven-a-vasilev/

ebookname.com

Principles of Polymerization 4th Edition George Odian

https://ebookname.com/product/principles-of-polymerization-4th-
edition-george-odian/

ebookname.com

The Cambridge Companion to Adam Smith First Edition Knud

Haakonssen

https://ebookname.com/product/the-cambridge-companion-to-adam-smith-
first-edition-knud-haakonssen/

ebookname.com

Make Technology on Your Time Volume 23 1st Edition Mark

Frauenfelder Ed.

https://ebookname.com/product/make-technology-on-your-time-
volume-23-1st-edition-mark-frauenfelder-ed/

ebookname.com

The Routledge Companion to the Frankfurt School Axel

Honneth

https://ebookname.com/product/the-routledge-companion-to-the-
frankfurt-school-axel-honneth/

ebookname.com
Child Welfare and Social Action in the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Centuries International Perspectives Lawrence

https://ebookname.com/product/child-welfare-and-social-action-in-the-
nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries-international-perspectives-
lawrence/
ebookname.com
 Praise for High-Impact Instruction:
A Framework for Great Teaching
“ . . . an extraordinarily powerful, practical, and personal approach to
teaching. This book will dramatically transform how teachers work
with each other and how they teach students. Every page is filled
with detailed descriptions of how to teach difficult content in a very
simple, understandable way . . . brilliantly conceptualized and writ-
ten by one of education’s best thinkers and innovators.”
—Donald D. Deshler, Williamson Family
Distinguished Professor of Special Education and
Director, Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas

“Every teacher, instructional coach, and principal who strives for per-
sonal excellence in the art and science of teaching will find High-
Impact Instruction to be a helpful guide on that journey. Written with
wit and warmth, Jim Knight’s work will guide you to identify both
current strengths and actions for improving professional practice. It
honors teachers, coaches, and administrators as professionals while
clearly communicating that part of professionalism is a desire for
growth. High-Impact Instruction is a significant step toward articulat-
ing how the ‘art’ of great teaching can be analyzed for the purpose of
defining specific and observable actions.”
—Randy Sprick, primary author for the Safe &
Civil Schools series, Director of Teaching Strategies, Inc.,
and lead consultant for Safe & Civil Schools

“Seasoned author Jim Knight has provided a masterful resource for

teachers and other stakeholders to improve student achievement
through a host of clearly defined instructional practices. The tools,
resources, and examples he provides enable educators to easily
implement his framework, which comprises the key ingredients for
effective instruction. Furthermore, his writing style makes it an
engaging read.”
—Kathy Glass, consultant and author of Curriculum Mapping:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Curriculum Year Overviews and
Mapping Comprehensive Units to the ELA Common Core Standards, K–5
 For my son Geoff Knight
Geoff and his wife, Jenny Peck, have dedicated themselves to saving children’s lives in rural
Tanzania. A portion of my royalties from the sale of this book will be dedicated to helping
Geoff and Jenny do their work in the developing world. You can read more about what they
do at http://www.mufindiorphans.org.
Geoff, you make me proud every day.
 INSTRUCTION
IMPACT
HIGH-
A F R A M e w O R K F O R G R e AT T e A C H I N G

JIM KNIGHT

A Joint PublicAtion
FOR INFORMATION: Copyright © 2013 by Corwin

Corwin All rights reserved. When forms and sample docu-

A SAGE Company ments are included, their use is authorized only by
2455 Teller Road educators, local school sites, and/or noncommercial
Thousand Oaks, California 91320 or nonprofit entities that have purchased the book.
Except for that usage, no part of this book may be
(800) 233-9936
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
www.corwin.com
means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-
copying, recording, or by any information storage
SAGE Publications Ltd.
and retrieval system, without permission in writing
1 Oliver’s Yard from the publisher.
55 City Road
London EC1Y 1SP All trade names and trademarks recited, referenced,
or reflected herein are the property of their respec-
United Kingdom
tive owners who retain all rights thereto.
SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
Cover design by Clinton Carlson.
B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044
India

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

3 Church Street Printed in the United States of America
#10-04 Samsung Hub
A catalog record of this book is available from the
Singapore 049483
Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4129-8177-4

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Acquisitions Editor: Dan Alpert
Associate Editor: Kimberly Greenberg
Editorial Assistant: Heidi Arndt
Production Editor: Melanie Birdsall
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Proofreader: Scott Oney
Indexer: Jean Casalegno
Graphic Designer: Janet Kiesel
Permissions Editor: Karen Ehrmann 12 13 14 15 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 CONTENTS

List of Companion Website Resources vii

Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
About the Author xvii

1. Personal Bests 1

PART I. PLANNING 23
2. Guiding Questions 29
3. Formative Assessment 53
4. Learning Maps 87

PART II. INSTRUCTION 125

5. Thinking Prompts 133
6. Effective Questions 153
7. Stories 175
8. Cooperative Learning 197
9. Authentic Learning 221

PART III. COMMUNITY BUILDING 243

10. Learner-Friendly Culture 249
11. Power With, Not Power Over 263
12. Freedom Within Form 279
13. Expectations 303
14. Witness to the Good 315
15. Fluent Corrections 331

Conclusion 347
References and Further Readings 349
Index 357
 LIST OF COMPANION
WEBSITE RESOURCES

Access the following videos and reproducible forms at

www.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction

CHAPTER 1
Video 1.1 Michael Covarrubias talks about why he teaches.
Video 1.2 Ginger Grant talks about the power of one-to-one
conversations during coaching.
Resource 20-Minute High-Impact Survey

CHAPTER 2
Video 2.1 Wendy Hopf talks about the importance of content
planning.
Figure 2.1 How to Create Great Guiding Questions

CHAPTER 3
Figure 3.2 Specific Proficiency Checklist
Figure 3.3 Proficiency Assessment Form
Video 3.1 Carrie Hochgrebe explains how she uses clickers for
formative assessment.
Figure 3.4 Quality Assessment Checklist
Figure 3.6 Checklist for Using Assessments Effectively
Figure 3.8 I Do It, We Do It, You Do It
Video 3.2 Aisha Santos discusses “I do it, We do it, You do it.”

vii
viii HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

CHAPTER 4
Video 4.1 Carrie Hochgrebe learns about learning maps.
Figure 4.13 Sample Linking Words
Figure 4.14 Quality Map Checklist
Video 4.2 Marlo Warburton uses a graphic organizer to explain
equations.
Figure 4.17 Introducing the Learning Map and Guiding Questions
Figure 4.21 Daily Use of the Learning Map and Guiding Questions

PART II
Video P2.1 Sandi Silbernagel describe how she assesses whether
students are engaged, strategically compliant, or
noncompliant.

CHAPTER 5
Video 5.1 Wendy Hopf discusses thinking prompts and effective
questions.
Resource Attributes of Effective Thinking Prompts Checklist

CHAPTER 6
Video 6.1 Chris Korinek talks about questions.
Figure 6.9 Question Chart

CHAPTER 7
Video 7.1 Katie Bannon tells a story in reading class.
Video 7.2 Labarbara Madison explains how music helps her
students remember.
Video 7.3 Ryan Berger talks about using stories in the classroom.
Figure 7.3 Effective Stories
Figure 7.4 How to Tell a Story

CHAPTER 8
Video 8.1 Watch Sandi Silbernagel use two cooperative learning
structures—mix, pair, share and jot thoughts.
Figure 8.1 Success Factors Checklist
Video 8.2 Watch Tiffani Poirier use games to teach the concept of
place value.
 LIST OF COMPANION WEBSITE RESOURCES ix

Figure 8.3 Turn-to-Your-Neighbor Checklist

Figure 8.4 Think, Pair, Share Checklist
Figure 8.5 Jigsaw Checklist
Video 8.3 Watch Alastair Inman use value line to teach the
concept of the history of the earth.
Figure 8.6 Value Line Checklist
Figure 8.7 Round Table Checklist

CHAPTER 9
Video 9.1 Annette Holthaus has the students working on teachers’
computers.
Figure 9.1 Authentic Learning Checklist
Video 9.2 Caryl Crowell takes students outside to learn science.
Figure 9.2 Successful Authentic Learning Checklist
Figure 9.3 Project Criteria Checklist
Video 9.3 Students have their own poetry reading in Miss Gray’s
language arts class.
Video 9.4 Chris Korinek helps students learn about economic
systems by simulating those systems.

CHAPTER 10
Video 10.1 Sandi Silbernagel explains how she creates her classroom.
Resource Learner-Friendly Environment Survey

CHAPTER 11
Video 11.1 Sandi Silbernagel explains how she reveals information
about herself to build relationships.
Video 11.2 Wendy Hopf explains how she builds trust with students.
Resource Student Survey—Elementary School Age
Resource Student Survey—Middle School Age
Resource Student Survey—High School Age

CHAPTER 12
Video 12.1 Lori Sinclair explains how she organizes her class for
freedom within form.
Video 12.2 Sandi Silbernagel explains how she assesses engagement.
Figure 12.3 Engagement Form
Resource Assessing Time on Task
x HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

CHAPTER 13
Video 13.1 Sandi Silbernagel explains why and how she teaches
expectations.
Figure 13.4 Act, Talk, Move

CHAPTER 14
Video 14.1 Lori Sinclair talks about being a witness to the good.
Figure 14.1 Increasing Positive Interactions
Figure 14.2 Ratio of Interaction
Resource How to Score Ratio of Interaction
 PREFACE

I ’ve been writing this book for more than a decade. In many ways,
it began in 1999, when my colleagues and I received a U.S.
Department of Education GEAR-UP Grant that helped us set up an
instructional coaching program for middle and secondary schools in
the Topeka, Kansas School District, USD 501. Our instructional
coaches started out sharing Content Enhancement Routines (see
http://www.kucrl.org/sim/content.shtml) that teachers could use to
teach content more intentionally and inclusively.
The Content Enhancement Routines we used were developed and
validated under the guidance of my colleague Keith Lenz, while he
worked at the University of Kansas, and teachers who worked with
our coaches found them very helpful. However, the instructional
coaches realized quickly that some teachers also needed help with
classroom management and community building, and I soon began
learning from Randy Sprick, a leader in the field of behavior manage-
ment. Randy and I eventually co-authored Coaching Classroom
Management (2006) along with Wendy Reinke, Tricia Skyles, and Lynn
Barnes-Schuster, and to this day, I continue to learn from Randy.
Not long after this, I met with my former teacher Michael Fullan,
and I asked him whose work he thought I should study to broaden
my understanding of instruction. Michael quickly recommended
Richard Stiggins’ work, and before long I was in Richard Stiggins’
office at the Assessment Training Institute in Portland, Oregon. After
that meeting, my team and I immersed ourselves in Stiggins’ and oth-
ers’ research on formative assessment, and we began developing our
own version for instructional coaches.
To flesh out our model, I added several instructional strategies
that would increase engagement and learning. The result of this
exploration and development was a simple framework—the Big
Four, addressing Content Planning, Formative Assessment,
Instruction, and Community Building. For the past ten years, my
research colleagues and I have been working to make the teaching
xi
xii HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

practices, checklists, and observation tools within the Big Four sim-
pler and more powerful. This book summarizes what we created.
To deepen and simplify the materials in this book, instructional
coaches on two research projects implemented each of the teaching
practices described here. The stories of those instructional coaches
and their collaborating teachers are included throughout the book. In
addition, to get more feedback, I created beta manuals of most of the
teaching practices and made them available on the web at thebigfour
.ning.com. That website has been visited by educators from more
than 100 countries, and the teachers implementing these practices in
North America and around the world have provided feedback on
how each strategy can be refined to be simpler and more powerful.
In addition, as we refined these practices, we reviewed hundreds
of research articles studying the Big Four teaching practices, and I
have reviewed more than 100 books in areas inside and outside edu-
cation related to the Big Four. For example, I read six business books
describing how storytelling can be a cornerstone for a business com-
munication strategy, and I also read most of John Gottman’s work on
relationships. Although this work is not about education directly, I
feel that we would be foolish to ignore studies that speak directly
to the work of teachers, addressing topics such as those analyzing
teamwork, power, relationships, and happiness.
I also read the excellent work of educational researchers who have
created comprehensive instructional models, including Robert Marzano,
Charlotte Danielson, Barrie Bennett, Jon Saphier, and John Hattie. After
a decade of reading, development, practice, review, and refinement, we
have arrived at the high-impact strategies described here.
I want to be clear, however, that this book is not a book for
researchers; this is a book for educators working in schools—teachers,
coaches, principals, and their students. Thus, it is not a meta-analysis
of research articles—excellent meta-analyses already exist authored
by Marzano and Hattie, and there is no need to reproduce their work.
And although the book was shaped by educational research, I have
not limited my study to research conducted in schools. My reading of
the literature outside of education, and my work with thousands of
teachers in the last decade, has also informed my identification of
practices that I conclude have a high impact on learning.
This book is my attempt to create a comprehensive and simple
collection of tools that help teachers do the work they love to do:
reach students. I encourage you, whether you are a teacher, instruc-
tional coach, or administrator, to experiment with these practices, and
to let me know how we can make them better. We need to be learning
too. You can reach me at [email protected].
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I t takes a village to write a book, just as certainly as it takes a village

to raise a child—though in my case it might be more apt to say it
took a city to write this one. Without question, this book is the result
of the efforts of many, including those whose publications influenced
my writing and those who gave their time and support to help turn
these ideas into the publication you are looking at right now.
The work of researchers and authors—some whom I know per-
sonally, some whom I have met only through their writing—provides
the foundation for much of what I have written here. My understand-
ing of content planning, for example, began with what I learned from
Keith Lenz, my colleague for many years at the University of Kansas
Center for Research on Learning, and was deepened and extended by
the work of Grant Wiggins, Jay McTighe, Lynn Erickson, and Kathy
Glass.
My understanding of formative assessment began when I inter-
viewed Richard Stiggins at the Assessment Training Institute in
Portland and read his book Student-Involved Assessment for Learning,
4th Edition (2001). I expanded my understanding by reading the work
of his colleague Jan Chappuis, along with other experts in formative
assessment, including Dylan Wiliam and James Popham. Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi’s research on optimal experience also helped me
understand why formative assessment is so important.
I could not have written the community building section in this
book without all that I have learned from my friend Randy Sprick
whose simple, powerful tools are woven into much of Part III. Others
who have influenced my thinking about community building include
my colleague Sue Vernon, other leaders in the field such as Fred
Jones, Harry Wong, and Robert Marzano, and researchers in related
fields outside of education, including relationship expert John
Gottman and the many communication experts at the Harvard
Negotiation Project.

xiii
xiv HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

Finally, my understanding of instruction has been greatly influ-

enced by authors who have dramatically pushed our field forward
with their work describing effective instruction. In particular, I am
grateful for the work of Robert Marzano, mentioned above, Charlotte
Danielson, and Parker Palmer. Marzano and Danielson have helped
me understand what great teaching is and how to see it. Palmer has
helped me understand what great teaching means.
The authors and researchers just mentioned have been major
influences, but many, many others have written books, manuals or
research articles that have helped shape this book. I have done my
best to always give credit to any author who has created a practice or
idea I mention, but if you notice any section here where others
deserves to be credited, please write me ([email protected]) so I
can clarify their authorship in future editions.
In writing this book, I have received incredible help from my “city
of support” at the Center for Research on Learning. My two primary
partners in this process were Marilyn Ruggles and Carol Hatton.
Marilyn read hundreds of research articles, transcribed dozens of
interviews, and tracked down most of the references I cite in this
paper. This book would have taken one or two years more to com-
plete, at least, had it not been for Marilyn’s help. Carol created forms
and charts, transcribed interviews, reviewed text, looked up refer-
ences and helped anywhere she could with the development of this
book, all while overseeing all the conferences and institutes we hold in
Kansas. Indeed, Carol has helped me complete just about every project
I’ve been a part of in the past ten years at the University of Kansas.
My fellow colleagues at the University of Kansas Center for
Research on Learning have also provided support, pushed my think-
ing, and truly inspired me to be better. Don Deshler, our Center
Director, is my mentor, my friend, and the one colleague who has
most shaped my professional life. And what I have learned about
research from Don is nothing compared to what he has taught me
about being a good person. Jean Schumaker, our Center’s former
Associate Director, taught me more about writing than anyone else,
and much more important than that, she has been an incredible sup-
port and friend to our family. I will always be deeply grateful to Don
and Jean, like so many others whom they have mentored.
My fellow researchers at the Center, including Associate Director
Mike Hock, Barbara Bradley, Irma Brasseur-Hock, Jan Bulgren, Tom
Skrtic, and Susan Harvey, have pushed my thinking, taught me a great
deal about professional learning, and helped me better understand
research methodology. They also all happen to be wonderful people.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

I’m grateful, as well, to my colleagues at the Instructional Coaching

Group. Ruth Ryschon has done a phenomenal job organizing every
consultation we’ve conducted in the past four years, and my fellow
consultants Michelle Harris, Ann Hoffman, Tricia Skyles, Bill Sommers,
Conn Thomas, and Sue Woodruff have done a fantastic job sharing the
impact ideas around the world, presenting and consulting.
The ideas in this book are also the result of my work with two
great teams of instructional coaches—people who have taught me so
much and whom I now consider friends. My colleagues working at
the Kansas Coaching Project, instructional coaches Lynn Barnes-
Schuster, Stacy Cohen, Jeanne Disney, Devona Dunekack, Marti
Elford, Shelly McBeth, and Ric Palma did more than anyone else to
help me develop the Big Four teaching practices described in this
book, and their work was extended by instructional coaches from the
Beaverton School District, Michelle Harris, Susan Leyden, Jenny
MacMillan, and Lea Molczan. I also learned an enormous amount
from our superstar research team in Beaverton, Sarah Estes, Jeff
Levering, and Barb Millikan.
One of the features of this book is the inclusion of Quick Response
(QR) codes that link to video clips of teachers implementing or talk-
ing about teaching practices. Bill Sommers planted the seed for this
idea by telling me about Tony Wagner’s book Creating Innovators
(2012), which beautifully employs this method. I am very grateful to
many people at the Teaching Channel (teachingchannel.org) who
worked with me to make this feature possible, especially Pat Wasley,
the Teaching Channel CEO, Andrew Schulman, Vice President of
Strategy and Outreach, and the many awesome teachers, too many
to mention, whom I feature here in this book. All of you reinforce my
deep belief in teachers and the profession. I am also very grateful to
Producer/Director Andrew Benson, who oversaw the development
of every video featured here. Andrew, you’re way cooler than I am,
but I love working with you.
Many people have helped with the production of this book.
Clinton Carlson, who has been my design guru and sometime run-
ning partner, and who has designed many publications at the
Instructional Coaching Group, designed this beautiful cover. Kirsten
McBride has edited all of my books and improved almost every page
I have written. Jessica Arnesen kindly agreed to proofread much of
the final copy to help me produce the version of the book you are
reading. My colleagues at Corwin have gone out of their way to be
true partners with me in book production. I am extremely grateful to
my friend and Senior Editor, Dan Alpert, my Production Editor
xvi HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

(whom Dan describes as the “best in the business”) Melanie Birdsall,

and Editorial Assistant Heidi Arndt.
Most important, I am tremendously grateful to my family for sup-
porting, encouraging, and inspiring me to write this. My parents Joan
and Doug Knight always told me that I should make a contribution,
and this book is one way, I hope, that I can thank them for their
unwavering encouragement. My children, Geoff, Cameron, David,
Emily, Benjamin, Isaiah, and Luke (30 days old as I write these words),
remind me why it is so important to focus my attention on creating the
schools our children deserve. Mine do; yours do, too. Finally, my wife
Jenny is my soul mate, my partner for life, my thinking partner, and
my greatest support. It means the world to me, Jen, that you believe in
this work—I hope this book honors your belief in me.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following
individuals:

Jennifer Abrams, Author and Educational Consultant, Palo Alto,

California
Jennifer Bailey, Kilgore ISD, Kilgore, Texas
Don Deshler, Researcher, Author, and Director of the University
of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, Lawrence, Kansas
Kathy Glass, Author and Educational Consultant, Woodside,
California
Amy Shields, Director of Elementary Learning and Achievement,
San Luis Coastal Unified School District, San Luis Obispo, California
Randy Sprick, Author and Director of Safe & Civil Schools,
Eugene, Oregon
Karen Taylor, Learning Services Literary Specialist, Arkansas
Department of Education, Little Rock, Arkansas
Sharon Thomas, Secondary English Teacher, Cecil County Public
Schools, Elkton, Maryland
Sue Woodruff, Educational Consultant, Muskegon, Michigan
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Knight is a research associate at the University

of Kansas Center for Research on Learning and
the president of the Instructional Coaching Group.
He has spent close to two decades studying pro-
fessional learning and instructional coaching. He
has written or co-authored several books on the
topic including Instructional Coaching: A Partner­
ship Approach to Improving Instruction published
by Corwin and Learning Forward (2007) and Unmistakable Impact: A
Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction (2011).
Knight co-authored Coaching Classroom Management (2006) and also
edited Coaching: Approaches and Perspectives (2008).
Knight has authored articles on instructional coaching and profes-
sional learning in publications such as The Journal of Staff Development,
Educational Leadership, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator,
and Kappan.
Frequently asked to lead professional learning, Knight has pre-
sented and consulted in most states and eight countries. Knight also
leads the coaching institutes and the Annual Instructional Coaching
Conference in Lawrence, Kansas.
He has a PhD in education from the University of Kansas and has
won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards.
Knight also hosts Talking About Teaching on the Teaching Channel
and writes the radicallearners.com blog. Contact Knight at jim­
[email protected].

xvii
Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity.
It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.
—Atul Gawande, Better:
A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
 Chapter 1:
Personal
Bests

is about

to achieve because supporting

my full and everyone teachers’
personal
complete can quest for
bests
self (George achieve excellence
Sheehan)

through
implementation
of

Content
planning

Formative
by treating four by building assessment
high-
teachers as pillars of professional
partnership impact
professionals impact growth
instruction
through schools around Instruction

Community
by can be building
by
supporting
achieving
implementation
focus in an
through
Equality
Choice Intensive- Constructivist
Voice impact explicit
instructional
Dialogue school coaching
Reflection
Praxis
Reciprocity

Understanding Goals
Agreement High-impact instruction
Commitment Precise explanations
Modeling deliberate
practice and progress
toward the goal
 1
PERSONAL BESTS

The heroic human journey is to function as you are supposed to

function, to achieve your personal best.
—George Sheehan, Personal Best

O n and off for more than five years, I have referred to myself as a
runner. I’m not very fast, I don’t always stick to a routine, and I
certainly don’t stick to a healthy diet, but most weeks, I end up running.
My greatest running accomplishment is that even though my
times were slow, I have completed three marathons. In fact, my times
were so slow that in 2011 an 80-year-old runner, Ed Whitlock, ran the
Toronto Marathon 1 hour and 40 minutes faster than my fastest time.
That is, I’m almost two hours slower than someone who is 23 years
older than me. The good news is that my time did beat Fauja Singh,
a 100-year-old who also ran that Toronto marathon.
So, I’m not that fast and I am rounder than your usual runner, but
I keep lacing up my shoes and going out on the road. Actually, I do
more than that. I’ve had a personal coach help me develop some basic
routines for my running. I’ve attended a running retreat at Furman
University to learn more about my diet and cross training and the
difference between speed, tempo, and long runs. I’ve tried diets, read
numerous books, and run on trails, in the mountains, beside three
different oceans, and down the country road behind our cabin.
The one question people ask me most about my running is one
I struggle to answer. Why? Why do I keep running, trying to set a

1
2 HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

personal record at 57, to maybe, just maybe, someday qualify for

Boston. I’ve finally come to believe the answer is simple: I just want
to get better. Indeed, I believe all of us feel a need to be doing just
that—get better. We’re wired to do that.
I began thinking about our universal need to get better after read-
ing George Sheehan, the poet laureate for runners around the world.
Sheehan, the author of Personal Best (1989), writes convincingly and
beautifully that running is much more than a simple form of exercise.
Running is a way to achieve a happier, more authentic, fully realized
life. For Sheehan, running is a way to achieve a “personal best”:

My end is not simple happiness. My need, drive, and desire is

to achieve my full and complete self. If I do what I have come
to do, if I create the life I was made for, then happiness will
follow. (p. 21)

Sheehan’s thoughts, of course, are not just about running; they

apply to any discipline. Indeed, the research being conducted by
Richard Ryan and Edward Deci (2000) into self-development theory
confirms Sheehan’s beliefs that we are all wired to strive for personal
bests. Meaning and happiness, these researchers are finding, arise
from the struggle to improve, no matter what we do. Sheehan could
be summarizing Deci’s research when he writes that the struggle for
excellence motivating a dedicated runner is also at the heart of a
dedicated writer:

“I am writing the best I can,” said the author of some bestsell-

ing popular novels. “If I could write any better I would. This
is the peak of my powers.” It matters little that she cannot
write any better. It matters, more than life, that she is doing it
with all her might. (p. 22)

This quest for excellence that Sheehan and Deci describe is also
alive in the hearts of great teachers. When teachers strive with all
their might, their quest is to do all they can so their students can expe-
rience as much growth, joy, power, and learning as possible. This
quest is no small thing. “It matters more than life,” to borrow
Sheehan’s phrase, that teachers embrace the challenge to achieve a
personal best every day, in every class, for every student.
The rewards of challenging ourselves are enormous. When we
pursue excellence, we gain a deeper understanding of our purpose, a
fuller knowledge of the contribution we make, and the satisfaction
that comes from doing work that makes us proud. When teachers
 PERSONAL BESTS 3

strive to be the best they can be, they have a more positive impact on
the lives of children, and their actions encourage their students to
start their own journey—to strive for their own personal bests.
This book is a toolkit for teachers who know that “it matters more Michael
than life” to strive for personal bests. Covarrubias
talks about why
he teaches.
Support for Personal Growth
If teachers desire to be excellent, then why, some might ask, does it
seem some are no longer interested in that quest? Why aren’t more
teachers excited about their opportunities to learn? Video 1.1
www.corwin.com/
One reason why many teachers are not striving to be their best is highimpactinstruction
that poorly designed professional learning can actually inhibit
growth by de-professionalizing teachers, treating them like workers
on an assembly line rather than professionals doing emotionally com-
plicated knowledge work (Knight, 2011). If we are to get the schools
our children deserve, we need to start by treating teachers as profes-
sionals. Fortunately, there is much we can do to recognize teachers as
the professionals that they are.

The Four Pillars of Impact Schools

In my previous writing, I describe a type of school in which all profes-
sional development has an unmistakable impact on teaching excellence
and student learning—an impact school. In such a school, everything
is structured so that teachers can do the important work of striving for
personal bests so that students can strive for their own personal bests.
Four factors make it possible for a school to become an impact
school. First, professional learning must embody respect for the pro-
fessionalism of teachers, by involving teachers as true partners in
their professional learning. Second, professional learning should pro-
vide a clear focus for sustained growth, and teachers should be col-
laborators in writing their school improvement plan to ensure that
everyone (a) understands, (b) agrees with, and (c) is committed to the
improvement plan. Third, teachers should have sufficient support to
help with implementation of new practices, often provided by
instructional coaches. Finally, instructional coaches, principals, edu-
cational leaders, and teachers need to have a deep knowledge of high-
impact instructional strategies that have a significant, positive impact
on students’ behavior, attitudes, engagement, and learning.
This book describes those high-impact instructional strategies.
However, the other factors, which are described in detail in my two
4 HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION

previous books, Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to

Improving Instruction (2007) and Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership
Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction (2011), also need to be
taken into account if high-impact instructional strategies are to be
implemented. In total, the three books provide a step-by-step guide
educational leaders can use to dramatically improve the lives of the
children (and adults) in their schools by dramatically improving
instruction. The four pillars are as follows.

PILLAR 1: SEEING TEACHERS AS PROFESSIONALS

I’ve had the pleasure of working with educators in most U.S.
states and Canadian provinces, and in other countries around the
world. What I’ve observed wherever I visit is that when teachers truly
feel respected, when their ideas and experiences are valued, they
engage in meaningful, supportive conversations that lead to substan-
tial improvements in teaching. For example, my colleagues and I at
the Kansas Coaching Project at the University of Kansas Center for
Research on Learning have watched more than 300 hours of video
recordings of coaches and teachers collaborating during our study of
instructional coaching in the Beaverton Oregon School District from
2008 to 2011. Again and again, the video shows educators talking
about important and difficult topics and interacting with warmth and
good humor. Together, in video after video, coaches and teachers
engage in what Paulo Freire (1970) refers to as “mutually humanizing”
conversations.
One reason why these conversations are productive and positive
is that the coaches position themselves as equals with teachers.
Michelle Harris, an instructional coach in the Beaverton coaching
study, described how important she thought it was to see teachers as
equals in the coaching process. For Michelle,

The partnership approach is EVERYTHING in coaching. It

wasn’t until I knew those principles, believed in them, and
began living them, that I actually felt like I was getting some-
where in my role as a coach. I had to believe that we were
equals and that I could always learn something from my per-
son in order to become an effective coach. (personal corre-
spondence, August 17, 2012)

The partnership approach Michelle refers to is the theoretical

foundation for the approaches to professional learning described in
Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
 “Yes?”
“Well, it’s like this—​by the way, what’s your name?”
“Hopford—​Harry Hopford.”
“Come and sit down, Hopford—​here, have a cigar. Now then, I am
in a position to be able to do you a good turn now and again, in other
words, to benefit you pecuniarily, if in return you will do as I suggest
and at the same time keep absolutely silent about it. Don’t think I am
going to ask you to do anything terrible. I am not,” and he smiled.
“I dare say it could be managed,” Hopford answered dreamily, as
he began to enjoy the cigar. “Hadn’t you better tell me exactly what it
is you want me to do, then I shall be able to give you a
straightforward answer at once. Anything you may tell me I shall, of
course, consider confidential.”
“That’s the spirit; that’s the way I like to hear a young fellow talk.
Well now, listen.”
Stapleton glanced towards the door to see that it was shut, then
continued:
“There are several things you may be able to do for me from time
to time, and the first is this. I am practically certain I know who took
the diamonds and the notes, and the rest of the stuff stolen that
night, and though naturally I don’t intend to mention the lady’s name,
I can hint at it. I believe the thief—​yes, thief—​to be a young widow
whose husband died in tragic circumstances nine or ten months ago
—​he was found dead in his bath one morning; possibly you recollect
the affair.”
“I ought to, seeing that I was sent to the house the same day to
obtain particulars of the tragedy. The house is not far from Portland
Place—​am I right?”
“Quite.”
“So the widow was among Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson’s guests at
supper that night?”
 “She was not. She was not even invited. Yet I have a good reason
for supposing she was admitted, though the hostess never saw her.”
“Would that have been possible?”
“Certainly. There was a great crush. At one time during the night
one could hardly force one’s way through it, and it was then the
widow was admitted, the footman believing her to be an invited
guest.”
“Could you get me an interview with the footman?”
“Quite impossible, my dear fellow. Besides, it may not have been
the footman who admitted her. That was merely my conjecture. It
may have been one of the other servants.”
“The butler, for instance.”
“No, not the butler.”
“And you are sure that she was there? You saw her?”
“No, no; don’t jump at conclusions. I didn’t see her—​myself.”
“Then who did?”
“That I must not tell you. It would be unwise.”
“I have promised to respect your confidence.”
“Quite so, or I should not have told you what I have. But names,
you know, are sacred things. If I mentioned names it would be
impossible for me afterwards to swear I had not done so, should an
occasion for taking the oath, by some unforeseen chance, arise.”
“I see your point. Well, can you, without committing yourself, hint
to me the reason you believe the lady, whose identity you have
practically revealed to me, ransacked Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson’s
safe? Was it, should you say, for the intrinsic value of the things
stolen, or was there some deeper reason?”
“Such as?”
“Documents, compromising letters, anything of that sort?”
 “I am afraid I must not answer that either. You see, one has to be
so careful. My idea in telling you as much as I have is that you
should, without, of course, making any definite statement, hint in
your paper that the crime was committed by a young widow well
known in Society; you might go so far as to say the widow lost her
husband in tragic circumstances comparatively recently, and you
might also work in some fancy padding of your own. You could add
that you had obtained your information from a trustworthy source.”
“Meaning you.”
“Of course. Who else?”
“And what terms do you propose?”
“That I must leave to you to suggest.”
“I would sooner the offer came from you, Mr. Stapleton.”
Stapleton hesitated a moment, then:
“Would a ten-pound note about meet the case? You see, you
score by getting what I believe you call a ‘scoop’ for your paper.”
“And run the risk of being fired if the lady hinted at should think fit
to bring an action against my paper. Oh, no, Mr. Stapleton, I am not
out to take sporting chances for the sake of pocketing a tenner. If
you had said eighty or a hundred pounds I might—​I say might—​have
felt tempted to take a chance, but a tenner—​—”
He rose, preparatory to leaving.
“Wait a minute, Hopford, wait a minute,” Stapleton exclaimed,
trying to conceal his eagerness as he laid a hand on the lad’s
shoulder to detain him. “I asked you to name a sum, remember—​I
have no idea what terms are usual in such cases. Sit down again
and I may, after all, be able to meet your wishes.”
With assumed reluctance the reporter sank back into the chair
from which he had just risen, and for another ten minutes he and
Stapleton continued to converse. And when, finally, the former left
the house, he carried in his breast-pocket five new ten-pound notes,
and chuckled as he thought of Stapleton’s promise to hand him five
more notes on the publication of the scoop.
 CHAPTER X.

A PARAGRAPH FOR THE PAPERS.

“Fifty pounds easily earned,” Hopford murmured as he strolled
along Maida Vale, looking about him for a taxi. “I thought all along
that fellow was hot stuff, in spite of the way the papers cocker him
up. And so he wants people to think Mrs. Hartsilver committed, or at
any rate had a hand in, that theft? What a blackguard! Now, I wonder
why he owes her a grudge? Yes, he must owe her a grudge, and a
pretty bad one, or he would never go so far as that.”
Quickly his train of thought ran on. There was not an empty taxi in
sight, so he decided to walk part of the way. One thought led to
another. Solutions to the problem which puzzled him suggested
themselves, only to be dismissed one after another as improbable.
Then suddenly an idea occurred to him. Could there be another
woman in the case? Some woman who was jealous of Mrs.
Hartsilver?
Instantly the name Jessica Robertson rose to his lips. Why, of
course, that must be it! At a loss to suspect any of her guests of
having robbed her safe, she would take the opportunity, if
opportunity occurred, of casting suspicion on the widow who lived in
Park Crescent, and whose beauty and personality rivaled her own.
Stapleton’s partiality for Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson was common talk.
She, no doubt, had hinted her desire to him, and he had happened
to remember it while being interviewed on the subject of the
approaching ball.
So far, so good. A mystery to a newspaper reporter is like red
meat to a tiger. Hopford felt that he had struck a mystery now which
might develop later into a scandal. Then he remembered that at the
Chelsea Flower Show he had met Mrs. Hartsilver. He must become
friendly with her, and then he would play his cards.
He entered his office with a light heart. Those five ten-pound
notes would be most useful, but what gratified him most was the
thought of the news “story” he felt he was on the track of. Not the
“story” Stapleton had hinted at. From the first he had not had the
slightest intention of using that. Even if it possessed a grain of truth,
which he doubted, that was not the sort of stuff he wanted for his
paper, while to set out deliberately to wreck a woman’s good name
on no evidence in return for payment, was not to be countenanced
for a moment.
No, he would never see that second fifty pounds. And, so thinking,
he sighed.
“Hullo, what’s up?” asked a colleague who sat near him. “Got the
hump or something?”
“Oh, shut it!” Hopford snapped. “I’m dog tired.”
“For that matter so am I, but I don’t groan over it,” his neighbor
rapped back. “And yet I well might, after reporting two inquests and a
cremation in one afternoon.”
Hopford laughed.
“Never mind,” he said. “Yesterday you attended two parades of
mannequins, one in swimming suits. You told me so yourself, so you
haven’t much to grumble at.”
For some minutes both went on writing, turning out their “copy” at
a great pace.
“Odd thing this suicide—​what?” Hopford’s friend remarked as he
laid down his fountain pen at last and pinned his sheets of copy
together.
“What suicide?” Hopford inquired, while his pen ran swiftly on.
“You haven’t heard? Everybody is talking about it in the clubs,
though none of the evening papers has the story. I got details at the
Junior Carlton, where I dined to-night. Lord Froissart belongs there.”
 “Froissart! You don’t mean that Lord Froissart has committed
suicide!” Hopford exclaimed, stopping in his work and looking up.
“Why, yes. His body was found at the foot of the cliffs at
Bournemouth about six o’clock this evening. Nobody saw him go
over, apparently, but while I was at the Junior Carlton the man I was
dining with, a friend of Froissart’s, got a telegram from a friend in
Bournemouth saying that an open letter had just been found in the
dead man’s pocket, in which he confessed that he was about to take
his life. My friend says Froissart never really got over the shock of
his daughter’s suicide—​it was suicide in her case, too, of course. He
also said that of late Froissart had been looking terribly ill and
worried. It’s a good story, anyhow, and I think I have more facts than
any other morning paper will get hold of. Lucky I happened to be
dining with a man who knew Froissart intimately—​what?”
Next day the papers were full of the tragedy. Lord Froissart had, it
seemed, left his house in Queen Anne’s Gate about eleven o’clock in
the morning, the time he usually went out. He had called to see his
lawyers, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, shortly before noon, and remained
there about three quarters of an hour. From there he had gone,
apparently on foot, to the Metropolitan Secret Agency, “the house
with the bronze face,” and after interviewing Mr. Alix Stothert, head of
that concern, had lunched alone at Frascati’s. He had caught the
three thirty-seven train to Bournemouth, and after that nothing more
was known until his body had been found at the foot of the cliffs by
some children, who had at once run home and told their parents,
who, in turn, had notified the police. All this the newspapers had
succeeded in ferreting out before their late editions went to press.
The report written by Hopford contained certain intimate and
exclusive details, however. Lord Froissart had stayed late at the
Junior Carlton the night before, writing one letter after another. A
waiter of whom he had inquired at what times fast trains left for
Bournemouth said he had thought his lordship seemed “excitable
and nervy.” Before leaving the club, he added, deceased had
pressed a five pound note into his hand, greatly to his surprise, for
he had never before known Lord Froissart to infringe the club rules.
 In addition this report stated that the writer knew for a fact that
Lord Froissart had on several occasions recently spoken about
suicide, a subject in which he appeared suddenly to evince a deep
interest. Further, he had asked a friend of the writer’s, two days
previously, if he had any idea what height the highest cliffs at
Bournemouth were, and if he had ever heard of any one committing
suicide by jumping off them. A sealed letter found on the body was
addressed in deceased’s handwriting to his elder and only surviving
child, the Honorable Mrs. Ferdinand-Westrup, then living in Ceylon
with her husband, who was a tea planter. No motive could be
assigned for Lord Froissart’s having taken his life, though the shock
of his daughter’s death the year before might have unhinged his
mind.
Some days later the usual verdict was returned—​“Suicide whilst
temporarily insane,” and within a fortnight the tragedy had been
virtually forgotten.
By all except one or two people. Captain Charles Preston
remembered it; so did Cora Hartsilver, and so did Yootha Hagerston.
And the reason they remembered it was this.
Lord Froissart died quite a rich man. His sole heir ought by rights
to have been his daughter, Mrs. Ferdinand-Westrup. Instead, the
bulk of his fortune and property were left to an individual of whom
nobody, apparently, had ever heard—​a Mrs. Timothy Macmahon,
described as the widow of Timothy Macmahon of Cashel, Co.
Tipperary, and the will, which was not yet proved, had been executed
on the morning of the very day of the tragedy, at the offices of
Messrs. Eton, West and Shrubsole, solicitors, of Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Now those solicitors, as Preston happened to have heard from his
servant, whose brother was a clerk in Eton, West and Shrubsole’s
office, were solicitors also to Jessica Mervyn-Robertson. A
coincidence, perhaps, as Preston said to Cora Hartsilver a day or
two after Froissart’s death, yet in his opinion a curious coincidence.
And when, ten days later, Hopford succeeded in obtaining an
interview with Cora Hartsilver, and told her of his interview with
Aloysius Stapleton, and what Stapleton had tried to induce him to
hint at in the newspaper—​feeling it his duty to tell her, he had no
hesitation in breaking faith with Stapleton—​events in the life of
Aloysius Stapleton began to look peculiar.
But still Stapleton and his intimate friends, Archie La Planta and
Jessica Mervyn-Robertson, were to be met everywhere. Still their
movements were chronicled almost daily in the social columns of the
London press, while their portraits appeared frequently in the weekly
periodicals.
But perhaps nowhere was Jessica so much noticed as at Ascot.
The daily and the weekly papers had apparently laid themselves out
to give her as much publicity there as possible. She was seen in her
car arriving on the course, accompanied by half a dozen friends,
among them of course Stapleton and La Planta. She was seen
walking on the course; she was seen in the paddock congratulating
the owner of the winner of the Gold Cup; she was seen smiling at a
duchess and shaking hands with a peer; she was seen conversing
with a foreign premier.
Then the fashion papers “featured” her costumes—​the gown she
wore on the first day of the meeting, on the second day, and so on;
the gowns she wore on different nights at the opera; the gowns she
wore at Hurlingham, at Ranelagh, at the Military Tournament at
Olympia, at the Richmond Show, on her houseboat above Henley
until at last even her friends began seriously to ask one another who
this woman was who, coming from nowhere, and unknown, had thus
conquered London Society by her charm, her personality, and her
beauty, but most of all, perhaps, by her lavish display and her
extravagance.
And naturally people who were not her friends, women more
especially, whispered. Others, when her name was mentioned,
would smile significantly; smiles which did more harm than the
whispers. For though nothing could be openly said against her, yet
her would-be detractors were glad to insinuate evil.
That friend of hers, for instance, Aloysius Stapleton, why was he
always at her heels? There might, of course, be no harm in the
relationship; but on the other hand there might be harm, and as there
might be there probably was. That was the attitude many adopted
towards her who nevertheless accepted her hospitality and were
glad to be invited to her receptions—​receptions which certainly were
the talk of all the town. Yet, curiously enough, she had refused to act
as hostess at the great ball to take place at the Albert Hall; more,
she had declined to be included among the society hostesses who
would receive the three thousand or more guests that night.
Why was that?
It was Hopford who asked the question, and he put it to Captain
Preston. In short, while the social world of London for the most part
worshiped at the shrine of the mysterious Jessica Mervyn-
Robertson, Captain Preston, Hopford, Cora Hartsilver, Yootha
Hagerston and George Blenkiron were banding themselves together
—​a little group of skeptics determined to find out who Jessica
actually was, and who her friends were.
Perhaps had they known the sensation the approaching great ball
at the Albert Hall held in store for them they would have hesitated
before meddling with the affairs of Jessica Mervyn-Robertson, the
idol of London Society.
 CHAPTER XI.

HUSH MONEY!
You would think, judging by the newspapers, that the great balls
which take place periodically in London at the Albert Hall and
elsewhere presented scenes of wild delight approaching revelry.
Many, in reality, are deadly dull affairs, and respectable beyond
words, while others are so crowded that dancing becomes an
impossibility. Of course there are always people who like to be “seen
everywhere” in order to give their friends the impression that they are
“in the swim” of London life, fashionable and otherwise. Such folk
you will usually find to be poseurs of a peculiarly unintelligent type,
the sort of men and women who are never natural, never
“themselves” as it is called, and who act and talk always to impress
those who may see or hear them.
Among the three thousand or more men and women who had
bought tickets for the great ball organized and ostensibly to be given
by Aloysius Stapleton and young Archie La Planta, were hundreds of
people of that type, the class of individual who, before the war, loved
to squander money and still more to let folk see how recklessly they
squandered it. Stapleton, who knew his world, had purposely
advertised his ball with a view to what he called “roping in” these
people by making a great to do regarding the many well-known
social representatives who would be present, in addition to theatrical
stars and other more or less Bohemian folk.
What he went nap on, however, were the social representatives.
Like most people who move about he had noticed that since the war
the glamor which in pre-war days enveloped well-advertised stage
folk had faded considerably, and that, owing possibly to the sudden
rise to affluence of profiteers and their wives and other beings of
common origin and snobbishly inclined, men and women of birth and
breeding and real distinction now held the limelight almost entirely.
“I think I can say without conceit that it will be the most talked of
event of its sort, not only of the present season, but of any season
for years past,” he observed complacently to Jessica, some days
before the great night, “and I will admit that for that I am largely
indebted to you, Jessica. By the way, I wish you would tell me what
your dress is to be.”
“Why waste time trying to make me tell you what I have already
told you I am not going to tell you?” Jessica asked, as she lay back
in a great soft fauteuil and blew a cloud of smoke into the middle of
the room. “You will see enough of it on the night, I can assure you.
Our supper party ought to be a great success,” she added, changing
the subject.
The telephone on the escritoire rang, and she went over to
answer it.
“It is the Metropolitan Secret Agency,” she said a moment later.
“They want to speak to you.”
Stapleton picked up the receiver, and as he did so the door
opened and a middle-aged little man with a semitic cast of
countenance was shown in.
It was the Hebrew, Levi Schomberg, who, Stapleton had told La
Planta some weeks before, “lent money to his friends.” He had told
him at the same time that Schomberg had warned him against
“Hartsilver’s widow” on the ground that she was a designing woman.
Stapleton had difficulty in concealing his annoyance at Levi’s
arrival just as he was on the point of conversing with the house with
the bronze face, and after replying to one or two questions which the
Agency put to him he hung up the receiver and went across to
Schomberg, with whom he shook hands.
“I need an extension to this house badly,” he said pointedly to
Jessica. “You might remind me to-morrow to see about it.”
 But Levi did not, or pretended that he did not note the point of that
observation.
“And to what do I owe the honor of this visit?” Stapleton asked as
he pushed an arm-chair towards Schomberg. “Is it business this
time, or pleasure? And why have you come here instead of to my
flat?”
“Some of each, and a little of both,” the little man answered with a
grin. “You guess what I come about, no doubt?”
“Not being mentally incapacitated as yet, I do,” Stapleton
answered, biting his lip. “I think you might have waited until after the
ball on Thursday night,” he added in a tone of annoyance.
“Several thought that when I approached them to-day,” the Jew
said slyly. “But, as I ask them, why after the ball instead of now?
What is the matter with now? Isn’t now good enough?”
“Well, out with it. How much do you want this time?”
“Eight thousand. Only eight thousand—​this time.”
Stapleton glared at him, and had anybody caught sight of Jessica
at that moment he would have had difficulty in believing her to be the
same woman, so distorted with fury had her face become.
“Eight thousand!” Stapleton exclaimed. “It’s preposterous—​I
haven’t the money.”
Levi Schomberg made a little click with his tongue, which might
have meant anything.
“I am sorry to hear that, Louie,” he said carelessly. “Is it not
strange that though you appear always to have unlimited cash to
fling about, yet whenever I call to see you the cupboard is bare? Still,
I need that sum, and you know that what I need I always end by
getting, even if in order to get it I am forced to tighten the screw.
Come now, when can you hand it to me? Shall we say to-morrow at
twelve, at the same place as before?”
Stapleton had begun to pace the floor. Jessica, her fingers
twitching nervously, watched him with an evil expression. It was easy
to see that for some reason the man and the woman, usually so self-
possessed, were in their visitor’s power.
Thus a minute or two passed. Then, all at once, Stapleton came
to a halt and, turning sharply, faced Levi Schomberg.
“If I give you that sum, say on Friday—​to-day is Tuesday—​will you
undertake, in writing, to stop this persecution?”
“In writing? Oh, no. Besides, I could not, in any case, promise to
stop what you are pleased to call ‘this persecution,’ for where else
should I go for the money? My demands are not exorbitant, Louie,
judged by the length of your purse. Were you less rich, my requests
would be moderated in proportion to your income. That, as I think
you know, is my invariable rule. I find out exactly what my ‘client’s’
income is from all sources, and I regulate my tariff accordingly. That
is only fair and just. May I take it then that on—​Friday—​—”
“Get out of my sight!”
“No, don’t say that, don’t employ that tone,” the little Jew went on,
in no way disconcerted. “I have news to give you—​good news,
Louie, think of that!”
He crossed his legs, and lay back in his chair. Then, thrusting his
hands deep into his trousers pockets, he said:
“Louie—​and Jessica,” glancing at each in turn, “you will be happy
to hear that though secret inquiries are being made about you on all
sides, nothing, as the newspapers say, ‘has as yet transpired.’”
“Who has been making inquiries?” Jessica asked quickly.
“Why, who but the lady to whom you are so devoted—​Cora
Hartsilver, also her shadow, Yootha Hagerston, also a Captain
Preston, also a young journalist named Hopford, and lastly a friend
of the lot, whose name is Blenkiron. Those five have set themselves
the task of discovering all about both of you, and about Archie, and I
should not be surprised if presently they hit upon the right trail. If
they don’t hit it they won’t fail for want of trying, and if by some
mishap the douceur I have mentioned should go astray on Friday—​
—”
 “Good heavens, Levi, you wouldn’t do that—​you couldn’t!”
Jessica had sprung to her feet and, abandoning her habitual
calm, seemed beside herself.
“Naturally I wouldn’t do it, though I disagree with you that I
couldn’t, Jessica,” the little man said in his even tones, partly closing
his eyelids as though to get her profile in better perspective.
Jessica looked relieved.
“Always supposing,” he went on, “you keep your part of the
bargain.”
“Bargain!” Stapleton exclaimed. “I never made a bargain. You
wanted me to, but I refused—​we both refused. You can’t have
forgotten that!”
“I forget everything I don’t wish to remember,” Levi replied, his
eyes now only slits. “Jessica, you look very beautiful to-day—​more
beautiful than you have ever looked, or than I have ever seen you
look. I am not surprised that London raves about you.”
He rose before she could reply, and extended his hand, which she
took reluctantly. He held it a moment longer than the occasion
seemed to warrant, then dropped it.
“On Friday, then,” he said, addressing Stapleton. “On Thursday
night we may not meet, you will both be so very busy, or should I say
so much in demand? Unless of course you invite me to join your
party. So good-by for the moment.”
Stapleton did not go down to see him out, nor did he ring for the
servant. Instead, he shut the door directly the little man had left the
room.
The front door slammed, and still the two sat in silence. At last
Jessica said in a metallic voice:
“What are we to do, Aloysius?”
“There is nothing to be done,” he answered. “We must go on
paying, and paying, until—​—”
 “Until what?”
Suddenly his expression changed. Then, after a pause, he said:
“Supposing Levi were to die unexpectedly; how convenient it
would be, Jessica.”
Their eyes met, and he knew that the same thought had just
occurred to Jessica.
“People die suddenly of all sort of common complaints,” he went
on. “Heart failure, apoplexy, stoppage of the heart’s action, natural
causes—​—Supposing he died of a natural cause,” he added in an
undertone.
“Supposing! Well, it would mean one Hebrew less in the world.”
“And many thousands of pounds left in our pockets which, under
existing conditions, will have to come out of them.”
“It is worth considering.”
“Certainly.”
“As long as he remains alive, remember, we shall be subjected to
repetitions of the sort of visit he has just paid us.”
And, while they talked, Levi Schomberg, threading his way along
the crowded pavement of Oxford Street, had but one thought in his
mind.
Jessica.
He had always admired her, but now she had completely
bewitched him. Surely—​surely with the woman in his power, and with
Stapleton, too, in his power, anything and everything should be
possible? But how set about it? What would be his best and most
direct mode of attack?
Another thought came to him. Where was Mervyn-Robertson? He
knew the fellow was not dead, but what had become of him, and in
what corner of the world was he at that moment? If only he could find
out, Robertson himself might be employed in some capacity to
achieve his end. When he had last heard of Robertson, some years
before, the man had been in dire straits, and when a man of his type
and way of living came to be in dire straits, he reflected, he generally
remained in that state until the end of the chapter.
Then there was Mrs. Hartsilver. Hating Jessica, and striving all
she knew to find out all about her, she might serve sooner or later as
a useful lever. When two women, both beautiful, and both moving in
the same social circle, come to entertain a bitter enmity for each
other, anything may happen, or be made to happen, he reflected.
And Jessica had other enemies as well among “the people who
count,” he remembered. Yes, with the aid of a little tact, a little
ingenuity—​—
People passing glanced at him in astonishment, wondering why
he smiled.
He wandered into the Park at Marble Arch, for it was a beautiful
afternoon and the sight of the trees in full foliage always appealed to
his artistic eye. Scores of cars containing people obviously of leisure
kept rolling past, and as he watched them his imagination wove
romances round some of the occupants of the cars. Among the
faces many were familiar to him; he recognized two of his clients.
A self-satisfied smile parted his lips.
“Who would think, to look at them,” he said aloud, “they would not
have a shilling in the world if I chose to foreclose? Yet there are folk
who no doubt envy them, and tradesmen who would not hesitate to
give them credit—​big credit—​unlimited credit. Fools, oh, what fools
there are! Was it not Thackeray who wrote that ‘long customs, a
manly appearance, faultless boots and clothes and a happy
fierceness of manner’ would often help a man as much as a great
balance at his bankers?”
“How true!” he went on murmuring to himself. “Here in London a
man or a woman need only dress in the height of fashion in clothes
they never pay for, and hire a big car and pretend they own it, and be
seen in good society, and the world bows down before them and
craves to do them homage. Look at Stapleton and that young ass
Archie La Planta, and a dozen others—​to say nothing of Jessica.”
“Ah, Jessica!”
 CHAPTER XII.

YOOTHA’S PRESENTIMENT.
Meanwhile Yootha Hagerston was secretly becoming more and
more enamored of Captain Preston. It was the first time in her life
she had ever really cared for any man; until now she had followed
the fashion prevalent among many women of pretending to consider
love and deep affection “all nonsense” and the hall-mark of a weak
intelligence. She had come to know his movements and had
discovered some of his haunts, with the result that she rarely missed
an opportunity of meeting him “by chance.”
And, though he would not have admitted it, even to himself,
Preston had for some weeks past been singularly attracted by
Yootha. He had liked her that day he had met her for the first time, at
lunch at the Ritz and afterwards at Jessica’s musical At Home,
though the woman who had most interested him then had been
Yootha’s friend, Cora Hartsilver. But now it was different. There was
something about the girl, apart from her looks, which appealed to
him. What it was he could not have explained. It might have been
her sympathetic nature, or her personality, or her temperament; in
any case he felt strangely drawn towards her every time they met.
On the lovely July afternoon Levi Schomberg had called to see
Jessica and Stapleton, and had afterwards wandered into the Park,
Yootha was on the river with Preston. A friend of his whose home
was at Pangbourne had, he had told her, on being suddenly ordered
abroad, told him he could, during his absence, make use of his punt
if ever he felt inclined to; though Preston had himself just rented a
house-boat which was moored close to Maidenhead. Until now he
had not felt inclined; punting alone is a dull form of amusement, and
Preston had comparatively few friends in London. Then one day,
while thinking of Yootha, the idea had occurred to him that she might
like a river picnic from time to time, and he had hinted as much to
her; Pangbourne was more solitary than Maidenhead he reflected.
They were in a narrow estuary—​it was not a backwater—​with the
punt moored to a tree, and for some moments neither had spoken.
No sound, save of birds singing in the woods around, broke the
almost perfect stillness. The air was sultry, as though thunder were
in the air.
“How fortunate I should have accepted La Planta’s invitation to
lunch at the Ritz that day last August,” Preston said suddenly. “I did
not want to lunch with him, I remember, but now I am glad I did.”
“Why are you glad?” she asked, looking across at him. She was
lying in the stern, propped up with cushions, and made a pretty
picture in her big hat and the becoming boating frock which revealed
her figure.
He gazed at her without answering. Then, as if to conceal his
embarrassment, he began to light his briar.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he replied awkwardly, tossing the match into
the water. “That was the first time I met you, if you remember.”
If she remembered! Could she ever forget? That was the thought
which flashed into her brain, but she did not utter it. Instead, she said
carelessly:
“So it was. And the first time you met Jessica, too, wasn’t it?”
He made an impatient movement.
“Please don’t remind me of that. Every time I think of that woman I
feel positively vicious.”
“I thought that day,” Yootha continued, after a pause, “that you
had eyes for nobody but Cora. You do like Cora, don’t you?”
“Of course I like her, though not, perhaps, as much as you like
her. Nobody could help liking her—​nobody who counts.”
“I am glad you say that. In my opinion she is the one woman in
the world. I simply worship her, and always have. She is so true, so
absolutely free from insincerity. You never met her husband, I think?”