The Art of Coaching

Coaching with A Vision

Sabrina Boron/ Cenethia Geter / Shani Roundtree

​The Art of Coaching

​ SEL

Activity​

Chapter 1

What is Coaching

Chapter 1

What is your coaching stance?

“Most coaches are just teachers that have done great things in their classroom, how does that translate over to effective coaching?”

Coaching is a form of professional development

• Brings out the best in people

• Uncovers strengths and skills

• Builds effective teams

• Cultivates compassion

• Builds emotionally resilient educators

Annenberg's Research on Coaching

• Which parts of the research are compelling to you?

• In 2004, the Anneberg Foundation for Education concluded with a few findings about coaching:

• Effective coaching encourages collaboration and reflective practice

• Effective coaching that is embedded in professional learning promotes positive cultural change

• Effective coaching programs respond to particular needs suggested by data, allowing school wide improvement efforts

• Effective coaching promotes the implementation of learning and reciprocal accountability

• Effective coaching distributes leadership and keeps the focus on learning and teaching

  coaching video

Necessary Conditions for Coaching

Agree or Disagree? What did the author miss in her assessment?

According to the author, there are two components that are necessary for empowering coaches to be effective in their positions:

1. Coach’s Readiness - must have at least 5 years experience as an effective teacher. Classroom experience develops empathy and understanding that admin and teachers need in a coach. A dynamic teacher may not always translate into an effective coach without some additional training. But because of that coach’s foundational knowledge base, many of the additional skills about coaching can be learned. 

2. School Site’s Readiness - there are definitely conditions when a highly-skilled coach fails to produce any change at a school site. This doesn’t always mean that the coach is ineffective, it may be a reflection of their school site and their willingness to change and accept change. In order for any school to be primed and ready for a coach, their must be effective leadership in place.

Page 12,13. Interview questions

Speaking of Race???

​The office

Culturally responsive coaches

Part of being an effective coach is to understand the culture and school community of a school site. So, we have to talk about race and gender and all of those uncomfortable topics that are dividing our world, our country. The author gives 3 truths about this topic:1. This isn’t going to be easy 2. There is no “right way” to have these conversations. 3. We have to do it anyway.

Brain Break

Scenario 1

​​Teacher #1 is a first-year teacher struggling with the workload and the emotional strain of teaching. Teacher #1 is new to the community that they’re teaching in. The teacher feels like because they are so new they and because they are struggling that they are under-serving of their students. Which is causing teacher #1 to question whether they should be a teacher. They have wanted to be a teacher for a long time—and although they knew it would be hard, they didn’t think it would be this hard. Teacher #1 is dealing with many common challenges—prioritizing, keeping track of assessments, report cards, other deadlines and administrative work, occasionally managing the classroom, keeping your classroom organized, and so on. They’re also not seeing the results that they want to be seeing from students—it seems like they aren’t learning as fast as the teacher hoped and the teacher is not sure why. Sometimes when teacher #1 talks to their coach their conversations go all over the place—from worrying about whether they are doing right the kids to complaining about the colleagues who talk poorly about kids. When the teacher is asked what they want to work on in coaching, they sometimes suggest things like Project Based Learning, Socratic Seminars, or other things that teacher #1 has heard about and feels like it should be offered to their students. Overall, teacher #1 trusts their coach and have a good relationship with her. This teacher was assigned to a coach because they are a first year teacher.

Scenario 2

​​Teacher #2 has been teaching elementary school for 17 years and you have a somewhat traditional, but high functioning classroom. You still give spelling tests on Fridays, you do a lot of textbook based reading and teaching, and you are suspicious of all of these new strategies that teachers are using. Students are compliant, you don’t deal with behavior issues, and enough students pass your class (although that’s also because of how you grade--which isn’t based on mastery of standards). Sometimes you feel like you should know what others are talking about when they reference things like “sheltered instruction” or “AVID strategies” and you feel embarrassed that you don’t. You are masking a number of knowledge and skill gaps in your practice. The student population in your district has shifted in the last decade and there are small groups of EL students now. You don’t feel like you need or want coaching. It was assigned to you because everyone in the school gets coaching at some point during the year. You’re very friendly to your coach, but you don’t implement the things you two talk about. You’re not really interested in reflecting on your own practice. You feel uncomfortable with having the coach observe you. Your strengths are that you have deep knowledge of the community, you have a lot of relationships with students and parents, and you have persevered through many changes in the district. You’re still there. That counts. You’re also organized and have developed many strong, basic routines. You could mentor new teachers—but no one has ever asked you to.

Scenario 3

Teacher #3 has been teaching for 3 years in a community that is different (racially & socioeconomically) from the one that they were raised in. They describe themselves as having high expectations for kids. They set big goals for student growth and share those goals with the class. Teacher #3 has an organized classroom, instruction is very structured and routine, and they have developed strong routines for assessment. Teacher #3 is definitely the one doing the heavy cognitive lifting in this class—although they purport to value rigor. The tasks that students are given are low on Blooms and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. There’s a lot of memorization (Example: “Students just have to memorize the multiplication tables!”) The content that they explore is also often low in relevance to students and as a result, there’s often low student engagement. There may be compliance, but not engagement. A coach was assigned to work with Teacher #3 on incorporating strategies to support English Learners. The coach and teacher #3  meet every other week. Frequently when talking with the coach, teacher #3 will use the phrase “these kids” coupled with some kind of deficit reference. For example, when the coach suggested that teacher #3 incorporate discussion structures, teacher #3 said, “Well, that might work for the kids in Ms. T’s class, but these kids need much more structure. They can’t handle it when I loosen up.” Teacher #3 strengths are that they have classroom is organization, instruction is very structured and routine, and they have developed strong routines for assessment. Teacher #3 also has a value around rigor and high expectations in their classroom. Teacher #3 weaknesses are that they are a bit arrogant—or convinced that what they are doing is right. Teacher #3 feels like they have ALL of the answers and knowledge about what kids need.

Scenario 4

​​Every time Teacher #4 turns around there’s something new—and now it’s coaching, which is supposed to solve every problem in their school. Teacher #4 has been teaching for eight years and has done a good job in spite of constantly changing administrations, two new superintendents, new standards, new assessments, and so on. The latest set of administrators have launched a whole slew of new programs and initiatives—in fact, they announced that your school has 12 “top priority” goals for this school year. Teacher #4 feel like a victim—of unprepared and naïve administrators; of the dysfunctional district; of federal education policy. Teacher #4 feels like they have a lot of experience, they know what their kids need, they know what works—and they feel like their experience and their expertise isn’t listened to. Teacher #4 is not enthusiastic about receiving coaching—it’s not what the school needs (it needs to focus on student behavior). Students are out of control, admin isn’t paying attention to the right things, and teacher #4 has no control over what goes on. They feel powerless and are starting to feel hopeless. Your assigned coach is supposed to work with teachers on integrating technology and supporting English Learners—the district received a grant to fund coaching in these two areas. Teacher #4 feel like this is a waste of time and resources. Teacher #4 strengths are that they’ve stuck through a lot of changes, they innately care about kids—and once…. they really loved teaching.

Scenario 5

​​Teacher #5 is  a mid-career year teacher, and you are having a really hard time. There was a fight in your classroom today, your principal gave you low ratings on your latest observation, your grade level team is constantly bickering with each other, and you just don’t think you can “do this anymore.” You work all the time—you have no social life, you never exercise, you skip lunch—and you never feel like you’re doing enough. You expected your first year or two to be like this, but now, in your (3rd/4th/8th….) year, it just feels impossible. You are seriously thinking about whether you should quit because you also don’t feel like you’re doing much of anything good for kids: “A sub would probably be better for them,” you say. But you also say, “I’m not a quitter.” In your classroom, you are aware that sometimes things are disorganized. You lack some basic routines and procedures, you spend a lot of time at school but aren’t sure what you’re doing with that time—you often don’t plan lessons. You often feel unfocused and scattered. Your strengths are that you are really passionate about teaching, you care deeply about kids, and you devote a lot of time to teaching. Your heart is in the right place and you truly want to be a teacher.

What makes coaching a potentially powerful way of learning?

Coaching has proliferated because it is responsive to what we know about the requirements that an adult needs in order to “adult” everyday. Coaching at its essence is a nurturing structure and supporting structure. But the essence of coaching also requires a subtle push for change. It is not the panacea of the educational world/realm. It is a multi-layered approach that is necessary to transform schools. Coaching grants space for emotions but it doesn’t linger in personal feelings for too long. It demands that address our feelings and we must eventually move on. Coaching encourages us to explore our core values, beliefs, and ways of being. Who are you?? It is an essential combination of safety, support, encouragement, and forward movement that makes coaching feel so satisfying, that allows us to make changes in what we do, and even to transform who we are.

Chapter 2

What is Coaching

Reflection

Think about any coaching you have done or received

What memories first come to mind about what the coaching entailed?

What did it focus on?

What type of questions were you asked or did you ask?

What was the relationship with your coach like?

How safe or comfortable did you feel?

Can you recall how coaching was defined? What was the definition of coaching? Who defined it? How was the definition shared? What did it mean for the work that you did?

Different Coaching Models

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

• Transformational Coaching

Directive Coaching

• Also called instructive coaching

• Focuses on changing the client’s (coachee’s) behavior

• The coach is the expert

• The coach

  • Provides resources

  • Makes suggestions

  • Models lessons

  • Teach someone how to do something

• It should be noted that this style of coaching alone is less likely to result in long-term change of practice 

Subject | Suject

​Facilitative Coaching

• Supports clients to learn new ways of thinking and being through reflection, analysis, observation,  and experimentation- THIS AWARENESS INFLUENCES THEIR BEHAVIORS

• Coach DOES NOT share expert knowledge

• Coach builds on the client's existing skills, knowledge and beliefs and helps the client to construct new skills, knowledge, and beliefs that will form the basis for future actions

Discussion Time

What kind of coaching—facilitative or directive—is most comfortable for you to do? If you’ve been coached, what kind of coaching (facilitative or directive) did you receive? How did you feel about that kind of coaching? How did it work for you?

Discussion Time

What might be challenging for you about delivering facilitative coaching?

Discussion Time

What might be challenging for you about delivering directive coaching?

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​Cognitive Coaching

• Focuses on changing the way we think, in order to change the way we behave

• Coaches encourage reflective practices and guides clients to self-directed learning

• This model is a foundation for facilitative coaching

​Ontological Coaching

• Focuses on how our way of being manifests in language, body, and emotions  

• Coaching focuses on our perceptions and attitudes are seen as the underlying driver of behavior and communication

• This model has deeply influenced facilitative coaching

​Transformational Coaching

• Transformational coaching takes a holistic approach to directly and intentionally attend to the coachees behaviors (instructional practices),their beliefs and their ways of being

• Created by Elena Aguilar (the author of the book)

​Transformational Coaching

• Transformational coaching is directed at three domains and tends to affect all 3 areas

  • The individual coachee and his/her behaviors, beliefs, and way of being

  • The institution and systems (department, teams, and schools) in which the client works and the people who work within those systems (students, teachers, and administrators)

  • The broader educational and social systems in which we live

​Transformational Coaching

A transformational coach thinks in terms of systems, helps clients see systems, and directs his/her efforts at the levels of an individual and the systems in which we are embedded— Systems-Thinking Perspective

What is Systems-Thinking Perspective???

• A conceptual framework for seeing interrelationships and patterns of change, rather than isolated events

• It helps identify the structure that underlie complex situations and discern high- and low-leverage change.

• Leverage change: seeing where actions and changes in structures can lead to significant, enduring improvements.

​Transformational Coaching

• With systems-thinking perspective, the transformational coach

  • Carves out time and psychological space for the coachee to explore root causes of concerns

  • Guides coachee towards an awareness of the systems that are interrelated to our problems

  • Seeks high-leverage areas in which to take action 

  • Begins many conversations at many levels of an organization

  • Understands some changes can be implemented immediately; others will take time

Discussion Time

What questions come up for you about transformational coaching?

Vision

• As coaches explore what kind of coaching they practice, it can be helpful to develop a personal vision statement. 

  CONSIDER ​

• Why do you do what you do?

• What's the big picture you're working toward?

Vision

• Elena Aguilar (the author’s) vision:

• I coach to heal and transform the world. I coach teachers and leaders to discover ways of working and being that are joyful and rewarding, that bring communities together, and that result in positive outcomes for children. I coach people to find their own power and to empower others so that we can transform our education systems, our society, and our world.

Author's Suggestions to Coaches

• At the beginning of the year 

  • Present yourself as a coach

  • Share your vision for coaching

  • Share your definition of coaching

  • Share your hope for what coaching might do for the school

• Interview teachers, scholars, parents, staff and administrators to determine the school’s strengths and areas for growth

Author's Suggestions to Coaches

​

• At a staff meeting, demonstrate a coaching session with a willing teacher which allows the teachers to see how you listen, ask questions, and offer support.

• Ask coachees their own learning needs and how they might feel most supported in their learning 

• With the principal, co-construct your role and identify your goal(s) for the school

Multiple Choice

A coach asks a teacher to explain her decision making behind the delivery of a lesson. This is an example of which coaching model

• Transformational Coaching

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

Multiple Choice

A coach suggests that a teacher circulate around the room while students are responding to a discussion prompt. This is an example of which coaching model

• Transformational Coaching

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

Multiple Choice

A coach and teacher are discussing a lesson. The coach asks the teacher “How did it go and how do you know?” This is an example of which coaching model

• Transformational Coaching

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

Multiple Choice

A coach ask a teacher to identify “Who they have become and are becoming in the world physically (body), mentally (language), and emotionally.” This is an example of which coaching model

• Transformational Coaching

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

Multiple Choice

A coach asks a teacher to reflect on their core values and who they aspire to be. This is an example of which coaching model

• Transformational Coaching

• Directive Coaching

• Facilitative Coaching

• Cognitive Coaching

• Ontological Coaching

Chapter 3

What