West Hawaii
Teacher Induction & Mentoring Program

WHAT

The Planning Conversation Guide allows a mentor to support teachers in analyzing or planning a standards-aligned lesson based on knowledge of students and content to meet the needs of every learner. It supports:

• Standards-Based Content: connecting targeted knowledge and skills to students’ prior knowledge

• Teaching Practices: increasing student engagement and access to the content

• Student Actions: encouraging students to extend their thinking and justify ideas by implementing multiple pathways for students to learn and demonstrate learning

• Classroom Interactions: establishing routines, procedures, and norms to create an emotionally and intellectually safe environment that fosters collaboration, risk-taking, and respect for diversity.

WHY

Effective teachers plan effective lessons that shape how and what students learn and also impact students’ attitudes toward learning.  Planning lessons that address both content standards and students’ needs can be difficult for teachers. Supporting teachers to assess and address students’ varied learning strengths and needs is one of the most important responsibilities of a mentor/coach. Collaborative lesson planning conversations help ensure that classroom instruction aligns with content standards and learning objectives and enables students to successfully demonstrate their learning. With this support, teachers gradually learn to incorporate these goals into all planning and teaching.

The Planning Conversation Guide provides the mentor/coach and teacher with an opportunity for professional dialogue focused on:

• Ongoing assessment of what students know and need to learn and promising practices tailored to students/context

• High expectations for teachers and their students and the supports necessary to meet/exceed those expectations

• Professional habits of mind such as being curious, reflective, and persistent. Mentors/coaches model and support a growth mindset through their work with teachers; the same mindsets are critical for student success

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

• Before a formal/informal classroom observation to discuss or analyze the observation lesson

• After a classroom observation or analyzing student work to support analyzing or discussing a follow-up lesson

• Any time a teacher seeks to create or adapt a lesson based on student learning assets and/or priorities or has questions about Optimal Learning Environments, a new or modified instructional initiative (district or school level), or other professional query that can be answered by deeper analysis of curricular and instructional choices

WHAT

Professional educators commit to providing effective instruction and optimal learning conditions for every student. Analyzing Student Learning (ASL) supports the continuous assessment of teaching and learning, which is at the core of that commitment. By analyzing artifacts of student learning, the Analyzing Student Learning process helps teachers better understand the results of standards-based instruction.

Mentors/coaches use the process to support teachers to:

• Advance student learning through rigorous tasks based on targeted standards

• Use existing or create standard(s)-specific criteria and a structure (e.g., rubric) for assessing student work

• Identify and examine specific student learning strengths and areas of need

• Plan and teach grade-appropriate content and lessons 

• Identify patterns and trends related to students’ race, gender, language, identified learning needs, and/or culture to support equitable learning condition

WHY

Effective teachers pay close attention to evidence of student learning. Analyzing Student Learning helps teachers obtain a thorough understanding of what students know and are able to do relative to standards-based tasks. The analysis process also supports conversations about equitable instruction and classroom conditions that shift teacher practice and promote student learning. These conversations inform future instruction that is responsive to student needs. Teachers who examine the relationship between their teaching and their students’ learning are more likely to adopt “expert-like” professional practices. Tool-based collaborative analysis of student learning has been shown to scaffold that expertise.1 Teachers report that analyzing student learning with a mentor/coach is one of the most influential processes for improving their practice.

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

• Suggest using Analyzing Student Learning when reviewing professional goals as it is especially helpful when it aligns with teachers’ identified professional interests and/ or assessment processes. For example, the tool will support teachers implementing a new standard(s)-aligned task designed to engage students’ interests, build upon their capabilities, and prepare for higher stakes assessments.

• Analyzing Student Learning is designed to be used in conjunction with lesson planning and/or classroom observation and creates a natural entry point for initiating an ongoing inquiry cycle of planning, teaching, and reflecting.

• Promote teacher professional inquiry with an equity lens using Analyzing Student Learning to look at how students respond to specific types of tasks and learning conditions. These discoveries can support teachers in creating and sustaining Optimal Learning Environments.

• Introduce Analyzing Student Learning to support crucial professional collaborations within grade-level teams or professional learning communities.

WHAT

Observation Processes that include classroom observations and conversations provide valuable information and feedback that contribute to a teacher’s professional growth when conducted by a skilled mentor as part of a comprehensive and strategic approach to improvement. Collaboratively collecting, analyzing, and applying observational data builds a teacher’s capacity to reflect on practice and promotes inquiry, transparency, and accountability. As mentors engage in the Observation Process with their teachers, we encourage them to invite teachers to be curious, to hold high expectations for themselves and their students, and to embrace the process as an opportunity to question, to learn, and to grow.

Through the Observation Process, the teacher and mentor will:

• Examine indicators that promote an Optimal Learning Environment necessary for effective teaching and learning

• Align instructional strategies with content standards and learning needs

• Analyze observation data for evidence of effective practices and areas for growth

• Determine student learning needs

• Advance instructional practice

WHY

Teachers want and need feedback about standards-aligned teaching practice and student learning. Teachers benefit when they perceive mentors/coaches “not just as friends or resource-providers, but as professionals whose feedback, suggestions, and support are critical to their success” (Lesnick, Jiang, Sporte, Sartain, & Hart, 2010, p. 37). Mentor observations can provide data to help measure teacher effectiveness and provide feedback to inform and alter practice to improve student achievement. The Observation Process also prepares teachers for more formal administrator evaluations.

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

Determine entry points for observation based on the teacher’s assessed needs.

• After analyzing a lesson as part of a Coaching Cycle

• Implementing equitable, culturally responsive, and standards-aligned instruction

• Using a new standards-aligned curricular resource

• Applying a new instructional strategy

• Addressing diverse needs of learners in an Optimal Learning Environment

• Preparing for a formal observation Frequent Observation Processes will inform complementary processes such as use of the Planning Conversation Guide and Analyzing Student Learning tools.

WHAT

Content Strategies and Alignment is an observation tool that captures real-time data during instruction. Although it can be used in conjunction with the Pre-Observation Conversation and the Post-Observation Co-Analysis, Content Strategies and Alignment is often used as a tool to gather evidence and guide a conversation for a quick, informal observation.

The mentor/coach uses the tool to record the lesson’s content focus and the strategies used to support learning. The alignment section is completed with the teacher after the observation.

Content Strategies and Alignment allows a mentor/coach to gather evidence that supports inquiry into an Optimal Learning Environment, especially how the instructional strategies influenced productive struggle with the curricular content.

It can be used to:

• Identify the lesson’s content focus (i.e., content standard)

• Identify instructional strategies used to convey/interact with standard-specific concepts and processes

• Collaboratively reflect on the effectiveness of the selected strategy(ies) for the targeted content (i.e., assess whether the instructional strategy(ies) produced the desired content- specific learning as evidenced by the assessment(s))

WHEN

Determine entry points for observation based on the teacher’s assessed needs. Content Strategies and Alignment can be used:

• As an informal observation tool when implementing a new instructional strategy

• To gather data related to delivering direct instruction, facilitating whole class activities or guiding small groups, etc.

• To assess whether the selected instructional strategies led to the intended curricular outcome(s)

• During a pre-observation conversation to explore how selected instructional strategies are designed to produce the intended curricular outcome(s).

• To complement a planning tool (i.e., confirm that planned instructional strategies will lead to the intended curricular outcome(s)).

WHAT

Selective Scripting is an observation tool that efficiently captures real-time dialogue and other interactions in a classroom. Used in conjunction with the Pre-Observation Conversation and the Post-Observation Co-Analysis, Selective Scripting supports gathering evidence of an agreed-upon observational focus. The mentor uses the tool to write verbatim the first 5–6 words spoken by the teacher and/or student(s) or describe what is seen related to the teacher’s requested observation focus. The Selective Scripting tool allows a mentor/coach to gather evidence that can be compared with a lesson plan (i.e., comparing intended instruction with actual instruction). Observational data can be especially useful for considering what is necessary to create and sustain an Optimal Learning Environment for a particular group of students.

Evidence criteria:

• Specific

• Objective

• Measurable/Observable

• Indisputable

WHY

Objective collection of observation data is essential for promoting teacher reflection that supports professional inquiry and intentional shifts in practice. As Tierney (2014)1 suggests, “a real-time stream of frequently refreshed information about learning is needed rather than a summative snap shot.” Anecdotally, teachers value focused, detailed, and objective data of classroom practice that can inform their understanding of how instructional choices influence student learning behaviors and outcomes. By collecting targeted data (especially over several occasions), a mentor/ coach and teacher are more likely to discover insights about student responses to instruction that will lead to more strategic lesson planning and classroom teaching.

WHEN

Determine entry points for observation based on the teacher’s assessed needs.

Selective Scripting is appropriate to gather various evidence types:

• Verbal instructions and explanations

• Movement

• Interactions

• Environment descriptions

WHAT

Seating Chart is an observation tool that efficiently captures real-time movement and other behaviors of individuals within a classroom. The mentor draws the classroom layout and uses symbols and notations to record observation data. Used in conjunction with the Pre-Observation Conversation and Post-Observation Co-Analysis, Seating Chart data can promote questions about the flow of instruction, how instruction influences learning behaviors, and how classroom interactions can be effectively scaffolded to support learning. The Seating Chart tool allows a mentor to gather evidence that supports discussions about creating and sustaining an Optimal Learning Environment.

Sample evidence includes:

• Student responses to instruction (e.g., who offers/responds to questions, who interacts with whom, how students access classroom resources)

• Academic supports provided by teacher or peer

• Cognitive and affective/behavioral interventions

• Equitable participation structures and practices

WHEN

Determine entry points for observation based on the teacher’s assessed needs. Seating Chart is appropriate to graphically gather a variety of evidence that helps compare what the lesson intended and what actually occurred:

• Interactions/participation: student to student, teacher to student/student to teacher

• Teacher and student movement at crucial instructional moments

• Antecedents to desired/undesired classroom behaviors

• Student engagement/productive struggle within student groupings (pairs, table groups, etc.)

• Visual details about classroom layout/environment and access to resources

• Visual and auditory data—consider Selective Scripting for data that is primarily auditory

WHAT

The Collaborative Assessment Log is a tool that guides ongoing dialogue and work between a mentor and a teacher.

It:

• Helps assess a teacher’s practice so that mentors/coaches can target support in response to authentic needs

• Supports a strengths-based approach

• Structures short- and long-term instructional goal-setting, modeling a process that can be used with students

• Records next steps for teachers and mentors

• Provides a graphic organizer to guide the conversation to assess needs, establish a focus, support teacher’s movement forward, promote accountability

WHY

Research shows that collaborative, job-embedded, regular professional dialogue increases teacher efficacy.

The Collaborative Assessment Log provides the mentor and teacher with:

• A consistent framework for assets-based conversations

• A focus for coaching and mentoring interactions

• An ongoing assessment and record of collaboration and growth over time

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

• Incorporate the Collaborative Assessment Log as appropriate in your ongoing conversations with teachers

• Introduce the tool to the teacher in your first meeting

WHAT

Mentors/coaches use Knowing Students to help teachers learn more about students’ academic, social, and emotional strengths and areas for growth. It also helps teachers learn about a student’s cultural background. The process supports most professional teaching standards, including those associated with assessment, responsive instructional planning, and effective learning environment. Knowing Students provides entry points for the teacher to learn about a student’s:

• Personal context

• Motivation and engagement

• Social and emotional skills

• Executive function skills (planning, organization, goal-setting)

• Academic background

WHY

Studies have found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ learning dynamics and abilities can be significantly biased. The mentor/coach can influence a teacher’s professional mindset and reduce the implications of bias.1 The Knowing Students process can help teachers develop a deeper appreciation of student strengths and contextual needs. The mentor/coach can support teachers to tailor instruction and create culturally relevant Optimal Learning Environments that foster students’ academic, social, and emotional growth, which is the foundation for effective teaching and academic success.

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

• Using Knowing Students early in the year can help teachers connect subject matter to a student’s background culture, knowledge, interests, motivations, and experiences.

• Later in the fall/early winter, the teacher may want to learn more about a particular student or group of students (e.g., English learners or those who are often absent or don’t complete work). Use Knowing Students to consider potential influences on student engagement in the classroom or with the curriculum or other factors influencing school success.

• Knowing Students can be particularly useful as a “lens” when analyzing student learning, designing or analyzing new curricular materials, and/or reviewing classroom observation data.

• As new data emerge from student surveys, conferences, and assessments, return to the Knowing Students process to discover more about creating and sustaining an Optimal Learning Environment for every student.

• The Knowing Students tool can be used as an entry point to conversations about student academic, social, and emotional goal-setting and monitoring.

WHAT

Knowing Teachers helps the mentor build a trusting relationship with teachers and gain insights into their philosophy, vision, and theory about effective teaching. It also provides information about a teacher’s background, culture, and preference for learning and collaboration to better guide strategic mentoring and to promote professional growth. Knowing Teachers provides entry points for the mentor to learn about a teacher’s:

• Vision of effective teaching

• Pre-service or prior career experience

• Subject matter and pedagogical knowledge

• Personal preferences for learning and collaborating

• Personal context

WHY

Building a strong, trusting relationship with each teacher is a crucial first step for the mentor/coach. The mentor should be earnestly curious about the teacher’s perspectives about professional strengths, preferences, and needs. That information can guide strategic and individualized support. Longitudinal studies show that “teachers learn by asking questions, sharing information, seeking help, experimenting with innovative actions and seeking feedback.” Establishing trust early in the relationship promotes open dialogue about the many professional successes and challenges the teacher will experience.

WHEN (ENTRY POINTS)

• Some teachers may want to prepare for an initial meeting with the mentor by writing their responses and curating sample artifacts that will demonstrate responses.

• During the first few meetings, a mentor/coach and teacher can discuss selected topics and share any related artifacts (e.g., teaching philosophy statement).

• In a group setting, teachers can work with partners to discuss topics (e.g., during an initial PLC meeting). The mentor may follow up individually with teachers.

• Teachers can benefit from reviewing responses as they prepare for a formal evaluation or similar processes with site administrators or colleagues.

• Consider adding information as you learn more about the teacher throughout the year and/or reflecting at the end of the year on any changes over time