Supporting Teacher Growth

Throughout the steps of this particular coaching cycle I tried to facilitate and maintain a two-way conversation by asking questions and synthesizing what I was hearing the teacher say. Our cycle began with a pre-observation meeting, in which I interviewed her informally to get to know her background as a teacher and experiences with coaching and evaluation. My process will focus on discussing the volunteer teachers' self identified strengths and areas for growth.  For the pre-observation meeting I also  included an agenda to unpack the CSTP standards with the volunteer teacher. We used this conversation to discuss the teacher’s strengths and areas for growth in order to connect them to the CSTP aligned goals.  We discussed the composition of her class as well as the group’s assets and learning needs. Then we discussed the lesson plan, so that I could question the  teacher and find out about her work preparing her class  as well as her student’s prior knowledge in regards to her choice of subject matter for the observation. We discussed the student evidence she was planning  to collect and collaboratively selected a CSTP standard that best suited her lesson.  To prepare for the observation, I studied the teacher’s lesson plan and collaboratively chose CSTP standard with her. I will made sure to inquire what kind of student work she plans to submit as evidence of student learning and regards to the CSTP standard/s selected.  During the observation, I made sure to collect evidence related to the CSTP standard we co-selected.After the observation  I familiarized myself with the student work product by looking at the common core standards related to the lesson and examples of student mastery according to the lesson objective. 

In the post observation, I tried to center the teacher by allowing her to speak about her strengths and areas for growth in regards to the recorded lesson we observed together at the beginning of the post-observation meeting. I facilitated a two way conversation by asking her questions while attempting to narrate the events of the lesson. By narrating and pausing to let her speak and elaborate on the evidence, I was able to continue a two way conversation focused on the teachers' self-assessment and reflection. Co-analysing the video and student work further allowed the teacher to first hand observe her areas of strength and next steps in terms of CSTP 1. 5 instead of me giving her directions on what to do next, thereby maintaining the focus on her voice not mine. All through the post-observation meeting, I tried to maintain the questions and my noticings focused on CSTP 1.5, to understand how it informed the teachers planning, execution, and reflection of her lesson and further build on her ownership of the standard]

It  was important for me  that the volunteer teacher knew that this coaching cycle was not focused on judgment but on the  teacher’s own reflection on her growth and an opportunity for her to identify next steps in her professional growth journey. My role in the process was to be a non-critical and non-punitive sounding board as she reflected and shared her observations on the strengths and areas for growth of her lesson delivery in terms of the CSTP standard/s we co selected.

A challenge for me in this process is that I have never conducted a coaching cycle utilizing the CSTP framework and this means I had  to become more familiar with these standards. As a future admin, I realize that the standards or frameworks chosen by the district are ones that I should be very familiar with in order to coach effectively. Another challenge for me was that my volunteer teacher had more experience teaching than me and so I needed to make sure that the volunteer teacher did not perceive me as threatening authority but more of a collaborative coach. To prepare for this challenge I read some articles on best practices for coaching teachers. I also consulted with my school administrators to see how they approach the tension that may arise when coaching more seasoned teachers. Now that I have experienced via the CALAPA I have learned to approach coaching as a collaboration and not as an evaluation. Coaching cycles present a learning opportunities not only for teachers but also for coaches. 

While I have served as a mentor to novice teachers in the past, Cycle 3 helped me to think more thoughtfully about the process of coaching, especially as it relates to professional teaching standards like the CSTP. Based on my experience conducting the post observation meeting, an area of strength as a coach is creating low affect collaborative relationships with teachers so that they feel I am approaching coaching non-judgmentally. When conducting the post-observation meeting in Clip 1, for example,I tried to emphasize the idea of collaboratively exploring with the volunteer teacher the types of addition strategies students might use. Moreover, I tried not to position myself as an expert but as someone willing to learn alongside a coachee. This can be evidenced in Clip 4, where I suggest to the teacher that we both read a chapter from Children’s Mathematics: Cognitive Guided Instruction so that we can both become familiar with the continuum of different math strategies students use to add in kindergarten and first grade. The ability to maintain and create a respectful rapport that honors teachers as partners in learning is important for administrative work because the latter role requires admin to sometimes coach teachers in unfamiliar subjects and different grade levels. While the volunteer teacher did not directly cite the above as one of my strengths, the fact that she felt comfortable asking me to model teaching and expressed a desire to learn from each other in Clip 4, is evidence that she views our work as a learning collaboration and not as a formal evaluative experience.  

Besides building a low affect collaborative rapport, other strengths I demonstrated in the post-observation were asking questions that allow the teacher to self-reflect as well as actively listening in order to uplift teacher voice. For example, instead of telling the teacher what I perceived to be her strengths and areas for growth in Clip 1, I asked her and allowed her to speak first. As she spoke I listened to see if any of her reflection aligned to what I perceived to be a strength and area of growth. This careful listening helped me to co-determine the direction of coaching next steps towards the CSTP 1.5 component focused on encouraging students to use multiple approaches to solve problems. 

Based on the teacher’s feedback, one of my areas for growth is building rapports with students in order to better get to know the classroom context of a teacher I might be observing. 

Prior to the observation, I had not gone in informally or made an attempt to connect to her students but I understand how helpful that information would have been for me as a coach. While the observation was focused on the teacher, coaching centers the needs of students and for this reason it is important to get to know a class of students before initiating a cycle of coaching. In the past, I have observed the instructional coach at my school have interactions with the students in her coachee’s classroom. This I imagine helps to build a positive working relationship with both students and teachers which further decreases the evaluative atmosphere a negative coaching relationship might create for students. I should thus work on actively getting to know the students in the classrooms I am observing in order to better understand the coaching contexts. 

Another area for growth, as suggested by the volunteer teacher, would be to have a more hands on approach to coaching. In Clip 4 and 5, she mentioned that she would want me to model how I would approach teaching a word problem to students as part of our coaching. This is not something I have ever done before for another teacher but I definitely believe it to be a helpful practice. In the past, I have asked veteran teachers to let me observe their approach to instruction and this has helped me immeasurably. Adding co-teaching practices into my coaching repertoire I think would further increase engagement and collaboration between me and a future coachee.  Good coaching should create opportunities for both the coach and coachee to be vulnerable in order for both to improve professionally. Hands-on coaching is something I should work on in order to increase the collaborative aspect of a coaching relationship with another teacher.