Journal Entry

Now, let's think about how coaching principles can be applied to teachers.

Read the Cahill article on classroom management about how one OT worked with Mrs. Zapka.

Go to your online journal under the Course Tools tab on the left hand side of this page. Start a new journal entry. In your journal, address the following questions:

1. The OT in this article took more of a consultation approach. How could the OT have incorporated coaching principles to support Mrs. Zapka's work as a teacher (specifically her classroom management strategies)?; 2. What questions could the OT ask Mrs. Zapka to get at the following aspects? Meaning and fulfillment, Expanding self-awareness, Expanding choices, Making choices and decisions, Taking action, Getting "unstuck"; 3. If coaching was effective, what outcomes would you anticipate for Mrs. Zapka's occupational performance? What outcomes would you anticipate for the students Mrs. Zapka teaches?; 4. What are the pros and cons of using coaching instead of assuming an "expert" role with teachers?

1. The OT in this article took more of a consultation approach. How could the OT have incorporated coaching principles to support Mrs. Zapka's work as a teacher (specifically her classroom management strategies)?

2. What questions could the OT ask Mrs. Zapka to get at the following aspects?

· Meaning and fulfillment

· Expanding self-awareness

· Expanding choices

· Making choices and decisions

· Taking action

· Getting "unstuck"

3. If coaching was effective, what outcomes would you anticipate for Mrs. Zapka's occupational performance? What outcomes would you anticipate for the students Mrs. Zapka teaches?

4. What are the pros and cons of using coaching instead of assuming an "expert" role with teachers?

After reading about Mrs. Zapka and her classroom, I found that both Mrs. Zapka and the OT had a mutual level of respect for each other. While coaching as not as used, I did think the collaborations approach was beneficial to gain a better understanding how and why kids behave the way that they do. In order to incorporate a more structured coaching scenario, the OT could have stepped back and played a more background role in the education of the engine program. Instead, the OT worked hand-in-hand with Mrs. Zapka to help establish the vocabulary and rules associated with the program. The coaching prosses, while it is important to play a more hands-off role as the OT and let the teacher take control of her classroom, I do think that the collaboration method did work in this scenario. I thought the two of them worked really well together. For a teacher like Mrs. Zapka, who has a reputation of being strict, it is imperative that the OT remain professional, but not act like an expert on the matter. Teachers are with the students every day and establish relationships with the kids. They know the kids very well and are in some ways the experts on the children within the school setting. The OT walked a fine line of coaching and being an expert on the children and how they should be functioning. Mrs. Zapka is an experienced teacher and is well versed in children’s behaviors and patterns of behaviors. She is an expert in the own right and like most people does not like being spoken down to by someone younger and less experienced then she is. While Mrs. Zapka is experienced, she did seek out help from the OT. She found herself in a situation where she could not find an answer that would help and sought out the help she needed. In order to make the interaction between Mrs. Zapka and the OT the most beneficial that it can be, the OT can ask some questions to help establish the relationship and get answers to better help the kids in the long term. Some important questions to ask Mrs. Zapka would include: do the kids understand how they can regulate their own behavior within certain settings? Are they comprehending the reasonings behind their actions? Are they able to see the difference in their behaviors when their engines are running low, high, or just right? Do you explain why things are wrong, or do you just scold them? Do you know what strategies work best for the students when their typical strategies don’t work?; by asking these questions it can allow the coaching process establish itself and allow the OT to take a more hands-off role within the implementation of the program. If all of this is effective, Mrs. Zapka should be able to see her student behavior change by observing the kids paying more attention in class, grades improving, and overall performance throughout the day improve. By allowing the student behavior to improve, it should ask help Mrs. Zapka’s performance throughout the day improve, too. It should give her more energy to focus on school related activities and decrease the time and energy spent on scolding kids who are misbehaving. It should also decrease her stress levels throughout the day. By implementing the program through coaching, this classroom should have an overall improvement in many areas. Student’s like Joey can be difficult, but with programs that allow the students to embrace their sensory input it can vastly increase the productivity of the entire classroom.