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Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Coaching, Building Relationships, and Brain Engagement

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you an instructional coach supporting teachers with instruction or technology questions? You may find this collection of tips and resources worth pondering for next year.

The First Obstacle

When you look at the number one obstacle to encouraging change, it isn’t the technology you use. It’s whether the people you want to see adopt the technology do so. Why don’t they do it the first time you ask? Perhaps there is work to do on building a relationship. For some, building a relationship is harder than for others. For those folks for whom the relationship is the first obstacle, you have to be deliberate.

Let’s explore what actions you can take in a grab bag of ideas curated from online forums and blogs. I hope you find them useful. Lauren S. inspired this article when she asked (edited for length and readability):

I’m an instructional specialist serving approximately 120 teachers in 2 buildings. My primary focus is language arts and social studies. I’m available and willing to help any teacher with anything related to instruction and/or ed tech. The most important part of this job is building relationships with teachers. While I have made some progress, I still feel like a lot of teachers are afraid to come to me or see me as evaluative….

How have you built trust and positive relationships with your teachers?

Finding a Way to Build Relationships

Since teachers and students are human beings, building relationships is the first obstacle. We’ll look at three detours inspired by Lauren S. to build relationships that you can use with teachers. Many of us already rely on social-emotional learning (SEL) with students. What can we do with adult learners?

Image Source: Teacher Gift Bag

Detour #1: School Goody Bags

When Liza put the decorated jar of candies and goodies in my hand, I was a bit surprised. The glittery surface of the mason jar, the bedazzled metal lid, the gold ribbon were a bit much for me. But I still felt a moment of appreciation for her effort. Lauren says that this is one of her go-to habits, providing school goody bags with a letter. The letter explains how she can work with them.

Image Source: Teacher Survival Kit

Every year, my wife would give her students a goody bag with toys and candy. Whenever I went to a birthday celebration, for as long as I can remember, goody bags were a way to say, “Thanks for coming!” I can definitely see packing instructional strategies and tips and tricks for teaching in a bag to start out. But focus more on simply building a relationship than advocating for how you can provide assistance.

Here are some places to see some ideas about school goody bags:

  • Amazon has a great collection of teacher gift bags.
  • Etsy offers teacher goody bags and ideas for inspiration
  • Pinterest collections share 240+ Goodie Bag/Teacher/Gift ideas
  • Teacher Gift Basket Ideas are a nice variation

What else could you do besides giving stuff to teachers at your schools?

Detour #2: Hot Topic Professional Learning

As an instructional specialist on a K-6 campus, providing just-in-time professional learning made for a long day. Even when teachers showed up (always three or four) for a thirty-minute session, all plopped down in chairs, bone-tired. Teaching is hard work, and learning is as well. How do you get past that?

Finding the answer to that question is what propelled me into technology. Later, as an instructional technology director, I thought that recording short video lessons (see one example above) and then posting them worked. And, it did. I received emails from people who said, “This was sooo helpful to me! Thank you.”

Image Source: NorthEast ISD

Today, YouTube videos on every subject abound. Online professional development, micro-learning, and micro-credentials all work well. “PD in Pajamas,” the mantra of Simple K-12, sticks with so many of us today. Even my old school district, where I served as an Instructional Technology Director, is doing it:

Image Source: San Antonio ISD

Many school districts have launched their own PD in Pajamas efforts. With 2019 behind us, any teacher still standing became an expert in learning on the fly, watching videos when needed.

Did You Know?

TCEA offers a wealth of free professional learning, PD you choose, via recorded Lunch and Learn livestreams. You can also sign up for $39 online, self-paced courses that show you enough to try it on your own.

Activities Mentioned: See the end of this article for more details and resources.

Detour #3: Optional Brain Engagement Activities with Prizes

Want to get anyone excited about learning? Offer OPTIONAL professional learning with brain engagement activities that include prizes. Bingo and choice boards aren’t a bad way to do this. You can find Canva templates for choice boards and bingo games online, as well as Google Slides.

Here are two examples of templates you can take and make with:

Additional Relationship-Building Ideas:

Those are three ideas that Lauren S. suggested. Others responded with more tips for building coach-to-teacher relationships. Here is a list of what they suggested to Lauren:

  • Provide examples of what a resource would look like. Include digital copies of templates.
  • Host “Bite-Sized PD” sessions that are short and include a snack.
  • Show gratitude through emails, notes, and hallway hug-n-chat
  • Play games with teachers to build relationships and teaching skills.
  • Create a “Warrior of the Month” Google form. Use it to enable teachers to recognize their colleagues and earn a $10 gift card.
  • Put in place a student-focused coaching model (ala Diane Sweeney)
  • Have Coffee with Coaches time to brainstorm and dialogue

Special thanks to Lauren S, Caitlin, C., Kaysie W., Kittie B., Sonia G. for sharing their insights via the Gold EDU group.

More on Brain Engagement Activities

These are four of a huge list of great ideas for brain engagement. Give these a try:

Entry ticket. You may already know about entry and exit tickets. Entry tickets force students to retrieve information about a previous lesson. This act of retrieval ensures students retain information for a longer time. Get examples of Bell Ringers.

Pass the Plate. This dopamine-raising, brainstorming activity relies on a group of four students. They pass a paper plate between them, stopping at each person to write his/her idea down. When done, students share what they came up with. Learn more about this.

Movement. This norepinephrine-increasing activity helps focus student attention. Use activities like Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up, or Pair and Share. In this way, students increase their focus and engagement. Find a wealth of ideas online.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Building positive relationships with students engages the brain. What’s more, SEL activities ensure students will listen to you and not turn their brain to more important matters. Explore SEL activities.

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Blended LearningLeadershipProfessional Learning

Becoming an Ed Tech Pro: Where Do I Start?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Recently, a children’s librarian asked me:

“I’m trying to learn about ed tech but don’t know where to start. Are there any great books, articles, or people I should check out?”

Success hinges on three areas when focusing on becoming an ed tech pro. 

Three Key Areas for Ed Tech Exploration

You will need a solid grounding in several key areas:

  • Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies
  • Instructional Coaching
  • Digital Tools

Let’s take a look at each one of these areas one at a time.

1. Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies

First, as an ed tech newbie, you should check out joining TCEA. It’s not expensive to join, and you get access to weekly webinars that earn you credit. If you’re not ready to join, you’ll still find tons of great resources on the TCEA blog.

One way to get a handle on evidence-based instructional strategies is to read a few books, such as:

  • Mike Bell’s “The Fundamentals of  Teaching“
  • Hattie, Fisher, Frey’s “Visible Learning” series of books (e.g. Literacy, Math, Science)
  • Zaretta Hammond’s “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain“

These should really ground you in evidence-based strategies. If you want to take it to the next level, consider taking the TCEA Evidence-Based Teaching course ($39).

2. Instructional Coaching

Without coaching, you are wasting your time. No one cares how cool a digital tool is if it can’t impact learner achievement and if they don’t know how and when to implement it. That’s where coaching comes in and sets up a structure for assisting others in supporting student learning. To coach effectively, you need to ensure you and your coachee have knowledge of:

  • Evidence-based strategies (and when to use them)
  • Digital tools (and how to use them)
  • Formative assessment (for gauging when and how to best use strategies and technology)

There are lots of coaching approaches. I’m partial to Diane Sweeney’s work. You can also find an overview of coaching approaches in the TCEA blog.

3. Digital Tools

When you think about digital tools, you may first ask, “Where do I start? There are so many!” The truth is, you need a place you can go that allows you to mix-n-match. You are matching digital tools with the instructional strategy that will best support them.

For example, K-3 teachers use strategies for teaching vocabulary, but what digital tools do you use with those? In this article, Vocabulary Acquisition: Three Tools for You, we offer a variety of ways digital tools and strategies go together.

Another option, though, is to look at something called EduProtocols. These templates and resources offer ways to connect tried-n-true strategies to digital tools.

A Parting Thought

You are well-positioned for the shift if you focus on these three key areas. A lot of ed tech folks are now called “digital innovation specialists” while others are taking on the role of an instructional coach. Having a grasp of these three areas can ensure your success with:

  • Instructional strategies
  • The ability to build rapport with teachers (for coaching)
  • A solid awareness of digital tools that amplify learning outcomes

Go for it. Achieve escape velocity.

Bonus Items

#1 – Find Free Books

Do you want to pay for books, or get them at no cost? If it’s the latter, you are going to love this website Doug Holton from the Ed TechDev Blog introduced me to. The organizers point out the following:

These free books were specifically designed with K-12 teachers in mind.

They address a variety of topics. They may be useful in many settings. Settings include teacher education, licensure, and professional development.

edtech

Some that are of special interest to ed tech professionals include:

The other texts are also of high-interest depending on your field. As a bilingual technologist, two that I want to read are Understanding Language Acquisition: Teaching English Language Learners and Foundation in Education for Emergent Bilinguals.

Wondering about copyright, aren’t you? Is this one of those websites where the books are “free” but sharing is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? Nope. These are legal shares that are available for download. Isn’t that amazing?

“All of our content is freely available, and most of it is free to remix, reuse, and redistribute without seeking permission. (source)”

Additionally, you can read the books in your browser or have them read to you aloud.

#2 – Online Courses

While TCEA offers a wealth of exciting online courses at the most affordable price ($39 each), there are many sources of online content available online. One such source is ModernClassrooms.org, recommended by Charlie Gramatges (@cgramatges@mastodon.education). “ModernClassrooms.org is filled with micro courses that change the way you think about Ed Tech,” says Charlie. You might also like to review this list of online course providers.

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Instructional Coaching

Part 2: Getting Started with a Student-Centered Coaching Model

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Have you read my previous post, Part 1: Student-Centered Coaching Says Focus on Students Not Teachers? If not, head there to get an idea of what it means to take on a student-centered approach to coaching. In order to get things going with this coaching model, Diane Sweeney suggests five steps in her book, “Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Principals.” Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Defining your role with school leadership.

Working with school leaders is important. It’s also important to define your role. What will the role of “coach” look like specifically, and how will the leader work to support that role? Make sure you’re on the same page about each others’ roles with regard to coaching so that it’s clear for you, the leader, and the staff. Here is a great checklist offered by DianeSweeny.com that outlines calibration between leadership and coaches and a few other actions for getting started.

Checklist offered by DianeSweeny.com

Step 2: Defining the model to staff and gauging interest.

Work with leadership to make sure teachers know exactly what student-centered coaching is and is not. Communicate this to all staff, and then, seek to learn who is on board with coaching to gain momentum. Sweeney suggests polling staff to ask about interest and goals.

Step 3: Scheduling time with interested teachers.

Meet with teachers to discuss their interests in coaching and get the conversation on student learning goals started. This helps shift the focus to being student-centered instead of teacher-centered. Once goals are set with teachers, it’s time to work on setting up an impactful schedule based on the coaching cycle.

Download the Danielson Group’s “Six Clusters to Support Teacher Growth and Student Learning: A tool for collaborative observation,
professional conversations, and engaged teacher learning.”

Step 4: Organizing coaching cycles.

Coaching cycles are usually 6 to 9 weeks of regular planning meetings (one 30 or 50-minute meeting per week) and classroom visits for observation, co-teaching, and modeling (usually 1 to 3 times per week). The goal is based on student learning data. Teachers can complete 1 or 2 cycles during a school year, and coaches can usually manage 4 to 6 teachers at one time.

Step 5: Build your schedule.

Create an agreement with the teachers first. Then, once the expectations are clear, you can develop your coaching schedule for the first coaching cycle with this information in mind. It is recommended that your schedule be public, updated every trimester or quarter, and weekly planning meetings and classroom visits be added to the schedule.

Download the Partnership Agreement

Find out more information on Diane Sweeney’s website, which has some great infographics and information. Here is a blog post about the phases of implementation that you might find helpful and a detailed checklist for principals and coaches.

getting started with student-centered coaching

NOTE: “The Essential Guide for Student-Centered Coaching” serves as a replacement for “Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Principals,” which is no longer in print.

You’ve got just two weeks left to register for TCEA’s Conference for Educational Coaches (CEC)! Don’t miss out on the chance to learn from your peers in the field. Gather up ideas, best practices, and strategies to maximize your impact as a coach or instructional leader and to promote student learning. Attend in person or online October 12-13 and walk away excited to implement everything you’ve learned!

Register now for CEC!
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Instructional Coaching

Part One: Student-Centered Coaching Says Focus on Students, Not Teachers

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

If you’ve been working in education in a position that includes coaching, you might be familiar with Research-Led Coaching (Jim Knight), Cognitive Coaching (Elena Aguilar), Bambrick-Santoyo’s Six Step Model, and other coaching models. Today, we’ll explore Student-Centered Coaching (Diane Sweeney). There’s a LOT to unpack in Sweeney’s model, so we’ll focus on defining the model and outlining the coaching cycle. Then, in part two, we’ll go over getting started with student-centered coaching. Are you excited? I am! Before we dive in, here is some research on the effectiveness of student-centered coaching that you might find interesting.

student-centered coaching research
Download the Research

What Is Student-Centered Coaching?

Sweeney explains that coaching should be less centered around “what the teacher is doing or not doing,” executing a program/curriculum, and the coach as an “expert” holding the teacher accountable. Instead, she suggests that the focus be placed on the program/curriculum as a tool, collaboration in setting data-informed learning goals, and the coach as a teacher partner. Shifting the focus to designing instruction for students based on discussion, reflection, data, and standards means shifting the focus off of the teacher and teaching techniques.

student-centered coaching definition
Quoted from DianeSweeney.com

This shift sets teachers and coaches up for success by removing some of the roadblocks that come with directly challenging the beliefs and practices of teachers. A teacher-centered approach might look like convincing a teacher to try out a specific method or strategy that they aren’t currently using as suggested by the coach. A student-centered approach would look more like the teacher and coach discussing student learning data, agreeing on and setting the goals, collecting more evidence, and making decisions together to adjust instruction based on the evidence. That said, discussing and determining what can be used as student evidence for goal setting is a big part of the process, so formative assessment is at the very heart of this coaching model.

What’s the Role of Student Evidence in Student-Centered Coaching?

In order to adjust instruction to better meet the needs of students and set goals, teachers must identify 1) what students already know and can do, 2) the standards that students need to know, and 3) how to instruct to meet these “need to knows.” Using formative assessment to draw these conclusions requires teachers to know the curricular standards, be able to implement formative assessments, and be able to execute varied instructional strategies.

formative assessment
Resource on the CCCSO Revised Definition of Formative Assessment

One thing that stands out to me about this model is the correlation between formative assessment data and the consequent natural differentiation of coaching for each teacher. When decisions are made collaboratively about instructional goals based on data, the coaching goals can be clear, differentiated for each teacher, and less likely to meet with resistance. Teachers want the focus to be on the students, so why not base our discussions on what data shows students need?

What Are the Stages in the Coaching Cycle?

Sweeney suggests six stages for a student-centered coaching cycle to “provide a framework for designing ongoing and in-depth work with teachers.”

Stage 1: Set Standards-Based Goals. Standards-based goals are designed to move student learning forward and are designed for students. Growth cannot be measured without these goals.

Stage 2: Develop Targets. Learning targets are a breakdown of the goal. They provide a vision and criteria for what students will need to know and do to meet the goal.

Stage 3: Pre-Assess. Establisth the baseline student proficiency level through a quick formative assessment.

Stages 4 and 5: Co-Plan and Co-Teach. Co-plan with your teachers to ensure a smooth co-teaching process. This step will be tailored along the way.

Stage 6: Post Assess. Measure student progress toward learning targets and determine next instructitonal steps.

Quoted from “Student-Centered Coaching Cycles,” by Diane Sweeney, DianeSweeney.com

When moving through this coaching cycle, it’s important to document the process through note-taking. Sweeney provides a Results-Based Coaching Tool for small groups and a Student Evidence Note Catcher on her website. And, even though this book has been replaced by “The Essential Guide for Student-Centered Coaching (2020),” I find her guiding questions for student-centered coaching in “Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Principals (2010)” (22) to be helpful and relevant.

guiding questions for student-centered coaching

What do you think of this model? Is it the same or different from how you or your school approaches coaching? How would you go about implementing something like this? If you’re interested in knowing more, check out “The Essential Guide for Student-Centered Coaching,” by Diane Sweeney. As I mentioned early, it’s the 2020 replacement for “Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals,” which was published in 2010. Leave a comment to share your thoughts. Stay tuned for Part Two: Getting Started with a Student-Centered Coaching Model!

Read Part 2: Getting Started with a Student-Centered Coaching Model

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coaching
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Three Resources Put Coaching at Your Fingertips

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If you wish you had easy access to coaching quotes, digital tool recommendations, and models, these three timely resources can guide your thinking and make your work a little easier. Let’s take a look at how you can access them.

Connecting Learners

At the 2021 Campus Technology Specialist Academy, I facilitated a coaching session and decided to start the session with quotes, an activity I adapted from Zaretta Hammond’s book, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.” The activity has participants reading quotes and then responding to a question. They share their quotes and reflections with others in the group. While Zaretta suggests a piece of paper for a kid-friendly activity, I built an app. As you can see from the image below, participants referred to the app while engaging in the activity.

coaching
Screenshot by author

Resource 1: Coaching Reflections App

The Glides app includes quotes from some of my favorite coaching guides, such as:

  • Elena Aguilar, author of “Coaching for Equity”
  • Dr. Katie Alaniz, author of “Collegial Coaching”
  • Zaretta Hammond, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain”
  • Jim Knight, “The Impact Cycle”
  • Diane Sweeney, “Student-Centered Coaching”

My instructions for participants included the following:

On Your Own

  • Get the app available at https://tceact.glideapp.io.
  • Pick a quote to read and reflect on. A discussion question is included for each quote.

With Others

Find someone else in the room to chat with. When you do, you will have 5 minutes to:

  • Share your quote with them.
  • Discuss your reaction or response to the quote.
  • Ask them to share their quote and reaction with you. Discuss.
  • Repeat the process with another person until time has expired.
coaching
Teachers at “Coaching: Strategies That Work” session held at the 2021 Campus Technology Specialist Academy, photo by author

Quote Activity to Break the Ice

To be effective, coaching must be moving. How are teachers moved? Dr. Katie Alaniz says:

Effective coaching must be able to move teachers from just using tech to transforming the learning as a result of technology use.

That’s a powerful quote, right? We all know that coaching has a profound impact on changing how we teach and learn.

The coach’s role is, as Elena Aguilar points out, to “build the capacity of others.” How do you get that done? You ease their learning. That’s why I enjoyed listening to session participant conversations. They started with a powerful quote then added their own experiences. What a mix!

Resource 2: Powerful Digital Tools

When attending a session at the Campus Technology Specialist Academy, there’s an expectation for technology to be omnipresent. Since I am engaged in constant creation, I thought I’d share my digital tool picks. While coaches need not be experts on technology, continuous growth is a goal for them as well as teachers.

coaching
Screenshot by author

To make that easier, I created a list of coaching tools you can access online, also included in the Coaching Reflections app. I have organized them into several categories, including:

  • Classroom Helpers. These are tools that you can share with a classroom teacher to make their life easier.
  • Digitize It. This includes ways to digitize content from comics to keep to digital scanner apps.
  • Image Editing Tools. When you start creating content, you will soon need to edit and create images. These are my favorite tools for getting the job done.
  • Note It. Some people like to make post-it notes, etc. This short list gives you some popular tools.
  • Project Management and Content Curation. Project management is key area, especially when working with many campuses and groups. Sharing select resources with various groups of people is a big part of content curation. These tools will support your efforts.
  • Video/Audio Recording. Working on something technical? You may need to record a quick video walkthrough or tutorial.
  • Virtual Office. Take advantage of tools that allow you to meet at a distance.

Resource 3: Coaching Models

Wish you had a quick overview of coaching models? Be sure to explore the videos included in the CoachReflection app. You will find a wealth of videos that took hours to curate and locate for you. You’ll love the great points these folks make.

coaching
View or get a copy of this Google Slide Deck.

You can also find essential information about these approaches:

The Journey Starts Now

Begin your coaching journey with the Coaching Reflections app. Additionally, TCEA also offers a Campus Technology Specialist Certification for educators working with teachers on integrating technology in the classroom and curriculum. You can also read more articles on coaching on Tech Notes.

Feature Image Source

Photo by author

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Educational ResearchLeadership

How Principals Can Support Instructional Coaches

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you an instructional coach? If you are, then who’s the one person you want in your corner, supporting your efforts? If you said, “campus principal,” you are spot on. Research shows that, without principal support, many initiatives at the campus level fail. Whenever I wanted to push a technology initiative for the good of students and staff, I visited the principal. My campus principal knew how to bring people together, to problem solve and collaborate.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways principals can support instructional coaches. We’ll begin with three important aspects of introducing coaches to campuses.

#1: Cultivate Culture and Climate

If you are a principal, you are immediately responsible for the culture and climate of your school. Ignore the former at the risk of the latter. This truth became evident to me early on in my career. May I share with you how that happened?

When a colleague and I visited a campus in an urban school district, we were both shocked at the wave of negativity there. We felt it as soon as we stepped into the building.  The campus radiated an aura of despair and sadness. Teachers we met with confirmed the feeling.

How had this happened? Even though the principal appeared happy and positive, the underlying culture appeared broken. Trust was lacking. The only values that mattered were the principal’s. Finding out why was easy. Understanding how took years.

Image Source: Culture and Climate

As an instructional coach, when you step onto a campus, you must share the values and norms of that space. Without that shared culture, you will fail. One person who can introduce you, who can vouch for you, is a principal who is in tune with campus culture and climate.

Actions to Take

The climate and culture of school mediate the principal’s impact on learning (source). Some ways to do that include:

  • Identify existing school culture before trying to change it.
  • Make culture (values) and climate (behaviors) transparent to all.
  • Focus on long-term cultural goals to strengthen the learning environment.
  • Achieve real change when you start with school culture, rather than the way the school works.

Culture and climate are bound together. Culture is the values and norms of a school, while climate is the behavior. Researchers report that norms, values, rituals, and climate are all manifestations of culture. Some define culture as shared norms, climate as shared perceptions.

Building a coaching culture involves focuses on shifting unwritten rules. You are shifting values, norms, behaviors, and practices. These build the foundation needed to spread a coaching mindset and practices. The goal is to ensure that coaching becomes a key part of the campus’ identity (adapted from source).

A culture-sensitive principal can assist coaches in navigating the campus cosmology. That is, how everything at that campus came to be. That includes its origin, its development, and what the people there value, as well as how those values manifest themselves in the behavior of a campus. If you want to foster a culture of learning and growth, do what Jim Knight suggests. “Principals  need to do what they expect their teachers to do,” says Jim Knight.

Consider taking these actions on a consistent basis, adopting them slowly over time.

  • Model the actions you want teachers to enact.
  • Work together with staff to identify campus values and behaviors before changing them.
  • Adopt norms, values, and rituals together that reflect who you are as a campus.
  • Immerse instructional coaches in the campus culture and climate.

#2: Embrace Evidence-Based Approaches

Brain-based learning research has powerful implications for what we do in the classroom. But they also speak to our work as campus leaders. Engage the brains of students and staff with approaches that start positive. Work hard to cultivate emotional and physical safety in meetings and interactions. Communicate often, chunk learning, and use collaborative inquiry. Combine the new and unusual to maintain interest in activities that aid learning. Culturally Responsive instruction, wellness, and Social-Emotional Learning are critical.

Adapt evidence-based, instructional strategies for use in classrooms. The work of Mike Bell (author of The Fundamentals of Teaching) combines John Hattie, Robert Marzano, and others. The result is a way to cut low-effect practices that detract from learning. Bell brings together three areas, shown below, and offers up a five-step process.

principal's guide

Image Source: Video, The Fundamentals of Teaching

The five-step process relies on these strategies:

  • Prior knowledge
  • Presenting new material
  • Setting challenging tasks
  • Feedback and improvement
  • Repetition and consolidation

You can find a summary of these ideas and others in the Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO). It contains specific suggestions about strategies and digital tools.

principal's guide

Image Source: DianeSweeney.com, Lessons Learned: Team Coaching Cycles During Hybrid and Distance Learning

#3: Clarify the Coaching Vision and Model

As the instructional leader, involve coaches and campus staff to clarify the coaching vision. Decide on a specific coaching model. This can involve the following actions:

  • Articulate clear roles and responsibilities for coaches.
  • Outline a menu of services.
  • Set up a schedule for one-on-one, small group, and large-group coaching activities.
  • Use coaching cycles, and debrief coaches/teachers to ascertain effectiveness.
  • Avoid combining appraisal and coaching; keep them far apart.

“Create rich opportunities for teachers and coaches to work together,” says Diane Sweeney. The focus must be on “key strategy or instructional practice.” She goes on to encourage you to track how students progress in combination with a new practice.

Begin your journey to supporting instructional coaching with these three guideposts. You will find the negotiation and conversation can be powerful and work affirming.

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Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO) created by author
Educational ResearchGood Teaching

Meet ALDO: Amazing Lesson Design Outline

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ever wish you had an easy-to-follow checklist when designing learning for students? I know I have…often. Some of my colleagues effortlessly design amazing lessons, but I have to plod through each point. But lesson design is something that is critical to ultimate success in the classroom for each student. That’s why I’d like to take a moment to share my latest version of the outline I use. At the end, you will find a custom GPT you can use to get an AI spin on ALDO.

You can also explore this choice board organized with the outline in mind:

ALDO Choice Board
Get your own copy

As you work through this list, ask yourself, “What schema or plan do I follow?” If you show me your district’s mandated lesson plan format, well, that may not get the job done. At the end of this blog entry, I’ll share a heuristic, a Google Doc, that you can use. I like it because it combines many resources in one place and works to help you more efficiently plan your lesson design.

For now, let’s work through the major components of my Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO). Ready? Let’s get started.

Did You Know?

Robert M. Gagne’s Theory of Instruction (1965) offers some suggestions worth revisiting. He divides instruction into nine events. Those events include 1) Gaining attention; 2) Informing learners of objectives; 3) Stimulating recall of prior learning; 4) Presenting the stimulus; 5) Providing learning guidance; 6) Eliciting performance; 7) Providing feedback; 8) Assessing performance; and, 9) Enhancing retention and transfer. You might also enjoy Mike Schmoker’s Focus: Elevating the Essentials visual  or Madeline Hunter’s version. Some prefer the Gradual Release Model. When considering amazing lesson design, it’s important to remember this is well-traveled ground. Find what inspires you.

1 – Relationships First: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Connections

Image Source: CASEL

“Teachers must place a strong emphasis on rigor, relevance, but most of all, on developing relationships with children,” says Dr. Asa Hiliard, former Director of Urban Studies at Georgia State University. I’ve seen this firsthand. Let me share that with you.

Watching my wife, a masterful second grade teacher, you’d never guess she had an outline. Her lesson design first includes building powerful relationships with her students. It has her finding out what TV shows they like, what they like to eat, their life story, and building connections through an ongoing conversation with her class. She focuses in to connect academic content to specific students. Her approach leaves me in awe. When she asks her students to get to work, they do. When it’s time to behave, they do.

The first part of my lesson design outline? It’s build relationships. As Dr. James Comer (Yale University) says:

No significant learning can occur without a significant relationships of mutual respect, teacher to student.

“Brain-based learning can positively impact student motivation, attitudes and academic achievement,” say researchers. Without relationships, students won’t trust what you have to say. Absent powerful relationships between students, you have no community. And that would be a tragedy because of the next step.

2 – Assessment

As coaches and teachers, we have to, as Dr. John Hattie says, “Know our impact.” If you don’t know where students are, you will be unable to give them feedback on future growth. Worse, students won’t be able to self-regulate their own learning when given feedback. Students have to be clear on what they are to know and do. They have to know where they stand in their own learning relevant to growth.

To gauge where students are in their learning, you need to assess them before, during, and after. And those assessments can be low-stakes. They can tie into a wide variety of strategies that are proven to work, including retrieval practice and spaced vs massed practice. They can also rely on a wide variety of digital tools designed for that purpose.

Tip: You may want to use the SOLO Taxonomy to chart student growth. Learn more about SOLO via this blog entry.

3 – Teaching and Learning

The first step for those savvy with brain-based learning research is to engage students. Once you have figured how to best engage students, give thought to another question.

“What high-impact approaches align to the learning intention?” That’s a question that kept me up and reading. How can we align effective, evidence-based strategies to students’ learning needs? You can find a variety of evidence-based, high-effect size strategies that you can use at the best time.

Remember, only rely on one strategy at a time. For example, don’t try to put in place two teaching strategies like direct instruction and flipped classroom. Pick one. The same for students. Avoid trying to teach students to do concept mapping and outlining at the same time. Focus on one until you and your students can do it really well.

Social Media Response to ALDO

Thanks to those of you on social media who have shared ALDO with others. Here’s what some of you are saying:

Fantastic visual representation of the stages of learning and using a critical lense when creating lesson experiences! I can’t wait to use this with our new Ts as they continue to deepen their thinking abt. teaching/learning. Thx! via Meg Burke

Thank you for this wonderful resource! I’m definitely sharing it with my teachers! After having a coaching conversation this morning with a teacher about her PBL lessons, this is a great resource for deep and transfer teaching/learning with intentional design. TY via Myla Lee

The “Amazing Lesson Design Outline” (ALDO) created by Miguel Guhlin @mguhlin for @TCEA features mountains of terrific teaching strategies intuitively organized. Wow! https://bit.ly/3A99v6M via Todd Finley

Great distinction between Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning. via LanguageTeachingLab

Did You Know?

Get a guided introduction to Hattie’s work via the TCEA Strategies That Work courses. What’s more, you get powerful videos, a $49 TCEA membership, and CPE hours for the same or less than buying a book. You have fifteen courses to choose from, including the latest Evidence-Based Teaching course.

The Evidence-Based Teaching course provides a detailed walkthrough of the Amazing Lesson Design Outline (ALDO), including the research underpinnings. It’s the perfect way to introduce your instructional coaches, teachers, and administrators to research that works. Participants earn 12 CPE hours, a digital badge, and certificate upon completion.

 

4 – Assess and Gauge Progress

As you did in Step Two, take a moment to re-assess students. Discover where they are in relation to the learning objective(s). You can rely on existing goals.

ALDOA Cry for Help: I Can’t Form an Online Community

An email request for help came in the other day. My diagnosis? The teachers had not put in place (yet) what they needed to create a sense of community. As a result, it made everything they tried to do difficult. My prescription? Intensify relationship-building efforts with teachers and students. Also, put into place the following tips:

1- Model for teachers social and emotional learning opportunities for virtual classroom use appropriate for the middle school students.

2- Set up criteria, such as a rubric, not as a staff assessment but, for a self-assessment checklist teachers can use when planning lessons. That checklist is the Amazing Learning Design Outline (ALDO) that appears later in this blog entry.

3-Adapt evidence-based strategies to support instruction. For example, this includes direct instruction, jigsaw for introducing concepts and ideas, classroom discussion and/or reciprocal teaching for digging deeper, problem-based teaching, and self-reported grades. Remember, use only one strategy at a time depending on the learning intention.

4-Implement coaching for results. I like Diane Sweeney’s model and suggest you explore the Coaching for Results series (Parts Three, Four, and Five are relevant here). Diane Sweeney has a handy one-pager that is designed to assist coaches with teacher work. It incorporates formative assessments, including entry/exit tickets.

5 – Reflect

Make sure to take some time to reflect on what worked and what did not for both you and your students. What role did technology play in enhancing teaching and learning? You might also ask yourself, What could I do differently next time? How can I assist students in becoming more metacognitive about their own learning experience?

Remember that reflection isn’t only for you as the teacher. It is also for students to engage in.

Get ALDO, the Amazing Lesson Design Outline

Ready to get the ALDO? Keep it by your side as you are planning a lesson or preparing activities. The links to digital tools and resources will soon become gateways to new ideas.

Let’s take a moment to walk through the creation of the prompt via video:

Test the ALDO Coach GPT

Update 1/20/2024: Please note that ALDO has been updated with the latest effect sizes from the Visible Learning MetaX database, and converted to Canva format (Canva is free for educators). Feel free to make copies and share widely so long as credit is given as indicated and original authors (cited in bibliography on page one) remain included.

Get a copy of ALDO v2 (shown above) | View Full Size

Want to view the OLD ALDO v1? Use these links: View the ALDO v1 | Get a Copy of v1

 

 

 

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Just-in-Time Coaching with Discord

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Need just-in-time instructional coaching support? Want to ask a colleague for help? You may be doing that anyways, cobbling together smartphone calls and text messages. You may be running a Google Meet on one computer, a Zoom on another. For the former, you’re chatting with your colleagues with video/audio off. In the latter, you are teaching your class of middle schoolers. Oh, what a complicated mess of apps, windows, and devices.

Looking for more information on coaching for results? Check out this blog entry with a roundup of coaching links.

What you need is a dedicated platform for just-in-time coaching support. In this blog entry, you will learn about one solution in wide use.

Introducing Just-in-Time Coaching

Did you know that 57% of staff have an expectation of just-in-time learning? It’s true. Most of us want to learn something at the point of need when it’s relevant. When it’s not relevant, learning is a waste of time and costs time, effort, and money (Source: CEB Research).

Some of the benefits of just-in-time learning include:

  • Enhances productivity, accuracy, and learning on the go
  • Speeds up learning when it is relevant and relevance motivates learners
  • Facilitates access to up-to-date information and knowledge
  • Ensures knowledge retention

With so many benefits, how can we seize on just-in-time coaching to support staff learning? Some suggest these seven best practices, of which only the top three appear below:

  • Assess what’s currently happening
  • Figure out what’s needed just in time
  • Chunk the learning to make it bite sized and easy to process

Keeping these best practices in mind ensures your coaching conversations are relevant.

Coaching Conversations

discordConversations and dialogue are at the heart of just-in-time coaching. Actions, which serve as the foundation of relationship building, must involve reflection. Fears and insecurities about how a teacher facilitated a lesson must surface. Putting a focus on teaching and learning and on student growth centers those conversations.

In a traditional, face-to-face situation, it’s easier to have these conversations. But what happens in a hybrid learning situation? Often, teachers struggle to get just-in-time support. The instructional coach may sit on the sidelines, watching learning unfold. How can you provide play-by-play coaching support as it happens?

You can scaffold coaching conversation in many ways. Here are a few:

How can coaches provide support to many educators engaged in remote teaching or to educators teaching face to face, but extremely busy? One approach is to rely on a tool gamers have used. Let’s take a look at it, ok?

discord

Introducing Discord

Discord, a free web-based tool with apps for your chosen device, offers digital spaces. These digital spaces include a place for topic-based text channels. What’s more, they include audio and video support.

The different channels and @mentions make it much easier to keep information straight. The voice chat is fantastic for one-on-one meetings during my teacher’s office hours. We can hop in a voice channel and have a conversation. Using Discord brought us closer together as a physics class (adapted from source: Student Comment).

In a real way, Discord makes it possible for you to overlay text, audio, and video over what’s happening. This means that while using any device, including smartphones, teachers can have an “on the spot” coach who can support them in the midst of instruction, near or far.

Setting Up Discord

You can set Discord up via their website, then get a QR code to share with coachees. Let’s walk through the process.

Step 1: Get a Free Account

Go to the Discord website and  register for a free account. Once you do that, you can move to step 2. (Note that you can get an app for your phone, as well as a desktop app for your computer. If you are on a Chromebook or don’t have install rights, you can use your web browser to access Discord. When you set up your server, you can enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for security. There are other useful settings for security.)

Step 2: Set Up Your Own Discord Server

In this no-cost process, you set up your own server to house conversations you will have with coachees.

discord

You will see a follow-up window to start the conversation:

discord

And then you’re ready to start:

discord

Step 3: Customize Your Server

Ready to start? Not quite. You need to invite your coachees, add a fancy icon, send messages, etc. You will also need to set up your channels. Discord offers you text chat channels, not unlike Slack. What’s more, you can set up voice channels that are exclusive to you and a coachee. This makes voice communications easier to track since your one-to-one exchanges end up in one space. Another benefit is that you aren’t relying on text messages with audio notes embedded. Instead, you check one app such as Discord to track text channels and voice channels centered around your coachee.

In the screenshot below, you can see how channels are organized in the left sidebar, while who is online appears in the right. How’s that for just-in-time communications?

discord

Step 4: Invite Friends, er, Coachees

Ready to invite your coachees to Discord? You’ll want to grab a link to share. You can set time limits on how long the link works, as well as the maximum number of uses. That helps enhance the security of your server.

discord

Step 5: Set Up Text or Voice Channels Specific to One Person

You can set up exclusive text channels to have conversations with your educators. These can be text messages, but also offer the opportunity for voice chats. That is, you can create a voice channel and then invite your coachee to join. You have complete control over how long the conversation lasts. This even includes temporary voice chats.

discord

Make Just-in-Time Coaching Easy

There are a lot of possibilities for using Discord for just-in-time coaching. It’s easy to set up and use and works well with a variety of devices. Give it a shot.

Feature Image Source

Photo by LexScope on Unsplash

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Good Teaching

Virtual Learning Strategy #2: Summarization

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In “Virtual Learning Strategy #1: Classroom Discussion,” I highlighted a popular strategy for virtual teachers. Yet classroom discussion does not reign supreme. It is not the sole high-effect size instructional strategy teachers are relying on. In this blog entry, we’ll explore another strategy that has garnered attention for your distant learners.

Weston Kieschnick’s Blended Approach

In his approachable book, BOLD Schools, author Weston Kieschnick (@Wes_Kieschnick) lays out a simple plan that blends a high-effect size strategy with a digital tool. He emphasizes that adding too many tools or strategies can be confusing. Worse, it may have the opposite effect than what you intend, which is, as John Hattie puts it, to speed up student growth in one year.

Let’s explore some of the strategies and digital tools educators are using. Here’s a hint which strategy we’ll be focusing on:

summarization

Strategy #2: Summarization

The second most oft-mentioned strategy is summarization. I have adapted the description below from the Corwin Visible Learning Meta X database:

The ability to summarize a text is often taken as a marker of reading comprehension. For this reason, many scholars have advocated explicit summarization training. For students who struggle with comprehension, explicit summarization training is a recommended.

Summarization isn’t only about finding what’s worth keeping. It can also be about deleting unnecessary material, or  material that is redundant.

The act of summarizing can involve substituting a subordinate term for a list of items. It can also have students selecting a topic sentence. Students may construct a topic sentence if one is only suggested in a text.

Summarization enjoys an effect size of 0.74, the same as reciprocal teaching. This makes it a powerful tool for teachers and even more powerful as a self-regulation strategy for students. Summarization allows students to control their own learning.

In a similar way, teachers can scaffold student metacognition. They need to reflect on their own work. Weston suggests asking practical questions, such as:

  • Which specific strategy will you leverage to meet goals?
  • What will you as the teacher be doing?
  • What will students be doing?

This boils down to a question Diane Sweeney poses: “What instructional practices will help students reach the goal?” Let’s take a stab at responding to these questions. Summarization is the second high-effect size strategy in use to meet academic goals.

Summarization for Virtual Learning

Summarization, a surface learning strategy, works great for introducing students to new learning and plays well with virtua learning tools such as Flipgrid. Here’s what teachers are saying about this digital tool:

  • “I plan on using FlipGrid. Students submit timed audio submissions of them synthesizing the info.”
  • “Students need a lot of practice with summary. I use summary and Flipgrid to empower students. Students can create a summary of a text. Then they critique the summaries of others to determine who had the best summary. It also gives students the benefit of hearing the information several times as well.”

Other resources that have drawn the attention of teachers include KAMI and Buncee. In this example, you can see that selecting text is one way to summarize.

“The HESIS I will use is Summarizing.  I will use KAMI to present a text as it allows students to highlight key terms.  I will have students share the key terms they highlighted. Then, they will discuss why they selected the terms they chose. As a continuation, students share their summaries aloud.

“I could use summarization. Then, I would ask students to use Buncee. They would use it to share their thoughts and notes over the topic,” says another teacher. As you may have noted in each of these responses, there is something missing. Teachers assumed, or chose not to state, what they would be doing.

Let’s revisit Weston’s questions:

  • Which specific strategy will you leverage to meet goals? Summarization is the strategy teachers above chose.
  • What will you as the teacher be doing? We’re not sure what the teacher will be doing to introduce summarization practices. This is something that they could clarify.
  • What will students be doing? Students will summarize or highlight content then share what they have done. Technology tools like Flipgrid, KAMI, Buncee play a key role.

Before we leave these questions, take a moment to reflect on these questions from a teacher and/or coach perspective.

In Their Shoes

How would you, as a teacher, clarify one of the teacher activities above? What instructional practices would you, as a coach, encourage teachers to use? Coaches, be sure to check out Diane Sweeney’s free ebook, Moves for Virtual Coaching.

summarizationDid You Know? 

Get an introduction to core learning, high-effect size instructional strategies. Do that via TCEA’s Strategies That Work, Part 1: Core Components self-paced course. Take the mystery out of teaching and learning strategies. Available online now and get a year of access to content.

Other Digital Tools to Pair with Summarization

In Matching HES Strategies and Digital Tools, find other ed tech tools to pair with summarization. Here’s a quick list:

Digital Annotation Tools

Highlight the Relevant/Irrelevant

Summarization works as a powerful, surface learning strategy. Combine it with a digital tool to move beyond paper and pencil activities and end up with greater engagement and retention.

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Good Teaching

Coaching for Results, Part 5: Completing the Formula

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In the first four parts of the Coaching for Results series, we covered quite a bit of ground. In this blog entry, I’ll share the final two action steps you need to take. I also discuss and share some resources.

Coaching for Results

Image Source: Corwin Press

Of the coaching models available, Diane Sweeney’s calls out to me. Imagine the work and wisdom that went into creating the Results-Based Coaching Tool. In her must-read book on coaching, Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals, Sweeney says:

I have always believed we could find a way to link coaching with student achievement. Yet as a coach, I experienced mandates where I was required to log my daily conversations, turn in my schedule, survey teachers and keep track of which teachers participated in professional development…I realized that if we wanted to collect data that measured the impact of coaching on students then we had to collect a different kind of data.

Her coaching tool arose from the insight and wisdom of her efforts. When I write of coaching for results, it is Sweeney’s efforts I have in mind. But I also combine them with the work of Weston Kieschnick in Bold Schools. Doug Fisher’s, Nancy Frey’s and John Hattie’s work in Visible Learning for Literacy are also relevant. Each of these paints a powerful picture of how the three components can come together in five action steps.

Reviewing the Five Action Steps

The action steps we’ve covered so far include:

  • Action Step #1: Develop and Pre-Assess Learning Outcomes
  • Action Step #2: Select Your High-Effect Size Instructional Strategy
  • Action Step #3: Decide on the Digital Tool(s)
  • Action Step #4: Craft Your Lesson Procedure
  • Action Step #5: Post-Assess Student Learning and Reflect

Coaching for Relevance

The formula is simple to grasp, but complex in each component. You can spend a lifetime learning about each strategy. One example of this is learning when to use high-effect instructional strategies at the surface, deep, and transfer levels of learning. One approach is to consider Sweeney’s methodology, which she outlines in her book:

  • At the beginning of a coaching cycle:
    • Coach and Teacher:
      • Discuss the goals for student learning using “Students will learn…” statements.
      • Preassess students to determine how they are doing in relationship to the goal. Preassessments can take a variety of forms, including the use of technology tools.
  • During the coaching cycle:
    • Coach and Teacher:
      • Design a set of instructional practices that link to the goals for student learning.
      • Determine what coaching practices make sense for the teacher and coach.
      • Work together to put in place instructional practices.
      • Reflect on how those practices assist students in achieving academic goals. (excerpt from Figure 5.1: Capturing Data Across a Coaching Cycle, page 87)

Sweeney includes more suggestions, but one of the key ideas is that  of post-assessment. In post-assessment, we measure performance in relationship to the academic goal. In a similar way, Weston Kieschnick urges us to assess our own praxis. One way could be a depth of knowledge, or use of difficulty and complexity (Fisher, Frey, Hattie, 2016).

coaching for results

Image Source

These assessment tools provide us with insight about what our students know. They also suggest to us areas of potential growth in our own preparation. Having a coach to discuss this can be quite helpful, much the same way I found my colleague’s suggestion.

When we coach for results, we:

  • Assist teachers in crafting instruction that works.
  • Develop tech-enhanced, evidence-based learning experiences that are relevant and rigorous.
  • Scaffold accelerated students growth.
  • Conduct pre/post-assessments that align to high-effect size instructional strategies in use.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the last two action steps.

Action Step #4: Craft Your Lesson Procedure

“Plan your lesson, every activity, thinking through what your students will do.” Words of insight from a few years ago via my colleague, Diana Benner. I was in the throes of planning out a workshop that strained complexity. Whomever your audience for lesson design, put yourself in the place of your students.

In Sweeney’s coaching cycle, this is when the coach and teacher get together. They plan out instructional practices. This means you identify what you are going to do as the teacher, and what students will do. You can put it in narrative form or bullet list. In my own classroom, a graphic organizer worked quite well to map out activities.

Image Source: Bold School

Weston Kieschnick’s book, Bold School, offers many examples. In one of my favorite chapters on Direct Instruction (effect size of .59), he describes it in this way:

What will the teacher do?

  • Using direct instruction, the teacher explains a way of interpreting text/chart, etc…
  • The teacher will then show students an example…
  • With Kahoot!, the teacher solicits students input.
  • The teacher will provide more direct instruction based on results of input….

What will the students do?

  • Students will work to comprehend material.
  • Students will take part in a guided practice exercise.
  • Students will engage in independent practice.

To better illustrate this process, here’s one chart. It focuses on the use of Reciprocal Teaching (.74).

Note: Reciprocal Teaching is a deep learning strategy. It relies on scaffolded student conversations (via sentence stems) to develop skills that include summarization (.74), metacognition (.58), questioning (.48), and vocabulary development (.63). Want to learn how to implement it in your classroom or school? Contact TCEA.org’s empowerED program.

Action Step #5: Post-Assess Student Learning and Reflect

What student data will inform teacher instructional practices? For many educators, learning to analyze state assessment data as a team is familiar. Others may find they need more personalized data. For this, they may rely on a variety of assessment tools, many of which are available online. Some are tech-based, but others can be paper-and-pencil or other.

coaching for results

Image Source: Slide 16

The goal of these assessments is to gain insight into what students know before instruction. It is also to gain insight into what they have learned after instruction. Use assessments to adjust instruction as well to meet the needs of students.

Coaching for Results

Keep in mind that high-effect size instructional strategies endure over time. They do so because they have a growing body of research that reveals their efficacy in accelerating student growth. Use technology in ways that make learning relevant to real life, and amplify the impact of strategies that work. When relevant, use it. When not, skip the tech. Focus on accelerating student growth and you won’t go wrong. Remember that less is more.

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