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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

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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

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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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Coaching for Results, Part 4: Accelerated Growth

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you coach for high-effect size instructional, technology-enhanced strategies? In the first three parts of the Coaching for Results series, we explored coaching models. We also spent time clarifying vocabulary. In this blog entry, I will share five action steps to achieve accelerated student growth.

Reviewing the Components

Think of the components as reactants in a chemical formula that results in a product. The product? Accelerated student growth. It might look like this:

HESIS + STI + SCC –> Accelerated Student Growth

The fusion of the three reactants yields accelerated student growth. Isn’t that amazing? Of course, it’s not as simple as a chemical formula. The three components that must combine include the following:

  • High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies( HESIS). Describes evidence-based strategies highlighted in John Hattie’s research. Static info on the strategies leaves you looking at what worked in the past. The latest, best source of fresh insights is online. Instead of books, use Corwin Publishing’s Visible Learning MetaX database. It’s an interactive database that allows you to pull up the HESIS and supporting research.
  • Strategic Technology Integration (STI). Addresses the use of ed tech tools. Those can include many available now, such as EdPuzzle, Padlet, G Suite EDU, Microsoft EDU, etc. The goal of these is to “elevate” the HES Instructional Strategies.
  • Pupil-Centric Coaching Efforts (PCC). Diane Sweeney (@Sweeney_Diane) suggests instead of starting with teachers, we begin with students. It’s a powerful shift in perspective from traditional coaching. To do that, Diane includes a results-based coaching tool (view Google Doc version). The tool provides an excellent model to follow.

Innovation flourishes at the juxtaposition of ideas, so let’s put these ideas together.

Action Steps Overview

As you know, Weston Kieschnick (@Wes_Kieschnick) inspired these steps in his book Bold School. To get a greater effect, I’m going to suggest we include some of Diane Sweeney’s work on coaching tools. There is quite a bit of overlap in Diane’s and Wes’ approaches, so it makes sense to combine them.

Action Step #1: Develop and Pre-Assess Learning Outcomes

Focusing on learning outcomes enables both teacher and coach to develop student-centered goals. What’s more, focusing on learning outcomes lets you connect to standards-based goals. Weston suggests several questions. One of the important ones is What priority standards will you focus on? If you were going to write these as “I can” statements for students, what would they look like?

Tip: Avail yourself of resources for the standards. These include The TEKS Resource Center, the TEKS, and the ISTE Standards for Students.

It’s worth pointing out that the effect size of the Teacher Clarity Goals is d=.75. This makes Teacher Clarity a core teaching factor that influences learning. Unlike other high-effect size (HES) instructional strategies, it affects everything you do. Here’s an example of Teacher Clarity for this blog entry:

  • What am I learning today? A process for combining research-based instructional strategies with technology tools to achieve standards-based learning. Follow up with how to best coach (and be coached) in a pupil-centric classroom.
  • Why am I learning this? Knowing how to integrate technology into effective, evidence-based strategies to achieve curricular objectives is critical. Knowing how to coach and be coached in this process is important. The more we all know, the better.
  • How will I know that I have learned this? I’ll be able to apply effective strategies, educational frameworks, and pupil-centric coaching (PCC).

Note that clarifying these goals in a consistent way can impact students. Do this for every lesson, and your students will gain almost two years of growth in one year. Isn’t that incredible? Some educators craft these in shorter statements that begin:

  • Today we will…
  • So we can…
  • We will know we have it when…

As you identify desired academic goals, Diane Sweeney recommends collecting some baseline data. She suggests you assess who is proficient, almost there, or below. You can use a variety of pre-assessment instruments (including ed tech tools that make this easier).

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Note: Effect sizes displayed in the chart above have been updated in the Visible Learning MetaX database.

Action Step #2: Select Your High-Effect Size Instructional Strategy

In this action step, you will reflect on the academic standards and skills you want students to know. Weston suggests asking questions that are quite practical. For example, which specific HES instructional strategy will you leverage to meet goals? Diane poses a relevant question of “What instructional practices will help students reach the goal?” Two follow-up questions Weston suggests include:

  • What will I as the teacher be doing?
  • What will students be doing?

For example, the teacher may rely on direct instruction (effect size of .59).  In regards to the second question focused on students, we have to ask which strategy works best? High-effect size strategies fall into several categories. Understanding these may assist you in selecting one.

Approaches that help students’ surface-level learning may not work for deep learning. This is true in reverse (deep learning strategies may not work for surface learning).

Match the right approach with the appropriate phase of learning. – Hattie, Fisher, and Frey (Visible Learning for Mathematics, 2017)

These are organizational categories for educators, but they are more to students where they serve as stages of learning. Click the strategy to learn more about it.

Gaining a deeper understanding of high-effect size instructional strategies can be difficult. Remember to come back to the two questions by asking yourself, “What will you and your students be doing in the lesson?” This will assist you.

Also, you should keep your use of strategies simple. For example, as teacher you may choose to use Direct Instruction or Explicit Teaching. Use these to answer the first question, “What will the teacher do?” and then map out what you will do. To answer the second question (student), consider whether this is concept/skill focused. Select a strategy from the surface learning category. If it’s deep learning, use one of those strategies. Once you have decided on what you will be doing and what students will be doing, you’re ready for Action Step #3.

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Action Step #3: Decide on the Digital Tool(s)

Was the temptation to jump to Action Step #3 overwhelming? For ed tech advocates, the rush to select a digital tool is strong. So many tech tools are available now, it’s tempting to use as many as possible. To better explore this, you’ll find several sections below. Those include 1) Finding Free Tools; 2) A Quick Example; and 3) Coaching for Digital Tools. Let’s begin our exploration.

Get the Google Doc that matches high-effect size instructional strategies
with technology tools

Finding Free Tools

Which tech tool best aligns to a chosen high-effect size instructional strategy? While I have some suggestions available (which appear in Part 5 of this series), check these ideas out:

coaching

1. TCEA App Lists. How do you determine what apps are game-changing and which should you skip? Check out this collection of apps. You will find an iOS, Chrome, and Android app list.

2. EdSurge Product Index. This community-sourced database offers quite a lot, including a list of classroom-related activity software, apps, and more.

3. EdTech Advisor. This exclusive platform curates new digital tools and aligns them to the ISTE Standards. You can find digital tools (e.g. apps) via a search dashboard that also allows you to search by grade level, product type, and more.

4. Miguel’s List of Free Tools. Want to find free digital tools? Check out my free resources. They include Free Resources for Teachers and Free News Sources. Also, Copyright-Friendly Media includes a list of free tools, apps, and websites. You may want to read this blog entry, Buncee-Based Learning, to see how to match one strategy to a digital tool.

The challenge isn’t finding digital tools. It’s knowing how they “elevate,” as Weston K. points out, a HES instructional strategy. A bit of wisdom: You may want to unleash many HESIS and digital tools. Resist the temptation. Choose just one strategy for students and look for technology that makes it better.

In Part 5, I will share a lesson that aligns to each of the action steps. For now, let’s take a look at an easy one, a digital tool many of us have access to, multimedia slide decks. Multimedia slide deck tools abound. Some you may be familiar with include G Suite EDU, PowerPoint, Buncee, and Prezi.

Source: Joel Bednar (@jsbednar) Tweet

A Quick Example

Use a multimedia slide deck in two ways. For the teacher, you can use it as a way to organize information for direct instruction. With direct instruction, you present material in a straightforward, sequential manner. You control the content or skill. This works great as a way to introduce students to fresh ideas they may have no or little prior knowledge about. That makes it a great surface learning approach.

For students, you want to give them a systematic approach to understand the content. With a textual passage, summarization would work. Again, students are learning about new information unfamiliar to them. They summarize the main ideas of a text (fiction or non-fiction) in audio format. Then put the text excerpt on the slide. Their summary may appear in slide notes. To the slide, they add audio.

Summarization enjoys a learning effect size of 0.74, which accelerates student growth. Students can also include a variety of media that expand on their summary.

Coaching for Action Step #3

An instructional coach can play a key role in narrowing down both the HESIS and digital tools, but a solid knowledge of Hattie’s strategies and digital tools is critical. It is important to ask these questions:

  • How will student achievement increase because of the strategies and digital tools selected?
  • How will technology deepen the impact of a high-effect size instructional strategy? Will it add or subtract from the learning?

Coaching support, as Diane Sweeney points out, focuses on:

  • Creating learning targets
  • Collecting student evidence during class
  • Analyzing student work
  • Establishing success criteria
  • Planning collaboratively with the teacher
  • Sharing learning and insights to enhance content and pedagogy

coaching

These components are critical to success. Coaches may need to bring in an educational framework.

You may also need to use something like Willard Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance (more) framework. Use a research-backed edtech framework (you can find several online at this site).

In the final segment of this series, we’ll continue our exploration of action steps and you will get suggestions for digital tools that align to HES instructional strategies.

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Coaching for Results, Part 3: Terminology

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you blend technology into instruction while also providing coaching support? In this third installment of  Coaching for Results, we’ll explore several key concepts. Then we’ll put it all together. Before we do that, it’s important to clarify vocabulary, so let’s begin with that.

Overlapping Terms

The following list of words and phrases often mean different things to people. Let’s take a look at each one and define it.

  • Blended learning
  • Coaching
  • Evidence-based learning
  • Instructional strategies
  • High-effect size instructional strategies a la John Hattie
  • Technology integration
  • Strategic technology integration

As you might imagine, quite a bit of confusion exists around each of these terms and they do overlap each other.

Clarifying Vocabulary

Let’s revisit what some of the terms used in this blog entry mean to most of us:

  • Blended learning:  This term has resulted in much confusion. It is often seen as the successor to the term “technology integration.” Clayton Christensen defines the term as “not the same as technology-rich instruction.” It’s often seen as the way to blend technology into teaching and learning. Blended learning advocates incorporate the idea of active, engaged learning with a flipped classroom approach. Station rotation includes activities like small group instruction and group work. Advocates like Caitlin Tucker (see my Wakelet on her work) include online learning.  Collaborative projects are a key component of Caitlin’s brand of blended learning.
  • Coaching: Many coaching approaches are teacher-centric. That is, they are about building relationships with staff. The goal is that these will result in changes to teaching practice. When we shift our focus from the teacher to student, then we may get the results we seek. Many coaching models exist. Two worth your time include Knight’s The Impact Cycle and Diane Sweeney’s Student-Centered Coaching. Diane’s efforts focus coaches on student-centered change efforts which transform teaching practice.  We’ll come back to Diane Sweeney’s approach later.
  • Evidence-based learning: Many different kinds of activities find their way into classrooms today. Some are not evidence-based, or based on research that is in itself questionable. As Cathy Lassiter points out, “Many old assumptions about what works best in education have been disproven.” As a result, we have to rethink positions on certain instructional strategies. This requires accepting new research that challenges what we once believed to work. Evidence-based learning means no less than knowing how new research defines success. What we do as teacher and students must align to the findings of scientific research. This means new research takes precedence over what we would like to believe. Old, disproven assumptions offer opportunities for reflection and new learning.
  • Instructional strategies: This includes the entire collection of instructional strategies (sans ed tech) available to us. (Check out this extensive list here.) As educators, we’ve seen many instructional strategies. Some are research-based, many are not. How do you differentiate between cutesy activities and strategies that work?
  • High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies (HESIS): “We have no right to teach in a way that leads to students gaining less than d= 0.40 within a year,” says John Hattie (Visible Learning, 2009). These are research-based strategies that are shown to work. Now, when I say research-based, this isn’t your run of the mill research. You can learn more about these strategies online. As educators, why not use strategies that work best instead of those that are less effective? In particular, strategies that meet or exceed an effect size of >.40. These HESIS have the potential to accelerate student learning in one school year. Instead of one year’s growth that some instructional strategies offer, these accomplish more. For example, jigsaw has an effect size of 1.2, equating to three or more years of growth for a student in one year. If you focus on using high-effect size instructional strategies, students will learn faster.
  • Technology integration: This is an older term that many ed tech veterans have relied on. It is a catch-all phrase that involves using technology as part of teaching and learning. Some see it as an all-inclusive term that includes blended learning, while others dismiss it as first level use. Whatever your definition, the term is old, abused, and difficult to refresh. Many choose to abandon it in favor of “blended learning” (leading to confusion). Others use terms such as “technology-rich instruction” in lieu of it. Both replacement terms lack specificity.
  • Strategic technology integration: Weston Kieschnick coined this term. He refers to it as a merging of two components. That is, Hattie’s high-effect size instructional strategies with educational technology.  The term includes the use of both desktop and internet-based technology approaches. This includes blended learning as both Caitlin Tucker and Clayton Christiansen define them.

Three Aspects

Now that we have a clearer understanding of terminology, we can get to the heart of good teaching. Achieving academic standards is accomplished through the union of three aspects of teaching and learning. Those aspects include the fusion of the following:

  • High-effect size instructional strategies
  • Strategic technology use in the classroom
  • Pupil-centric coaching efforts

We merge these so that we may construct evidence-based learning experiences. These experiences lead to accelerated growth as John Hattie defines it.

  • High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies (HESIS). Past assumptions have not held up. Consider Natalie Wexler’s and Cathy Lassiter’s perspectives. Hattie provides definitive work on the subject of what strategies work and when it is best to use them.
  • Strategic Technology Integration (STI). The prevalence of technology in today’s society makes strategic technology integration critical. That is, as Weston Kieschnick says, technology integration that elevates high-effect size instructional strategies.
  • Pupil-Centric Coaching Efforts. This is Diane Sweeney’s student-centered coaching. It involves doing pre- and post-assessments of student learning followed by discussions with the teacher and student about both instructional strategies and strategic technology integration.

How do we combine these into a working model? To simplify the process, Weston Kieschnick offers five actions we can take. With some minor modifications, we can see how these three components can work together.

In part four of the series, I’ll share the fusion of these three aspects in a working model you can use in your K-12 or adult classroom.

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Coaching for Results, Part 2: The Impact Cycle

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“We’re getting started with coaching in our district,” said the technology director. “We thought that for the first year, we would build relationships on campuses. After that, we could look at coaching models to adopt. What are your thoughts?” I have to admit that the question with the long lead-up caught me off guard. How would I go about selecting a coaching model for my school district?

Ed Tech Coach Visioning

Back in March, 2016, I had spent some serious time researching coaching models. My goal was to offer suggestions that were more ed tech friendly. My curriculum and instruction counterparts were eyeing Jim Knight and Karen Anderson’s Results Coaching.  Having attended training for the latter, I was a bit leery. It involved crying and digging into personal feelings and thoughts. While there was a lot to like, you had to mind your vocabulary choices, and neither version or hybridization of models offered ed tech support.

My proposal had the following suggested purpose:

The purpose of district ed tech coaches is to put in place a coaching model. This models seeks to provide a professional helping relationship and process. The coach, possessing expertise and experience, aids the teacher. The teacher, with support, will learn and get new skills by a colleague.

To make the proposal irresistible, I included four must-have aspects. Let’s take a quick look at those.

Four Aspects of Ed Tech Coaches

The proposal described coaches as having four aspects to the work of coaching:

  • Instruction and Technology Coach. This aspect of the coach focuses on the how of instruction. It also seeks to ease staff’s use of technology-enhanced processes. This means putting in place new processes that redefine current teaching, learning, and leading tasks.
  • Data Coach. These strategies focus on staff examination of student achievement data, making it easier to design instruction and to make curricular decisions.
  • Resource Coach.  This component focuses on coaches maintaining resources for each other and staff. This includes management of a variety of digital tools and resources for teachers and students to use in a technology-rich learning environment.
  • Classroom Supporter.  This involves working side-by-side with a teacher to model effective teaching. Co-planning, co-teaching, and engaging in reflective conversations are critical to teaching and learning.

As you might imagine, the proposal was not accepted. At the time, instructional coaching was a bit nebulous. And the proposal failed to articulate key components of any coaching model. You can read the complete proposal online. As my first effort, it was worthwhile because it does set the coach up as a superhero.

Coaching Model #2: Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching

All coaching models lead back to the seminal work of Jim Knight. Even the collegial coaching model which I recommended for use by ed tech coaches hearkens back to his work. Jim Knight points out that any new coaching program must address seven success factors.

  1. Do you have a coaching cycle with student-focused goals?
  2. How do you work with adults? Teachers as partners?
  3. Do you have a set of teaching practices or instructional playbook?
  4. How do you gather data?
  5. Do you have communication skills?
  6. Are you a leader in the way coaches need to be a leader?
  7. Are you supported by the principal?

It would take too long to go into each of the seven success factors. You can read a bit about each in Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching blog. This four minute video also does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the seven factors.

Overcoming Professional Development Woes

“You are doing anchor charts all wrong,” said one session facilitator to an elementary school teacher. “When she said that,” reported the teacher, “I lost all confidence in her. Since she did it in front of the entire grade level team, everyone turned her off. We went to see the principal later.” This real life situation occurred in the midst of a professional development session. As you might imagine, that workshop facilitator is now persona non grata in our school. It’s easy to mess up in a professional development session. Someone can ask a challenging question and the next thing you know, you’re on the defensive and saying something wrong.

In a recent article, Jim Knight points out that in the past, teachers:

  • Had low expectations for professional development
  • Did not find that professional development met their needs
  • Complained that professional developers failed to recognize expertise teachers had
  • Seldom implemented what they heard about in workshops
  • Perceived professional development facilitator’s approach as a barrier to implementation

He suggests an instructional coaching model that makes partners of teachers. In this coaching model, teachers rely on what they know and their own experience. This ensures that teachers work to determine the best practices for their classroom. To do that, Jim Knight recommends the three-stage Impact Cycle (view the Impact Cycle Checklist).

The Impact Cycle consists of the steps of Identify, Learn, and Improve. As you might imagine, this particular model differs from Diane Sweeney’s student-centered coaching. Yet it is flexible enough to use in a variety of ways.

Coaching for Results: The Impact Cycle

Finding the right coaching model can be tough. In the next portion of this series, we’ll take a look at some other coaching models. Be sure to check out other coaching blog entries.

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Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Coaching for Results, Part 1: Exploring Coaching Models

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

““When schools lack an articulated coaching model, confusion reigns and a precious resource is wasted,” say authors Diane Sweeney and Ann Mausbach. Finding the right coaching model for your school or district can be a daunting task. In a recent workshop, I facilitated the exploration of various models and their dynamics. In this blog entry, we’ll explore those dynamics to gain insight into coaching models.

Why Coaching?

Wondering why schools are adopting coaching to assist teachers? “Effective coaching makes it easier for teachers to learn and implement new ideas. Indeed, without follow-up such as coaching, most professional learning will have little effect,” says Jim Knight.

Research shows that coaching is 95%-99% effective in changing professional development outcomes. This makes it a change that adds significant value in classrooms. As such, it has the best hope of impacting teaching and learning for the better.

Instructional coaches provide teachers (source) with the:

  • Best job-embedded professional development (even better than Twitter and social media)
  • Highest possible positive impact on student achievement in literacy and mathematics
  • Action research that yields positive gains in classroom teaching and learning

The last point results from conducting formative assessments to gauge student progress.  Research suggests that coaches are a worthwhile innovation, a change that adds value:

Most educators agree that a qualified, experienced coach offers value-added support to teachers…. [Coaching] can improve teachers’ skillful delivery of reading instruction. The…role of the coach can bring job satisfaction as a collegial contributor of professional learning…. (Source: NRTAC Study, 2010)

In the final analysis, coaching can have a positive impact. Let’s take a look at some popular coaching models. We’ll start with Diane Sweeney‘s Student-Centered Coaching. She provides an amazing lens through which to understand coaching models.

Coaching Model #1: Student-Centered Coaching

“The coach partners with teachers to design learning that is based on a specific objective for student learning,” says Diane Sweeney. In her book Student-Centered Coaching, Diane shares a comparison of various coaching models. In her chart below, Sweeney puts student-centered coaching at the far left, showing that is has a greater impact on learning. In the middle, she has teacher-centered coaching. To the far right is relationship-driven coaching. The table outlines the various attributes of each, focusing on role, focus, use of data, materials, perception of the coach, and the role of relationships.

student-centered coaching

A key point that Diane Sweeney makes is that being student-centered provides a powerful lever that allows every conversation to focus attention on student learning. This is different from other coaching models.

What Do Other Models Focus On?

“Without student work, coaching quickly slips toward being more about teaching practice and less about student learning. Student work keeps coaching conversations grounded and specific, and propels student learning,” says Diane Sweeney in Student-Centered Coaching (pp. 12-13). Other models may focus on teaching practice or relationship building, which may be beneficial, but do not bring the high impact on student learning. They tend to focus on the coach moving teachers. This movement could be to roll out a program or adopt a set of instructional practices. Programs that focus on this type of movement are teacher-centered, rather than student. This presents a bit of a challenge, given how hard it is to expect teachers to change. The drawback, of course, for teacher-centered coaching is that teachers must change. It’s all about the teacher’s efforts and getting them to adopt strategies that work.

What Works Best for Ed Tech Evangelists?

What coaching model do your efforts at educational technology advocacy fall into? Many ed tech coaches focus on providing just-in-time support to teachers, urging them to change what they do. Instructional practices consist of PBL, tool-centric workshop sessions. The latter focus on making the teacher’s job easier. Other times, it’s about building strong relationships and trust. Or both.

Connecting technology with strategies that work is essential, albeit insufficient. In Sweeney’s model, coaches and teachers must put technology in the service of student learning. They must answer the question, “How did this impact student learning? Where’s the evidence?”

Student-Centered Evidence

If you’re wondering where to find student evidence of learning, look at the tasks and work students produce. That work can include any or all the following:

  • Continuous, formative assessment
  • Anecdotal and descriptive

Since using student evidence to co-plan instruction, Sweeney proposes a Results Coaching Tool. As you can see from the tool, it has several major components:

  • Standards-Based Goal. This includes the gathering of baseline data that focuses on the question, “Where are the students now?”
  • Instructional Practice. “What instructional practices will help students reach the goal?”
  • Instructional Coaching. “What coaching practices were implemented during this coaching cycle?”
  • Teacher Learning. “As a result of the coaching, what instructional practices are being used on a consistent basis?”
  • Student learning. “How did student achievement increase as a result of the coaching?” Post assessment data is used to gauge where students are after instruction.

As you review Sweeney’s tool, you may be able to make similar connections, as I did, to where educational technology interventions may fit in. More on that in a future blog post.

As you might imagine, there are many parallels to other coaching models. What sets Sweeney’s approach apart from models such as collegial coaching is its reliance on student evidence. Check back for future blog entries that introduce you to other coaching models.

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