The "Big Money" Question

That teacher you have been trying to get into coaching finally comes to you and asks you for help in the classroom. You ask, “What is it you are thinking about working on?” And she responds, “I need help getting my first graders going in guided reading.” Your head swims with possibilities, after all, you taught guided reading for years and this is an area that you feel comfortable with. But then it hits you, there are too many possibilities…where should you start? You hold back from throwing out a thousand ideas and ask the “big money” question, “What is it that you want your students to be able to do as readers?” Suddenly the conversation shifts, and you are on your way to a focused and clear conversation that is about student learning.

Modifications for Secondary-
The same conversation takes place but replace “guided reading” with any of the following “classroom management, student engagement, or rigor” and you are in the same coaching place. You ask the same question, “What is it that you want your students to be able to do?” and you are off and running.

If I were to suggest having one vital question in your back pocket this would be it. As you get into a cycle, this question can be changed to any of the following, “What are we seeing that the students are doing?” “What do we still hope for among our students and what have they accomplished?” The bottom line is focus questioning on students more and on the teacher less.

Coaching Cycles vs. Drive-By Coaching

Coaching can feel scattered and superficial at times and this feeling makes the coaches I work with feel nervous. They aren’t sure there will be any noticeable outcomes from their work with teachers and this leads them to worry about issues around their own efficacy. A wonderful group of coaches in St. Joseph, MO coined the term “drive-by coaching” to describe the crazed coaching they were finding themselves doing most of the time.

To address this concern, we worked together to implement coaching cycles which I describe as:
- In-depth work with a teacher or pair of teachers, lasting approximately 6-9 weeks
- The focus of a cycle is determined by the learner (the teacher) rather than the coach
- The focus of the cycle comes from examining either formal or informal data and is ideally student-centered rather than teacher centered
- Coaching cycles include regular planning sessions, such as a 30-50 minute planning session per week and 1-3 times per week in the classroom for co-teaching, modeling instruction, or observing the teacher
- Coaching cycles are not predetermined by a school leader or coach, this fails to allow the teacher to engage in the cycle and it encourages the attitude that the coach is there to “fix” teachers
- Coaching cycles are a portion of a coach’s work. In addition to cycles, coaches facilitate small and large group learning for teachers, gather resources for teachers, informally plan with teachers, etc.

If you are a full-time coach, you can most likely take on no more than 3-5 cycles at a time, this leaves you lots of time to manage your other duties and also continue with some informal coaching conversations. If you are a part-time coach, than that number may have to be scaled back.

In future postings, we’ll discuss how to get teachers to participate in a coaching cycle.