Coaching Conversation Tip Sheet

Coaching Tip Sheet

Informative approach to directive coaching:

An informative approach to directive coaching involves a teacher who is actively seeking advice from their coach; seeking answers to questions or solutions to problems. This approach can be very successful and it is quite simple in it’s process but it presents one main issue in some cases: The teacher must at some point go without the coaching so the teacher needs to start coming to their own conclusions.

This is an example of how the informative/directive coaching method can work. The

process can be described in steps as noted in the 2015 article “Active ingredients of

instructional coaching: Developing a conceptual framework”.

Joint planning - Coach and Teacher (Client) meet and discuss the upcoming class needs and where the teacher feels they need the most support

Action/Practice - The teacher in this phase should attempt to use their skills as they currently exist by providing instruction in their most typical/natural ways.

Observation - While the teacher provides instruction, the Coach and teacher both make observations about the effectiveness of the instruction.

Individual reflection - Coach and Teacher should take time to separately reflect on their observations following the teacher’s instruction.

Feedback - The coach and teacher agree to meet after a certain number of days. They discuss the personal reflections that they noted after making observations during teaching sessions.

Reflective discussion - “evaluating whether impressions aligned with data, or examining implications for certain observed behaviors. This stage served as a valuable tool” to monitor progress and provide overall impressions” (White 2015)

Catalytic Approach to Facilitative Coaching

Facilitative coaching differs from directive coach principally in the way that instead of providing answers to the teacher, the coach should rather pave the way for the teacher to discover their own answers. The catalytic approach to this facilitative method of coaching uses direct questioning to help teachers discover their path, possibly discovering a specific path, as intended by the coach. This process can be broken up into multiple steps:

Step 1: Teacher Information

Teacher presents information to the coach. This includes experiences in the past, important skills being developed, and aspirations for the future.

Step 2: Coaching Inquiries

Coach observes class(es) and responds with three important types of feedback: Strengths, Areas for Improvement, and Development Recommendations. These areas are addressed via a line of questioning which is geared toward helping the teacher move in a direction that the coach feels is necessary?

• What is the goal?

• Is the goal being achieved?

• How does this benefit the students?

• How could the current plan be modified to better meet the needs of the class?

Step 3: Development Plan

The teacher and coach agree on a Personal Development Plan for the teacher after observations, questioning, and realizations have taken place. The teacher should have the ability to move on from this point with some new tools and possibly a new direction with which to proceed.

Recourses:

White, A. S., Howell Smith, M., Kunz, G. M., & Nugent, G. C. (2015). Active ingredients of

instructional coaching: Developing a conceptual framework (R2Ed Working Paper No. 2015-3).

Retrieved from r2ed.unl.edu