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Background
Initial Attempts
A Working Model
Action Steps
Implementation
First Launch Meeting
Second Launch Meeting
Weekly Meetings
Reflections and Next Steps
Successes
Room For Growth and Next Steps
Citations
Appendix 1 - Meeting Agendas For First Two Launch Meetings
Appendix 2 - Collegial Coaching Survey and Gallery Walk
Appendix 3 - Staff Responses from Collegial Coaching Meeting Number 1
Appendix 4- Responses Around Possible Areas to Focus On In Coaching
Appendix 5 - Co-coaching Script
Appendix 6 - Smart Goal Planner
Appendix 7 - A Menu Of Opportunities
Appendix 8 - Key Takeaways From Discussion of the New Yorker Article
Appendix 9: All Staff Email to Help Direct Informal Coaching Meetings
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Appendix 10 - Exit Survey
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Fieldwork Reflection #1: Collegial Coaching
Standard 2 – Student Learning & Professional Growth
Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to
student learning and staff professional growth.
Background
Many professional development opportunities for teachers do not result in long term
changes in teachers’ behavior or attitudes. This is not because the ideas and approaches aren’t
valuable but rather because there are the natural limitations of short term training and
demonstrations. Coaching, has shown the potential to fill this gap in professional development
( Tschannen-Moran, 2010). Becker (2000) describes peer or collegial coaching as a process
where two professional colleagues work together for a specified period time with a
predetermined purpose to improve their teaching practice. Becker goes on to say that the goals
and purpose of the work together can be broad. Observations, reflecting on practice, and building
new skills are all work that can take place within a coaching relationship. But one characteristic
of peer coaching persists in most successful coaching relationships - the nature of the
relationship is non-judgmental and non-evaluative (Boaler, 2000).
Initial Attempts
Several years ago we implemented a critical friends program at our school site. Teachers
paired off as ‘critical friends’. They met on a semi-regular basis to discuss teaching practices and
to support one another's growth. While participants were initially excited about having critical
friends, the outcome of the program did not live up to initial expectations.
From my recollection,individual meetings did not have specific goals set up before hand,
and was there no protocol in place to help scaffold the shared time. Additionally, the end goal of
the coaching relationship was never specifically established, or if it was, it was not done in a way
that was sticky. Additionally, we did not reflect on what went well during the process or what
could be improved. At the same time, teachers believed that such a program could be useful, but
were not sure how to make that happen.
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There were two reasons I suggested pairing up with the elementary. First, the majority of
the elementary staff were new this year and it offered the possibility of creating meaningful
relationships across the schools. Secondly, familiarity can sometimes hinder accountability. By
setting up times to meet with people we were less familiar with, the probability of making it
those meetings might increase.
Although I suggested this idea in my initial email it did not come up in our face to face
meetings. I should have pursued clarification. Melissa might not have brought it up because she
thought it was impractical or because she simply didn’t remember that I had suggested it. But
either way my approach was to wait for her to bring it up and when she didn’t I did not take the
initiative to address it.
The other idea that have not yet tried was making the program voluntary. In my
experience with coaching, success required active and committed participation. If the program
was voluntary the overall number of participants might have been smaller but the quality of
participation might have been higher. Additionally, in my professional experience I have often
seen good ideas fail when the were implemented to widely to quickly. My hope was to grow a
core group of coaching participants who could provide anecdotal and inspirational evidence of
the value of coaching.
In my initial email to Melissa, she described this idea as interesting but said that she
wanted to talk more about it. Once again I waited for Melissa to to address it and when she didn’t
I did not pursue it. Here, again, I think I behaved too passively. I did not need to push my
agenda, but I could have pursued clarification. This fieldwork activity has helped me become
more aware of this behavior in and in future fieldwork reflections I will continue to examine it.
Implementation
Melissa, Edrick and I had two planning meetings before launching the co-coaching
program at our site. During these meetings we established general goals for the program. These
goals included:
● To create a structure where teachers would have the opportunity to engage in meaningful
conversations around pedagogy and practice.
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● To have participants set goals that were meaningful to their practice.
● To use coaches to help create positive accountability for those goals.
● To pair teachers by common areas of growth rather than experience.
Our first Launch meeting took place on September 23rd and we plan to wrap up our first cycle of
the program right before Thanksgiving Break. We estimated that during our first our first cycle,
coaches would have about 8 weeks of coaching time together.
First Launch Meeting
Our first launch meeting took place during a morning meeting slot and approximately
thirty minutes were allotted for the meeting. We had several goals for this meeting. We hoped to
share the ideas for coaching that came out of our initial planning meetings. We wanted to ground
our approach to collegial coaching in our own experiences with coaching. We wanted to get
feedback from staff about what they hope to get out of a coaching program. We sought to
provide teachers an opportunity with share their strengths, goals and challenges with each other
to help them make choices about who they might like to co-coach with. Finally, we wanted staff
to select preferred coaching partners.
Gallery walk. We used a written reflection followed by a gallery walk help faculty share
their areas of strength and growth. There were a wide variety of responses. The data is
summarized into broad categories the following table:
Classroom Management Teaching
Strategies/Assessment
Strategies
Excellency Culture and Equity
becoming more organized
curating work
managing classroom
materials
classroom structures
setting and keeping
project deadlines
workflow in project work
strategies to teach reading
structures to capture
student growth
lesson planning
integrating academic
standards into projects
dynamic and engaging
activities and lessons
creating discussion
analysis around fiction
having meaningful
discussions with students
maintaining high
expectations
student mindset
changing perceptions of
what math is and what it
means to understand math
creating safe spaces for kids
creating comfortable
physical spaces
fostering good relationships
with students
differentiationequitable group structures
communicating with parents
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There were no themes that seemed to emerge more than others, but many of the topics were
indirectly or directly related to school culture and equity. This was encouraging because it shows
that these topics are on our minds. It also suggests that teachers see co-coaching as possible
avenue to address some of these issues.
We used the data to help teachers self select each other as partners but did not actively
integrate the data into other aspects of the coaching planning. There might be a broader use for
this data such as providing suggested structures to help participants achieve growth in their
selected areas within the coaching time frame.
Two key issue that teachers addressed in the survey were that they wanted a well defined
structure to their coaching meeting times, and they wanted time to be set aside on a regular basis
for the coaching meetings. The feedback we received informed several decisions including:
● Providing a script (appendix 5) that coaches could use to structure their meetings.
It was designed to be efficient and focus on goal setting.
● Providing a smart goal setting template( appendix 6) to help coaches structure
their time during the 8 week session.
● Provide a list of menu options that particip ( appendix 7 )
● Encouraging coaches to week regularly on Wednesday mornings even when we
did not meet as an entire staff.
The feedback we received from staff about the launch was unanimously positive. Staff enjoyed
the gallery walk of colleagues strengths and goals, they felt the meeting and the plan for
co-coaching was well structured and they were generally appreciative and excited about next
steps. Teachers also generated a lot of ideas about how they would like the spend the
co-coaching time. Getting ideas from colleagues about what they’d like from coaching was a
first step at creating a shared vision for the coaching program. Aguilar (2013) encourages
coaches to establish a vision for their coaching program, and even suggests creating a vision
statement for the program. You can find all the documents related to the launch in Appendices 2,
3 and 4 .
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Second Launch Meeting
For our second pre launch meeting we also had several goals. But our primary goal was
to begin to build a relationship of trust between coaches. Elena Aguilar (2013), establishes trust
as a necessary condition of a coaching relationship - without it successful coaching will not take
place. Coaches took part in a trust exercise and had a chance to talk about what they were
hoping to get out of the coaching relationship.
Additionally we wanted to continue to frame thinking around co-coaching. To this end,
Melissa brought an article from the New Yorker on the benefits coaching and we took some time
to share reflections and takeaways. Finally, we looked at a structure for defining smart goals.
This meeting also felt successful. In conversations I had with staff members after the meeting,
staff I spoke with expressed excitement about the people they would be coaching with and had a
good sense of what they needed to do between now and the next time the met with their coaches.
Weekly Meetings
In order to build momentum and maintain a focus on goals set a goal for coaches to meet
with each other weekly. Some of these meetings would occur during all staff meetings but some
would occur informally. After our second launch meeting we had one week where we could not
meet as an entire staff. I sent out an email to all staff the night before the informal meeting to
help guide folks in their first coaching meeting ( appendix 9 ). I did this to remind staff that we
had a scheduled time to meet and to help provide them with structure during that meeting - these
were two deeds identified from our first launch meeting. I met with my co-coach the next day as
well. We reviewed each other's goals and set used the script to create weekly goals for ourselves.
I did not follow up with staff to see who had met that day or how those meetings went.
The next week we met as an entire staff. Edrick began with a meditation to ground us all.
Then I gave an overview of the script that coaches could use to guide their meetings (appendix
5 ). The script was not a required tool and I emphasized that while reviewing it. There was a
sense amongst Edrick, Melissa and I that our role was to provide tools and ideas that might be
meaningful and we would see what was working as time went on.
During this meeting we tried to integrate another project into the co-coaching project. As
a staff we had begun an Improvement Science project in the beginning of the year. Many of the
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goals of the program paralleled what was happening in the co-coaching program and we thought
offering suggestions on how to integrate the two might minimize the effort required for the two
projects. I did not get a good sense from staff relating to how wele they felt the two projects
would integrate. The next day I helped to facilitate an Improvement Science meeting with Stacey
Caillier and demonstrated how Improvement Research goals could be worked into co-coaching
goals and how the co-coaching process could be used to help accomplish the IR process. I did
not collect any data about the effectiveness of this integration.
Two weeks later we were scheduled to meet as entire staff again. I put together an agenda
for this meeting and consulted with Edrick and Melissa about whether or not we should meet. It
had been a particularly busy we had just completed Student Led Conferences and had also had
visitor from an important working partner. We decided to go ahead with the meeting and I sent
out the agenda. The next morning, I decided to cancel the meeting, I got to the room where we
we had planned to meet. No one arrived at our scheduled meeting time and after waiting 5
minutes on two staff had arrived. In lieu of the meeting I found every teacher I could and let
them know that we would be meeting with our co-coaches independently.
All additional meetings between coaches have taken place on their own time. Right
before Thanksgiving Break I sent out a survey to staff to get an idea of how they felt their first
round of coaching went. Overall, staff is still interested and excited about the potential of
co-coaching but almost all staff responded that they wanted more time to be set aside to meet. I
also asked if people would be willing to meet on Friday mornings - typically team meeting time.
Most of the respondents responded that they would but a couple were not. Most people met with
their coaches less than once per week and a few only met once or twice. I met with my coach
every week and we both valued the time we spend together. The process of meeting my coach
has given me an understanding of some of the issues that might need to be addressed in
additional rounds of coaching, I will discuss these issues and next steps in the following section.
Reflections and Next Steps
For our organization, the collegial coaching launch and implementation has had some
clear successes and there are also some areas that can still clearly be improved. For me, taking
on the challenge of helping to introduce and facilitate a program like this with staff has been
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rewarding and has highlighted leadership strengths. It has also revealed areas where I want to
grow as a leader.
Successes
In our first planning meeting we mapped our goals for the program, they were:
● To create a structure where teachers would have the opportunity to engage in
meaningful conversations around pedagogy and practice.
● To have participants set goals that were meaningful to their practice.
● To use coaches to help create positive accountability for those goals.
● To pair teachers by common areas of growth rather than experience.
In the last week before break I sent out a survey to gauge how well the first round of co-coaching
went. The survey suggests that we met or approached several of our initial goals. 87%
respondents reported that getting to know each other better and engaging in reflective
conversations was something that co coaching helped them do. 75% responded that goal setting
was also something they engaged in during the coaching sessions. These were two of the goals
we identified in the planning stages.
Another goal we had set was to pair coaches by areas of need rather than experience. We
did this and, in the exit survey from our launch, staff reported that they appreciated the process
we used to make those pairings. These non-hierarchical pairings are an important component in
creating a relationship where the coaches are meeting as equals who are both equipped to support
each other.
The gallery walk we used during the launch meeting has created a clear picture of the
areas that we want to improve on as an entire staff. Issues of equity and culture come up
frequently and issues of equity were explicit components in at least two of the coaches 8 week
goal plans.
Overall I believe we have developed a sense of trust amongst participants and are
beginning to build trust in the program. Lipton (1993) points out that trust between coaches is
important but participants must also trust in the organizational environment.
Personally, the challenge of helping to develop and facilitate a coaching program has
been rewarding. I choose a leadership task that was both something that I was personally
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passionate about and also something our organization expressed a desire for. I helped plan and
implement several professional development meeting and received positive feedback from
participants. I feel more confident about my ability to be useful to my colleagues and confident
that my ideas can be valuable across our school.
Room For Growth and Next Steps
The most glaring issue facing the program is that we still are not getting together regularly. Only
50% of the respondents to the exit survey met more than 3 times outside of our two scheduled
meetings. There were six weeks where staff had the opportunity to meet. Every person who
responded to the survey identified that they wanted the coaching meetings to be part of a
scheduled meeting where all staff come together. Edrick, Melissa and I did not set a specific
number of time that we hoped to meet as a team but outside of the launch we only scheduled two
meetings and we only actually met for one of them.
One way to address the lack of face to face meetings in the next round would be to
increase the number of formal all staff meetings. It is possible that we asked coaches to meet
independently before they became comfortable with the process and built up the necessary
buy-in to make the coaching meetings happen independently. My critical friend, Gabe, suggested
that we make the formal meeting times be right after lunch on half day Wednesdays. Twice a
month might not be ideal but it is more regularly than most people seem to be meeting right now.
From my own experience with coaching, having achievable and meaningful outcomes
along with a script or protocol to make that made coaching meetings fast and effective were the
keys to success. I did not collect data on whether staff were using the script, whether they knew
how to use it or whether their goals continued to feel meaningful over the cycle. This needs to be
addressed at the beginning of our next cycle.
Gabe also suggested that we collect data at the end of each coaching session, both on the
effectiveness of the session and the continuing success of the program. Developing a quick
feedback survey that we can give staff in 2-3 minutes will be a priority item to complete before
our next meeting as well.
I need to confirm that Edrick and Melissa are still inclined to continue with the program.
I sent each of them an email a few weeks ago to see if they want to get together to talk about
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continued planning and I haven't heard back. Additionally neither one of them filled out the exit
survey. Everyone has been very busy and just need to follow up again. This dovetails with an
area of personal growth that this experience has helped me identify and that I am determined to
address. In this reflection, I’ve identified several times where I could and should have been more
persistent about pushing for clarification around colleagues thinking. The next step for me with
this regard is to email my planning partners again. The step after that is to make improving this
goal and explicit goal of the work I do with my on site critical friend.
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Citations
Aguilar, E. (2013). The art of coaching: Effective strategies for school transformation. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Becker, J. (2000). Peer coaching for teacher improvement and learning.
http://teachersnetwork.org/tnli/research/growth/becker.htm.
Lipton, L. (April 1993). “Transforming Information Into Knowledge: Structured Reflection in
Administrative Practice.” Paper presented at AERA, Atlanta, Ga.
Tschannen-Moran, B. & E. (2010). Evocative coaching: Transforming schools one conversation
at a time. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Appendix 1 - Meeting Agendas For First Two Launch Meetings
Launch Agenda for 9/23: - bring computers, pen
1. Framing Collegial Coaching Why Collegial Coaching? why us? (5 min) - MD, EM, BH
2. Journal Using - 8 min
3. gallery walk - 10 min
a. focus question: who might be a good fit as my collegial coach?
4. google form - 5 min
Meeting #2 ~ Sept 30 ~ Agenda
1. share partnerships
2. get to know you / team builder (8:00-8:10) -edrick
3. discuss article (810-8:20) - melissa
a. pair/share with CC - what struck you?
b. whole group share out: what take-aways will inform our work as collegial
SMART goals (5-mins) (8:20-8:30)
c. define the goal
d. divide into weekly chunks
● Next steps (informal meeting 10/7) - note feedback from survey that people wanted time
carved out to meet regularly
○ Create SMART goal
○ Bring / Be ready to talk evidence of your steps to move towards your goal
○ Next steps...explore the Menu of Opportunities...
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Meeting #3 ~ Oct 14th ~ Agenda
● Edrick to lead staff in a group meditation (5 minutes)
● Overview of the coaching script (5 minutes)
● Co-coaching time (20 minutes)
● Integrating co-coaching with Improvement Research (10 minutes)
Meeting #4 ~ Oct 28th ~ Agenda ( this meeting did not occur)
● Edrick to lead staff in a group meditation (5 minutes)
● Co-coaching time (20 minutes)
● Debrief and Reflection (5-10 Minutes)
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Appendix 2 - Collegial Coaching Survey and Gallery Walk
Collegial Coaching Survey Gallery Walk
Name: ________________________________________
STRENGTHS
1.) Describe your strengths as an
educator. What are you particularly
proud of in your practice?
HOPES3.) What are your hopes for our collegial
coaching structure? What would you like
to get out of it?
GROWTH
2. ) In what areas would you like to grow?
What are you working on?
ACTIVITIES4.) What are some specific activities that
you’d like to do with a collegial coach?
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Appendix 3 - Staff Responses from Collegial Coaching Meeting Number 1
OPTIONAL: What ideas do you have for our collegial coaching
structure this year?
OPTIONAL: List any warm or cool
feedback you have about today's launch of
collegial coaching.
Smart goal setting
Fast and frequent and structured checkins
Celebrations
Reflections
Observations
I loved seeing everyone's reflections, the
gallery walk helped me feel close to my
community of colleagues.
it would be nice to figure out a way to carve out more time during the
day when individuals or the pair can spend more time reflecting and
taking some action around their teaching practice. It seems doing
some of this work during morning meetings is good and during prep
but I think we need more time....so some type of extra period or
coordination with teaching partner.
short answer- more time to devote to this work.
Also, some type of product we can have at end of the year in terms of
learning and takeaways.
Great! nothing but love!
I'd love to do some co-planning and co-teaching. I learned so much
from co-teaching when I was in England. I'd really love our time to
be concrete and productive - we're looking at a specific thing we're
working on, trying strategies, checking in...
I loved the structure of this! It made our
partnering feel really authentic. I want to use
this in my classroom.
I'd like to have time carved out to read texts or watch clips related to
the teaching of reading (or any new skill) and the kind of relationship
with my partner where we can be working on different things but
thoughtfully reflecting with each other and keeping each other on
target with our personal goals. It is not as crucial to me to be touring
other people's classrooms. I've done a lot of that in 18 years. I'd
rather have time to build my own structures for teaching reading.
I appreciated being able to read what others are
hoping to build in their practice, to see if our
goals are in alignment. It was easier to see that
I have shared goals with certain teachers... and
that even though people might be very dear
friends of mine, we may not be in the same
exact place in our practice and so maybe aren't
the ideal partners to work with each other forthis specific purpose.
I think the most helpful thing would be to meet more often, weekly,
if possible. And to meet in a structured setting.
I always appreciate a time to sit and reflect on
my teaching practices and would welcome
even more of an opportunity to do so. I found
Bryan and Edrick's pitch inspiring and I am
excited to get to work with a colleague!
I would love to see a different partnership leading each of our CC
morning meetings! It would be cool to see a different set of teachers
sharing their observations, giving us helpful readings & tools to use.
I'm excited about these structures! They feel
authentic and more productive than our Critical
Friend pairings have been in the past. Thanks
guys!
It would be interesting to work on a strategy that would work in bothclasses and then debrief how it actually went once we ran it through
with out kids - I'd love to hear the different scenarios that can arise
with different personalities.
I love this idea! As a newbie I really wouldappreciate having someone to give me advice
and support.
Mirrored structures as an activity and compare results I love the concept and there are so many
aspects I would love to get coaching on but I
feel that the three things I really am trying to
sort out and push myself in for this years 6th
graders: structures, engagement, management,
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organization (within myself and for the kiddos
as well), and a blend of sizzle and steak for
content and centers in my classroom.
consistency, encouraging each other, helping each other with specific
plans to achieve goals,
Sounds great! THanks for this. I loved the
journaling and gallery walk- I want to do this
with my students! I thought it was insightful
and helpful to read what others want to work
on and the strengths of everyone. Thanks for a
great start to the morning!
I would really appreciate meeting times carved out in the morning...at
least every other week.
It could also be cool to have like a relationship-building activity a
couple of times throughout the year. Like a Newlyweds type game,
or a trust game. Might be fun to solidify a great relationship, in
addition to the work we are doing to improve our practices.
I thought this was thoughtfully and efficiently
planned. I'm excited to improve this process
and form a new, mutually beneficial
relationship with a beloved colleague!
I would love for us to use a couple of our Wednesday PD days to
work on learning and practicing collegial coaching strategies
(specifically the ones that Bryan and I learned yesterday). I think it isalso important for us to set aside one of our morning meetings to
solely dedicated it for CC.
Great launch!
I really like when we have the opportunity to visit
classrooms/schools together, which gives us the opportunity to have
some really rich discussions about our practice together.
The only reason I think this hasn't picked up
steam in the past is the limited amount of time
we meet, so it gets put on the back burner. If
we are going to do this we need to make sure
we have frequent dedicated time to meet with
our partners.
Setting aside time to meet. At first I was a little bit nervous about listing
my strengths and areas for growth for others to
read, but it was really reassuring to see that we
all have things that we're working on. Thankyou for making this happen!
I love the idea of structured reflection/discussion time with our
partner. Some type of structure that's open enough for us to both
reflect on our practice. I'd like to plan observations of each other.
I feel like this morning's meeting was
particularly relevant- I connected especially to
what Bryan shared. I have been feeling like I
need support lately. I love my students this
year and things are off to a great start. I think
I'm building a love of math with my kiddos but
I'm need some structures to maintain the
progress that I've made.
Goal- Make time for classroom observations.
Set short goals each time we meet hold each other accountable for
making sure we meet these goals. If goal wasn't met, reflect on why.
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Appendix 4- Responses Around Possible Areas to Focus On In Coaching
GROWTH AREAS
I want to work on creating an environment where students feel safe sharing what is and what is not working
for them in their learning. I want to facilitate this through individual and group conversations. I want to work on
being contextually vulnerable- open to the idea that students can/should help shape my practice.
-Becoming more organized and efficient
-giving timely feedback on student work for revision
-being more organized and clean in my classroom
-setting up structures for efficient and productive student work time
The teaching of reading. I do not know how to teach children phonics or decoding. I need help understanding
how to catch students up who are far below grade level in reading... and how to manage those systems while
running projects.
-Structures that capture student growth- it feels so anecdotal- feedback structures
-Getting the same level of discussion analysis out of fiction- reading logs have not been successful
-hands-on reading activities (like the literacy & engineering)-creating a comfortable physical space- Feng Shui in the classroom
-Student relationships and personal connections with them (it's hard across the whole grade level)
-curating work after performances- beyond my DP
-differentiating for all levels
-running meaningful discussions that get everyone involved
-classroom management practices
Working on:
-maintaining high expectations that are reasonable and consistent academically and behaviorally
-differentiation that is appropriate and meaningful
-management with a new structure
-students as self-starters-equitable groups and structures for a class with a wide range of ability and background knowledge (math)
-literacy
-Consistent structures for classroom management
-Materials management systems
-Planning lessons to teach skills (a lot of what I do with students is hands-on activities and then revision- is
this the west way? Can I do this in a more structured way? sometimes feels chaotic)
-Organization (everything- materials, project sheets, documents, student work, professional goals)
-student voice- choice in organized, productive way
-Maintaining structures within the classroom once project work is underway
-setting firm deadlines/milestones during projects
-I would love to develop activities and student work that is rigorous and engaging
-Build lessons that are dynamic and engaging
-Integrating academic standards into project curriculum in an authentic manner (sizzle & steak)
-Identifying, developing, and exploring strong academic mindsets in the classroom
-Project structures to make more efficient work during projects, collaboration, and support
-organization
-Planning meaningful lessons
-teaching reading
-challenging students
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-organizing the flow of learning in project work
-thinking bigger in projects- what else can I do?
My ideas and tasks for math and math projects overwhelm me and even though I might know the direction I
need to go I accomplish so little (planning) because it's hard to sift through all of the resources and just pick.
I'd like my math structures and routines to be more solid and that's what I'm working on right now. My
structures are all over the place.
-Differentiation
-Elements of rigor and how to find a balance
-Develop more of a student-driven learning classroom... student take on tasks, build ideas, develop in their
inquiry and self-motivation
-Classroom management
-Different ways to communicate with parents
-Challenging students with rigorous work
-Change perception of math and math understanding
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Appendix 5 - Co-coaching Script
CO-COACHING HELPER
Your Check-In Date:
You can use this sheet to prepare for your check in with your partner. It helps to have this
completed before you meet with your partner.
Which commitments from last week did you keep?
Which commitments from last week were you unable to keep?
What commitments are you making this week to move you towards your 8 week goal?
What are the tools or resources will help you reach your goals this week?
What are you feeling good about in their practice this week?
What are you feeling critical about in their practice this week?
How can you reframe this?
Feedback Notes:
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Appendix 6 - Smart Goal Planner
Setting A SMART Goal
Word xplanation
S
SPECIFICDoes your goal clearly and specifically state what you aretrying to achieve?
M
MEASURABLEHow will you know if progress is being made onachieving your goal?
A
ACTION-ORIENTED
Involves specific actions that will result in your reachingthe goal
R
RELEVANT andREALISTIC
Why is achieving this goal important to you?Is the goal realistically achievable in the amount of time
you have?
T
TIMEBOUND When will you reach your goal? If the goal feels too loftyconsider breaking it down into smaller goals
What is your goal in one sentence:
The benefits of achieving this goal will be:
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Setting A SMART Goal - Optional
Word xplanation My Goal
S
SPECIFIC
Does your goal clearlyand specifically statewhat you are trying toachieve?
M
MEASURABLE
How will you know ifprogress is beingmade on achieving
your goal?
A
ACTION-ORIENTED
Involves specificactions that will resultin your reaching thegoal
R
RELEVANT andREALISTIC
Why is achieving this
goal important to you?Is the goal realisticallyachievable in theamount of time youhave?
T
TIMEBOUND
When will you reach your goal? If the goalfeels too loftyconsider breaking itdown into smaller
goals
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BREAKING IT DOWN
Identifying very specific goals for your 8-week coaching session will yield the greatest
benefits. It is up to you how many goals you want to work towards during the 8 week cycle.
One is definitely enough and more than two is quite a bit to take on.
Even if you don’t complete the SMART goals worksheet, keep smart goals in mind when
completing your goals section below.
S.M.A.R.T. goals include the following elements (refer to S.M.A.R.T. goals worksheet)
1. S
pecific 2. M
easurable 3. A
ction Oriented and A
ttainable 4. R
elevant 5. T
ime-bound
My 8 Week Goals:
How am I going to break these 8 week goals into measurable smaller weekly goals?
How am I going to break these 10 week goals into smaller daily goals?
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Appendix 7 - A Menu Of Opportunities
Collegial Coaching:
enu of Opportunities
Observations :
❏ Targeted Observation
. What is your colleague working on? What goals doeshe/she have? Observe your colleague’s classroom in an effort to support him/her
in reaching this goal.
❏ Individual Student Observation . Observe a specific student in a colleagues
classroom. Share notes and observations in an effort to generate ideas of how to
better support the student.
❏ Group Work Observation . Observe group work in your colleague’s classroom. Are
structures in place to support equitable participation? How are groups working
together?
❏ “Who’s in the game?” Observation . Who’s engaged in the learning in your
colleague’s classroom? Collect data about student participation to share with
your colleague.
❏ Video Observation . Video a lesson or an aspect of the classroom on which your
partner would like feedback. Debrief with your colleague. What teacher moves
might have enhanced the lesson?
Tunings :
❏ Lesson Plan Tuning . Look over your colleague’s lesson plans. Are their revisions
that could make the lesson stronger? Are there structures that could better
support certain students?
❏ Project Tuning. Informally tune a project together.
Other:
❏ Classroom Visits
. Visit classrooms together and debrief your experience.
❏ Book Club . Is there a text you’ve been wanting to read, but never have the time?
Take time to read a text with your colleague and then discuss.
❏ Walk & Talk . Been in your room all day? Get outside, go for a walk around
campus, and talk about what’s on your mind.
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Appendix 8 - Key Takeaways From Discussion of the New Yorker Article
Teacher 1: not telling you what to do, but pointed it out, suggesting it
Teacher 2: coaches observe, guide
Teacher 3: arc of safety
Teacher 4: conscious competence, etc…
Teacher 5: good coaches need to break down performance into components, can we do that?
Teacher 6:: surgeon’s coach comes in often, sees patterns
Teacher 7: coaches aren’t necessarily “better” at the skill they are coaching. rather, they are good
observers, listeners, questioners, etc.
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Appendix 9: All Staff Email to Help Direct Informal Coaching Meetings
Hi Folks,
I’d like to share a possible ‘agenda’ for your co-coaching meetings tomorrow. The items in the agenda
shouldn’t take more than 20 minute. Obviously you can take more time if you want but if you’re feeling
rushed this should help you have a productive get together in a short period of time.
Possible Agenda:
First:Take 5 minutes to review each other's goals. (More if needed)
Then: Each partner reports the answers to these question out to their coach:
What commitments are you making this week to move you towards your 8 week goal?
What are the tools or resources that will help you reach your goals this week?
What are you feeling good about in your practice this week?
What are you feeling critical about in your practice this week? How can reframe this critical thought?
What would you like feedback on?
Tip
I find it helpful to take notes on what my partner tells me so that I can be prepared to help them review the
next week. (I’ve got a spreadsheet that I use for this if you want a copy :-) )
Hope this is helpful. Happy coaching!
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Appendix 10 - Exit Survey
As a result of
co-coaching did you
engage in any of the
following:
How
many
times did
you meet
What worked well for you
during this coaching
cycle?
Would you
be willing to
consider a
Monday or
Friday
morningcoaching
meeting
time?
What is one thing you
would like to improve
with our co-coaching
program?
What else
would you like
us to know?
trying new teaching
strategies, getting to
know your coach
better, goal setting
and accountability,
reflective
conversations
4-5 I had amazing conversations
with my coaching partner.
We did a good job of setting
up goals and following up on
them.
We made small but
measurable gains in our
practice.
I learned about ways to
communicate effectively with
my students.
I really appreciated penguintime with such a reflective
person.
4 Structured meeting
times for our meetings.
trying new teaching
strategies, getting to
know your coach
better, goal setting
and accountability,
reflective
conversations,
Reframing struggles in
a more constructive
way, which was truly
helpful
5-6? I had a fantastic, thoughtful
and motivated partner.
Thanks to his efforts we
were organized and
intentional about goal
setting. I felt comfortable
being honest about my
strengths and failings with
my partner. There was a
high level of support, trust
and mutual respect.
1 I need more time
devoted to actually
working on
implementing
strategies or goals that
are set during the
co-coaching meeting.
For example, if the
goal I set is to collect
and analyze data, I
need an empty hour or
block of time carved
out consistently in our
weekly meeting
schedule where I can
actually follow through
on that goal. Between
all of the meetings
(including
parent-teacher
meetings and IEPs)
before and after
school... plus the
demands of creating
curriculum, grading
and putting my best
effort into the normal
teaching schedule (and
curating), I haven't yetfound a way to carve
out additional time to
effectively implement
all the new things I'd
like to do with literacy.
I am currently
operating near
overwhelm
capacity. I would
prefer not to add
additional
meetings to the
current schedule.
I appreciated
having coaching
meetings built
into the regular
meeting
schedule. I found
them to be much
more helpful than
past meetings,
including some
action groups.
getting to know your
coach better, goal
setting and
accountability,
reflective
4 I liked having time to visit,
collaborate and talk about
specific wonderings that Ann
and I are struggling with. The
meeting time and direction
5 I think carving out time
during the school day
to visit each other's
classroom and this is
outside our prep time.
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conversations,
classroom
observations
allowed us to focus on key
areas of our teaching- my
orchestration of learning
through a lesson and for
Ann, developing lessons.
It would be interesting
to have 2 periods
where we can visit
other classrooms
together and/or see
each other's classroom
and then have follow
up. Not sure how thiscould be structured but
interested in trying.
getting to know your
coach better, reflective
conversations
3 Setting short-term and
long-term goals.
The initial activities, when we
were paired up with our
co-coaches.
5 I know it has been
mentioned before, but I
really would appreciate
time being carved out
for us to all meet
together. I feel horrible
that I really didn't meet
with my co-coach at all.
I missed two of the
scheduled group
meetings due to
conflicts, and then just
had a hard time
gaining momentum. I
failed. =/
I would like
another shot! A
more structured
shot. Haha!
Tiffany probably
wouldn't want me
as a partner
again though
because I was
the worst.
co-planning, getting to
know your coach
better, goal setting
and accountability
once The time we had set to meet
together. I found the
meetings really thoughtfully
planned and helpful for my
thinking and focusing on
connecting with Callie/
co-planning.
1 We just need time to
meet without adding an
extra meeting. Is that
possible?
I have a really
hard time making
morning
meetings, but I
would enjoy
meeting for lunch
with Callie once
a week. That's
my goal to keep
our work going.
co-planning, trying
new teaching
strategies, getting toknow your coach
better, goal setting
and accountability,
reflective
conversations
um... a
few... I
think...sorry!
I liked having time carved
out to meet with my CC
during a morning meeting.When we had open time to
work during those meetings,
we were able to make goals
and take action. It's also just
nice getting to connect with
my CC because I really
respect her and she
motivates me to be a better
teacher.
4 Full disclosure - my CC
and I haven't taken a
lot of action. There's agenuine desire to do
more together, but it's
hard to find time to
connect. I think the
connection between
our research goals and
CC goals helped us
achieve some things,
though. I feel like we
haven't had a CC
meeting in a while. I'd
like to have them more
regularly - I really enjoy
these meetings.
I really value and
enjoy CC, but I
need a little moretime to make it
feel like a regular
part of my
practice. I like
that it's flexible
and I want it to
maintain the
authenticity that it
has now, but I
also need
morning meeting
time carved out
to make it
happen. It's not
that it isn't a
priority, but thereare so many
things happening
all the time that
sometimes we
forget. I hope this
was helpful, but
I'm happy to talk
more about it in
person, if you'd
like!
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co-planning,
co-teaching, trying
new teaching
strategies, goal setting
and accountability,
reflective
conversations,
classroomobservations
Maybe 3 Taking the time to connect
with colleagues. I love
checking and seeing how my
friends are doing.
Sometimes it's nice not to
talk about work...It's nice to
take the time to make sure
our friends are doing okay. Ireally tried my best to check
in with our collegial coaches
when available. But having a
group of 3 was very difficult
due to conflicting schedules.
2 Meeting more often. It
was very difficult to
meet with a group of 3.
I felt it kept our meeting
from being very useful.
It seemed
PDSA's and
collegial
coaching
overlapped with
each other. It felt
the same at
times and it wasvery difficult to
distinguish.
getting to know your
coach better, reflective
conversations
2 the handouts and thinking
time to set goals for
teaching. the SMART goals
format is helpful and the
planning week by week, with
an emphasis on forgiveness
if the goal was not met.
3 i'm not sure how to fix
this, but making sure
that each person truly
wants to meet and
work on the goals.
I am ambivalent
about giving up
Monday and
Friday because I
know we have
IEP or other
meetings that are
sometimes
scheduled and I
wanted to make
more of an effort
to do team and
grade level
meetings. It's so
hard to fit
everything in! I
also wonder how
the coaching
would be
different if we
had been able to
pair up with
others who really
wanted support
in achieving
goals.
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