The Coaching Story

The last few posts have been about the important coaching move of asking questions.  Questioning is the climax of a good story – the coaching story.  Once teachers have internalized questioning as a reflective practice, coaches move into the denouement of the GIR model.  Affirming and praising are an appropriate “falling action” for the coaching plot as teachers’ ability and responsibility increase.

Through questioning, teachers form the habit of analyzing situations that arise during instruction and of thinking of alternative ways of dealing with them.  As these practices become more automatic, teachers are less dependent on coaches.  However, they may still look to their coaches for confirmation that they are doing the right thing.  During this phase of the GIR model, coaches offer support by providing affirmations.  To affirm means to assert as valid; to agree, verify, or concur.  Coaches usually make comments that affirm or praise throughout the coaching experience; however, as coaches decrease the other types of coaching moves they are making, affirming begins to take center stage.  Coaching practices trend toward increasing use of affirmation as teachers’ experience and competence increase.

Coaches provide affirmation by confirming that practices are appropriate, by agreeing with teachers’ plans for instruction, and by using work samples or student data to validate the effectiveness of instruction. For example, Cindy’s coach affirmed her decision to display strategy posters near the guided reading table by saying, “Having these resources visually available seems very effective.” The coach also provided affirming comments when Cindy included in her lesson plan a review of the six traits of writing she had been teaching:  “Yes…you’ve introduced these traits very quickly, so pausing to review would be a good idea.”  When Betsy’s student, a reluctant adolescent reader, participated more actively during his intervention session, the coach affirmed the effectiveness of the practices Betsy had been using by drawing attention to student work: “Betsy, Caleb seemed more engaged in the lesson today!  He was able to use more expression when reading the ABC activity!”  These examples highlight forms that affirming may take. 

When I talk to coaches about affirming they usually say that this coaching move comes quite naturally.  The harder part may be not continuing to frequently model, recommend, and question.  Although these moves may still occasionally be useful, affirming becomes the leading move as you near the end of a coaching cycle. 

This week, I’ve put together a collection of links on teacher-student relationships Even though we often think about relationship-building activities as beginning-of-year experiences, they can also be a great way to consider the students you have come to know.  (Some of these tips have relevance for coach-teacher relationships, too.)  You might want to take a look at:

This video about building relationships through gestures:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/building-relationships-through-gestures

Thoughts about building hope in our students:

http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/40/3/building-hope.aspx

Check out these ideas:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/fostering-classroom-relationships-larry-ferlazzo-katie-hull-sypnieski

Some good reminders in “Five easy ways to connect with students”:

http://hepg.org/hel/article/492

Here are some games that explore the benefits of teamwork. These activities were designed with younger children in mind, but could be adapted for older students:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/arthur/activities/acts/team_efforts.html

That’s all for this week – happy coaching!