My Coaches' Couch: Stepping Backward

When coaching coaches this week, I recommended recommending. That’s a confusing statement!!! Let me explain.

I’ve been working with Vanessa for some time. She is a smart, dedicated teacher who is also a committed coach for Kasey, the student teacher in her classroom. She had asked for time to talk because she was concerned about Kasey’s performance. When we sat down together, her frustration was apparent. Her biggest concern was that, because her intern wasn’t passing muster, her students’ learning was suffering. Whereas she had formerly felt confident about her intern’s progress, she now felt things had stalled, and she wasn’t seeing the type of teaching she expected. Vanessa complained that her intern’s pace was off—sometimes belaboring a point and sometimes skimming over it. She was also concerned that there were times when the intern spoke negatively to students. It was supposed to feel like holding high expectations, but her students were feeling deflated by the intern’s comments.

I asked a few questions to get a better feel for the situation and to give Vanessa a chance to think it through. Vanessa gave an example of a planning conversation she’d had with Kasey about an upcoming math lesson: How she reviewed the lesson with Kasey and asked about her plan to grade the papers while students were working. “I asked her, ‘Do you think you’ll have time to grade the papers before the students share their examples?’” I could tell from Vanessa’s tone that she felt quite confident this wouldn’t work. “I decided to let her go and see what happened,” she said.

Vanessa described the lesson and her frustration with it as the students began explaining their examples without Kasey’s full attention—because she was still grading papers. Vanessa thought she had done the right thing by giving Kasey the experience to try something and learn from her efforts. But the resulting frustration for Vanessa and her students was a sure indication that this plan wasn’t working.

I talked about the important role of coaching for ensuring that students receive solid instruction. “Coaching needs to make up the difference between what Kasey is able to do and what your students need, so that students will get appropriate instruction,” I said. “Right now,” I continued, “asking questions isn’t working. It’s not filling that gap.” So, I recommended that Vanessa take a step backward in the GIR model. She had been using questioning as her primary coaching move, hoping that her careful questions would elicit effective planning and perceptive reflection. But instead, both Vanessa and her students were frustrated. Instead of asking questions, Vanessa needed to use a coaching move that provided more support. Making solid recommendations could result in appropriate instruction for her students.

Soon, Kasey will be ready to move forward again. Soon, Vanessa will be able to use less-supportive coaching moves. But for now, Vanessa’s coaching is ensuring that the bottom line is met. Coaches make student learning the top priority, even if it means taking a step backward in the coaching model. When Vanessa was frustrated, I took a step backward, too. My recommendation helped Vanessa clear her head and see a positive path forward.