My Coaches' Couch: Adjusting the Coaching Equation

When you’ve been asked to work with a teacher who is struggling, coaching is about ensuring excellent instruction for students. If instruction is currently not meeting students’ needs, you can work toward change and support student learning in the moment. Even though my work is with teachers, my goals are focused on students and their learning. I have to find balance in every conversation so that I am empowering the teacher and ensuring sound instruction. I have to balance the equation so that it adds up to a solid learning experience for kids. Putting it in a math sentence, what the teacher can do + what I contribute should add up to a positive learning experience for students. Teacher + Coach = Learning. The equation shifts as I work my way through the GIR Model.

Modeling

For purposes of illustration, let’s think of an excellent learning experience being a 10 (I realize no lesson will ever be a perfect 10, but go along with me on this one). If I think of it in terms of a simple equation, T + C = L, modeling is a lot of C. So maybe 2 + 8 to get to a 10 in student learning. The teacher provides background about her students and their needs and may work with me to plan a lesson. The T goes up or down a bit depending on the teacher’s knowledge about the content and pedagogy I am modeling. But when it comes right down to it, the onus is upon me to provide a 10 for students.

Recommending

The terms in the equation shift a bit with recommending, but there’s still a preponderance of C; maybe 4 + 6 = 10. As the teacher plans for instruction, I consider the lesson, the students, and my knowledge of effective teaching strategies. I can adjust the C up or down based on how specific my recommendations are and how many options I offer. Even with this high level of coaching support, I want to empower the teacher. Agency empowers teachers; they need to have control and authority in their own classroom. If a teacher needs a lot of support, I offer a couple of very specific recommendations, both of which I am confident will support a 10 for students. As I continue working with the teacher, I will offer more options and they will be more general. The T number gets bigger.

Asking Questions

The time in the recommending phase may be short or long for a teacher who is struggling, but many teachers never need that much support from me. We start with more balance in our contributions, or even more influence from the teacher: 6 + 4 or 7 + 3. Probing questions offer more support; inquiring questions offer less. The onus for providing solid instruction is on the teacher, but I play a supporting role by uncovering ideas she may not have thought of, pushing her thinking, and helping her consider student responses. In this equation, the teacher’s agency is active as she uses her professional knowledge and experience.

Affirming

Almost all teachers will benefit from a coach’s questions, but these slip away as I work my way out of a coaching cycle. Now the teacher is asking her own questions about instruction. Often these questions are internalized and part of a teachers’ ongoing reflection. Sometimes they are directed toward me, getting my input about whether a plan is solid or instruction has made its mark. When the teacher looks to me for this affirmation, the equation is something like 8 + 2 = 10. I’m not doing much, just offering assurance.

Praising

I work with a lot of teachers who really don’t need me at all, but they still like me. J Maybe one reason for that is, even though they don’t need it, I offer praise. 10 + 0 = 10. I look for specific things that are going well. When I pop into a classroom and hear an amazing student discussion, I send an email applauding what I witnessed. I drop a note in a teacher’s box or find a way to say something good about her teaching in front of her peers. Honest, appropriate praise strengthens my relationship with teachers and keeps doors open for a time when I might be of service.

Power

In every phase of a coaching cycle, I want to ensure that the end result is student learning. And I want to do that by making the T in the equation as big as it can be and still get to a 10. My goal is to never leave a coaching cycle until the equation has shifted and the teacher has the majority of the responsibility for ensuring solid instruction. When the support matches the need, the outcome is teacher growth and student learning.