Differentiated Coaching

As you anticipate the work you’ll soon be doing to support teachers, ask yourself: What coaching move will I choose?  Just like when you are teaching a group of students, when coaching, it helps to have a flexible plan for moving forward.

Even though your coaching conversations will include a healthy mix of recommending, questioning, and affirming, you can be intentional about which one you lean on most as you work with a teacher. That dominant coaching move will likely differ across teachers, even if you have a similar focus for the work. 

For example, one of the schools I was working with had a school-wide focus on improving student discussion. Teachers each selected a specific coaching focus related to this goal, and the coach provided varied support based on teachers’ needs. With one teacher, the coach gave both a resource and a recommendation: She gave the teacher a depth-of-knowledge chart and encouraged the teacher to use the chart to help her formulate good questions. The coach suggested that the teacher plan questions in advance and write them on her lesson plans. These resources and recommendations provided strong scaffolding for the teacher as she worked to improve class discussions.
 
Similarly, the coach provided recommendations for another teacher, suggesting that questions be prepared ahead of time. The coach encouraged use of text-dependent questions during a read-aloud. Her specific recommendations provided a focus for an upcoming lesson.
 
After observing in another classroom, the coach made a recommendation that the teacher call on the quiet students. After the teacher put this into action, the coach followed up by asking, “What do you notice about their answers?” This combination of recommending and questioning increased the teacher’s responsibility, encouraging reflection that supported future decision making.

For a teacher who was more proficient in leading class discussions, the coach affirmed student participation when she showed the response-tracking chart she’s kept when observing. Then she posed a thought-provoking question: “How do you choose who to ask?” Her question prompted reflection on the part of the teacher – introspection that led her to refine this decision-m
aking process that happens almost instantaneously.
 
From providing resources to making specific recommendations and asking questions, this coach’s support was differentiated to include mediation that resulted in improved classroom discourse.
 
The GIR coaching model can serve as a guide no matter who you are working with.  But where you begin and the way you move through it will change every time!
 
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Hooray!!! My new book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available now from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can order the book now and use the code: TCP2022 for free shipping. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues (click here for a book guide preview).  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!

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This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Creating belonging in a school community:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/belonging-in-a-school-community/
 
 
Mentors need new teachers (not just vise versa):
 
https://ncte.org/blog/2020/01/mentors-need-new-teachers/
 
 
Ideas for beginning-of-the-year readers’ workshops:
 
http://reflectandrefine.blogspot.com/2013/08/getting-started-with-readers-workshop.html
 
 
Expand inclusion while students “Meet Someone New” through picture book biographies:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/meet-someone-new-monday-using-picture-book-biographies-to-bring-marginalized-voices-into-the-classroom/
 
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!