Discussions
of coaching typically talk about the work we do as “coaching cycles.” It’s time
to stop this language and instead describe coaching work in a way that is more
responsive and relational. Let’s talk about coaching rhythms.
The dictionary defines rhythm as movement marked by regular recurrence or natural flow. According to researchers Klarner and Raisch,* who study organizational change, a rhythm is how moves are timed. These descriptions fit my GIR model for coaching (below). The 5 coaching moves (modeling, recommending, questioning, affirming, and praising) are used in a natural flow in response to teachers’ needs.
Appropriate coaching support will guide, challenge, or validate. The squiggly line in the GIR model shows that coaching isn’t a linear process – it’s a fluid one. There’s no circular movement indicated, although we might certainly revisit more supportive coaching moves as needed, especially as we work with the same teacher on different skills.
Although in general your coaching will move from more supportive to less supportive during a coaching cycle, the path is not a linear one. I’ve described it as shifting, sinuous, flexible, and responsive.
Instructional improvement is contextual, so coaching is a cha-cha. We will step forward and back, and there will be lifts and dips along the way. We know that the upward sloping line in the GIR model indicates growth, but the cha-cha of coaching includes small steps back, too. When it seems needed, don’t hesitate to lean on a move that offers more support, like modeling or recommending. If one move doesn’t bear fruit, we can lean back and try an approach that provides more scaffolding. The 5 coaching moves create the rhythm of our coaching work.
Coaching is responsive; if we stick too long with a move that’s not needed, we are over-scaffolding; this reduces teachers’ agency and motivation. We know how to move by paying careful attention to the teacher and the context. We are ready to reposition, to find a match between the support needed by the teacher and the support offered by each of the 5 coaching moves. This is the rhythm of responsive coaching.
Finding the right pace supports authentic teacher learning. Just as students learn at different speeds, teachers, too, have unique paces of growth. To keep the metaphorical coaching dance engaging and challenging, our coaching moves match teachers’ motion.
My friend Karen, an experienced and amazing coach, told me that early in her coaching career, she would carefully plan a framework for an upcoming coaching conversation and then stick to the plan. “Those conversations left me feeling that they didn’t quite land,” she said. Karen knew something was off. Then one day, a teacher said to her, “It feels like you’re continuing a conversation from the past, but I’m not in that same place anymore.” Karen realized that a plan is helpful, but flexibility is essential. “Truly listening,” Karen said, allows coaches to align with where teachers are “both in their professional learning and in the moment during the conversation.” “It’s essential to stay flexible and responsive,” she said. “Effective coaching requires us to meet teachers in their current space.” We’ve got to adjust the rhythm.
Responsive coaches are those who pay attention. They reinvent and adapt to the experiences of those they serve. They build on the resources that teachers bring to the table and attend to current needs. To find out what those needs are, you might ask, “What are you wondering about right now?” or “What is missing for you right now?” Teachers’ wonderings and questions will provide insight about how you can support them. Their questions will tell you what they are troubled by and what they want help with. That is the beginning. We can’t know what to do until we know where they are. Then we know how to move. We know the next beat in the rhythm.
As you gather information from teachers, you can make professional decisions about how to best support them. You will be armed with greater understanding about teachers’ current needs. You will be more responsive. Teaching and coaching must always be dynamically adapted and reinvented to match learners and contexts.
Coaches are responsive when they are attuned to teachers’ abilities, interests, and needs. They are aware of emotional concerns and aware of teachers’ successes and celebrations. Coaching well can’t be done apathetically.
Instead of a cycle that elicits a supervisory schedule of observation and evaluative feedback, coaches who are responsive offer collaboration and consultation – we reason together. Within a coaching rhythm, observation and feedback are options but not expectations, and data collection often focuses on students, not teachers.
Another feature influencing coaching rhythms is the relationship that has been built between teacher and coach. Teachers and coaches are all very different individuals, so the relationship between the two will vary. Each coaching relationship is unique.
Coaching is relational work, and a relationship of trust is required. Trust involves confidence that someone will act in your best interest, an assurance that they are on your side.
Coaching rhythms are relational and responsive. The pattern of the 5 moves in the GIR model is determined by teachers’ needs, flowing in real-time response to the teacher. We adjust the tempo and intensity of support. Change should be carefully timed in keeping with an individual’s resources and the time required to learn. Coaching rhythms set the direction and magnitude of change.
The GIR Model helps coaches carefully consider a dynamic process for supporting growth. Differentiated coaching means recognizing teachers’ strengths and needs and then varying the supports provided as those you work with gain experience and expertise, one step at a time. The GIR model can guide our moves as we create a coaching rhythm.
*******************************************************************************************
Did you know My Coaches Couch is also a podcast? (with different content) Find it in your favorite podcast app or at
MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com
*******************************************************************************************
This week, you might want to take a look at:
The dictionary defines rhythm as movement marked by regular recurrence or natural flow. According to researchers Klarner and Raisch,* who study organizational change, a rhythm is how moves are timed. These descriptions fit my GIR model for coaching (below). The 5 coaching moves (modeling, recommending, questioning, affirming, and praising) are used in a natural flow in response to teachers’ needs.
Appropriate coaching support will guide, challenge, or validate. The squiggly line in the GIR model shows that coaching isn’t a linear process – it’s a fluid one. There’s no circular movement indicated, although we might certainly revisit more supportive coaching moves as needed, especially as we work with the same teacher on different skills.
Although in general your coaching will move from more supportive to less supportive during a coaching cycle, the path is not a linear one. I’ve described it as shifting, sinuous, flexible, and responsive.
Instructional improvement is contextual, so coaching is a cha-cha. We will step forward and back, and there will be lifts and dips along the way. We know that the upward sloping line in the GIR model indicates growth, but the cha-cha of coaching includes small steps back, too. When it seems needed, don’t hesitate to lean on a move that offers more support, like modeling or recommending. If one move doesn’t bear fruit, we can lean back and try an approach that provides more scaffolding. The 5 coaching moves create the rhythm of our coaching work.
Coaching is responsive; if we stick too long with a move that’s not needed, we are over-scaffolding; this reduces teachers’ agency and motivation. We know how to move by paying careful attention to the teacher and the context. We are ready to reposition, to find a match between the support needed by the teacher and the support offered by each of the 5 coaching moves. This is the rhythm of responsive coaching.
Finding the right pace supports authentic teacher learning. Just as students learn at different speeds, teachers, too, have unique paces of growth. To keep the metaphorical coaching dance engaging and challenging, our coaching moves match teachers’ motion.
My friend Karen, an experienced and amazing coach, told me that early in her coaching career, she would carefully plan a framework for an upcoming coaching conversation and then stick to the plan. “Those conversations left me feeling that they didn’t quite land,” she said. Karen knew something was off. Then one day, a teacher said to her, “It feels like you’re continuing a conversation from the past, but I’m not in that same place anymore.” Karen realized that a plan is helpful, but flexibility is essential. “Truly listening,” Karen said, allows coaches to align with where teachers are “both in their professional learning and in the moment during the conversation.” “It’s essential to stay flexible and responsive,” she said. “Effective coaching requires us to meet teachers in their current space.” We’ve got to adjust the rhythm.
Responsive coaches are those who pay attention. They reinvent and adapt to the experiences of those they serve. They build on the resources that teachers bring to the table and attend to current needs. To find out what those needs are, you might ask, “What are you wondering about right now?” or “What is missing for you right now?” Teachers’ wonderings and questions will provide insight about how you can support them. Their questions will tell you what they are troubled by and what they want help with. That is the beginning. We can’t know what to do until we know where they are. Then we know how to move. We know the next beat in the rhythm.
As you gather information from teachers, you can make professional decisions about how to best support them. You will be armed with greater understanding about teachers’ current needs. You will be more responsive. Teaching and coaching must always be dynamically adapted and reinvented to match learners and contexts.
Coaches are responsive when they are attuned to teachers’ abilities, interests, and needs. They are aware of emotional concerns and aware of teachers’ successes and celebrations. Coaching well can’t be done apathetically.
Instead of a cycle that elicits a supervisory schedule of observation and evaluative feedback, coaches who are responsive offer collaboration and consultation – we reason together. Within a coaching rhythm, observation and feedback are options but not expectations, and data collection often focuses on students, not teachers.
Another feature influencing coaching rhythms is the relationship that has been built between teacher and coach. Teachers and coaches are all very different individuals, so the relationship between the two will vary. Each coaching relationship is unique.
Coaching is relational work, and a relationship of trust is required. Trust involves confidence that someone will act in your best interest, an assurance that they are on your side.
Coaching rhythms are relational and responsive. The pattern of the 5 moves in the GIR model is determined by teachers’ needs, flowing in real-time response to the teacher. We adjust the tempo and intensity of support. Change should be carefully timed in keeping with an individual’s resources and the time required to learn. Coaching rhythms set the direction and magnitude of change.
The GIR Model helps coaches carefully consider a dynamic process for supporting growth. Differentiated coaching means recognizing teachers’ strengths and needs and then varying the supports provided as those you work with gain experience and expertise, one step at a time. The GIR model can guide our moves as we create a coaching rhythm.
*******************************************************************************************
Did you know My Coaches Couch is also a podcast? (with different content) Find it in your favorite podcast app or at
MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com
*******************************************************************************************
This week, you might want to take a look at:
Give
teachers more of what they need – TIME:
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/the-gift-of-time-is-an-educators-best-tool
This video of a writing conference, nudging a student toward multimodal informational text:
https://vimeo.com/1085826263/7a570821fe?ts=0&share=copy
Strategies for strengthening teacher-coach relationships:
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-good-coaches-build-alliance-with-teachers
A stance of confident humility:
https://barkleypd.com/blog/confident-humility-and-coaching/
A
reminder for coaches to be active listeners:
https://simplycoachingandteaching.com/blog/2021/10/05/better-listener/
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentxiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press! I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: FDNF25 for 15% off. 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. I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/the-gift-of-time-is-an-educators-best-tool
This video of a writing conference, nudging a student toward multimodal informational text:
https://vimeo.com/1085826263/7a570821fe?ts=0&share=copy
Strategies for strengthening teacher-coach relationships:
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-good-coaches-build-alliance-with-teachers
A stance of confident humility:
https://barkleypd.com/blog/confident-humility-and-coaching/
https://simplycoachingandteaching.com/blog/2021/10/05/better-listener/
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentxiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press! I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: FDNF25 for 15% off. 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. I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
