Anyone
remember the movie, “The Never-Ending Story?”
It is a flick about a young boy named Bastian who becomes so engaged in the
mysterious book he is reading that he soon becomes a character in the story,
joining a magical world called Fantasia. The story that links the two worlds is a story
that never ends because there is always something new to be explored, a new
tale to be told. Similar to the boy in
this movie, sometimes coaches feel caught up in a never-ending coaching cycle;
there truly is always something new to be explored, and a teacher may seem
reluctant to give up the support of the coach. But coaching cycles are not meant to be
never-ending! If you feel stuck in a
coaching cycle, consider how you might draw the teacher into a more collaborative
role as you work together, bringing the coaching cycle to a conclusion that
leads to an ongoing mutual relationship.
This
week, I had the chance to talk with coaches who were coming to the end of their
coaching cycles. They talked about the
changes they had seen in the teachers they were working with, and they talked
about the changes they had noticed in the coaching they were doing. The coaching practices they had used near the
beginning of the cycle (modeling and recommending) involved a consulting
stance. But later in their coaching
cycles, there was a more collaborative relationship between coaches and
teachers. When questioning, affirming,
and praising, coaches regarded the teachers they were working with as
colleagues and partners in the instructional experience. One coach talked about the increased
confidence she saw in a teacher she was working with as they planned together
for writing instruction: “She had an idea and she just jumped right in and
shared it and I loved it because she felt comfortable to do that!” the coach
said. This comment reflects the
teacher’s feeling at the end of the coaching cycle that she and her coach were
collaborators in defining her students’ needs and held equally valuable
perspectives. Such increased confidence
is a hallmark of a successful coaching cycle.
Although collaboration plays a role throughout
the coaching process, the nature of coaching interactions shifts as teachers
gain experience. One hoped-for result of
coaching is that teachers have an increased recognition of the value of
collaboration. Working collaboratively
with the coach can increase teachers’ desire to work collaboratively with other
colleagues. An effective extension to a
one-on-one coaching cycle is to expand and include opportunities to work with
others, encouraging teachers to develop collaborative relationships. In addition to working with their grade-level
colleagues, coaches can coordinate opportunities for vertical teams to work
together on topics of shared interest. After
working in such a group, one of the teachers in the group said, “I liked when
our group got together, because then you’d have more people’s opinions.” Staff
meetings or trainings that include opportunities for teachers to have collegial
conversations and build on one another’s ideas also encourage and sustain a
collaborative culture. Such
opportunities for collaboration can foster an ongoing approach to co-construction
of knowledge and teacher practice.
Rather
than moving toward independence, the GIR coaching model can be used to
strengthen teachers as they move toward collaboration and interdependence. By following the pattern of modeling, making
recommendations, asking questions, providing affirmations, and giving praise,
coaches help teachers apply new learning and move them toward collaborative
interdependence. Moving toward
collaboration can be the key to breaking a never-ending coaching cycle!
This week,
you might want to take a look at tools to support science instruction and other
content learning:
Breaking
down difficult concepts can aid student understanding. See how in this video clip:
“Wonderopolis”
is a website that poses an intriguing question each day to spark new paths of wonder and discovery. It is great non-fiction reading that includes
strong
vocabulary, interesting facts, and videos that support the daily "wonder”:
Some
great 5 min. video clips about nature with accompanying lesson plans:
Free
resources for STEM and more (sorted by content and grade level):
STEM
Lesson plans and game from the Navy:
That's all for this week - happy coaching!
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