Coaching with Demo Lessons

Modeling is the most supportive coaching move in the GIR model, During modeling, the teaching responsibility is on the coach, with the teacher as active observer. When coaches model, they demonstrate techniques and instructional practices to scaffold implementation. Modeling is a differentiated coaching activity can be a way to address a teacher’s specific needs and goals.
 
Although we usually think of modeling as a way to work with an individual teacher in a teacher’s own classroom, there are other formats for modeling. I’ve written before about Lesson Study, where teachers collaboratively plan a lesson and then one of them teaches while the others observe before debriefing to elevate their own and students’ learning.
 
In my work with National Writing Project, I became familiar with another way to model, the “demo lesson.” During a demonstration lesson, one teacher models a lesson, or part of a lesson, while other teachers pose as the students. It’s a way to see strategies in action and experience them from the learner perspective.
 
Some of the benefits of this structure are that many teachers can observe at once and the timing is flexible. This structure is especially suitable for use during a professional development day, when teachers are on site but students are not.
 
For example, Dan, a teacher and coach, led a full-day professional development for the 14 teachers in the English department at his school.* As part of the PD day, Dan did a demo lesson. First, Dan named the literacy practices he was promoting, then modeled a lesson that included them. Dan paused the modeled lesson occasionally to describe what he was doing and why, a practice that might not be used when teaching the lesson to students. Throughout, Dan attempted to connect the model lesson to what teachers would experience in their own classrooms. During the professional development day, teachers later discussed how to incorporate the new practices into their curriculum. This example from Dan’s school demonstrates benefits of the structure and how challenges to implementation might be overcome.
 
Next week, I’ll be teaching a demo lesson as part of a conference session at a Writing Project conference. After briefing participants on the format and giving an overview of the strategy (using mentor texts to teach grammar), I’ll launch into a lesson that I recently taught to 7^th graders. Afterward, teachers will have a chance to share their thoughts, including adjustments they might make when teaching a similar lesson in their classroom. I’ll let you know how it goes!
 
During demo lessons, participants experience strategies first-hand. They analyze the strategy and discuss why it works and how it can be adapted. Rather than being prescriptive, demo lessons are designed to be collaborative, inquiry-based, and reflective. Modeling is a highly-supportive coaching move, and demo lessons offer another way for coaches to offer this support.
 
*Gallucci, C. DeVoogt Van Lare, M. Yoon, I, & Boatright, B. (2010). Instructional coaching: Building theory about the role and organizational support for professional learning. American Educational Research Journal, 47(4), 919-963.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Besides hand-raising, how do you gauge (and encourage) participation?
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-to-rethink-the-objectives-of-classroom-discussion
 
 
Keeping writing authentic in the age of AI:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-authentic-writing-age-ai
 
 
Go back to the familiar to teach new literacy elements:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/when-learning-gets-tricky-go-back-to-the-pigs/
 
 
Better partner and small group conversations:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juR87aAg4vM
 
Why teachers should care about PLCs:
 
http://www.allthingsplc.info/blog/view/378/why-this-why-now-why-bother
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated 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: MAR2025 for 20% 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!