Last week I was invited to speak about instructional coaching for the always excellent Teachers Talk Radio.
Much of our discussion centered on the dogmas or conventional beliefs that are often sold as “just good coaching”, but that I find highly questionable.
Below are 10 of these “dogmas”. Importantly, these are are not “myths” or “lies”. They’re simply things that I find have a bit of wiggle room, or else confuse the heck out of me. As you go through this list and listen to the podcast, I hope you feel encouraged to leave a comment below about your experiences with these and other beliefs in instructional coaching.
- Teachers should always choose the topic of their coaching
- Teachers should always be able to choose whether they engage in coaching or not
- Coaches should mostly listen, and rarely show
- Coaching is mostly about leadership, and less about pedagogical expertise
- Coaches can be weaker teachers than their mentees
- Coaching can ignore specific subjects to focus on general teaching strategies
- Coaches should keep everything confidential from administrators
- Coaching inevitably involves non-coaching responsibilities, as required by administrators
- Coaching should focus on individual teachers’ needs and not the needs of the building
- A coach shouldn’t come out in favor of one form of pedagogy over another
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I think effective coaching is largely predicated on trust. Some coaches are more skilled at this than others. They present as non-judgemental, supportive and vulnerable. They don’t act as PD sales people for the district. They are pragmatic and looking to improve classroom conditions and learning from where they currently stand. Rather than impose a program or approach. Needless to say pontificating is not a popular approach with classroom teachers. However, we have a few of these types and teachers tend to run away when they see them coming.
I think some strong skills in general instruction and knowledge of learning are requisite. Ideally they have knowledge in the content area as well. However, depending on the mentee’s area of need, the mentor could certainly support them despite lacking knowledge in the content area.
Initially I think listening is important but that the coaching relationship will and should evolve. Modelling and discourse should be integral to the coaching process as well.
I don’t view coaches as quasi-administrators. Some take this view and don’t seem very popular. I think their focus should be effecting positive change – student learning and teacher learning. This can be done in a manner that is collaborative and inclusive of admin but also in a manner that undermines teachers and trust.
A coach shouldn’t be an idealogue during the school day. They should be focused on putting research into practice in the most impactful way possible. Personally, I think that most likely involves systematic and coherent instruction, DI. However, I think an open mind is important. I prefer the soft-sell to the hard-sell.
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