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It has been established that coaching models are very important, there are ones we will try to adhere to, but realize that we will have to use different models when necessary. As we embark on our...

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Take a look at how coaching can fall across a spectrum of relationship driven, teacher driven, and student driven coaching.

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This coach uses lenses to help ground her questioning and  help her push the teacher.

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See how the coach processed this conversation using the lenses.

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A quick and easy mental framework to help you and participants to return to previous actions and narrow for next steps.

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Try-Measure-Learn (TML): The Heart of Continuous Improvement

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Change teaching and learning one step at a time using the BetterLesson coaching model

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As professionals, we can all agree that the goal of school-based coaching is to improve student learning by providing teachers with continuous, relevant, and job-embedded support. But what impact is it having on student learning? Author Diane Sweeney, in her book Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals, talks about moving our coaching lens from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach.

Teacher-centered coaching almost always focuses on what the teacher is doing-the teaching actions-with the assumption that if we improve the teaching, we can improve student learning and outcomes. Student-centered coaching, on the other hand, is about setting specific targets for students that are rooted in the standards and curriculum, and promoting working together to ensure that the set targets are met. Impact is measured on the basis of student learning rather than how a teacher feels or the acquisition of specific teaching skills (Sweeney 2011, 9).

In a student-centered coaching approach, once instructional targets are identified, the use of data and student work is analyzed collaboratively to make informed decisions about instruction. At Center for the Collaborative Classroom, we've been all about just this type of approach both to foster student achievement and to better teacher decision-making through the use of a set of formative assessments, clearly identified lesson objectives, and instruction designed to meet those needs. Let's look at the Making Meaning® program for examples.

Step 1: Identify What the Students Know

The formative assessments in Making Meaning enable teachers to reflect on students' academic and social growth over time.

Class Assessments-During a class assessment, teachers can randomly observe students working in pairs or individually as they ask a series of questions that provide focus for the observations. These assessments occur about once a week during parts of the lesson where students are demonstrating their use of the unit strategy. By listening in to student conversations and thinking around texts, teachers can better determine if more time is to be spent on a particular strategy and any possible extension work they might consider. An assessment note in the Teacher's Manual alerts users to when this assessment is recommended.

Individualized Daily Reading (IDR) Conference Notes-If the overall goal of instruction is to ensure students have a set of metacognitive strategies for approaching a variety of texts independently, then the IDR Conference Notes are key! By listening to students read and talk about their self-selected texts, teachers can identify areas of strength and note areas where students need more support. In the beginning, notes focus on knowing students as readers and making sure they are selecting appropriately leveled texts. Then the conferences focus more on the acquisition and use of the comprehension strategies as well as their development as readers as the year progresses. As with the class assessments, an assessment note in the Teacher's Manual alerts users when conferring is recommended.

Student Reading Goals and Interests Survey-The first conferring questions in Making Meaning are all about discovering your students as readers. What are their interests? What authors do they enjoy reading? How do they feel about themselves as readers? Once teachers have analyzed the class responses, that information can be shared with students, support staff, and parents. Repeating this survey at the end of the year can serve to show students' growth as readers.

Step 2: Identify What the Standards, Curriculum, or Program Deems They Need to Know

Each Making Meaning unit and the lessons within the unit clearly identify the learning targets that address the standards. The unit's Overview provides a "big picture" look at those standards as they unfold across the unit. Each week's Overview narrows our lens a bit as we dive more specifically into the comprehension strategy focus as well as the social development focus for the week. It is this combination of attention to social development combined with strategy development that make curriculum from Center for the Collaborative Classroom unique and wholly supportive of both teachers and students. Taking a deeper dive, the individual lesson targets for each day in a given week are identified with a lead off: "In this lesson, the students." Those previously mentioned class assessments are sprinkled throughout the unit as a reminder to the teachers to pay close attention to the students' gaining proficiency with the lesson targets identified. Teachers will acquire a well-developed knowledge of the standards and the curriculum they teach.

Step 3: Design and Implement Instruction to Meet Needs

Making Meaning is research-based and classroom-tested instruction shaped by pilot classrooms around the nation to assure its effectiveness. Fitting into a typical classroom day, the instruction is accessible for all students as it includes suggestions for extending the learning and supports for English Language Learners and students with various reading levels. An easy to follow daily structure, teacher notes, vocabulary notes and suggestions, and embedded technology supports enable teachers to build a repertoire of instructional strategies to support student learning.

Working in tandem with the Making Meaning materials, coaches can build communities of teachers who are skilled at analyzing student work and behaviors to make instructional decisions that best support student achievement. Coaching can be about improving student achievement rather than just being about improving teachers. With its focus on providing high-quality supports for teachers during the workday, instructional coaches can leverage this amazing program for professional development and shift the lens of instruction directly on to students.

Sweeney, Diane. 2011. Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. dianesweeney.com.

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Using Making Meaning in a Student-Centered Coaching Approach | Center for the Collaborative Classroom

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As professionals, we can all agree that the goal of school-based coaching is to improve student learning by providing teachers with continuous, relevant, and job-embedded support. But what impact is it having on student learning? Author Diane Sweeney, in her book Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide for K-8 Coaches and Principals, talks about moving our coaching [...]

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Annie Forest, coaching and math coordinator in Illinois, walks through the stages of a successful coaching cycle and shares how clear goals and continuous reflection help power them.

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s instructional coaches, we're often tasked with doing lots of things: planning with teams of teachers, leading committees, giving professional development, and so on. But one of our most important tasks is working with individual teachers during a coaching cycle. By co-planning, co-teaching, modeling lessons, and more, coaches can really help to develop teachers' skills.

No matter the coaching model you follow, most present a coaching cycle as three parts: before, during, and after. Perhaps it's "planning-development-growth," or "identify-earn-improve," or even "assess-coach-reflection/revise." In all of these models, three processes remain consistent:

1. Planning: identify and make goals to define the work that you are going to engage in with your coaching client.

2. Doing the work: plan with a client/teacher or observe in the classroom doing lessons; this part is probably the bulk of the time in a cycle by diving into the work of your coachee.

3. Reflection: revise and improve practice, and the work that makes up the real growth. Without this last step you can be left in a limbo of feeling like you did something, but just not sure what.

Before: settings goals

When I first became a coach, I found myself thinking: What was I doing? How was the teacher growing? How do I know when it's time to wrap things up? As I've coached longer, I realized a mistake in coaching that first year: I wasn't structured enough during the first phase to set clear goals.

At first, all I wanted to do was jump into the "doing" phase of my coaching cycle too quickly, and, as a result, I did a lot of co-teaching and modeling. Honestly, it felt a lot like having two teachers in the room doing their thing: giving compliments and suggestions, planning and reflection, doing lessons together, etc. Then, I started to wonder, how will we know when we are done? This could go on forever this way!

Setting clear goals in the beginning helped me know what to focus on during this "doing" phase as well as when to finish a cycle, when to think about reflecting and helping teachers improve their practice, and where the finish line was. Without clear goals as to where a teacher wants to go, how will you ever know you got there? You can end up in the middle "doing" phase forever!

Without clear goals defined with a teacher, a coaching conversation is truly just that: a conversation.

During: doing the work

The second phase of the coaching cycle is where you'll spend most of your time, as this is where the work truly begins to happen. You'll collect a lot of data through this stage to give yourself a clear sense of what's going on in the classroom and on which you can shape your coaching efforts to support the goal.

Whether it's co-teaching with a teacher, data collection through observation, or a lesson you model, it's important to simultaneously promote opportunities for reflection along the way. Taking time to reflect on the mini achievements throughout the process not only ensures that the goal is being worked on and creates opportunities for the teacher to "see" their improvement, it sets up the next reflection stage very well.

After: reflection!

In addition to on-the-go reflection opportunities, another way to set up this third phase for success is to simply schedule it. Putting reflection meetings on the calendar with my coaching client helped us stay on track. The "appointment" for reflection can always be pushed back or bumped up, based on need, but having that expectation that we will meet to reflect helps make sure it happens.

Just as important here is to make sure reflections are authentic for both you and the coaching client. It can be easy to meet and have a superficial conversation that might sound like, "that was great! I love working with you. We did so much and I saw so much growth in the students!" Although positive and complimentary, this type of reflection leaves little for a teacher or coaching client to dig into as next steps. Instead, it might be helpful to go in with some question stems that help you get at what went well, what was a struggle, and where to go from here.

Making sure you complete a cycle with a teacher by intentionally doing each of the three phases allows you and the coaching client to really see results in pushing teaching practice forward. It's the satisfying end to the hard work of a cycle. Planning for it, scheduling it, and being authentic is key to finishing strong!

Annie Forest is a former middle school math teacher and instructional coach. She now serves as a coaching and math coordinator at a K-8 district in Berwyn, IL, as president-elect of the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and is a Desmos Fellow.

Annie focuses on a strength-based model for coaching teachers and believes that learning math should be visual, joyful, make sense, and that everyone is a math person!

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Best Practices for All 3 Steps in the Coaching Cycle

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Annie Forest, coaching and math coordinator in Illinois, walks through the stages of a successful coaching cycle and shares how clear goals and continuous reflection help power them. A s instructional coaches, we're often tasked with doing lots of things: planning with teams of teachers, leading committees, giving professional development, and so on.

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Why does this component matter for successful coaching?

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Why does this component matter for successful coaching?

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How does it help establish your role as a coach?

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How does it help establish your role as a coach?

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Why does this component matter for successful coaching?

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How does it help establish your role as a coach?

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How does it help establish your role as a coach?

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Why does this component matter for successful coaching?

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How does it help establish your role as a coach?

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What is something that is outside these areas that is essential to establishing your role?

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What is something that is outside these areas that is essential to establishing your role?

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What challenges exist for these components in your reality?

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What challenges exist for these components in your reality?

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1. Introduce yourself to your group.
2. Each of you pick one column to explore. (@ 8 minutes)
3. Come back together and each person share what you learned about this component, and why it is important. (6 minutes)

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As coaches we have 6 lenses.
Know where we want to end up, how will we get there?
6 lenses:
1 - Inquiry
2 - Change Management
3 - Systems Thinking
4 - Adult Learning
5 - Systemic Oppressions
6 - Emotional Intelligence
In every meeting, which lense do we want to focus on or look through?