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Roles of Instructional Coaching: Why are they Important?

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Roles of Instructional Coaching: Why are they Important?

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Instructional Coaching may be seen as another administrative job that tells teachers what to do or puts more weight on the educators' shoulders.

To me, Instructional Coaching is a position that can benefit not only the individual teacher but so much more. This article highlights some of the main benefits that instructional coaching may bring to a district. The number one benefit is teacher retention. We are seeing people leave the teaching field in large numbers; instructional coaching can help keep teachers by helping them in ways that the administration cannot. I like this article because it highlights so much that can be taken away from a quality instructional coach who cares for their educators and their students.

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Supercharge Teacher Practice: 3 Benefits of Instructional Coaching

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Supercharge teacher practice and improve student outcomes with instructional coaching. Discover three benefits and key attributes for effective instructional coaching.

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Communication isn't just how we talk to others daily. It is how we express our needs and wants, build relationships, build careers, and so on. After this week in my Instructional Coaching class, I took a step back and looked at how my emotional intelligence and ability to be empathetic impact my communication.

If you a struggling to see the importance of understanding how your emotions affect others or struggling to understand why communication is important to humanity; this article is a great resource to use.

We know that instructional coaching's backbone is built on relationships and a key to a healthy and productive relationship between coworkers is great communication. This article also provides ways to improve communication skills, if you do not know where to start.

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Understanding the Power of Communication

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We communicate with others on a daily basis, but communication is much more than having a conversation with someone.

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Although this article pertains to the generalized workplace, it still fits in the educational setting.

The article emphasizes the main characteristics of coaching leadership and their effects on their people and the workplace. The author highlights the importance of being empathic, working collaboratively, continuously learning, being feedback-oriented, goal-oriented, and being an active listener. As we have learned throughout our course, using those qualities help individuals become effective coaches that build trust and a positve relationship with others. This is a good source to use to look back on to have reminders of what type of person we should be, as coaches, in the workplace.

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Coaching Leadership Style: Characteristics and Applications in the Workplace - Highrise

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Looking to improve your leadership skills? Discover the Coaching Leadership Style and its applications in the workplace. Learn about the characteristics of this style and how it can help you develop your team and achieve your organizational goals.

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Applying instructional coaching in the classroom via Co-Teaching

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Applying instructional coaching in the classroom via Co-Teaching

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Over the years, I have had several new teachers tell me that the biggest things they struggle with are being told what to do instead of being shown what to do. Experienced educators frequently forget that the "teaching language" is hard to understand without proper guidance. We know our students learn best with clear examples and gradual release; why does this not apply to our young educators? I love this article because it discusses the benefits of co-teaching with teachers. It has a great graphic on which strategy to use for the educator's needs and how to implement different co-teaching strategies. It is a great example of applying instructional coaching in the classroom for people who are hands-on learners, and it provides support for teachers to learn and grow with guidance.

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A matrix based on a teacher's belief in themselves and their belief in students can facilitate effective instructional coaching.

Hannah Thompson was in her first year of teaching, and like many novice teachers, she lacked confidence in her ability to do the job. (I changed the names in this article to protect confidentiality.) Her class management skills were still undeveloped, and her fourth-grade students required more structure and consistency.

Not knowing that many first-year teachers face similar challenges, Ms. Thompson was on the verge of quitting. She needed a full-scale intervention, and as an instructional coach, I was called in to help.

Benefits of Intervening in the Classroom

Co-teaching can be effective at accelerating teacher skill-building. Ms. Thompson needed someone to reinforce the idea that her students were capable of meeting expectations, and she needed to feel that she was capable of leading the class. I assessed that she had a low belief in herself but did believe that her students were capable of meeting expectations because she saw how they engaged in their special classes and in the cafeteria.

Over the next three days, I spent many hours in the classroom, pulling students out as necessary, circulating around the classroom, and occasionally addressing the class. Ms. Thompson started to repeat my behaviors. At the end of the third day, we debriefed. "I didn't think it was possible for me to get through a whole math lesson like this!" she said.

"And you did it because you narrated behavior, held students accountable, had clear directions, and much more. You have learned so many skills in such a short amount of time," I replied.

Reinforce positive mindsets about student(s): "I didn't know that my kids could do that!"

Reinforce positive beliefs that teachers hold about themselves: "I didn't think it was possible for me to..."

Make explicit connections between teacher actions and student actions

Build a lot of teacher skill

As this example illustrates, intervening in the classroom can do the following:

Risks of Intervening in the Classroom

But there are some risks if leaders do not assess the situation correctly. For example, Ryan Dawson was a middle school math teacher who also had classroom management difficulties. I thought modeling would be the best course of action. I planned the lesson and was ready to go. Almost immediately, students started yelling at me, "Are you here because our teacher sucks?" Mr. Dawson looked on in horror as students started moving out of their assigned seats, putting on their headphones, and talking to each other. While I was able to regain some control, it was ultimately a bust.

After the lesson, Mr. Dawson said, "See! What did I tell you?" The modeled lesson had reinforced negative mindsets about his students, and he used that as an excuse in every future conversation.

Unfortunately, I had not assessed the situation correctly. In prior conversations, he had blamed the kids for every problem he was having. He had high belief in himself and low belief in students. Modeling was not the way to go. Mr. Dawson continued to believe that it was the students' fault, made little effort to improve his performance, and was released from his contract at the end of the school year.

Decision-Making Matrix

After years of testing, iterating, and refining, my team and I finally figured out the two factors that influence how to intervene when a teacher needs support. First is the extent to which the teacher believes in their students, both academically and behaviorally. The second factor is whether the teacher believes in themselves and has high or low self-efficacy.

Coaches and administrators can use the following matrix to determine their action.

Team Teach: If the teacher has high self-efficacy and low belief in their students, a coach would choose to team teach. Teacher and coach teach the class together after planning a clear delineation of responsibility. For example, the coach may choose to open the lesson and turn it over to the teacher for guided practice. Having additional capacity in the classroom can demonstrate to the teacher that the students are capable of meeting expectations and learning outcomes with the right guidance and support.

Live Coach: If the teacher has high self-efficacy and high belief in students, a coach should live coach. In live coaching, the teacher teaches the class. The coach offers live guidance to the teacher and does not address the class. This may look like using hand signals in the back, offering quick feedback to the teacher when students are working on another task, or even acting like a student (e.g., "Ms. Thompson, can you help me figure out what page I am on?").

Model Teach: A coach should model if the teacher has low belief in self and students. The coach teaches the class while the teacher observes. They observe a number of teacher moves and can see how the students react to each of them. In the debrief, the coach speaks to each move, decision, and result. Video-recording the lesson is also good practice.

Teach and Support: Like Hannah Thompson, if a teacher has low belief in self and high belief in students, the teacher teaches the class. The coach addresses some students directly or occasionally addresses the whole class. I knew Ms. Thompson needed a win because she felt defeated in her progress as a teacher. She had a lot of technical classroom management skills to learn at once, and so the model we chose allowed us to reset student behaviors and reestablish key procedures.

Sometimes our classrooms devolve into places where learning is hard, and an instructional coach or administrator can help to put it back on track. The decision to adopt different coaching strategies has some risks but can also have tremendous rewards. Weeks after the intervention with Ms. Thompson, I came back to see her in action again. She had maintained the changes, and her classroom was now a place of learning.

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How Instructional Coaches Can Use Co-Teaching to Support Teachers

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A matrix based on a teacher's belief in themselves and their belief in students can facilitate effective instructional coaching.

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Coaching culture in education is a continuous collaboration between coaches and educators who work together to create better practices and develop positive student outcomes. This is built mainly on effective communication between all parties. It may seem like a lot of problem-solving goals but coaches want to leave their teachers with tools to be successful on their own. Coaches utilize many different guiding questions that help teachers reach their goals. This study shows the impact of problem-focused conversations vs solution-based conversations.

This is a great tool to use when thinking about those guiding questions to help teachers reach their goals and be able to use their strengths and resources to do continuously on their own, in the future.

This study highlights the positive outcomes of using solution-focused conversation in coaching and why they may be better than problem-focused (Grant, 2012).

Grant, A. M. (2012). Making Positive Change: A Randomized Study Comparing Solution-Focused vs. Problem-Focused Coaching Questions. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 31(2), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1521/jsyt.2012.31.2.21

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As an educators, we love to talk. It is part of our job description. I have found that I struggle with intentionally listening and receiving others without already formulating a response, comeback, or a squirrel-like interruption. I know I do not intentionally do this, but developing ways to change this part about myself is what I am going to focus on. This article shows the importance of being an active listener and the steps to take to increase your ability to successfully do so. I think that this is a great tool for people like me because it provides a breakdown on how to change and why it is important to do so.

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The Importance of Active Listening in Coaching | ICF

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Learn the art of listening in coaching to enhance effectiveness. Discover techniques to cultivate presence, improve client relationships & foster understanding.