My Coaching Cycle

"Often the question comes up about what makes a great coach. The answer is a coach engaged in ongoing work on him- or herself. The answer is not someone who asks great questions... All our 'doing' is affected profoundly by the way in which we 'be'."- Frank Ball 

Did you think I'd give up on reflecting through blog after one week? Hopefully not! Since it is the middle of the school year I thought I'd share what my coaching cycle currently looks like in case you have any advice or wisdom to share. This could also possibly be some inspiration to your own current or future coaching cycle or even the beginning of a great collaboration. 

True Conversation: The cycle begins with a one on one conversation with the educators I coach. This school year I learned the importance of listening... REAL listening. Through listening you don't simply hear the words but pay close attention to the feelings behind those words. Teachers are the toughest self- critiques, I value listening to what they have to say because it can guide me into what it is they need to discover to enhance the great things they are already doing in the classroom. At times the conversations are focused specifically on teaching practices/ strategies or students in the classroom. Other times conversations are focused on how they are feeling or how their family is doing. I've learned for a coaching relationship to be strong, the types of conversations I have shouldn't strictly be about strategies. 

Observations: After having an initial conversation the observations began. At the beginning of the school year I tried to schedule my first observation for a 25-30 minute window to try and gain an understanding of the classroom culture, classroom management style, and content knowledge teachers were already building or were already implementing. All other observations are about 15 minutes long and I try my best to spread them between different class periods. This is when I take anecdotal notes either by hand or on a google doc on an IPad. I write anything and everything that I see or hear throughout the time I am there. 

Plan for Debrief: I take the anecdotal notes from the observation and split it into four sections: what I see students doing, what I noticed, what I wonder, and any notes I may have. This is put into a template that is much friendlier than my notes. I stay away from simply sending or inserting "glows" and "grows" because as always teachers tend to focus solely on the "grows". The template is a summary of what I observed so that it is not overwhelming. When I plan for the debrief I search and find specific tools, strategies, or practices that can enhance what teachers are doing. Wowever, I don't insert it into the template because I would rather the "I wonder" questions lead our conversation.

Debrief: I start the debrief with "How are you doing", "How has your day been", or "How did you feel about that lesson". This goes back to the listening piece, I want to create a coaching relationship in which their thoughts and feelings are taken into consideration. Once the conversation has started I move into going over the observation debrief where I share the summary of what I saw students doing, what I noticed, and what I wondered. I am purposeful in only asking 1 or 2 "I wonder" questions because this doesn't overwhelm teachers. These questions are the most valuable part of the debrief because it allows teachers to either think of past strategies/practices they've done or leads to a brainstorming session where I can share some ideas or we can create some together. When we've discussed some of these I then physically write it on the printed summary. Through this school year I've noticed this has allowed the teachers I coach take more ownership of the strategies/practices because it's not something they are simply being told they HAVE to do it becomes something they are open to trying in their classroom. 

Then the cycle repeats itself because there is always an opportunity to learn something new! 

If you'd like to see specific examples of what I use during any of part of my coaching cycle just write a comment and I can blog about it in the future. Or if you have any recommendations, suggestions, or ideas to improve my coaching practices please share! And if by any chance I coach you and you are reading this, just know that I am always trying to improve what I do and I appreciate your patience through my own learning experience. 

I promised I'd end my blogs with one thing I did for self-care that week, this week it was doing a 20 minute guided meditation I found on YouTube (Link HERE). As soon as I get up my mind is running a million miles per minute about what needs to get done, what the future holds, and what I'm responsible for.  I've also come to the realization that although I don't tend to show it, I'm an angry person on the inside #BeingVulnerable. Having this time to pause my thoughts and just be still was definitely a nice change.