Effective Coaching - Jenny Thompson

26th February, 2020

Jenny Thompson - Coaching

Discussion around how to shift teacher practise through coaching.

Photo metaphors - "Shifting teacher practise is like ....." 

Think of a time you were coached (sport/music etc) and what was effective:

• Patience and realistic expectations
• Explicit instruction
• Modelling - Show me first
• Clear communication and instruction
• Opportunity for repetition and opportunity for mistakes

Effective coaches do:

• Know their learners
• Mutual trust and respect
• Focus on the student - keep student outcomes the main thing
• Free of Judgement, learning in partnership
• Know what excellence means and looks like
• Understanding progressions
• Know what each person does well and how can they improve on their strengths - appreciative inquiry
• Affirmation
• Identify what does need improving
• Support and challenge - Goldilocks zone
• Give targeted feedback
• Celebrate success

Conversation about thinking about your staff like a classroom and how well do you know them as 'learners'. Who are the early adopters, who need trust first, who needs to see it modelled, who needs time and communication and tautoko etc. 

Reflect on your own practice. What do I need to change to be an effective leader? What am I currently working on?

Here I am as a leader, and here’s the piece I might be missing, where can I get support/training to fill the gap from where I am to where I want to be?

Locus of control needs to move from I observe you, then tell you what you’re doing wrong. Needs to move to individual teachers hearing/seeing themselves and reflecting on their own practice. 

Summerland does RBL observation - 20 mins recorded/scribed and then a coaching session afterwards. Teacher’s find their own things to work on. 

Helen Timperly Video

“How are we doing, where are we going, where to next?” 

Practice Analysis Conversations

The power is in the conversation, and as leaders we need to build knowledge for ourselves to pass it on.

• Teachers to take a video of themselves teaching, put camera behind them
• You can see student engagement if camera is behind you teaching too.
• “Tell me what you noticed”.
• “Can you talk to me about that?”
• You shift your own practice now that you know.
• You are evaluating the impact of your teaching on the students.
• Focus on the pedagogy, not necessarily the subject, as good pedagogy is good pedagogy.  
• Do it WITH the teachers, not TO the teachers. 
• Video your practise of coaching with someone and reflect on what you are doing. Leader’s need to be effective, too, and to evaluate our impact.
• VIDEO, LISTEN, DIALOGUE, NEXT STEPS
• Why questions
• When/then scaffold
• I’m wondering why you….. Instead of using ‘but’ or ‘however’.
• Having honest conversations and not making assumptions about why people aren’t doing what they are meant to, or if there is resistance. 

Things I can put into practise now

• More patience with one particular person - she’s still learning
• The pictures activity with my class when teaching metaphors and analogy
• Reflecting on my own practice in the classroom - am I being interrupted? Am I talking too much? Yes, and I will cut down on that. 

WRITE THAT ESSAY

St Dominic’s use the 12 sentences as warm up’s for ten mins for 2 weeks. Repetition, repetition, repetition and practise. 

Then teaching paragraphs - we’re going to use these three sentences in this paragraph. 

Do now’s - when you start something - writing etc. 

Our job as leaders is to connect the main principles from all PD/courses/programmes etc for staff.