Coaching and PLTs
Effective Coaching
Upper Yarra Secondary College
Rose Draffin & Joanne Andonopoulos
Context
 School data consistently poor
 Low socio economic area
 Region appointed a number of coaches to UYSC and
surrounding primary schools
 Network formed a network of coaches with a lead coach
Key Factors for success
 Voluntary
 CoachIng (Ideally more than one - diversity)
 PLT’s
 Professional Learning/Bastow
 Network team with lead coach
 Focus on relationships/safe learning
Who is coached?
 Teachers volunteered
 30 teachers
 Experienced to inexperienced
Structure of coaching
First 2 years - coaches
 2 full time
 1 at .5
 1 at .4
Third year 1.4 coaches and 3 PLT’s
Right from the start there was positive take up of coaching:
 Different coaches appealed to a wide range of teachers
 Focus on building relationships
 Coaches selected from within the current staff
Focus of Coaching
 Year 1: Teachers chose areas of focus to work with their
coach. Diverse and varied foci
 Year 2: As above &
Study group (PLT) – Focus: Comprehension across domains.
 Year 3: Three PLT’s, a number of staff volunteered to
participate in groups lead by coach. Staff members as a
group selected the area of focus for their learning, most of
these were coached weekly or fortnightly as well.
Study group foci movie
PLT Foci
 Writing to Learn
 Inquiry Based Learning
 Independent Reading
 Comprehension
What is it like working in a study
group and being coached?
More:
Focused
Support
Accountability
Depth of learning
Engagement
Courage
English
Humanities
ESTABLISHING SUSTAINABLE STUDY
GROUPS
Things to consider when creating a model for your school:
 Time commitment of facilitator to organise
 Meeting schedule – time between sessions
 Length of each session
 Between Session Tasks
 Accountability
 Resources – texts for participants
 Catering
STUDY GROUP FORMAT
First session:
 Establish norms/protocols.
 Negotiate the focus of the study group.
 Look at relevant data.
 Small reading and discussion.
 Between Session Task.
STUDY GROUP FORMAT
Subsequent sessions:
 Revisit last session.
 Use protocol to share BST.
 Look at relevant data.
 Use protocol to discuss reading.
 BST
Model strategies in study group that teachers will be trialling.
Role of PL and Network
 Bastow – Role in change
 Establishing Literacy coaching in your school
 Leading Literacy in your school
 Model used by these courses:Ongoing PL, working in PLT lead by trainer, work in
school implementing strategies eg study group, reading
workshop at yr7, developing a literacy plan
 Network – role in leadership, PL and networking
Outcomes/Data
 Initially a lot of the data we collected wasn’t reflective
of the areas of coaching – Why
 New to coaching
 Different in a secondary:
PL and coaching leadership was from primary setting
Student teacher contact
Large staff more autonomous
Data
 Student
Reading data
 Teacher
Literacy in Art
Humanities impact on content
Key Factors for success
 Voluntary
 PLT’s
 Professional Learning/Bastow
 Network team with lead coach
 Focus on relationships/safe learning
 Coaching (more than 1 coach ideal -diversity)
Keys Texts Used in PLT’s
Example of strategies
Quick Writes
Writing break
Exit slip
Admit slip
Brainstorming
Drawing &
illustrating
Clustering
Mapping
Written conversation
Write around
Carousel
brainstorming
Double entry journal
Non stop write
KWL
Reading, Writing, Collaboration &
Thinking
Activate and build
background knowledge
Listen to your inner voice
Think and wonder about text
Use text and visual features
to gain information
Leave tracks of thinking
Ask questions and wonder
about information
Read with a question in mind
Drawing inference
TEEL
Turn and talk
Home court advantage
Creating group ground rules
Accountable talk
Disagree agreeably
Conversation questions
Gallery walk
Jigsaw
Text coding
Think aloud
Probable passage
Not so silent ball
Vocab relay