Instructional Facilitator’s
Training
Day One
Arkansas Department of Education,
Instructional Coaching Group, and
University of Kansas Center for Research on
Learning
Essential Questions
 What is an instructional coach?
 What does research say about the personal experience of
change?
 What are the various activities coaches do
 What is the theoretical foundation behind instructional
coaching?
www.instructionalcoach.org
What else are we learning about in the
three days of professional development?
 How can coaching programs address barriers to
change in schools?
 What specific communication strategies can coaches
use to build learning relationships?
 Which leadership skills enable coaches to lead reform
efforts in schools?
 What can coaches do to stay motivated and
energized?
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your first learning experience:
 Team up with a partner (someone you don’t know
who is in the room)
 Take a few minutes to interview your partner and
let them interview you
 Find out the following:
Where they’ve come from
What their position is
Why they came to this institute
Some interesting tidbit about them (something
that is interesting and perhaps surprising)
www.instructionalcoach.org
A Little
Background
Information
What is KU-CRL?
Mission: KU-CRL’s work centers
on solving the problems that
limit individuals' quality of life
and their ability to learn and
perform in school, work, home,
or the community.
www.instructionalcoach.org
What is KU-CRL?
• Founded in 1978
• $80+ million dollars of contracted R&D has led to the
development of
• Learning Strategies to empower independent student learning
• Content Enhancement to help teachers promote greater
understanding, remembering, and use of critical content
• International Professional Development Network has led to
over 1,500 educational leaders
• 275,000 teachers in 3,500 school districts have participated in
CRL professional development
www.instructionalcoach.org
What is The Instructional
Coaching Group?
Mission: ICG is committed to
enabling unmistakable positive
improvements in children's lives
www.instructionalcoach.org
What is ICG?
• Provides professional development on
instructional coaching and coaching classroom
management
• Develops and publishes materials that support
professional learning for coaches
• Has provided professional development for
coaches in more than 30 states
www.instructionalcoach.org
Our first idea…
It’s not easy to lead change
www.instructionalcoach.org
Change?
Think of a change you’ve gone through that was
successful and another that was unsuccessful.
What accounts for the difference?
Share your thoughts with your partner.
www.instructionalcoach.org
Stages of Change
(Prochaska, 1994)
Pre-contemplation
Contemplation
Preparation
Activation
Maintenance
Termination
www.instructionalcoach.org
An Instructional Facilitator/Coach
 Is on site
 Is a professional
developer
 Partners
 Shares proven teaching
practices (researchbased)
www.instructionalcoach.org
Question?
 What does this athletic coach do that you think is
similar to what an Instructional Facilitator/Coach
should do?
www.instructionalcoach.org
www.instructionalcoach.org
What Does An Instructional
Facilitator/Coach Do?
Instructional Coaching






Enroll
Identify
Explain
Model (You watch me)
Observe (I watch you)
Explore (Collaborative
Exploration of Data)
 Support
 Reflect
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your learning experience:
 After hearing about each individual practice, check to ensure
everyone understands it
 With your group, identify strategies, tactics, methods or other
ideas that a coach might use to be more effective when
implementing this practice
 Write down what you have learned on a “post-it” note and add
the “post-it” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
Enroll teachers
 Large-group presentation pg.96
 Small-group presentation pg.95
 Informal conversations (one to one) pg. 98
 Principal (or other) referral pg. 98
 Interview
www.instructionalcoach.org
Why Use Interviews?
Three Goals:
1. To gather specific information
2. To educate participants about the philosophy,
methods and opportunities of coaching
3. To develop one- to –one relationships with
teachers
www.instructionalcoach.org
How to set up interviews:
 Send out a memo or newsletter informing
teachers of their goal to meet and learn from
everyone
 Meet then in hallway and schedule appointment
 Schedule 30 minute interviews
www.instructionalcoach.org
Interview Questions:
 What do you like best about being a teacher?
 As you strive to achieve your goals, what obstacles
stand in your way?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the children
you teach?
 How do you learn best?
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your learning experience:
 With your group, identify strategies, tactics, methods
or other ideas that a coach might use to be more
effective when enrolling teachers
 Write down what you have learned on a “post-it” note
and add the “post-it” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
Identify What to Do:
 Through
Interviews or other conversations
Coach observation
Referral
Teacher initiative
www.instructionalcoach.org
Big Four: A Framework for
identifying what to do
Classroom Management
Content
Instruction
Formative Assessment
www.instructionalcoach.org
Mystery Middle School
November 10, 2005
Te ache r
Behavior
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Teacher
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Content
Ins truction
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Form ative
As s e s s m n
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Your learning experience:
 With your group, generate a list of effective teaching
practices that you or coaches you know share with
teachers.
 Note each item on a “post-it” note and add the “postit” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
Explaining interventions:
 Instructional Coach
Breaks down the instructor’s materials
Lays out the step-by-step procedures
Suggests what teacher should watch for during
the model lessons
Does everything possible to make it easier for
teachers to implement
Asks about and addresses collaborating teacher’s
concerns
Co-constructs Observation Form with teachers
www.instructionalcoach.org
FIVE TACTICS FOR TRANSLATING
RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
CLARIFY: READ WRITE TALK
SYNTHESIZE
BREAK IT DOWN
SEE IT THROUGH TEACHERS’ (AND
STUDENTS’) EYES
5. SIMPLIFY
www.instructionalcoach.org
Model Lessons: You watch me!
Goal: To show a teacher exactly how to implement a particular intervention
 Be fully aware of critical

teaching practices you need to model
Ensure that teacher knows the purpose of the model lesson
Provide concrete description of what you’ll be doing

 Clarify roles for behavioral management
 Co-construct an observation form
 Ensure your collaborating teacher knows how to use the form
www.instructionalcoach.org
OBSERVATION FOR M
Teacher:_______ ___Unit/Con tent: ____________ D ate: ____________School: __________ __ Module: ____________
TEACHING PRACTICE
OBS.
COMMENTS
Your learning experience:
 With your group, generate a list of effective teaching
practices that you or coaches you know share with
teachers.
 Note each item on a “post-it” note and add the “postit” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
OBSERVATION FOR M
Teacher:_______ ___Unit/Con tent: ____________ D ate: ____________School: __________ __ Module: ____________
TEACHING PRACTICE
OBS.
COMMENTS
Tricia’s suggestions:
1. Talk with the students when they first enter the class
so they are comfortable with the transition to you
teaching a model lesson.
2. Review content thoroughly so that students are clear
that they have enough background knowledge to
grasp the model lesson.
3. Explain the expectation for the lesson explicitly and
check to ensure students understand them.
www.instructionalcoach.org
More suggestions:
4. Have a lot of interaction with the kids during the
model lesson.
5. Ensure the students know that I’m a partner with their
teacher.
6. Expect to learn from your collaborating teacher.
www.instructionalcoach.org
Table one: Teachers’ perceptions of the value of observing Instructional
Coaches modeling practices
(n = 107)
Do teachers think watching a coach model practices
made it easier to implement?
6.51
Do teachers think watching a coach model practices
increased their fidelity to instructional practices?
6.4
Do teachers think watching a coach model practices
made them more confident about implementing?
6.22
Do teachers think they learned other teaching strategies
while watching a coach model?
6.13
Do teachers think coaches have enough content
knowledge to model all the instruction in teachers’
classes.
3.18
www.instructionalcoach.org
Tacit Knowledge
“We can know more
than we can say”
Michel Polanyi
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your learning experience:
 With your group, identify strategies, tactics, methods
or other ideas that a coach might use to be more
effective when modeling lessons with teachers
 Write down what you have learned on a “post-it” note
and add the “post-it” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
Observe: “I watch you”
Coach uses the observation form to watch for
data related to:
Critical teaching behaviors
Fidelity to scientifically proven practices
Student behavior and performance
Additional specific teacher concerns
www.instructionalcoach.org
EXPLORE
Collaborative Exploration of Data
 Based on the partnership principles
 Involves observations to open up dialogue, rather
than to state a single truth
 Should be
constructive, but provisional
empathetic and respectful
 Coach and teacher identify what data will be gathered
www.instructionalcoach.org
Top-down Feedback
Coach
Uses
data
to
shape
The
Teacher
www.instructionalcoach.org
Partnership Feedback (C.E.D.)
Reinke, (2005)
data
Teacher
dialogue
www.instructionalcoach.org
Coach
Fostering a language of “ongoing
regard”
Kegan & Lahey (2001) How the way we talk can change the way we work
 Authentic, appreciative feedback needs to be:
Direct
Specific
Non-attributive
www.instructionalcoach.org
What do you think of these
comments?
“I’d like to especially recognize Tricia’s
contributions this year.”
 “Lynn, you did a great job with that class yesterday.
You’re great!”
 “Ric, you’re a patient man. I appreciate how patient
you are.”
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your learning experience:
1.
2.
Think about the wonderful partner you’ve worked with
Write down some authentic, positive feedback for her
or him
3. Make sure your comments are
1. direct,
2. specific,
3. and non-attributive--tell them how they’ve affected
you
4. Look your partner in the eye and tell them the
compliment
www.instructionalcoach.org
SUPPORT:
On-going Collaboration
 More modeling, observation, collaborative
exploration of data, and dialogue
 Each relationship is differentiated to fit the
unique needs of each teacher
www.instructionalcoach.org
SUPPORT:
What matters is that the teacher and the
facilitator/coach keep learning together,
working as partners to ensure that
students receive excellent instruction.
www.instructionalcoach.org
Reflect:
After-action Review
 What was supposed to happen?
 What happened?
 What accounts for the difference?
 What will I do differently next time?
www.instructionalcoach.org
After-action Review
 On your own
(coaching form, notebook, computer journal,
tape or ipod oral history)
 With your team
 With collaborating teacher
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your learning experience:
 With your group, identify other strategies, tactics,
methods or other ideas that a coach might use to be
more effective for reflection
 Write down what you have learned on a “post-it” note
and add the “post-it” to the appropriate flip chart
www.instructionalcoach.org
Time to reflect:
Identify one idea you want to act on:
What do you feel?
What do you think?
What are you going to do?
www.instructionalcoach.org
Partnership Principles:
The theory behind
Instructional
Facilitating/Coaching
Principles
“The principles you live by create the
world you live in; if you change the
principles you live by, you will change
your world.”
Blaine Lee, The Power Principle
www.instructionalcoach.org
Partnership Principles
Equality
Praxis
Dialogue
Choice
Voice
Reflection
Reciprocity
www.instructionalcoach.org
Your “jigsaw” learning experience
 Step one: Settle in with your new group of learning
partners
 Step two: Read the section you’ve been given from
the Partnership Learning manual
 Step three: Together with your group, create a
graphic organizer on a poster that captures the
essential characteristics of the principle
 Step four: Attach your poster to the wall, and wait
for further instructions
www.instructionalcoach.org
Equality
 A belief that everyone counts
 Doesn’t mean we all agree
 Doesn’t mean we’re all the same
 We all have equal value
 Each opinion counts
www.instructionalcoach.org
Praxis
Reflection and
Creative inquiry
Not banking education
But creative inquiry
www.instructionalcoach.org
Dialogue
 Respectful, energizing conversation
 The developing conversation is more
important than being right
 Involves suspending opinions & authentic
listening
 Thinking together
www.instructionalcoach.org
Choice
 Command and control fosters resistance or
external commitment
 Choice fosters internal commitment
www.instructionalcoach.org
Voice
 Build trust
 Make it easy for people to say what they
think
 Give people words, concepts, and tools that
help them express who they are--help them
find their voice!
www.instructionalcoach.org
Reflection
On action
In action
For action
www.instructionalcoach.org
Reciprocity
 Everyone benefits when one person learns
 Teachers learn from students as much as
students learn from teachers
 Every learning situation is a chance for
learning
www.instructionalcoach.org
Essential Questions
What is an instructional coach?
What does research say about the personal
experience of change?
What are the various activities coaches do
What is the theoretical foundation behind
instructional coaching?
www.instructionalcoach.org