Running head: PLANNING A COACHING CONVERSATION
Planning a Coaching Conversation
Elizabeth Lufrano
University of Kansas
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PLANNING A COACHING CONVERSATION
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Title of Scenario: General Educator’s Physical Classroom Environment
Setting of Conversation: Empty general educator’s classroom after school
Characters: Me = Special educator; Ms. Cooper = Paraeducator; Ms. Jones = General Educator
Conversation:
Me (happily): Good afternoon, Ms. Cooper. Good afternoon, Ms. Jones. How are you all doing
today?
Ms. Cooper (pleasantly): I’m doing well. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.
Ms. Jones (enthusiastically): Yes, thank you. I’m really excited to see what changes we can
make to make Fred feel more included.
Me: Yes, You’re most welcome! So to start off, I want to make sure I have a thorough
understanding of the situation and your concerns…Ms. Jones, your email said you were
worried about Fred not feeling included in the general education classroom, correct?
Ms. Jones (worriedly): Yes. Fred has now been receiving his education exclusively in the
general education classroom for three months now, but Fred has not made any friends
with his peers. In fact, I received a phone call from Fred’s mother saying that Fred feels
like an outsider in my classroom.
Me: Ms. Cooper, have you had similar observations?
Ms. Cooper: Yes. Fred has seemed quite upset during the last two weeks, especially during math
instruction. I’m not sure why he has been acting up in math lately…he is usually a very
well-behaved young man.
Me: Could you tell me a little more about what goes on during math?
Ms. Cooper: Well, Ms. Jones addresses the whole class and explains the lesson and then breaks
up the class into groups of two and three for partner practice.
Me: Does Fred join his classmates for partner practice?
Ms. Jones (apprehensively): No. Should he be? Right now, he works one-on-one with Ms.
Copper during math partner practice.
Me: According to federal legislation Fred has the right to an education in the least restrictive
environment, which means, in this case, that Fred should be participating in math partner
practice as long as there is no indication that Fred would require one-on-one support with
respect to his disability and/or performance in math. Do either of you feel that there is a
need for Fred to be receiving one-on-one support during math partner practice?
Ms. Jones: I’m not sure. In years past, Fred has struggled in other classes, such as English, his
previous teachers have all agreed that one-on-one support has been a tremendous help to
Fred in in terms of being successful in his classes, so I think one on one support with
Mrs. Cooper may be beneficial in math this year as well.
Me: I agree that one-on-one support has helped Fred in the past, but part of Fred’s IEP goals are
for Fred to become academically independent and to make friends and learn to socialize
with his typically developing peers. So, math partner practice may be a perfect
opportunity for Fred to work towards both of these goals as long as Fred does not in fact
need one-on-one support in order to be successful. Ms. Cooper, in your opinion does Fred
need one-on-one assistance from you to be successful in math?
Mrs. Cooper: Fred has excelled this year. I mainly work to keep Fred on task during math
instruction, and my role in providing instructional support for math has been at a
minimum. So, I would be comfortable taking a step back from one-on-one support during
math instruction. But do you think Fred is simply upset about not being able to join in
math practice with his peers?
PLANNING A COACHING CONVERSATION
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Me: I think it is highly probable that Fred is upset to not have the same opportunity to interact
with his classmates during math now that he is in general education classes exclusively.
So although Fred appears included because he is in general education classes, he may feel
excluded from his peers when he is not given the opportunity to interact with his peers
during math partner practice.
Mrs. Cooper: Wow! I never even thought that he might be feeling excluded as he is in the same
classroom as his peers.
Mrs. Jones: Me either. I assumed that Fred would feel included automatically by being in class
with his typically developing peers. I think we should try taking a step back from one-on
one math support to see if this makes a difference in Fred feeling included.
Title of Scenario: Secondary Paraeducator in Need of Feedback and/or Professional
Development
Setting of Conversation: Before school in the empty faculty and staff lounge
Characters: Me = Special educator and Miss Jane = Secondary paraeducator
Conversation:
Me (warmly): Good Morning Miss Jane! Thank you for taking the time to meet with me this
morning. How are you doing?
Miss Jane (apprehensively): Good Morning. I am doing fine, thank you for asking.
Me: I wanted to take the time today to sit down and talk with you today about Jonathon and
some concerns his math teacher Mr. Straatsma has brought to me attention.
Miss Jane (standoffish): Okay.
Me: Specifically, Mr. Straatsma has observed that Jonathon is receiving what appear to be
inappropriate accommodations in math class. I understand that you were Jonathon’s
paraeducator during elementary school. Is that correct?
Miss Jane: Yes. I have worked with Jonathon now for a few years and I am very close with his
family. What exactly does Mr. Straatsma think I am doing that is inappropriate?
Me: Mr. Straatsma feels that Jonathon is becoming too dependent on you in order to complete
his daily tasks in math when he is capable of doing these tasks by himself.
Miss Jane: What tasks does Mr. Straatsma believe Jonathon should be able to do independently?
Me: Opening up his math book and turning to the correct assignment page, getting out his pencil
from his pencil case, and taking notes in class. At last month’s academic team meeting,
we discussed increasing Jonathon’s independence as a student, how do you feel about this
goal?
Miss Jane: I do not see what’s wrong with me helping Jonathon with these tasks, as it allows him
to receive a high math grade.
Me: I understand that you have put in many hours over the last few years to help Jonathon be
successfully in school; however, it is important that we consider what Jonathon’s
inclusion and privacy rights are in this situation.
Miss Jane: What do you mean by inclusion and privacy rights?
Me: Well in terms of inclusion, Jonathon has a right to an education that occurs in the least
restrictive environment, which means that if he can succeed in the general education
classroom without one-on-one supports he has a right to receive an education without
such accommodations. Moreover, inclusion refers to being an active participant in the
PLANNING A COACHING CONVERSATION
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general education classroom where he is not impeded from interacting with his fellow
classmates.
Miss Jane: So what you are saying is that in addition to privacy, Jonathon should be educated in
a manner that is most similar to his classmates as long as his disability does not impede
him from doing so.
Me: Correct. Inclusion and student privacy are fundamental parts to providing an appropriate and
free education to students with disabilities. In fact, the school is offering training
programs on these two topics next month. Would you like to attend these trainings with
me?
Miss Jane: Yes, that would be great.
Me: Wonderful. I will put your name down on the list of staff members who will be attending.
Until then, we can brainstorm ways to make Jonathon become a more independent
student in math.