In this enlightening discussion, Matt Stone, an expert in educational coaching and teacher professional development, shares crucial insights for aspiring coaches. He emphasizes the importance of building a professional vision and offers strategies for goal setting in coaching. The conversation touches on how to utilize coding schemes to decode classroom dynamics effectively. They also tackle the challenges faced by new coaches, including imposter syndrome, and highlight the transformative power of collaborative dialogue among educators.
A gradual approach to professional development is essential, allowing teachers to master techniques over time without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.
Successful coaching relies on effective dialogue and clear goals, enabling teachers to articulate intentions and evaluate their teaching practices meaningfully.
Deep dives
The Importance of Gradual Development in Teaching
Teachers are encouraged to adopt a gradual approach to their professional development. It is acknowledged that mastering teaching techniques, like variation theory, takes time and should not be rushed. By focusing on starting points and incremental progress, novice teachers can build their capabilities and become effective educators. The conversation emphasizes that teachers often surpass initial expectations when given the time and opportunity to grow.
Effective Coaching through Focused Techniques
A successful coaching approach involves narrowing focus to specific techniques for checking understanding, such as cold calling or think-pair-share. This enables teachers to practice and master these techniques effectively rather than overwhelming them with multiple strategies at once. By having clear criteria and frameworks for goal setting, coaches can ensure that their support remains relevant and impactful. Consistency and patience in the coaching process are necessary, as teachers may take time to fully integrate new techniques into their practice.
Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development
Evaluating professional development in schools is complex and challenging due to multiple influencing factors. It's crucial to establish clear and tangible goals at the outset of coaching cycles to provide focus on what success looks like. Observations and specific success criteria need to guide the evaluation, ensuring that improvements in teaching practices translate into student learning outcomes. Simply counting coaching conversations or sessions is insufficient; tangible changes in the classroom are the true indicators of effectiveness.
The Value of Dialogue in Professional Learning
Dialogue plays a critical role in professional development and coaching as it fosters reflection and deeper understanding among teachers. Effective coaching conversations should start with teachers articulating their intentions and objectives for lessons to ensure alignment and clarity. Encouraging teachers to share their reasoning enhances their practice and builds a common language for discussing pedagogy. This collaborative approach promotes continuous growth and understanding, as teachers learn from each other's experiences and insights.
Episode 191: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I’m joined by Matt Stone for the second of two episodes where we explore the purpose of coaching and how we can get the most from this powerful approach to teacher professional development.
We explore:
How do we (as coaches) build professional vision?
What advice do you have for anyone who is keen to become a coach but doesn’t know where to begin or is perhaps feeling a touch of imposter syndrome?
And much, much more.
Whether you’re new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won’t want to miss this one.
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If you have any questions or comments, you can join our Discord server, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.
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