The Coaching Cycle in Six Easy Steps, The Coaching Podcast Ep. 3

The Coaching Cycle in Six Easy Steps, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B, Ep. 3

Chrissy Beltran [00:00:02]:

Hey, coach. Don’t worry. We’ll get to your episode in just a second. I just wanted to let you know that if you’re listening to this in December or January, it’s time for instructional coaching with miss b to take its little holiday hiatus. Every year from December through January, I take a season break. Then in February, the new season comes roaring in, and I share all the latest coaching strategies, troubleshooting, and ideas with you. I plan the season starting in January. So until then, I’d love to hear from you. Head to buzzing with miss b dot com slash survey to share your thoughts on the podcast. You can help me plan episodes and chat with guests that really help you with your everyday coaching work. I want these episodes to be meaningful and helpful, so please tell me what you’re thinking. If you complete the survey, you’ll also be entered to win a $25 gift card from a place of your choosing as long as I can grab it online. Head to buzzing with missb.com/survey and let me know what you think about Instructional Coaching with Miss b, the podcast, and enter twins, sir, the giveaway. I’m also using this hiatus to share some of the most popular episodes from the last six years. I know. Crazy six years. Maybe you’ve missed some very special gems that would help you out in this next semester. So keep looking for an episode every week in your podcast player. And, of course, you can listen on the blog at buzzingwithmissb.com/podcast. Happy holidays and happy coaching, everybody. Happy New Year, coach. By this time of year, you might feel like your coaching is a little out of your control. You might be spending days on random tasks that don’t actually impact teaching and learning. You might have taken on responsibilities that are keeping you from coaching teachers. Let’s get your coaching on track in ten minutes a day. Head to buzzing with missb.com/newyear. The five day challenge starts January 12.

Chrissy Beltran [00:01:42]:

Can’t wait to see you inside. You’re listening to Buzzing with Miss B, the coaching podcast, where we believe that every teacher deserves a coach, and every coach does too. I’m Chrissy Beltran, an instructional coach, resource creator, and coffee enthusiast, and I’m your host. Stay tuned for practical tips and honest coaching talk that will help you coach with confidence. Hey there, coaches. Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. I am really excited to share it with you because it is all about our bread and butter, which is the coaching cycle, how to conduct a coaching cycle in six easy steps. You might be saying six steps seems like a lot, but it’s just because I broke them down into really specific components because I wanted to make sure you had the tools you need. And the best part is there is a free download that you can grab at the show in the show notes, all about how to conduct a coaching cycle. And as we go through this episode, I’m going to be noting which components have a, a part in that free download so you can make sure you grab it. So the last podcast episode, I introduced different kinds of coaching support that you can provide to teachers, and I introduced that the number one most impactful, life changing coaching support you can provide is the coaching cycle, and that’s because it is differentiated. It is focused on what the teacher needs. It is targeted support that is exactly, going to meet the need in their classroom and it’s going to impact their teaching and learning. So in this episode, we’re really gonna dig into the coaching cycle because it’s a simple structure that gives you a lot of freedom to support teachers in different ways. So let’s talk about that really quickly. The three parts of the coaching cycle are, one, pre conference, two, the observation or model lesson or co taught lesson, and three, the debrief. And I really wouldn’t veer from that structure, and I have a horror story to tell you why. If you coach long enough, you’ve got horror stories. Right? Like like things that you tell other coaches in whispered tones when you have your annual coaching meeting across the district, and then she threw the guided reading binder at me. That’s a real one

Chrissy Beltran [00:03:53]:

that I heard. Anyway, nobody threw a guided reading binder at me. Thank god. But, I do have my own horror story, and it was, I would say, 80% my fault. So here’s the thing. I was initiating a coaching cycle with a teacher, but I really didn’t know how to go about structuring it. And so we had a planning time set up to prepare for this lesson, but, this teacher honestly stressed me out because we spoke such different philosophical language. We had a completely different impression of what teaching and learning should look like. And so the teacher was late to the planning session, and I was like, you know what? That’s fine because I don’t even know how to address this with her anyway. So I thought, well, I’ll just go model a lesson, and then it’ll be fine. Like, whatever I show her, it’s I mean, I know she wants to see this topic, so it’ll be fine. So the teacher was late to the planning session. I should have rescheduled. I did not. I asked her to send me a copy of the text that you’re going to be using that week for shared reading, and I asked her to send it to me at the beginning of the week so that I could prepare for my lesson on Wednesday, and I did not get that text. I did not get it until I walked into her classroom on Wednesday to deliver the lesson. So already, you can probably see that this is not going to be the best support that I ever provided. So I walk into the classroom. I see the text projected on the on, screen. I immediately register that it is not age or developmentally appropriate. I mean, it wasn’t like 50 shades or anything, but it was not, what the that group of kids needed. It was, really challenging text, and it involves a lot of details that were not relevant to them. It was a historical text, and it wasn’t even remotely where they were reading. And so I was like, uh-oh. But at that point, I felt like it was too late for me to say, you know what? I can’t do this lesson, and it was. I should have told her, I don’t have a copy of this text. I cannot do this lesson today. I

Chrissy Beltran [00:05:58]:

needed to tell her that earlier in the day, and I didn’t because I was embarrassed. And I just wanted to get it over with because I was stressed out. So the one good thing that I did do is I set up some basic behavior expectations with the students, and I’m so thankful I did that because management was one of the main areas that she was struggling in. Although the way she worded it was that the kids were awful. They were disrespectful and terrible, and they didn’t listen. In my coaching head my coaching brain, I didn’t hear that. I now I hear it differently. At the time, I didn’t hear it as asking for help. I heard it as a complaint. But now I know is she was asking for help in the only way that she knew how. So I set up some basic behavior expectations with the kids, and I used some whole brain teaching methods, which thankfully engaged them and got them excited to do the lesson. I finished my lesson. I got through it, and I darted out of that room because I did have an a meeting immediately following this, but we had not set up a time to debrief that lesson in advance. So that was a huge mistake because time just sort of passed, and we never debriefed. And the next time that I saw her in the hallway, I asked about how she thought the lesson went. Not a good place to ask that question, by the way. And she said, well, they were good because you were there. And I was like, well, yeah. But, I mean, that was, like, by design. Right? But that wasn’t that wasn’t the way it looked because she didn’t know the thought that had gone into setting up those expectations using Whole Brain specifically for that class because they were high energy and needed lots of engagement. She hadn’t been privy to any of that decision making. That was all on me, guys. That was my fault. So from that experience, I learned a lot of what not to do, which is kind of what, like, my first year of coaching was, the what not to do year. But, I mean, at least I learned it right because that’s how we get better. We have to learn what not to do

Chrissy Beltran [00:07:50]:

sometimes so we can figure out what to do. So I’ve got these six steps here that are gonna help you implement a coaching cycle in a classroom so you will hopefully not have a horror story to share like I do because, it did not feel good. I dreaded that classroom. I dreaded meeting with the teacher because I knew that I had messed up, and I should have told her I messed up and this is why, and now that’s what I would do. But at the time, I felt like I didn’t know how to address it. So here we go. Let’s talk about these six steps so you will not have the same crummy experience. So step one, for your first round of coaching, if this is your first round of coaching as a coach or on a campus, choose very carefully. You wanna start with a friendly, and a friendly is someone who is open to your support. You wanna start with a teacher who has some stuff going on but who would like to try something new. Do not start with the teacher who doesn’t like you. I know. They’re out there. Isn’t that shocking? Right? But they are. There are teachers who don’t like you, or maybe they don’t like the idea of you, which may or may not be you. It doesn’t matter. It manifests in the same way. They don’t want you around, and if you start there, you’re gonna have such a bad experience that you’re gonna be afraid to go into any other classrooms, and you might get a bad rap, and you don’t want that. So do not start with a resistant teacher. You wanna start with a teacher who is ready to grow. Okay? Also, don’t start with a teacher who has every amazing thing going on. Okay? Because that’s overwhelming. You wanna start with a good solid teacher who’d like to try something new, and, if they have a positive influence over their grade level, even better. Because once you get your foot in the door there, you can use that to help you open other doors. Step two is invite that teacher to work with you. Okay? And there are lots of fun ways to do this, or you can just go ask them. It doesn’t have to be really complicated. The point is that

Chrissy Beltran [00:09:49]:

they need to know what to expect. So you could do an in, an invitation like in the email or you can do a physical invitation, and I actually have a sample of that in your, free download that you can get at the in the show notes. But you can just ask them and say, this is what a coaching cycle is. It’s going to be flexible based on the needs and goals of you and your classroom. It’s going to be focused on learning that students should be doing anyway. It’s not something extra because that’s what they’re afraid of because we don’t have time for extra stuff in the classroom. Right? We are busy, so so you wanna focus on the teaching and learning that’s actually going on. It’s usually around two to four weeks long because after you complete the first cycle and get to the debrief, you’re probably gonna go back through and do some more work together. Right? I mean, that’s ideal. It’s scheduled at a time that works for both the teacher and the coach and the kids. You don’t schedule it during PE or library time. No point. It’s about learning and growing together, and it’s fun and purposeful. The teacher’s gonna walk away with something useful. So you can after you’ve invited that teacher and she says, of course, she will say, yes. I would love to work with you because you chose a friendly. Right? You are gonna set up a time for your preconference. And during this preconference, you’re gonna make it purposeful. You’re gonna come up with a plan for your conversation beforehand. Okay? And you’re gonna focus on what the teacher’s goal is and what your coaching goal is. So I cannot say this enough times. You have to plan together for everything. So the idea is that if you have not planned for something, it is going to mess it up. If you have not planned for management, management will be tricky for you to manage between the two of you. If you have not planned for what resources you’re gonna use, you’re gonna walk into that classroom and find an age inappropriate text like I did. If you have not planned for when you’re going to debrief, you’re not gonna debrief. So you need to make sure that you have a plan set up together.

Chrissy Beltran [00:11:47]:

Okay? And these are some of the things that you’re gonna plan for together. You’re gonna figure out what kind of service you’re going to provide. Will you model? Will you co teach? Will you observe and and record feedback? You can do this with a coaching menu as well. That’s actually in your free download too. So you’re walking away with a with a treasure chest today of coaching stuff. In the free download is a printable coaching menu that you can use to show teachers what options of support you can provide. So you can talk to the teacher and say, these are the options that I have to offer you. What’s gonna work best for this coaching cycle? You also wanna plan the learning target for the lesson, and an easy question to think about for that is what do students need to know and do in this lesson? Okay? Then you need to plan the lesson. It doesn’t have to be really complicated. A simple plan I mean, if you think about the plans that sometimes teachers have to turn in where it’s like the target and the goal and the outcome and the objective written in five different ways and the materials and the standards number. Of course, you need to start with standards. But beyond that, you don’t have to do a lot of really intricate planning to make sure that you each know what your responsibilities are during this lesson. So use a resource a teacher is already using, unless they wanna try something new, but keep it simple and focused, and really plan out that lesson. Okay? So a simple plan that includes the target, the steps in the procedure, and which materials you use will be fine. Embed the vocabulary and any questions that you’re going to ask in the procedure rather than separating them out. Whenever you put them in a special place, questions to ask, you’re not gonna ask those questions because what you wanna know is where do they go in the lesson. That’s what’s relevant, So make sure that you include, every component in that lesson, and I recommend using a two or three column planner. So, I have a sample of that in the show notes that you can download and you can print that out and write on it to playing your lesson with a

Chrissy Beltran [00:13:43]:

teacher. That should help you a little bit. But the idea is on the left side, I had time frames on the in the first column, time frames and what the main task was going to be. So if it was gonna be a class discussion about making inferences, for example. Then in the middle column was my column, teacher a, and then the third column was the teacher’s column, teacher b, or you can reverse it. It doesn’t matter. Whoever wants to be a can be a. So the idea is you are designating who is doing what at each time. So during this class discussion, who is asking the questions and what questions are they asking? Who is charting the information on an anchor chart, if that’s the way you’re going to record the learning? Somebody is maybe handing out materials. Somebody is circulating, making sure students understand. Somebody is start doing sentence starters. There are different roles that you can do, but you wanna make sure that everybody knows what their role is. That’s the main point. So you also wanna plan for the classroom management plan. So if you have no system in place in that classroom, which does often happen, you’re gonna wanna say, okay, I’m going to go ahead and establish a few basic procedures that I would like students to follow or a few basic expectations, just to make sure that I can, participate in the management appropriately. If there is a system in place, just figure out what your role in that is going to be. Is the teacher going to be completely responsible for management? Are you completely responsible? Will you share responsibility? You kind of have to figure out who’s going to do what because if not, it can be really awkward when you have a student who’s walking out of the classroom in the middle of a read aloud and you were under the impression they weren’t supposed to go to get a drink of water at that time and the teacher said it was totally fine. So you have to maybe have those conversations beforehand so everybody kinda knows the game plan. It’s especially important to be thoroughly planned during co teaching because it is not fun to do a co taught lesson and to don’t when you don’t know who’s doing what. That’s really stressful. Step four,

Chrissy Beltran [00:15:44]:

build in time to debrief as part of your plan. On the bottom or the top or somewhere on your plan, you need to have a date and time set when you are going to meet with a teacher after the lesson to reflect on a few things. Okay? That should probably be either later that day or the next day, if possible, because the farther away you get away from an event, the less likely you are to remember what happened. So you wanna really focus on a few things for debriefing. You wanna focus on the effectiveness of the plan on student learning. So this is what we planned. This is what we delivered. How did this impact student learning? What adjustments should we make? What next steps should we conduct? And what kind of support should be provided to students to make sure that they can get good at whatever it is we’re asking them to do? You can also respond to teacher questions. They may say something like, why did you do this? Why did you do that? All those are great questions. Right? So you have your time built in to debrief as part of your plan, and you’re keeping those things in mind as you are conducting your lesson, which is step number five, conduct the lesson. Whatever lesson you decided to do, do it. If you scheduled an observation, then you’re going to go in and observe, take notes because you’re going to provide feedback to the teacher as part of your debrief. If you scheduled a model lesson, you’re gonna walk in prepared, and then you are going to deliver that lesson, and you are going to make mental notes. I mean, you could write things down, but it’s a little awkward, about what you’re going to talk about in your debrief. And if you’re doing a co taught lesson, both of you are contributing to that lesson at the same time, you are communicating, and then you’re going to debrief afterwards. Okay? The last step is number six, debrief, and I know I keep saying debrief because that is how essential it is. Sometimes this step gets left off. You might plan for a lesson and then you deliver the lesson, and then you just kinda never talk about it again, But that doesn’t work. It doesn’t impact anybody’s teaching or

Chrissy Beltran [00:17:49]:

learning. So just like with students, if you give them an assessment, I mean, that’s just an example, you’re gonna go over it somehow. You’re going to talk about it with them. You’re not just gonna hand it send it home and hope that they learn something. That doesn’t make a difference in their learning. So here with a debrief, it’s essential for the teacher’s growth and for yours too as a coach. So here are a couple of tips to make your debrief especially purposeful. You’re going to rehearse. I rehearsed a lot. Use some sentence starters that you’ve kind of planned out to make sure that you’re focused on certain things during your conversation. You don’t wanna get kind of, like, sidelined and removed from, you know, a a good reflection of of student learning, setting up those next steps, and figuring out what kind of support should be provided next. Okay? So use those sentence starters to help you plan out a really solid conversation. I mean, it’s not always gonna go that way, but you wanna plan. You wanna feel prepared. Actually, in your free download, I have a set of sit and starters that you can use for debriefing that may help you rehearse your conversation, so totally grab those. You wanna focus on the goals. How did they go? The teacher’s goal, the learning target, did it work? Was it impactful? Were students responding? You can collect evidence during your lesson to discuss these goals and then evaluate it during the debrief. So if students wrote, learn a learning log or a reading response or some sort of piece, completed some kind of an activity, collect those during the debrief, spread them out, look across the work, and what do you notice? Do you see some students adequately, applying the learning, or do you see some real gaps that they need to grow in that you can address next time? And then the last thing that you wanna think about in the debrief is what are your next steps? Because in a coaching cycle, it’s not a one shot wonder. Right? We know those don’t work. We wanna go in, establish a relationship, and continue to grow this classroom over time, which is why they can last two to four weeks. So your next steps are gonna help you, plan your next round of

Chrissy Beltran [00:19:53]:

coaching. So let’s say that your teacher says something along the lines of, I think that students need more practice in writing this kind of a response. Maybe we need to do more modeling, and you can say, okay. Well, this time, I did a model lesson where I modeled a lesson for you and your kids. What do you think about a co taught lesson next time? We can both participate. We can both model in different ways, and that way kids get different impressions of the same strategy, and then they can try it again so they get some more practice. And, hopefully, the teacher says, that sounds awesome. So that debrief is gonna help you plan your next steps. So it’s super essential for growing that relationship with your teacher. So a couple of next steps for you to do yourself. Download that free download for, coaching in classrooms because it’s gonna give you those invitations, a coaching menu that you can use, some debriefing sentence starters that are really gonna help you debrief, and a planning, tool that you can use if you are doing a, lesson, co taught lesson with your teachers. Okay? So definitely download that, and then I want you to think about what is a good place to start. Look across your faculty. Who would be a great first coaching cycle if you haven’t already conducted one or if you’ve had some bad luck and you really wanna try something different, stop and think. Who in my faculty is a friendly? Somebody who has some good solid practices going on but would like to try something new, choose that person, and then let me know. I wanna hear from you. So if you go on Instagram and you share about a coaching cycle or some of the coaching work that you’re doing as a result of this podcast, I want you to tag it, hashtag it, buzzing about coaching, because I’m gonna enter you into a drawing, a monthly drawing that I host for coaches who are sharing their coaching work, on Instagram using buzzing about coaching as a hashtag. So you’re gonna enter be entered to win a free coaching resource, and that’s gonna be a resource from my TpT store. It could be the coaching newsletter so you can teach keep your teachers informed. There’s a couple of different options

Chrissy Beltran [00:21:52]:

that I’ll give you. I’ll let you choose which one you want out of, like, four different things. So, definitely share your thinking on Instagram, share your, attempts to learn. It could be an Insta story, whatever. Hashtag me, and I will enter you to win. I’m really excited about next week. We have a special guest, Nicole Turner of Simply Coaching, and she is going to share some tips about debriefing. So if you have some questions about how to have a conversation, providing feedback to your teachers without ticking everybody off and putting everybody on the defense, while helping them think and grow, then then definitely tune into that episode because I’m really excited for Nicole to share some of her tips and her sit and starters as well. Happy coaching and tune in next week. Thank you for listening to Buzzing with Miss b, the coaching podcast. Want more coaching ideas? Check me out at buzzingwithmissb.com and on Instagram at buzzing with miss b. If you love the show, share it with a coach who would love it too, or leave me a review on iTunes. It’s free, and it helps others find this show. Happy coaching.