Peer (Co) coaching- improving classroom practice, changing school culture Rachael Edgar Sunday 25th August “If you want one year of prosperity, grow seeds. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.”

Session aims Look at definitions of coaching and what are the benefits to students/staff Explore the skills of being an effective peer coach Learning to listen actively Practise being a coach/ being coached Effective Lesson observation feedback

“Coaching is essentially a conversation- a learning conversation”

Different types of coaching Mentoring is a structured, sustained process for supporting professional learners through significant career transitions Specialist coaching is a structured, sustained process for enabling the development of a specific aspect of a professional learner’s practice Collaborative (Co-coaching) is a structured, sustained process between two or more professional learners to enable them to embed new knowledge and skills

Why use coaching?what are the benefits? A way of reaching the potential of all staff Improved learning for pupils Increased motivation Willingness to take risks Deeper commitment to accessing research and evidence regularly Opportunities for collaboration with peers Staff learning with and from one another

Choosing a celebrity coach! Imagine you have to buddy up with one person from this group of people- which would you choose?why? Victoria Wood Victoria Beckham Lenny Henry Simon Cowell Henry VIII Wayne Rooney Oprah Winfrey Katie price

What makes a good co-coach? Relate sensitively to learners and work through agreed processes to build trust and confidence Draw on specialist resources to inform learning Draw on evidence from research and practice to shape development Understand the goals of the co-coach Observe, analyse and reflect upon each others practice Provide information that enables learning from mistakes and success Learn reciprocally with commitment and integrity Use open questions to raise awareness, reveal beliefs and enable professional learners to reflect upon them Listen actively- listening not telling! Set aside existing relationships based on experience, hierarchy, power or friendship

Be honest with yourself Be honest with yourself.. which behaviours would you naturally tend to exhibit in a coaching/classroom/leadership situation

Coaching is not about: Giving the right answers or advice Making judgements Offering counselling Creating dependency Imposing agendas or initiatives

Learning to listen actively

Skills for active listening Listening actively involves: accommodating and valuing silence concentrating on what’s being said using affirming body language to signal attention replaying what’s been said using the same words to reinforce, value and develop thinking

iSTRIDE model i- Information gathering- Determining the coachee’s issues, goals, confidence levels and finding relevant evidence S- Strengths- Paying attention to the coachee’e strengths T- Target/goal setting- Identifying the target to be achieved and exploring the motivation to achieve it R- Resources/reality- Exploring the current situation in relation to the target and identifying limiting beliefs I- Ideas/strategies- Seeking ideas that might help achieve the desired target and overcoming limiting beliefs D- Decisions- Selecting the most appropriate option from the ideas generated and rehearsing success E- Evaluation- Evaluating the solution now (exploring a commitment to agree decisions) and evaluating later (agreeing a time to follow up on the actions taken arising from the decision)

Role Play Scenarios 1 Pair up with someone on your table, one of you is the coach and the other the coachee. Choose a scenario to role play, use the ‘active listening’ prompts to help you structure the conversation 1. My lessons with my year 9 boys are a disaster! They won’t behave or listen to my instructions.. 2. I can’t seem to finish my lessons, I always run out of time.. 3. There is such a huge range of ability in my classroom, how do I meet the needs of all the children I teach? 4. My class are really quiet,

Observing your peers A stimulating, fascinating and rewarding thing to do Prompts reflection on the teaching and learning process Helps us to rethink the way we do things Focus more on ‘what did I see?’

“Sentence Stems” to help in feedback conversations with another teacher  How do you think your starter went? What were three successful things about this lesson? What would you do differently if you were to teach this lesson again? What your thoughts behind your group work activity? Could you tell me more about…. I am not sure I understand (or that I saw…) can you tell me what you were expecting? I noticed that ……(“this student did…”, “The learning outcome was…” The lessons steps included…..) Tell me more about what was happening when… When I observed_____, it made me think of/ wonder/ consider… What did you want to see happen when… We’ve been talking about _____ during professional development, how does this lesson support that work? Was there anything that surprised you? What will be your plan in the next week to……? What do you think about…..? What steps have you taken/ or will you take? Did students have the opportunity to… It might be helpful to… Did you get the response that you wanted? You asked the following questions….. How do they support higher order thinking skills? Were students able to show their understanding of the outcome you stated for this lesson? Can we talk about how you use student data in your lessons? I would like to visit the class again and I hope to see…. If this lesson is part of a unit , what other activities or outcomes will be a part of the unit? How will students demonstrate their understanding?  

Role play scenarios 2 http://www. tes. co Watch the 15 minute clip of a History lesson. In pairs role play a coaching conversation where one peer feeds back to another. Whilst watching the clip: Identify one or two most important areas for growth Give feedback that is specific and use the sentence stems to guide your conversation

“Begin with the end in mind” “You cannot teach a man (or woman) anything. You can only help him/her discover it within him(or her)self” Galileo “Begin with the end in mind” Stephen R.Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)