When we enter a coaching conversation, we need to consider two layers. One is visible: the lesson design, the teacher’s actions, student participation, questions and responses, and evidence of learning. The other is less visible. It includes the teacher’s beliefs and assumptions, confidence and uncertainty, previous experiences, fears and concerns, values and intentions, sense of responsibility, and hopes for students – an “invisible thread.” -(Randi Brown)
Read Randi Brown’s article, “Supporting Teacher Growth Through Trusting Relationships”
Find Joellen Killion’s insights on Heavy Coaching in this previous blog.
Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!
Podcast Transcript:
[00:00:00.340] – Steve [Intro]
Welcome to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast. As instructional coaches and school leaders, you are tasked with guiding continuous teacher growth to create student success. This podcast looks to support you with strategies from experienced guests, as well as my own insights that I’ve gathered over the years. I’m thrilled to have you with us. Thanks for tuning in.
[00:00:29.760] – Steve
What the Observation Doesn’t Show: Coaching the Invisible Behind the Visible. A classroom observation gives us access to what happened. Coaching requires curiosity about what sits behind what happened. When I provide training in coaching skills, I stress the importance of understanding the teacher’s agenda before an observation. The teacher’s agenda includes more than the instructional plan, the desired student learning behaviors, and the intended learning outcomes. It also includes the thinking and the person behind the plan. A teacher’s decisions may be influenced by what they believe about teaching and learning, what they value for their students, the confidence they have in themselves and in their learners, and experiences that have shaped their practice. Some of that thinking may be readily expressed. Some of it may emerge only as the teacher reflects and the coach keeps listening and finding out.
[00:01:46.520] – Steve
I describe my goal in a pre-observation conference this way: I want to be able to observe the lesson first through the teacher’s eyes before I observe it through my own. I may never see everything the teacher sees, but the more I understand what matters to the teacher and what has shaped their choices, the less likely I am to impose my own meaning on what I observed. Randi Brown reinforced that thinking for me in an Edutopia article titled, “Supporting Teacher Growth Through Trusting Relationships. She writes, “Every classroom is its own small ecosystem, and the teacher is at the center of that ecosystem. Their experiences, confidence, fears, values, heartbreaks, and sense of purpose quietly shape everything that grows within it. Students don’t simply respond to instruction. They respond to the human being leading the room.” That requires me as a coach to know something about the human being leading the room. Brown suggests that when we enter a coaching conversation, we consider 2 layers. One is visible. The lesson design, the teacher’s actions, student participation, questions and responses, and the evidence of learning. The other is less visible. It includes the teacher’s beliefs and assumptions, confidence and uncertainty, previous experiences, fears and concerns, values and intentions, sense of responsibility, and hopes for the student.
[00:03:46.090] – Steve
Brown calls this second layer the invisible thread. We observe the visible thread, but we coach at the intersection of the visible and the invisible. Consider an example. A coach observes a teacher asking questions designed to uncover what students recall from previous lessons. Understanding that’s going to be important for today’s learning. After only a few seconds of silence following a question, the teacher calls on a student. When the student hesitates, the teacher rephrases the question and then supplies much of the answer. This pattern occurs several times before the teacher introduces the new learning. The coach can accurately record each of those actions, but the observation alone does not reveal what is driving them. The teacher may be worried that students are confused. Silence may cause the teacher to feel that the lesson is unsuccessful. The teacher may be trying to protect students from embarrassment. Previous attempts at waiting may have led to disengagement. The teacher may doubt that students will respond without prompting, or the teacher may be feeling pressure to cover everything planned for the day’s lesson. The visible behavior is real, but the meaning is not self-evident. That meaning is unlikely to be uncovered by directly asking the teacher to explain their beliefs, fears, or past experiences.
[00:05:39.860] – Steve
The invisible thread tends to emerge more gradually in the stories that the teacher tells, the concerns that they repeat, the choices that they defend, the possibilities that energize them. And the risk they hesitate to take. The coach’s observation notes tell us what occurred. Listening to the teacher helps us explore why it occurred and what the teacher might want to do next. Observation produces evidence. Conversation produces meaning. Consider how a conversation might unfold following the observation in which the teacher gave students only 2 or 3 seconds to respond. The coach might begin: You asked me to pay attention to how students responded as you checked their understanding from the earlier lessons. What did you notice?
[00:06:45.650] – Teacher
They didn’t seem to remember very much. I had to keep prompting them and almost pull the answers out of them.
[00:06:52.990] – Steve
Their silence suggested to you that they weren’t recalling the earlier learning?
[00:06:58.390] – Teacher
Yes. When no one answers, I assume either they don’t know or that my question wasn’t clear, and that’s why I rephrase it.
[00:07:07.240] – Steve
So when the students don’t respond, you’re feeling a responsibility to do something that gets the lesson moving again?
[00:07:16.230] – Teacher
I do. I’m conscious of how much I need to cover, and I don’t want the lesson to stall before we even get into the new material.
[00:07:25.610] – Steve
So waiting actually creates 2 concerns for you: that students may not understand and that you may not get to the new learning that you’ve got planned.
[00:07:36.130] – Teacher
Exactly.
[00:07:38.180] – Steve
Would you like to hear something that I noticed as you were waiting?
[00:07:42.780] – Teacher
Sure.
[00:07:44.370] – Steve
Most of your pauses were about 2 or 3 seconds. Twice I noticed students beginning to raise their hands just as you started rephrasing the questions. I’m wondering what you make of that.
[00:08:00.010] – Teacher
Hmm, perhaps I’m reading their silence too quickly. They may be thinking, and I’m interpreting it as not knowing.
[00:08:09.250] – Steve
Yeah, silence might mean that they don’t know, but it might also mean that they’re processing.
[00:08:16.660] – Teacher
Yes, and they may have learned that they don’t need to struggle very long because I’ll eventually give them enough of an answer.
[00:08:24.920] – Steve
So you’re wondering whether your efforts to keep the lesson moving might unintentionally be reducing the thinking students need to do.
[00:08:36.480] – Teacher
That’s uncomfortable to consider, but probably true. I’ve always felt that keeping the discussion moving was my responsibility.
[00:08:46.940] – Steve
Stepping back may require you to sit with some discomfort while students discover that you aren’t going to do the thinking for them.
[00:08:56.340] – Teacher
They may need to become comfortable with that discomfort too.
[00:09:01.510] – Steve
What might you want to try?
[00:09:04.290] – Teacher
Well, I could let the silence last longer. I might ask students to just jot down what they remembered or talk to a partner before responding. I could also tell them why I’m changing what I do.
[00:09:18.580] – Steve
What might I observe as you try that?
[00:09:22.650] – Teacher
Watch what the students do during the silence. Do they begin writing, look back at their materials, signal that they’re ready, or turn to a classmate and see whether more students contribute without me pulling the answers from them.
[00:09:39.100] – Steve
The invisible thread wasn’t apparent from the observation alone. The coach could see that the teacher usually waited only 2 or 3 seconds, frequently rephrased questions, and sometimes supplied the answers herself. The conversation revealed what the observation could not. The teacher was interpreting silence as confusion, felt responsible for maintaining the lesson’s momentum, and worried about covering the planned learning. As the conversation continued, the teacher began to question whether her efforts to help students might actually be reducing their responsibility for thinking. The coach didn’t diagnose that belief or confront the teacher with it. Careful listening, paraphrasing and relevant observation evidence allowed the teacher to uncover it herself. Trust is necessary for coaching to have an impact. At the same time, trust grows through experiences like this. When teachers experience the coach seeking to understand before responding. Joellen Killian’s distinction between light and heavy coaching provides an interesting lens for examining this conversation. Light coaching tends to focus on support, resources, encouragement, and assistance. Heavy coaching pushes more directly toward examining beliefs, assumptions, decisions, and their impact on student learning. The coach is supportive throughout this conversation, but the coaching becomes heavier when the teacher begins examining her belief about responsibility and the possible effect of her choices on students.
[00:11:53.950] – Steve
Support and challenge are not opposites. Support makes the challenge possible. The teacher’s willingness to examine an uncomfortable possibility is evidence of trust, and the coach’s response to that vulnerability can deepen the trust further. The decision is not whether light or heavy coaching is better. The decision is what will best support the teacher’s learning at this moment. An earlier question for the coach might be, what do I know, and what do I still need to find out about this teacher? That kind of knowing isn’t established in a single pre-conference or coaching cycle. It develops as the coach keeps finding out. Each conversation provides another opportunity to discover what the teacher values, what they are working toward, what concerns them, where they feel confident, where are they uncertain, and what they may be ready to question. Each time a teacher experiences a coach seeking to understand before responding, another piece of the invisible thread becomes visible and trust grows. A classroom observation gives us access to what happened. Knowing the teacher helps us explore what sits behind what happened and what might happen next. Observe what is visible. Stay curious about what is invisible. Coaching begins with knowing, and knowing begins and continues with finding out.
[00:13:57.270] – Steve
As you enter your next coaching observation and conference, consider how the invisible thread combines with the visual to maximize your understanding that guides your coaching support. Reach me at barkleypd.com with your questions or insights. Links to Killian’s and Brown’s articles are in the podcast lead-in. And as always, thanks for listening.
[00:14:26.770] – Steve [Outro]
Thanks for listening, folks. I’d love to hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn @SteveBarkley, or send me your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.
