Teachers as Classroom Coaches

In a true coaching environment, teachers and students produce a continuous flow of synergy: One creative idea sparks another, leading to motivation and engagement; students are complimented rather than reprimanded for solving problems in unusual ways.

By acting as coaches, educators help students to mature socially as well as academically, within a respectful atmosphere.

One way for administrators to encourage the useful sharing of strategies is to allow time for teacher-coaches to observe one another in action

When everyone talks about what they’ve learned, the directions they’re taking, and what they can teach one another, the attendant synergy and vitality can motivate people to expand their intellectual horizons.

It is essential that principals model ways to obtain and share information in a variety of settings for teachers if teachers are to do the same inside their classrooms.

Sharing is the key to creating a school community that values and supports communication at all levels.

Students are not the only ones in school to learn. Teachers and principals may learn from each other as well as from their students.

Setting up weekly or monthly coaching meetings to discuss what teachers are teaching, what students are learning, and what procedures are being implemented can help cultivate a cadre of learners at every level of the school community.

Allowing students to help set assessment criteria makes them more willing to accept responsibility for the grades they receive, and motivates them to do the best they can to meet their own goals.

When students are fully engaged in helping the teacher determine the criteria of assessment, the quality of their work is bound to soar.

When teachers and students outline the content and skills to be learned and the expectations for learning ahead of time, the stage is set for effective teacher-student communication.

Coached assessment is a new and unique approach to evaluating student achievement. It helps students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills and teacher-coaches to evaluate classroom practices and procedures.

When assessing how students talk and act in groups, the teacher might examine such criteria as eye contact, respectfulness, and effective use of content. Contextual listening helps teachers and students read between the lines to assess these factors.

Coaches must possess an unflinching belief in their students’ ability to uncover content and complete their work with relative ease.

When moving from group to group, teacher-coaches should take careful notes, both to help the groups on a continual basis and to keep track of which groups they’ve visited.

By engaging teacher-coaches in the inquiry process, exploratory questions convey the fact that teachers are not the sole repositories of all knowledge, and that they are interested primarily in their students’ projects.

“You are not doing it right,” is a negative statement that can be conveyed in a positive question as “May I offer a suggestion that might make your task easier?”

When teachers make careful listening and critical analysis priorities, they are able to ensure greater clarity of perception among students. This clarity can be achieved by focusing on pertinent information that students express while disregarding the superfluous.

Once a spirit of teamwork has been established in the classroom, the teacher’s next objective is to build awareness of students’ potential for productivity and cooperation.

Much as sports coaches need to know what talents and attributes each player brings to a team, teachers need to know what aptitudes students bring with them to cooperative groups.

When teachers function as coaches, students move from writing reports for the teacher’s eyes only to preparing projects, position papers, or perspectives for use in real-life simulations, discussions, or debates.

The sense of accomplishment and independence that students feel after completing a job without being told what to do every step of the way is a reward in itself.

Because students who take more responsibility for their actions engage more proactively with classroom activities, teachers should coach students to determine their own goals.

With responsibility comes accountability. Therefore, the first step in helping students move into effective action is for the teacher to coach the students to take ownership of what needs to be accomplished.

Whether the forum is a debate, discussion, or simulation, students must feel that they are writing and researching for practical use.

The coach’s ultimate goal is first to motivate students through guidance and activity, and then to tap the motivation inherent in students’ natural curiosity.

We need to develop a relationship of trust, based on a sense of security in a risk-free environment. Students need to feel that they can make new leaps in their endeavors within the security of this relationship.

We define coaches as those who offer inspiration, guidance, training, and modeling, and who enhance others’ abilities through motivation and support.

Coaching is concerned with long-term skill development rather than with quick fixes or temporary under-standing.

More than 2,400 years ago, at the height of the Athenian enlightenment, Socrates asserted that teachers should help students to uncover information for themselves.

The classroom is the playing field, the students are the team, and the teacher, as the coach, holds everything together.