Student Centered Coaching

Steve Seward tweeted this today and linked to a realling inteesting chart to me. Follow the link to the chart to take a look at it. I am not sure about copyrights on the whole situation so I am not putting it here. I really like the idea of making sure the focus of a coaching conversation is on student work and the formative assessment data you and the teacher are looking at. It really starts to drive the conversation is a safe and comfortable direction. What changes might you make to your coaching that are informed by this chart?

1 response
I love this chart, Jim. I think that ultimately the conversation is more focused, more effective, and more attainable. When having the other two types of coaching conversations, the road blocks are huge because they tend to be more personal, focused on the teacher's abilities or inabilities. Whereas, with this, the focus is solely on the students and their mastery of learning targets. A conversation then can focus on the ways to shift instruction in order to meet the learning needs of the students. My biggest wondering, though, is how do we collect valuable data in order to have these conversations? I have found that K-5 collect data using quarterly standard assessments or Running Records or Dibbles. However, in 6-12, we collect and store very little useful data that can be used to assess students' mastery. This has been one of the reasons why I have liked the concept of Standards Based Grading at the high school level. When you're grading just on the standards, then you have a clear sense of what your students are or are not understanding. And, you can make adjustments as such. But, as a History teacher, I have no idea how I would go about setting up Standards Based Grading that makes sense. So, how do we gather relevant data to have effective coaching conversations?