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Coaching Teachers: Promoting Changes that Stick

Online Course

Match Education

Date/Time: 5 weeks
2-4 hours of work per week
Price: Free
Website: http://www.coursera.org/course/coachingteachers
Description: Learn and practice strategies for coaching teachers to make meaningful, long-lasting improvements in their instruction.

Teachers face a blizzard of decisions. Scholars estimate that teachers have over 1000 unique exchanges with students every day, most of which are unplanned and require quick decision making. And then there are the myriad daily decision points related to curriculum planning, assessing student work, and interactions with parents and colleagues. Amidst this frenzy, it’s easy for “bad” habits to set in, and hard to break them once they do.

The question then becomes:

How in such a fast-paced environment can coaches and instructional leaders help teachers execute changes in their practice that actually stick?

Effective teacher-coaches are not just knowledgeable about instruction; they’re also highly strategic in their approach to changing teachers’ behaviors. That starts with preparing teachers to receive critical feedback, and then continues with a careful selection of goals and scaffolds to ensure that feedback is implemented with fidelity.

Oftentimes, teacher coaching suffers from a lack of direction, a lack of support, or both. The coach might tell the teacher to “Do X,” but then fail to articulate clear, measurable steps for implementation. Most commonly, coaches can be overly suggestive, telling the teacher “You might do X, Y, and Z, and maybe even A, B, and C, too.” With an already very full plate, this approach leaves the teacher uncertain of what to focus on first, undercutting the likelihood of meaningful change.

Even teacher coaching that’s described as “good” can sometimes fall short of resulting in meaningful change. The coach might see and say the right things, and the teacher might be very appreciative of the feedback. But unless the coaching drives true changes in behavior, the “good” in this case could actually end up being the enemy of effective.

Match Education trains and employs dozens of coaches who provide intensive support for teachers in Boston and New Orleans. Course participants will be introduced to Match’s Five key principles of effective coaching, which strike the right balance between providing clear direction for teachers, while giving them the support they need to achieve their goals:
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