Common K-12 Coaching Models

Video Transcription

Hi, my name is Ashley. And today's lesson is titled Common K-12 Coaching Models. In today's lesson, we'll discuss common K-12 coaching models. We'll look at the coaching relationship between mentoring new teachers, peer coaching, cognitive coaching, and subject-specific coaching. Let's go ahead and begin.

Mentoring is a type of coaching offer to new teachers who receives coaching from a more experienced teacher. This type of coaching focuses on the specifics of a particular school, for example, the procedures for planning a field trip or how to distribute books. The advantages of mentoring new teachers are that it builds relationships between new and seasoned teachers. Because of its non-evaluative format, it allows for open dialogue and flexibility to give support to the new teacher. The disadvantages to mentoring new teachers is that it can promote the status quo. If the new teacher is entering a negative atmosphere, then that teacher may absorb those same negative habits. Additionally, if their mentor teacher is focused on using outdated, traditional teaching methods, then the new teacher may also be encouraged to use those same teaching practices instead of new innovations.

Let's take a look at peer coaching. Peer coaching is where colleagues serve as coaches for each other and collaborate on a regular basis to discuss strategies for professional development and classroom instruction. The advantages of peer coaching relationships is very similar to that of mentoring. It is also non-evaluative. It doesn't give a score or a rating. Teachers can be more open with questions when coaching is non-evaluative and the focus is more on learning. The peer coaching model also helps to build relationships among faculty members. Disadvantages of this model is that there's no quality control. Two teachers may agree to peer coach one another, but there's really no way to determine if those teachers have the knowledge or skill to help the other teacher meet his or her challenges. The peer coaching relationship is supposed to be an effective one and this can cause it to be unsuccessful.

Cognitive coaching focuses on self-directions with the use of conversation of reflection. The three parts of cognitive coaching are planning conversation, where the teacher identifies the instructional goals. The classroom observation, this is where the coach will collect data. And the reflecting conversation, this is where data from the observation is shared and used for self-reflection by the teacher. The advantages of this model is that it's flexible. Any type of goal can be addressed. Focus is placed in the reflection of the teacher in a nonjudgmental environment.

A disadvantage of this model is the teacher's ability to be reflective. If a teacher has difficulty reflecting on his or her own instructional practices. This model may not be beneficial. This model does not rely on the coach identifying improvement strategies. The teacher will have to go outside of the coaching relationship to discover other strategies for instruction.

The last coaching model that we'll discuss today is subject-specific coaching. Subject-specific coaching focuses on a single subject and it is guided by the standards of that particular subject. The advantages of this model is that it uses curriculum mapping to ensure horizontal and vertical alignment of content. This model encourages the use of formal and informal assessments to collect data.

The disadvantages to this model is there's no common approach for implementing this type of coaching. The main focus is content knowledge and not instructional practices. Standardized test scores are emphasized, which is also a disadvantage. However, they can be used to promote reflection.

Let's recap what we have discussed in today's lesson. We looked at the four common coaching models that are used in the K-12 classrooms. The mentoring model is for new teachers as they entered the field of education. Peer coaching is where two teachers agree to coach one another. Cognitive coach involves reflecting the teaching practices. And subject-specific coaching focuses on one single subject area.

We discussed a lot of information today. The four types of models have advantages and disadvantages. Consider all the information here and decide which model will be the best suitable for you. As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set.