For the past few years, our admin team sends out a survey of questions for teachers to self assess on how they contribute to their own professional learning and team meetings, on the type of learning that was implemented this year, as well as to set up goals for next year. We co-construct the survey each year with our team lead teachers and then we send it out to our whole staff. The power of reflection is incredible and reveals some things we didn’t realize. It also unveils our next steps. We survey teachers for may different reasons. We want them to reflect on how they contribute to their own professional growth, how we might best set them up for that, the most valuable use of their time and how they learn best. When we asked what the most valuable learning opportunity was for them, there was a glaringly obvious preference. The number one answer to this question was ‘learning from other teachers inside of our school through coaching sessions.’ They stated that teachers learn best from other teachers within their school through conversation, observation, and product.
Our school is very intentional about how we learn from each other by setting up a very specific step by step system. It is set up in a very intentional way each year. It revolves around teachers coaching teachers on a top priority that they are trying to solve. Each grade team chooses their own top priority, implements actions to close the gap, and gathers evidence along the way to notice progress. Teachers then have very specific times throughout the year where they coach each other. It is always a jackpot for professional learning because it is ‘in house’, validates the work teachers are doing, and celebrates the progress they have made to solve a top priority. I have a digital course called School Administrator’s Academy that is launching June 14th that teachers you this exact step by step process to set up a system to inspire and motivate teachers to solve top priorities and coach each other. If you are interested in getting on the wait list, email me at jacealynh@gmail.com.
Here are the Cole’s notes version of how we set up teachers coaching teachers. But…if you are looking for a step by step process with masterclasses, templates, meeting agendas, team teaching curriculums, live coaching Q and As and community support, models, etc., then you will have to enroll in the School Administrator’s Academy course on June 14th! It will set you up with an automated system that you can use year to year.
In a nutshell, here’s how we set up our professional growth:
Step 1: Admin teach teachers a problem solving template with four very specific questions to get them thinking about the one thing they want to focus on this year that is a top priority.
Step 2: Teachers choose their top priority and researches best practices to close the gap.
Step 3: Teachers design a roadmap with actions and deadlines to implement.
Step 4: Admin teaches them how to gather evidence to notice progress and how to have effective professional learning conversations.
Step 5: 2-3 times a year teachers coach each other using evidence on the progress they have made.
These coaching sessions are golden and help to build leadership, solve problems, and build community and relationships. There are many ways to set up coaching sessions for teachers.
If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I always try to break anything we do into steps. Here are some ways that we have set it up in our school:
Step 1: Co-construct criteria on how to coach each other. As admin, model how you might coach a colleague on your own priority plan. This sets up expectations and a clear roadmap for teachers to use and make their own when they are running their own coaching sessions.
Step 2: Teach them what types of evidence they might want to collect and build some sentence starters to help get the conversation started. I teach you exactly how to do this in my School Administrator’s Academy course by the way…
Step 3: Set up 2-3 times to meet and decide on the structure of the coaching sessions.
Version 1 – Have grade teams of teachers who are working on a top priority coach another grade team on how they tackled their top priority. This would be done in a meeting at tables. Have teachers bring their roadmaps of actions they took, evidence of work samples, videos, lesson plans, etc. to discuss. Each grade team takes a certain amount of time to explain and coach another team on how they were making progress to solve a top priority. The team who is listening is required to actively listen, give feedback, ask questions, contribute ideas to help with next steps, etc. Once the first team has gone, the second team will coach on their top priority plan and evidence of progress.
Version 2 – This one is my favorite! Pair teachers up and have them take their partner back to their classroom to coach on evidence of progress. This is a one on one coaching session vs. a team coaching session and happens inside classrooms. The teacher talks to the priority plan and their progress. They show them visible learning on the walls, within the room, and within work samples. This gives the listening teacher a real visual and feel of how the room is set up, the criteria and resources around the classroom that the teacher used, and a chance to see another colleague’s classroom environment.
The key to these types of coaching sessions is to be as prepared as possible with conversations and planning with teachers before the actual coaching happens. Do not just wing it and expect it to go off without a hitch. It won’t…You need to prepare the teachers by talking about what it should look like, sound like, feel like, as well as co-construct expectations. Disclaimer…(cause I am all about being real)….this is hard. It is something that will take some time and commitment for teachers to get comfortable and know how to use the time to coach effectively. It is very important that this session is NOT just a ‘bring and brag’ or a ‘show and share.’ The purpose is to use these coaching sessions to teach about how your work and learning would benefit other teachers and impact teacher craft and learning. This is a session that pushes teachers outside of their comfort zone, but with time they will feel more confident with sharing their expertise or their struggles eventually. The payoff in learning and professional conversations/learning is the best thing we have ever done.
Like I stated earlier, teachers coaching teachers is one of the most powerful things you can do for professional development. It helps to align teaching craft and improve student learning overall. It takes professional learning from just growing impact in the classroom to affecting overall schoolwide improvement. Now who wouldn’t want that!
Be sure to let us know how your own coaching sessions go in our private facebook group called Principals and Leadership Also, be sure to download my free guide to workshopping your meetings to get on my mailing list and learn about School Administrator’s Academy!
You can also follow me on insta @evenifyoumiss1!
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