Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction Book

Preface     ix
Acknowledgments     xi
About the Author     xv
Why Coaching?     1
Chapter Overview     1
The Failure of Traditional Professional Development     1
So Why Doesn't Traditional Professional Development Work?     4
The October Session: One Experience With One-Shot Sessions     5
What Are Some Common Forms of Coaching?     9
What's in the Book?     14
A Final Word About Coaches     15
Going Deeper     16
To Sum Up     17
What Does Coaching Look Like?     19
Chapter Overview     19
What Does Coaching Look Like?     19
Overcoming the Biggest Fear at the Start     20
Finding the Right Starting Point     22
The Big Four     23
Building an Emotional Connection     24
Encouraging Implementation     26
Collaboration     27
Modeling: You Watch Me     29
Observing and Providing Feedback     29
Support     31
Partnering With the Principal     32
Going Deeper     33
To Sum Up     33
Notes     33
What Is the Partnership Philosophy?     37
Chapter Overview     37
What Is the Partnership Philosophy?     37
Going Deeper     52
To Sum Up     53
Partnership Communication: Creating Learning Conversations     57
Chapter Overview     57
Creating Learning Conversations     57
The Communication Process     59
Employing Authentic Listening     60
Understanding Our Audience     65
Recognizing and Overcoming Interference     69
Just Talking Together     73
The Subtle Language of Communication: Facial Expressions and Emotional Connections     73
Building an Emotional Connection     75
How It All Fits Together, Sort Of     78
Going Deeper     78
To Sum Up     79
Getting Teachers on Board and Finding a Starting Point     81
Chapter Overview     81
Getting Teachers on Board     81
Stages of Change: Prochaska, Norcross, and DiClemente     85
The Stages of Change and Professional Learning in Schools     87
Sourpuss     89
The Components of Coaching: Enroll, Identify, and Explain     89
How to Build Relationships During Interviews     94
Going Deeper     106
To Sum Up     107
Modeling, Observing, and Collaboratively Exploring Data     109
Chapter Overview     109
Empowering Teachers to Master New Teaching Practices     110
Model: You Watch Me     111
The Light Just Went On     118
Model Lessons and Tacit Knowledge     119
Observe: I Watch You     120
Explore: The Collaborative Exploration of Data     122
Core Concerns     132
Going Deeper     135
To Sum Up     136
Focusing on the Big Four: Behavior, Content Knowledge, Direct Instruction, and Formative Assessment     139
Chapter Overview     139
The Power of Focus     139
Two Disclaimers Before We Begin     140
The Big Four     141
Developing and Teaching Expectations     143
Content Coaching     151
Coaching Instruction     162
Instructional Coaching and Formative Assessment     170
Going Deeper     176
To Sum Up     177
Note     177
How Coaches Can Spread Knowledge     179
Chapter Overview      179
How Ideas Spread     179
Understanding Memes     181
Resilient Viruses     182
Born Again     183
Ensuring That Practices Shared Are Easy and Powerful     184
Employing Self-Organization and Coherence-Building Practices to Go School wide With Instructional Coaching     185
Having an Infectious Personality     187
Partnering With the Principal     189
Following the Law of the Few     191
Going Deeper     194
To Sum Up     195
Note     195
Coaches as Leaders of Change     197
Coaches as Leaders of Change     197
Stay Detached     198
Walk on Solid Ground     203
Clarifying Your Message     204
Managing Change Effectively     205
Confronting Reality     208
Understanding School Culture     210
Being Ambitious and Humble     211
Taking Care of Yourself     213
Faith     215
The Final Word on Jean Clark and Bohemia Manor Middle School     216
Going Deeper     217
To Sum Up     218
Note     218
Resource: Instructional Coach's Tool Kit      219
References     225
Index     233