Coaching teachers

Name: Yuri Aikawa

1- Setting:
EDUC 203
Alisan Funk We booked this room for the coaching
Where did the coaching session take
Name of the coachee: session, so there was only us in the
place:
room and the whole session was video
recorded.
1.) Introduction
The description of the phase of the 2.) Discussion in regard to 15 minutes
Length of the coaching session
lesson she/he taught teaching experiences and
emotions
The instructional goal of the phase of the lesson: Creating a list of situations and the corresponding (negative) emotion(s).

The practice of High-Quality Teaching selected by the coachee: Eliciting and responding to student thinking

2- How did you support your classmate to target the instructional goals in the lesson he/she taught using coaching feedbacks?

Alisan had generated 5 situations and instructed students to discuss 2 other situations in their groups. As I noticed that
Alisan and her students discussed all of those 5 situations and only 1 other situation during the class discussion following
the group discussion, I asked Alisan why she chose 5 situations on the list and 2 other situations.

Alisan: We werent sure how many people would show up. We had some last-minute cancellations. [] really what we
wanted was people to bring things from their own life, but because we werent sure and because it was good to give
examples, so we started with examples but we were hoping that they would also bring up with something new to talk
Short description of the teaching
directly about experiences that they wanted to share. But I think its hard to identify those in the moment.
happening in the video to which
[]
you decided to provide feedbacks
Yuri: As you said they all had teaching experience. If you knew it, you would... would you have talked about, more about
on
their personal experiences rather than those 5 situations?
Alisan: Yea, that would be better to say, like, give them 2 and say that wed come up with the third one. You know, so
that we had adversity [] to challenge them because we were prepared for the range for the next phases [] but yea, it
would be a better idea in the future to do 2 prep or 3 prep and then come up with the fourth one.
Yuri: Yea, [] I think they could relate it to their own personal experiences [] because the situation was very clear, but
in the class discussion, you discussed all the 5 situations and then they came up with 1 other situation. But they were
supposed to talk about 2 other situations but it seems like they were running out of time.

Video time stamp of the coaching:
How did you support your
classmate to reflect on the practice
using coaching feedbacks?
Analysis of your coaching practice, allows a teacher to know learners as individuals; as members of social and cultural groups; and as learners with particular
why did you choose to intervene at characteristics; and as learners at a particular point in their academic, emotional, psychological, and social development
that moment including links with
the literature
[]
Yuri: [] if you were planning to have, for example, 5-minute discussion, its probably too many to have 7 situations. []
So what I wanted to suggest was like, maybe you can have 2 situations, or you can have 5 on the list but they can pick 2,
and then they could talk about 2 other situations. So that you can have more, like, uh, situations that you didnt think
about in the class discussion and it will be very interesting, I think.
Alisan: Yea, that makes a lot of sense. I think that will get to those goals faster.
23:40 - 27:52
I suggested Alisan spare more time to discuss students own personal experiences because it would elicit more ideas from
students. She was very well prepared with 5 generated situations, which were all clear and easy-to-understand, but
because of the limited time, she did not discuss many situations that students had experienced in their own life. By
engaging with students own experiences, they could have come up with new, unpredictable ideas that they could discuss
in details. This would allow a teacher to elicit and respond student thinking.
In addition, my suggestion will also be of help with 1) making a lesson plan considering how much time students would
need to discuss, and 2) being flexible with the original plan depending on the number of participants. These two strategies
may help a teacher with teaching toward an instructional goal.
Engaging in students personal experiences will lead to eliciting and responding to student thinking. Grossman,
Harmmeness & McDonald (2009) indicate the importance of eliciting further thinking (pp. 281). They argue that
questions to elicit student thinking leads to creating a classroom environment where students would not be shy or
nervous to share and discuss ideas even when the ideas are not definitely clear. In Alisans group, all students had
teaching experiences, therefore they could relate to the situations and emotions to their own experiences. If students
share the real situation they have experienced, they could talk about the corresponding emotion in more details
because they can reflect on their actual experiences. In order to do so, students should have been given fewer situations
and talk more about their personal experiences. Furthermore, making the issue related to their personal experiences also
(Hollins, 2011, p. 397). Hollins (2011) points out the importance of knowing learners background experiences and prior
knowledge (p. 397). By associating the topic (situations and the corresponding emotions) with the learners own teaching
experiences, Alisan and her group could know their learners as individuals, therefore, it could be beneficial not only for
Alisan but also for her peers who held the 2nd and the 3rd phases.
Reference
Grossman, P., Hammerness, K. & McDonald, M. (2009). Redefining teaching, re-imagining teacher education. Teachers and
Teaching, 15(2), 273-289.
Hollins, E.R. (2011). Teacher preparation for quality teaching. Journal of Teacher Education,62(4), 395-407.
Cycle of Enactment & Investigation Fall 2017 2
3- What you will do differently
Video time stamp:
Short description of what
happened in that moment:
Rationale for why you would want
to change what happened in that
moment:
Example of what you would do
differently:
28:12 - 30:18
I commented on the class discussion and suggested that it would be a good idea to ask some follow-up questions.
Yuri: I thought it was better to ask some follow-up questions like why do you think it made you disappointed or
frustrated? or something, because when I think about my emotion, Id think like, uh, for example when Im sad, Id first
think about what made me sad. And Id think like this made me sad, then I would think like why did it make me sad? Why
did it matter for me? Then I get to find the solution. So maybe they can talk about why it made them frustrated or why it
mattered to them. And if you can ask that kind of follow-up questions, maybe you have fewer emotions on the list, but you
can have like, deeper discussions, I thought.
Alisan: Do you think that would intimidate them though? to talk more about it? That was kind of like my fear. Like I think
its a good comment, but Im nervous that, uh, because its not an idea, it is an emotion, like, why do you feel that way, oh
my dog died when I was you know, like that there is a
Yuri: so its too personal, you think?
Alison: Yea, that was sort of my fear. I mean, I wish, yea it would be nice find the balance in there because I think its kind
of important to say why.
Yuri: Yea, I think its very difficult because some topics can be too personal. [] so I get the point that you were, like, uh,
nervous to ask those kinds of questions.
Alison: Yea, and some people dont know why? [] it could be really minor or it could be really huge.
Yuri: Yea, sometimes you dont know why, but I think its worth discussing because you dont know why. People might
help, I mean, some other people might help.
I noticed that I missed a very important point. I think it is a good idea to ask follow-up questions such as why to elicit
student thinking (pressing on student thinking), but Alisan pointed out a very important matter for teachers to consider.
Asking too personal questions could be ignorant of supportive environments in the classroom. Alisan said that it would be
nice to find the balance in there, but we did not discuss it in the coaching session. If I could replay this moment, I would
like to discuss how we could find the balance in there.
I would like to start a discussion about the balance as follows:
Alison: Yea, that was sort of my fear. I mean, I wish, yea it would be nice find the balance in there because I think its kind
of important to say why.
Yuri: I agree with you that it would be important to find the balance in there. How do you think teachers can balance
those two things, pressing on student thinking on one hand and avoiding too personal questions on the other hand?
Cycle of Enactment & Investigation Fall 2017 3

Rationale for why you would want
to make that change:
(keep in mind the content goals of the
lesson)
I showed my agreement with Alisan by saying yea, I think its very difficult because some topics can be too personal. []
so I get the point that you were, like, uh, nervous to ask those kinds of questions, and in this way, I closed out a sequence,
which was not prospective in nature (Heineke, 2013, p.422). However, at this point, it would have been better to build
progressive discourse [and expand] the discussion (Heineke, 2013, p.415). The question (demand) in regard to finding a
balance was important because it would make our session higher in prospectiveness. Heineke (2013) argued that when
participants in a conversation pursue meaning making through the use of moves that are high in prospectiveness, they set
each other up for further reflection, thinking, and questioning, thus engaging in collaborative knowledge building (p. 415),
and this practice was necessary at this point of our coaching session. Furthermore, asking what Alisan thinks about the
balance would allow me to be more responsive as a coach (Heineke, 2013, p. 424).

Reference
Heineke, S. F. (2013). Coaching discourse: Supporting teachers' professional learning. The Elementary School Journal, 113
(3), 409-43

4- Reflect on your experiences as a coach, specifically on how you provided feedbacks to your classmate using Heineke (2013) article.

By suggesting to decrease the number of situations on the list in order to make the group discussion more detailed and
meaningful, I succeeded in "making suggestions for later actions," which Heineke (2013) called "the most consistent
How do you position yourself as dominance" (Heineke, 2013, p. 421). I explained the reason why I think it would be better so that this idea could be
a coach? useful when she teaches some other topics in the future. Furthermore, our coaching session held a lot of teacher talk. I
carefully listened to what Alisan said and tried to understand her point of view. It is probably due to my Japanese
cultural value, where interrupting is extremely rude, but it contributed to providing Alisan with opportunities to "use
language to build meaning" (Heineke, 2013, p. 425). However, as mentioned above, I could have asked a question about
the balance so that the coaching session could have more prospectiveness and responsiveness. (Heineke, 2013, p.415,
424). Furthermore, I, as a coach, should have paid more attention to pedagogy. Loughran (2006) suggested that there
are at least two levels of teaching: what they are teaching teacher candidates (content) and how they are teaching
teacher candidates (pedagogy) (as cited in Williams et al., 2012, p. 255). When I provided feedbacks, I was thinking
about what Alisan could do as a teacher. For example, having fewer situations and asking follow-up questions were
both feedbacks about the content of teaching. I did not pay close attention to the pedagogy, such as how she could
make her lecture more accessible and easy-to-follow. In the future, considering pedagogy will allow me identify how
[my] previous experience and professional identities are relevant to teacher education, and how these fit with [my] new
roles and identities as [a] teacher [educator](Williams et al., 2012)

Reference
Heineke, S. F. (2013). Coaching discourse: Supporting teachers' professional learning. The Elementary School Journal, 113
(3), 409-43

Cycle of Enactment & Investigation Fall 2017 4

Willians, J., Ritter, J.,& Bullock, S.M. (2012). Understanding the complexity of becoming teacher educator: Experience,
belonging, and practice within a professional learning community. Studying Teacher Education: A Journal of Self-study of
Teacher Education, 8(3), 245-260.

Cycle of Enactment & Investigation Fall 2017 5