Coaching Mentoring and Reflecting Effectively: Creating a Culture of Excellence Through Colleague Collaboration and

Reflective Practice

Helene Chan, Norman Masuda and Duarte Silva

Stanford University School of Education/

Palo Alto Unified School District STARTALK Projects

STARTALK Network for Program Excellence Meeting

October 16-18, 2009

Chicago, Illinois

INTRODUCTIONS

Helene Chan, Chinese/French Teacher, Teacher Education Coordinator, Member of CFLP Leadership Team, STARTALK Instructor

Norman Masuda, Chinese Japanese, Teacher, Instructional Supervisor, Consultant--CFLP, PAUSD, WASC, STARTALK Instructor

Duarte Silva, Executive Director, CFLP, STARTALK Director

GOALS AND FOCUS of SESSION

• Share Stanford/PAUSD STARTALK model related to Coaching, Mentoring and Reflective Practices

• Demonstrate different aspects of our model

• Engage participants in discussion and activity for how to adopt the model and apply the model in your local contexts

• Respond to participants’ questions about the model

Connecting, Assessing Participants’ Prior Knowledge and Experience and Framing Main Concepts for the Session

Activity I—Tea Party

Form two lines so each of you faces a partnerForm two lines so each of you faces a partnerOne of the lines will be designated the “moving line”One of the lines will be designated the “moving line”

Meet/greet your partner, read and reflect on question that Meet/greet your partner, read and reflect on question that is posted on the screenis posted on the screen

Share your reflective thoughts with your partnerShare your reflective thoughts with your partner

Stop when asked by the FacilitatorStop when asked by the FacilitatorThe moving line moves one person to the right. The moving line moves one person to the right.

Now each of you has a new partnerNow each of you has a new partner

Repeat the process with each new question Repeat the process with each new question

TEA PARTY QUESTION I

When you think of the word “coach” what comes to mind?

TEA PARTY QUESTION II

Have you ever coached or been coached in a professional setting? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, what do you envision the outcomes to be?

TEA PARTY QUESTION III

Think of a time in which you received meaningful feedback from a colleague. What role did it play in supporting you to become a more effective educator?

TEA PARTY QUESTION IV

What role might coaching and reflective practices play in improving instruction for students?

TEA PARTY QUESTION V

What do you believe might be the benefits of having your STARTALK teacher-participants engage in a peer/cognitive coaching process?

OVERVIEW OF STANFORD/PAUSD PROGRAM MODEL

• Context in which the Model was developed and applied

• Different Components of the Model

• Roles--Peers, Coach

• Preparation of Participants to successfully engage in the process

• Developing a culture of inquiry, trust and collaboration

• Effective ways of providing feedback

DEMONSTRATION OF THE MODEL: PRE-CONFERENCE

• Peers meet, and complete pre-observation protocol

• Coach--observes and clarifies questions

DEMONSTRATION: TEACHING OF LESSON AND PEER OBSERVATION

• A peer teaches a lesson the other peer observes and takes notes

• Coach--observes and takes notes on the process

DEMONSTRATION: TEACHING A LESSON

• Topic: Overview of Peer Coaching and Reflective Practices

• Objective: Share key components of the Peer Coaching process and how it can be applied to create a collaborative culture of inquiry and trust in a language department or school.

Participants typically apply:

• 10% of what they learn in PD programs

• 25% if the learning including demonstration/practice

• 90% if the program includes a Peer Coaching/Colleague Collaboration Component (Showers and Joyce,

2002)

RESEARCH ON PEER COACHING

Peer Coaching: Collegiality

Webster Defines “Collegiality” as:

“The relationship of colleagues marked by equal sharing of power and authority.”

Peer Coaching: Collegiality

• Builds trust by developing positive rapport among colleagues

• Facilitates thinking through questioning and developing greater precision in language to describe our practices (Reflection)

• Develops a professional learning community that focuses on continuous improvement and collaboration

• Distinguishes between coaching and evaluation

• Promotes cognitive coaching interactions that are congruent with a variety of teaching styles and professional practices

• Encourages coaching skills which enhance the intellectual processes of performance and reflective practices.

Peer Coaching: Collegiality

Teaching Colleague(s)

Coach Pre-Conference Observation Post-Conference

Peer Coaching: Roles and Process

Pre-conference:

Purposes:

• Determine what is to be taught

• Clarify lesson’s objectives and the expected student performance

• Specify feedback sought by the Colleague/Coach

• Agree to collect desired data and provide feedback during the post-conference

Peer Coaching: Collegiality

Observation

Purposes:

• Observe and objectively capture classroom actions (teaching, student learning, management

strategies/ student interaction, etc.)

• Focus only on areas that were agreed to be observed

• Capture/organize data in a manner that is useful to the colleague being observed

Peer Coaching: Roles and Process

Post Observation: Role of the Teaching Colleague

Shares feedback/data on the specific instructional/management activity that was targeted for the observation.

Reflects along with his/her colleague on what was learned and how to apply “new learning” in the future lessons

Interacts positively with colleague regarding observation and through a questioning process engages the colleague on identifying strategies that may improve future practices.

Peer Coaching: Roles and Process

Post Observation: Role of the Coach: Observes and supports the integrity of the process

Allows primary interaction to occur among the peers

Promotes reflective practices by posing questions related to the feedback that is shared among the peers

Offers impartial insight related to effective practices

Interacts positively and offers support by acknowledging the progress being made in the targeted areas of performance.

Peer Coaching: Roles and Process

Teaching ColleaguesPre-ConferenceObservationPost-ConferenceBased on collegial relationshipsBuilds trust, leads to improved application of what is learned, develops

positive interactions among colleagues, and most important--improves learning in the classroom.

Peer Coaching: Summary

Peers meet and share findings from observation

Coach clarifies questions and aims to move the conversation to reflective model

Demonstration of the Model: Post Conference

Participants’ Questions

Model

Process

Roles

Impact

Application

CLOSURE

For more information on Peer Coaching please contact us:

Helene Chan: VIPchan@aol.com

Norman Masuda: norman@ntmasuda.com

Duarte Silva: duarte.silva@stanford.edu