Coaching+Dilemmas



The following scearios were posted by the participants in the provincial training sessions in March 2009. Please add your ideas as well as post challenges you'd like comments on. 
 *  1. The administrator wants David, the math coach to work with Linda, a teacher to prepare the students for the grade 9 EQAO assessment by having the students do many skill/drill type of questions specific to EQAO. Linda wants to teach in ways that develop conceptual understanding. Advice? ||
 * Advice ||
 *  2. After 3 meeting between Anne, the coach and Bill, the teacher, it becomes apparent that there is conflict in their personalities, which is impeding the coaching process. Student understanding has not been the focus of the meetings. Suggestions? ||
 * Suggestions: ||
 *  3. Cathy, a teacher who volunteers to be involved in the coaching project expects prepared, demonstrated “model” lessons from John, the coach. Advice? ||
 * Advice: ||
 *  4. Irene, a newly hired math coach from the elementary panel is expected to work with teachers in grades 7-10. At an initial meeting working with secondary teachers, Dean, the math department head, is very vocal with his concerns about the coach’s expertise and ability to work at the secondary level. Suggestions? ||
 * Suggestions: ||
 *  5. Jim is an experienced teacher who has taught 15 years. He believes that he is a great teacher since all of his students pass. His approach is to use math work sheets and regular group assignments. He is eager to work with Anne, the math coach but does not see the value in changing his instructional practices since his classes have a high average mark and 100% pass rate. Advice? ||
 * Advice: ||
 *  6. Mary, the teacher invites Rod, the coach to co-plan a lesson and then observe a lesson. During the lesson Rod recognizes a multitude of areas for growth, none of which were identified at the original meeting. At the debrief, the Mary thinks that the lesson went very well and cuts the meeting short. Rod has not been invited back. What should Rod do next? ||
 * Comments: ||

Any Suggestions? I have only been coaching for a few months but I recently faced a new situation and I would love some suggestions as to where to go from here. I have been following the pre-planning, co-teaching, debriefing model of coaching and so far have found the experiences positive. Recently I was in a classroom teaching a lesson that the classroom teacher and I planned together. The class was loud, disrespectful, out of their seats, etc. Obviously, classroom management should have been the focus not math. I moved from trying to get through the whole lesson to teaching them what is expected when working in a group, when moving around the room, when working with math tools, etc. The lesson was not completed. The teacher was pleased that they behaved almost as bad for me as they do for her. She said, "At least I know its not me now". She wants to go on planning math lessons with "math goals". I don't think much learning is going to happen without classroom management first. What should I do? Has anyone else faced this situation? Tricia

Yes this is not a unique problem. If not much learning is happening, then classroom issues must be addressed. As a coach, I find it particularly difficult to deal with behaviour issues in another teacher’s class. Often, we have focused on the math and just assumed that we are stepping into ‘our’ class. I think that you need to discuss with the teacher what his/her expectations for behaviour are. Then prioritize the most important positive expectations, i.e. what she/he (and you) would like to accomplish. She/he (and you) also need to decide whether or not you can or should engage the students in a discussion about classroom behaviour. (If the students can be involved in the setting of the expectations, it may help to transfer the responsibility to the students. However, not all classes can handle this as an initial step.) Some factors that contribute to behaviour problems: - Group size, may need to try groups of 2 and seating plan may need to be addressed. (If group size is discussed with students, then I think that it is important to include in the discussion that student centered activities is most helpful to students gaining a better understanding of math.) - Composition of groups: I have been surprised that sometimes a teacher is not willing to make up groups ahead of time. When I have had difficulty with groups, I make up an overhead of the groups ahead of time, so the chaos is immediate and fairly quickly resolved. Yes you have to be prepared to make some last minute changes due to absences. If the opportunity for discussion with the class happens in a previous class, then maybe in that previous class distribute a form asking the students with whom they would like to work and with whom they would not like to work. (Maybe limit the list to 3 names in each column.) Recently one teacher related a situation to me where Base Ten Manips where being used in the class for an activity. However, the teacher had to end the activity early because the manips were being thrown around the room. When we talked about the situation, it was clear that it was the intention of some students to disrupt the class and when the manips where collected, those students got the message that they were successful in disrupting everyone. The teacher had tried in several classes to use the manips again, with similar results. When we brainstormed ideas the teacher decided to try the following: - pre-package the manips in zip lock bags for quicker distribution (throwing had begun before all manips had been distributed) also this may help if students leave bags closed until the activity starts and the teacher could strategically locate herself nearest the most likely ‘offenders’ - have paper copies of the Base ten available to give to students who fail to co-operate, i.e. taking away the actual manip and replacing it. This may allow the activity to continue as planned for most students and takes the power away from the ‘unco-operative’ students. (What this really says is to have a backup plan (not just busy work such as a paper and pencil activity) for potential ‘unco-operative’ students. Sending them out of the room is often a victory for the student because the student has successful not participated.) This may prevent students who are potential ‘unco-operative’ students from joining in. - Class discussion: When things get out of hand, be prepared to discuss it with the class. Have chart paper ready with possible titles, What didn’t work, What is expected in class, Ideas for a better class If is it possible to calmly move into a discussion, maybe asking the students to complete a ready made handout with reflective questions (only a couple of minutes long) before starting an oral discussion would provide some insight into the students’ perspectives. This could be folded over and used at the end of the discussion to add additional comments. I would encourage the students to put their names on the sheet, but leave that optional. (I think that most students would include their names.) Possible reflective questions: What would you (the student) suggest to solve ……… What consequences should there be when a class is disrupted like it was today? Was the activity: too hard or too easy? difficult to understand?

Hope this is helpful. What grade and level is the class? Elementary or secondary? Bruce

Hi Tricia, I agree with Bruce's comments and suggestions. There will not be math learning happening until the classroom environment is conducive to learning. I found an article by Robert and Jana Marzano in Educational Leadership/September 2003 on Classroom Dynamics. This article offers research which supports the correlation between classroom mangement and student achievement- a critical compment for student succes.I t identifies the importance of establishing clear behaviour expectations and learning goals; exibiting assertive, but not aggressive behaviour; appropriate levels of cooperation (students and teachers functioning as a team); providing flexible learning goals (i.e. choice of task); taking a personal interest in students; using equitable and positive classroom behaviours; awareness of high needs students and having a repertoire of specifics techniques for meeting some of their needs (which they provide in their article). Their research identified that effective classroom management did not treat all students the same; they tended to employ different strategies with different types of students. (DI for classroom management). If you'd like a copy of this article email me your address- irene.mcevoy@gmail.com One of the GAINS Math projects has artifacts from a grade 8 classroom where the teacher shares how she differentiates her math classroom. In the video we hear the importance of establishing classroom behaviour and routines at the begining of the year- What it Looks Like and What It Sounds Like (Student generated list). Another issue for the mis-behaviour may be the diversity in the classroom. Perhaps trying out Parallel or Open-Ended tasks may allow for the diversity in the classroom. Irene