Coaching for Growth:
Empowering Teachers Through Dialogue
Dr. Heather Wall – Professional Learning Specialist ELA, Hall County Schools, GA
Michelle Palmer – Instructional Coach, White Sulphur Elementary, Hall County Schools, GA
What is an Instructional Coach?
• Supports teachers professional growth
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Support with Curriculum
Support with Instructional Practices
Support with Data Analysis
Support with Structures and Routines
Support with Students
• Provides Professional Development
• Whole Group
• Small Group
• Individual
• Resource
Study Questions
• How does an instructional coach’s discourse during professional learning activities
contribute to the empowerment or disempowerment of teachers?
• How does the coach discursively construct the identities of the teachers with whom
he/she works?
• What happens, in terms of reflexivity, when coaches engage in a dialogic process
about coaching discourse and practice?
Structure of Study
• Year 1
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2 coaches
Monthly Coaching Conversations
Videotape interaction with teachers
Set goals
• Year 2
• Added two more coaches
• Added 2-3 whole group meetings
• Year 3
• Same format as Year 2
Research
• Paulo Freire
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Brazilian educator
Taught Brazilian adult peasants/workers to read and write
Wrote “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” in 1968
Banking model of education vs. people being co-creators of knowledge
Freire’s Conditions for Dialogue
• Love
In order to do the hard work of empowering others, you must first find it within yourself to
love them: “Love is commitment to others” (1993, p. 70).
• Humility
“Dialogue cannot exist without humility” (1993, p. 70). Humility implies a respect for the
other person’s views and a willingness to honestly listen without “reloading”.
• Faith in Humankind
Dialogue cannot exist without “an intense faith in humankind” (1993, p. 71). “Without this
faith in people,” Freire said, “dialogue is a farce which inevitably degenerates into paternalistic
manipulation” (1993, p. 72).
• Hope
“Hope is rooted in men’s incompletion,” Freire stated, “from which they move out in a
constant search” (1993, p. 72). Hope is the belief in improvement — one’s own, one’s
students, and others’.
• Critical Thinking
Freire envisioned education as a liberating act, which he termed “problem- solving”
education, wherein the teacher and students contemplate and think critically about the
problems they encounter in the world. The lines between student and teacher blur, so that
each learns from the other, becoming “co-investigators in dialogue” (1993, p. 62).
Wall, H. & Palmer, M. (2015). Courage to love: Coaching dialogically toward teacher
empowerment. The Reading Teacher, 68(8), 627-635.
Recurring Themes
• Coach roles (Directive vs. Responsive)
• Questioning strategies
• Reflexivity in ourselves
• Teacher reflexivity - video-coaching
Analyzing a Coaching Conversation
Brainstorming the Coach’s Response
• Faith in Humankind
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Assumption of good intentions
Listening more than talking
“What did [the other person] say when you spoke with them?”
“What have you already tried?”
“What has worked well so far?”
• Love
• Active Listening
• Specific feedback: “You sat behind the students, which allowed them lead the conversation
themselves.”
• Swift responses to questions and requests
• “I will rearrange my schedule so I can help you with this situation.”
• “I understand – what can I do to help?”
• Acknowledging the small steps of progress
Brainstorming the Coach’s Response
• Form three groups – Humility, Hope, Critical Thinking
• With your group, brainstorm actions, statements and questions
that support the condition you have been assigned.
• Chart these out to share with the whole group
http://tinyurl.com/zf9tz9h
Coaching Scenarios
• Now it’s your turn to try
• Get into triads – 1 Coach, 1 Teacher, 1 Observer
• Read the Coaching scenario together
• The teacher and coach should have a conversation based on the
scenario
• The observer’s job is to listen for actions, comments and
questions that support the 5 conditions of dialogue or actions,
comments and questions that work against the 5 conditions.
• Debrief with your triad afterward
Reflection – Compass Points
• East – EXCITEMENTS – What excites you about the ideas presented today? What’s the
upside?
• West – WORRIES – What do you find worrisome about these ideas? What’s the downside?
• North – NEEDS – What else do you need to know or find out about regarding these ideas?
• South – STEPS – What should your next step/s be? What suggestions do you have at this
point?
From: Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement,
Understanding, and Independence for All Learners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
QUESTIONS?
References
• Aguilar, E. (2013). The art of coaching: Effective strategies for school
transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
• Knight, J. (2014). Focus on teaching: Using video for high-impact instruction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
• Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible: How to
Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Contact Us
• Dr. Heather Wall
[email protected]
@heatherwall1
http://coachingteachingalwaysl
earning.blogspot.com/
• Michelle Palmer
[email protected]
@trtlchell3
http://thenerdycoach.com