Troubleshooting DaytoDay Coaching Situations

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Troubleshooting Day-to-Day Coaching Situations

• CRRFTAC
• Presented by Kim Rodriguez
• Second Annual Michigan Reading First Conference
• August 15, 2007

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Session Objectives

• Introduce Troubleshooting Guide
• Discuss practical examples of coaching scenarios
  and ways to respond most effectively in a variety
  of situations.
• Focus on scenarios related to communication,
  modeling, and providing follow-up support for
  teachers.

Enhance the ability of reading coaches to support
classroom teachers, interventionists, and others
involved in promoting reading success.
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Using the Troubleshooting Guide

• Sample scenarios are provided with links to topic
  areas and alternative solutions.
• Participants are encouraged and invited to share
  scenarios and use the template to record problem
  situations and discuss solutions.

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Sample Scenario -Venting

• Teachers will share everything with you. How do
  you keep their trust but limit their venting? How
  would you redirect a teacher when she is
  gossiping about other school staff?

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Identifying Areas of Concern and Connections

• This type of situation can be unproductive and a
  waste of your valuable time as well as the
  teachers. What can you do?
• Areas that relate to scenario
• Connection to topic areas

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Sample
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Questions

• What area does this scenario cover?
• What are some possible connections?
• What else can you say?
• What else can you do?
• Are there alternative solutions?

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Communication Scenarios
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Communication Scenarios 14

• You have scheduled meetings with your principal
  for the entire spring semester, but this is the
  second time the principal has canceled the first
  meeting. You have had to press him or her for a
  time to reschedule after each cancellation. You
  have many important topics to address when you do
  meet with the principal, including the discussion
  of mid-year data and upcoming professional
  development needs. How would you handle this
  situation?

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Communication Scenarios 25

• One of your new kindergarten teachers is
  producing consonant sounds incorrectly during
  whole group lessons and you hear her students
  producing certain sounds with a schwa sound
  attached. Similarly, the teacher is mixing words
  with initial consonant digraphs as examples for
  consonant sounds (e.g., shape, shaker, ship for
  s words).

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Communication Scenarios 28

• A teacher suggests a strategy that is not
  supported by SBRR. For example, you notice that
  a first grade teacher is leading her students in
  movement activities and it lasts for about 20
  minutes. The movement is not connected to
  specific reading skills and when you ask the
  teacher, she says that she went to a workshop
  over the summer and this is supposed to get her
  students ready to read.

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Communication Scenarios Partner activity

• Pair up with someone you do not know well.
• Introduce yourself to your partner. And decide
  who will be A and who will be B.
• Role play the chosen scenario. Partner A plays
  the coach, and Partner B plays a challenging
  teacher.
• Discuss what communication techniques were used
  by each partner.

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Sharing a Communication Scenario Mircolab

• Take three minutes to independently think of and
  jot down notes about a coaching scenario from
  your own experience related to communication.
• Form a triad and number off -- 1, 2, 3.
• Person 1 shares their scenario, but NOT the way
  they dealt with it.
• Persons 2 and 3 listen - do not interrupt,
  interpret, analyze, paraphrase, give advice, etc.

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Sharing a Communication Scenario Mircolab
(continued)

• After Person 1 has shared his or her scenario,
  Person 2 and 3 take turns in sharing their ideas
  for how they would respond.
• Person 1 reveals how he or she actually responded
  to the scenario.
• Switch roles until each person had a chance to
  share his or her scenario.

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Modeling Scenarios
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Modeling Scenarios 7

• Nobody at your school has requested your
  assistance in the classroom - until now. A
  teacher asks you to model a vocabulary word wall
  activity that she learned at the last
  professional development session. When the other
  teachers at that grade level hear youre coming
  in to do this, they ask you to come in and do the
  same thing. What do you do?

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Modeling Scenarios Activity prompt

• Read over scenarios 5 and 29. Select the one that
  interests you most.
• Move to the area on your half of the room that
  corresponds to the number of the scenario you
  selected.
• Form groups of 6-8 people who selected the same
  scenario.
• Discuss how you would respond to the scenario (a)
  in the short-term (b) in the long-term

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Modeling Scenarios Charette

• Get together with another group that worked on
  the same scenario.
• Group 1 shares their short-term and long-term
  responses (4 minutes).
• Group 2 critiques the responses (2 minutes).
• Switch roles!

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Share

• Identify a scenario that has caused you concern
  as a coach
• Describe briefly and include on your
  troubleshooting handout
• Identify areas and training connections
• Share scenario and document solutions using
  template with a partner

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Concluding Comments

• Using the troubleshooting framework will allow
  you to identify challenging situations and
  pinpoint potential solutions.
• When situations are difficult to solve,
  identifying them and trying solutions may lead to
  coaches and teachers abilities to seek
  assistance when really needed.
• Coaches are encouraged to document and share
  scenarios to make the troubleshooting guide more
  relevant.

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Thank You!

• Questions?