Coaching for Math GAINSProfessional Learning

Day 1 AM

Irene McEvoy irene.mcevoy@gmail.comDavid Zimmer dzec_inc@rogers.com

September 16, 2009

Initial Steps in Math Coaching

How going SLOWLY will help you to make

significant GAINS FAST.

Overview of the next two days

Clarify your personal image of what being a mathematics

coach involves.

View some examples of the math coaching process in

action.

Practice being a math coach in a safe environment

through role play.

Identify some next steps for yourself.

The Parking Lot

Cheers Fears

Un-clears

• Who are you?

Your name, school, background, role

• Success from last year

• What are you looking forward to in the next 2 days?

Sharing Circle: (1-2 min.)

Establishing Norms• Start and end on time• • • • • •

• Electronic devices off except on break

Norms• Start and end on time• Respond to the signal• Each person gets the chance to speak and listen • Participants direct their discussion to the whole

group, not the facilitator• Invest in your own learning and the learning of

others.• Contribute to a safe environment that

encourages risk taking; be kind.• Electronic devices off except on break

A Mathematics Classroom

What does effective mathematics

instruction look like today?

• What do you see that is different from the classrooms where you learned mathematics?

• What do you see that you are trying to increase in your school’s mathematics classrooms?

The “Guide”

Aligned with 7-12 Literacy Guide

A prototype for other subjects

A research framework

Find an indicator that addresses one of your foci for the year

More Precisionwww.edugains.ca

Library www.tmerc.ca

Sharpening the Instructional Focus

Three strategic approaches:

• Fearless listening and speaking

• Questioning to evoke and expose thinking

• Responding to provide appropriate scaffolding and challenge

Driver for 2008, 2009, 2010,…

Connecting Foci

Questioning

DifferentiatingResponding

Fearless listening and speaking

What does being a math coach involve?

Mind’s On: Where are you presently? In pairs, create a Frayer Model for “Coaching”

Definition Characteristics

Examples

Non-examples

Coaching

Pg. 2

Lucy West: Types of Coaching

• What are the different types of coaching and their purposes?

• Which type of coaching do you/will you do?

It's all about trust! • Sincerity

• Competence

• Benevolence

• Reliability

Adapted from: Coaching Leaders to Attain Student Success – Gary Bloom

Lucy West: Content-Focused Coaching• How does Content-Focused Coaching

connect with your thinking?

Content-Focused Coaching• Is content specific. Teachers' plans, strategies

and methods are discussed in terms of student learning.

• Is based on a set of core issues of learning and teaching.

• Fosters professional habits of mind.• Enriches and refines teachers' pedagogical

content knowledge.• Encourages teachers to communicate with each

other … in a focused, professional manner.

from Content-Focused Coaching: Transforming Mathematics Lessons, by Lucy West, p.3

Pg. 13

Initial Conversations

• Role play the initial meeting between coach

and coachee.• Ask questions to lay a foundation for your

later work with the teacher. Use the stems to probe more deeply.

Switch roles after 5 minutes.

Coaching Strategies and Stems

• Paraphrasing• Do I understand that… you don’t have access to computers?• In other words …you want to try some differentiated instruction?• It sounds like …you have explored a variety of resources?

• Clarifying • What do you mean by … the course is too hard?• Is it always the case that …the students in the class don’t listen?• How is… teaching math same as/different from…teaching science?

• Interpreting• What you are explaining might mean …students rely on formulas• Could it mean that … students need more time on this topic?• Is it possible that … the following things could result from… ?

Pg. 3

• Who are you? • What are your strengths, teaching style, beliefs, goals,…?• What do you want me to know about you as a math teacher? How long have you been teaching? What’s your math history? •Tell me about your students.• What are you curious about with respect to teaching and learning?”

Initial Meeting

Break

Enhancing Questioning Skills

Coaching Practices/Strategies

• Paraphrasing

• Clarifying

• Interpreting

• Probing

• Instructing

• Summarizing

Pg. 3-5

Coaching Practices/Strategies

Probing• Often these questions are asked in the co-

planning stage • The coachee often doesn’t have an immediate

answer – wait time!• Coachee thinks deeper about the matter being

discussed • Helps create a paradigm shift • Empowers the coachee to develop habits of mind• Moves thinking from reaction to reflection

Strategies for planning…Probing Questions• What is the big idea/goal/concept for in this lesson?• How does this lesson connect to previous

understandings/lessons and future ones?• What are some student misconceptions about this

concept/idea?• What action might the students engage in, and how

will these be introduced?• How will this action help them with their

understanding of the concept?• How will you know when the students have

understood?• What would be some questions (open, parallel) that

would help students explore the problem?

Probing questions by the coach…

– Evoke teacher thinking.

– Expose teacher thinking.

– Help the teacher see and drill into “good pedagogical practice”.

More strategies for planning …

Instructing Questions• Can I provide more information on…algebra tiles?• Would you like me to provide a list of…possible

websites?• If you have not seen/heard …. of TIPS, would you like

me to show you how where to find them and walk through a lesson with you?

• Research seems to show that…adolescent learners are often not ready for abstract thinking

• Some teachers find it helpful to… design a word wall with students

Co-planning video-observation

• Watch the video clip of this co-planning session

• Pay attention to:– who controls the discussion– the kinds of questions being asked (e.g.

what probing or instructing questions are used?)

– how the coach helps to articulate the big ideas of the lesson

Co-Planning

• Use the Co-Planning Observation Guide to record your notes.

• What goals did the teacher have in mind?

• What types of questions did you see the coach use?

Pg. 8

Co-Planning Debrief

• Discuss your observations based on your notes. Just the facts, please.

• What types of questions did you see the coach use?

Lesson Observation

• We’ll view enough of the actual lesson that viewing the debriefing meeting has some context.

• How well did the lesson meet the teacher’s objectives?

• What role did the coach play?

Debrief• Use the Debrief Observation Guide to

record your notes.

• Discuss your observations of the debriefing process.

Pg. 9

Lunch