Coaching Conversations

1. Coaching Conversations Content adapted from Facilitative Leadership: Tapping the Power of Participation Interaction Associates, Inc

2. Coach for Performance Coaching is a conversation in which the coach instructs, counsels and tutors another in how to improve performance. Effective coaching yields more than improved performance; it also increases personal satisfaction, inspires a commitment to excellence, and fosters the coachee’s development as a leader.

3. UDL Leadership • As leaders in UDL in your school, your role is coach all staff. Your goal is to improve performance school-wide through the implementation of UDL practices. • You will not necessarily have a formalized coach/coachee relationship with a specific person. However, the research on effective coaching applies to your role as an instructional leader in your school as well.

4. Coaching Conversations • As an instructional leader, you will have many conversations with colleagues: • As a member of a team / department meeting • As a participant in a staff meeting • As a presenter in a staff or department meeting • Informally with colleagues on breaks, during planning time, and in the hallways • In all of these interactions, you can be purposeful in crafting your conversations as “coaching conversations.”

5. Types of Coaching Conversations

6. Reflect • Which types of coaching conversations might you have as a participant in a meeting? • … as a presenter at a meeting? • … informally with one or two colleagues? • How might you better use your opportunities to interact with colleagues to further the implementation of UDL in your school?

7. Attributes of Effective Coaching Conversations

8. Coach’s Tools • Inquiry • A process for understanding the coachee’s point of view by exploring his/her thoughts, feelings, and reasoning. Techniques for Inquiry • Advocacy • A process for influencing the coachee’s thinking and behavior by stating one’s opinions and suggestions, and outlining the rationale for each. Advocacy Guidelines for Coaches

9. Inquiry Techniques

10. Reflect • Do you perceive yourself as someone that others at school might come to for support or advice? • How often do you use these inquiry techniques already to support your colleagues?

11. Advocacy and Presentations • When you are asked to share your knowledge by presenting to a group, you are in a position of advocacy. You are presenting some information that you • want others to respond to in a certain way. • So, as a presenter, you are an advocate for a particular practice and point of view.

12. Advocacy Guidelines for Presenters • Acknowledge the situation • “I know that it is hard to differentiate for the needs of diverse learners in our classrooms.” • State your advocacy • “I have found UDL practices very helpful to me in finding ways to frontload strategies for all students and save time in the long run.” • Outline the reasoning behind your advocacy • “I want to share with you an example of how Jenny’s writing improved when I started giving her more choices in the classroom.” • Check for understanding and encourage inquiry • “Given my description, what are some examples of choices that you give students in your classrooms already?” • “Let’s share some challenges for doing this more regularly.”

13. Reflect • Presentations don’t have to be formal. When you are sharing your point of view at a team meeting, and when you are speaking as a participant of a group meeting, you are, in effect, presenting your ideas. • Think of how these advocacy guidelines could help you be more effective as a leader in a variety of situations at school.