Reflection on the Coaching Experience

This was my first experience with coaching a teacher. I have chosen to attend an Algebra

1 class because it is a course that I am also teaching and I thought that I can learn a lot by

observing another teacher. During the pre-observation session, we met to discuss the class and I

used that time to see whether there was anything specific this teacher wanted me to focus on

while collecting my data. This teacher is in her first year of teaching, therefore she did not have

anything specific in mind when we met. I suggested to use this opportunity as data collection

session that would help us identify some future goals that we can work on. The teacher agreed

that it was a great idea. Overall, she wanted me to take note on how students were interacting

with each other, especially when she was helping other students.

During my observation, I have stayed for about half of a 84 block. During the

observation, I focused on collecting as much data as possible. I found it difficult not to interject

when students were discussing something, but I kept reminding myself that I was there to collect

valuable data. Mainly I tried to focus on the types of questions that the teacher and students

were asking during the lesson. As a first year teacher, level of questioning is not something that

many teachers think of, however by looking at the raw data it might become evident that the

level of questioning is appropriate for the level of students or can be adjusted. Overall, I found

that collecting data on a computer was pretty fast, but I did wish that my form had some

checkboxes that I could have checked off instead of typing sentences. When focusing on

particular aspects of the lesson such as interactions, level of questions, I would consider

developing additional forms that would consist mainly of check boxes to speed up data

collection.

During my post-observation session with the teacher, I thought that it would be best to
give her an opportunity to read through the data that I have collected and asked her if she noticed

anything in particular. While I had certainly things in my mind, I thought that it would be

important for her to come to specific conclusions on her own. Overall, I round it challenging

guiding the teacher to come to her own conclusions without me interjecting too much. We agreed

that for the next coaching session we would focus on level of questioning.