ARadford Coaching Journal 1

Coaching Journal
ITEC 7460
Journal Entry #1 September 9, 2021-September 16, 2021

Looking over all the rubrics and information on the coaching sessions, I find
myself excited and nervous at the same time. I have never used this technique
with colleagues so it will be a totally new experience for me. I have advised many
teachers in the past with instructional methods and technology tools, so I am
familiar with working collaboratively. With some self-reflection before beginning
this, I know that I tend to interrupt people when I have advised so this project will
improve my listening skills. I know that I will work on waiting and listening before
remarking and I will encourage more information and self-reflection from the
teacher that I will work with. Before beginning this project, I am reflecting on my
personal knowledge of technology skills and leadership skills. I am hopeful that
my teacher will choose a goal that I have experience with so I can focus on the
collaborative and discussion methods of the Impact Cycle.

Before meeting with my principal to discuss my coaching project and who I will
coach, I reviewed the Impact Cycle sessions and video requirements. I thought of
two possible teachers in my department who would benefit from this experience,
and I will put those names forward in my discussion with the principal. For this
meeting, I have created an outline of the project and I have begun to put a One-
Page Description together. I like this idea of a one-page go to since it explains the
focus of instructional coaching and shares practices for improvement.

To prepare for the first coaching session with the teacher, I will meet with her to
share the coaching Impact Cycle and how she will be making the decisions and
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choices for strategies. It is important for our relationship that she understands we
will work as a team to meet her goal. Her goal will be hers alone and she will
Identify her goal, Learn strategies to meet her goal, and Improve those strategies
for future steps toward the goal. It is her choice to go through this experience
with me, so I need to be enthusiastic and listen to her responses. I have read over
data collecting to complete before the first session and I will encourage her to
video herself and her students for that data.

After meeting with the teacher, she decided to videotape herself during a lesson.
She will share the video with me so we will both watch it before our first coaching
session. For this session, I have prepared Jim Knight’s 10 Identify questions and
practiced them on myself several times. I want to create a PEERS goal with her, so
I have reviewed and prepared the PEERS Goals checklist provided in the textbook.
Since I am nervous about my questioning and listening techniques, I am using the
checklist for Listening and Questioning Effectively. I love to have this remind on
hand as I meet with her. Just glancing down at it, will keep me focused on how I
want to improve my own coaching skills as I collaborate with her to improve her
skills, too. I shared the Watching Yourself checklist with her and the Watch Your
Students. Even though, she did not want to have the students in the video, she
could still reflect on their learning experience during the lesson. As we did this
pre-session, I confirmed the Pre-Observation Conversation checklist to make sure
that everything was complete for the first session.

Journal Entry #2 October 12. 2021

For the data discussion in the Identify session we used data collected with the
Data Gathering Tools by Jim Knight. We both watched the video separately and
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marked the Watch Yourself rubric. We also marked the Watch Your Students
rubric. Even though you could not see the students in the video, you could hear
their comments, questions, and Spanish practice. My observation of the video
concerned the behavior of the students. I could hear students talking when she
was giving instruction. I could hear that they were not engaged. I really hoped
that she would observe this, too. I would wait and see her remarks before I began
my questions toward the students.

As I questioned my teacher using the 10_question technique, she had difficulty

analyzing herself and the methods that she used during the lesson. Before I could
question her more about what she observed in her methods, she moved to what
she was concerned with for her students. At this point, I was nervous and double
guessing my questioning technique. I knew that she would comprehend the
questions better if they were in Spanish, but I pushed forward in English. I was
trying to rephrase my questions when I realized that she was getting emotional
about this concern for her students. In my attempt to focus on language barriers,
my questions, my coaching skills, and her responses, I almost missed the
opportunity to recognize the change that she wanted for her students. Once I
understood her concern for her students not speaking Spanish in the classroom,
my mind starting racing where to go next with questions.

As we discussed ways to increase her students language skills, she expressed how
difficult it was for her to use her school laptop because it was Windows. Her
background is Apple operating system so she was very frustrated trying to learn
Windows in a short time. She wants to improve her computer skills to be a more
effective teacher.
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This session pushed me out of my comfort box because I was concentrating on so

many things and aspects of the session at the same time. I tried to prepare myself
by practicing the questions. This was the most important session to identify her
concerns and create her goal, so I put pressure on myself to make sure that we
were successful. Reflecting on the resulting goal, at first, I was disappointed in her
discussion of what she observed about herself, and I was thinking about my
failure of coaching skills. Then, I realized her goal for her students’ improvement
in speaking would increase their engagement in the classroom at the same time.
We went about it by jumping right to the skill she wanted to increase for her
students without her awareness of the impact it will make on their lesson
engagement and other classroom skills. With our strategy of improving her
technology skills and confidence using Windows, we would increase the
engagement and language skills for students.

Journal Entry #3 November 4, 2021

To prepare for the Learn session, I started my Instructional Coaching Playbook by

investigating our students’ laptop’s software. To coach my teacher through the
video editing software, I learned how to use it first. During our Learn session, I
coached her to create a video with hands on learning on her laptop. Her video
example was one of the items on our checklist. As we discussed the checklist, she
wanted to add pairing the students based on speaking skill level and student
laptop availability since our students are currently receiving their laptops from
the district. She was excited to be one of the first teachers in our school to work
with students to create videos with their new laptops.
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She needed Windows operating system support and I met with her many times in
between sessions to coach her through using Microsoft Office and our gradebook,
Synergy. Over these three weeks, I have seen her improvement in creating and
sharing files with her collaborative team. She has created scripts, rubrics, and
questionnaires for her students using SharePoint and Office. She can create
assignments and input grades in the gradebook without help. What I notice the
most is the change in her frustration level. She is more at ease using her school
computer and the collaborative team online resources.

The Learn session was much less stressful for me. I think we were both more at
ease because we knew what to expect. She was excited to explore the video
software. I love sharing technology and how it can be used for education so this
was a boost for my coaching skills.

Journal Entry #4 November 15, 2021

For the Improve session, I practiced and implemented Knight’s four sets of
improve questions. We reviewed the video participation data to discuss changes
in her goal. She was so happy to show me one of the videos of one student who
has previously refused to speak Spanish in front of the class. In front of the
camera, he was relaxed and had memorized most of his script. She was so proud
of him. Her frustration using a Windows laptop has disappeared. She shared with
me how students how learned to add background music. They did this on their
own and shared how to do it with her. She has come complete circle, learning
from her students. So many teachers will not explore and implement technology
because they are afraid of students knowing more than the teacher. My teacher
began this coaching experience as one of those teachers. Through this Impact
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Cycle, she created a collaborative environment in her classroom where learning

was mutual and shared between all. She has planned more activities using the
students’ laptops, and she is anxious to solve the roadblock of sharing large video
files through our district provided online resources, clipping music files, and
adding green screen backgrounds.

My technology coaching skills improved immensely during this project. I started

the first session with anxiety and disbelief in my coaching skills. I just wanted to
get the whole thing over with. By the end, I was planning more coaching sessions
with my teacher in the next semester and had other teachers wanting to join in
our sessions. What a growth experience it has been for me, both as a technology
coach and as a technology leader. Our relationship became more trusting and
understanding. I believe she shows her passion for the project and her
improvement at the end of the Improve session when she rates her commitment
as a 5.

According to the ISTE Educator Standards 2.1 and 2.4, this technology coaching
experience has improved the teacher’s practice by learning from and with others
and she collaborated with both colleagues and students. She explored and
implemented methods that supported student learning. She pushed her comfort
zone by co-learning with students and troubleshooting technology issues.
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References

ISTE Standards for Educators | ISTE. (2017). Www.iste.org. https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-

standards-for-teachers

Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: what instructional coaches should do to foster powerful

improvements in teaching. Corwin, A Sage Company.