The Art of Coaching Page 13

  These words are a reminder that coaches have a tremendous responsibility to clients. We invite people into what can be a scary journey of reflection where the aspects of themselves that they are most ashamed of might be brought to light. This is precisely the power of coaching—in bringing these areas to light, we diminish their ability to disempower us, and we move on to consider other ways of being that lead to different actions. We support our clients along the arduous journey of change, encouraging them when they tire, cheering for them when they succeed. When we can invite teachers, principals, vice-principals, and others who work in schools into the vulnerable space of growth, when we elicit trust and maintain our integrity, our coachees will join us eagerly on the journey to transform schools. The success of this endeavor hinges on trust.

  Exhibit 5.3. Coaching Agreement

  Coach _____

  Client _____

  Coaching will begin on _____ and will end on _____.

  The Work Plan

  The work plan will be created by the coach and client and will be finalized by _____.

  The coach will reflect monthly on our work plan. This reflection will be shared with the coach's manager. (Documents written by the coach are shared with the coach's manager only if that manager is not also the client's supervisor.)

  A separate document, the coach's monthly report, will be completed by the coach, approved by the client, and shared with the client's supervisor every month.

  We will review our work plan midway through our work together on _____. The coach will write a reflection on this work and will share it with his or her manager.

  We will reflect on our work plan at the end of our designated time together. The coach will write a reflection on this work and will share it with his or her manager.

  Meeting Logistics

  We will meet for _____ hours per month.

  Our meetings will take place on ______, from _____ to ______.

  The location for our meetings will be ______.

  Our time will be documented on the coaching log, which can be shared with our supervisors or kept on an online platform that our supervisors can view.

  If one of us has to cancel a meeting, whenever possible we will give the other person at least twenty-four hours' notice. We also recognize that unexpected things come up and that sometimes we are forced to cancel without notice.

  If the coach cancels a meeting, he or she will make every possible effort to reschedule as soon as possible.

  If the client cancels a meeting, the coach will make an effort to reschedule, but cannot always promise that this will happen due to his or her other commitments.

  If cancellations become a pattern, the coach and client agree to review the coaching agreement.

  Feedback

  The coach welcomes feedback from the client at any time. The client is encouraged to share feedback.

  The coach will ask the client for formal feedback midway through the coaching contract and at the end of their work together. If possible, the coach will also provide an online link for an anonymous survey on his or her services.

  We agree to work together under the above-described conditions. We understand that doing so will increase the likelihood of serving children and transforming our schools.

  Coach signature ______

  Client signature _____

  Date ______

  Chapter 6

  The Exploration Stage: What Do I Need to Know at the Outset?

  Read this when:

  You're beginning a coaching assignment and you need to learn as much as possible about the context for coaching

  You want to clearly delineate the equity issues at play

  You want to intentionally examine systems and direct your coaching toward systems change

  From the Edge of the Field

  Imagine this: you are a farmer invited to cultivate a plot of land that has lain fallow for some years. You stand on the edge of the acre, leaning on a shovel, surveying the space. You notice the tall trees on the east side that block the sun from hitting the soil until late morning. Tunnels indicate the presence of gophers, and deer droppings are numerous along a side where blackberry vines are encroaching on the field. You kneel to touch the soil and roll it between your fingers. It is loamy and dark. You dig deeper and see an earthworm—a good sign. Moving a few feet away, however, the soil is compact and rocky.

  From your pocket you pull out the shiny black seeds that you hope will become watermelons. You know that if they do become fruit, it will be a product of a number of factors: sun, water, soil quality, and your attention. You know that you can't do much about the sun, but you can remove the weeds, erect a fence to keep the deer out, water, and use a nontoxic method to keep slugs from devouring the seedlings. You won't plant the watermelons in the area that is shaded, rocky and invaded by a thistly weed, but because you eventually want to make full use of this field, you will start to look at what's going on there and what might need to happen in order for it to be arable.

  There's a lot that as a farmer you can do—and there's a lot that's out of your hands. The potential in the seed itself, for example, is unknown, and ultimately it's all about the almost magical energy of the seed. Most seeds sprout, but some don't. The seed has a lot of work to do by itself. In the end, you'll know that that beautiful melon is the result of a number of factors, many of which were beyond your immediate influence, but many others were not.

  We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.

  Adlai E. Stevenson (1952)

  Farming is an apt metaphor for coaching. Just as the farmer would never simply walk into a field and drop a seed in the soil, a coach cannot walk into a school and start delivering professional development (PD). We must know what we're working with, the history of the environment, and the health of various elements. We must also be aware of the different systems that we're working within: just as a farmer needs a comprehensive understanding of her ecosystem, a coach needs to identify the various systems at play in the site or context in which she will work. Ultimately, we engage in all this exploration and understanding to determine where and how we can get some results: we want to remove the obstacles that are easy to remove, direct our coaching toward the most fertile areas, be responsive to the climate and work with it, and then be patient, gentle, and attentive to what emerges.

  The Stage of Exploration

  This might be obvious, but it's worth stating: in order to be effective as a coach, you're going to want as much information about a client and his context as possible. This, therefore, is the stage of exploration. Once you're equipped with the tools and checklists offered in this chapter, as well as an insatiable curiosity, exploration is essential: the underlying root causes of challenges must be surfaced in order for transformation and systemic change to occur. Don't rush through this stage—it can start even before you meet a client and can continue simultaneously with the relationship-building phase described in Chapter Five. I have usually felt that I needed a couple of months to get to know a new site, even in a district in which I've worked for seventeen years.

  So what's to explore? There's the history of the school or district where you'll be coaching, its successes and struggles, the history of leadership, the demographics and changes in demographics of communities served, and so on. You'll also want to know as much as possible about the individuals you'll coach, as well as about the teams to which they belong. Think of these as stories that you'll gather, not necessarily truths. Finally, you'll strive to surface the formal and informal systems that are at play at a site—you need to know what is connected to what and how decisions and actions in the past and in other spheres influence what your client is experiencing.

  An Abundance of Data

  This stage of coaching will be marked by moments in which you may feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the picture that's developing—that's a good sign! It means you're gathering a lot of data. Your exploration
should reveal the equity issues that your client is facing as well as those that are systemic in the site and/or district. You'll also uncover the site's and client's assets and have enough information to create a work plan (see Chapter Seven). You'll also expand your awareness about who you need to be and what you need to be mindful of in order to be an effective coach with this client.

  At this stage, work on gathering information to respond to the questions in Exhibit 6.3 (the data-gathering tool at the end of the chapter). This might take a month or two. At the end of the stage of exploration, I offer a Coach Reflection: Stage of Exploration (also in Exhibit 6.3) to process the data you've gathered and the information you've learned.

  Useful Lenses for This Stage

  The lens of systemic oppression raises questions of power, presence, position, and patterns. We explore who holds positions of power in a classroom or school and how power is held. We look at how different groups—teachers, students, girls, boys, African Americans, Latinos, and so on—are positioned in relationship to power and whether they are present or not present in a variety of conversations. We examine leadership positions and explore how those were created and who holds them. We look and listen for a multiplicity of voices, particularly voices that represent the community that the school serves. We look at who is present and who is absent from positions of leadership, on lists of honor students and suspensions, in special education classes, in student government, and so on. Finally, we look for patterns—we look at the data we've surfaced and consider how it reflects historical patterns of oppression; we consider whether systemic oppression is replicated or ruptured in the context we're investigating.

  The lens of systems thinking is indispensable at this stage and also a tricky thing to use. It'll take some practice to see the complex webs of systems that exist at the present moment and throughout time in order to determine the most effective place to work from. As you explore and ask questions, follow the leads that come up and ask more questions—with the teacher who is frustrated because her students aren't doing well on the English language development tests, ask what curriculum she uses, who determined that curriculum, how she was trained in it, how it is differentiated, and so on. You are unraveling complex problems, and your inquiry will take you into the domains of resources, PD and capacity development, communication and information, national education policy and legislation, and so on. These are systems, and the first step is to identify them.

  The lens of inquiry is essential, because we'll be asking a lot of questions at this stage. In order to gather the data I'll need, I must be mindful of how I ask questions and explore many perspectives. The lens of inquiry will also remind me that I'll never have all the information I want and at some point I'll need to start acting.

  Gathering data is not a dry emotional experience, however. As coaches start to see painful situations and hear disturbing stories, a range of feelings can surface—sadness, anger, frustration, and impatience—and conflicting feelings can emerge about the clients we're supposed to coach. It's essential that coaches have places and people with whom they can process these emotions so that we can help clients explore their behaviors and beliefs and impact the experience of children in schools.

  Ten Steps in Exploration

  The following ten steps can surface a pile of information about your client and his context and provide suggestions for how to document your discoveries and record your reflections. As in all aspects of coaching, the coach needs to use her judgment about the order or sequence of these activities and what the impact of engaging in them might be on her client's emerging trust of the coach. Finally, what's described here reflects the ideal situation for a coach; however, it's not always the case that a coach can do this much research and reflection before being asked to “start.”

  Administrators: these ten steps can also be useful for an administrator new to a site.

  1. Gather Relevant Documents

  Create a binder for all the relevant documents you'll gather about a classroom, school, and district. You'll want the type of things a teacher or principal might use to guide decision making: calendars, schedules, organizational maps, descriptors of roles and responsibilities, professional development plans and calendars, curriculum maps, pacing guides, power standards, assessment tools, report cards, site plans, vision and mission statements, strategic district plans, and so on. You want to note what exists and what doesn't exist, what parameters for decision making are in place and, if possible, who determined those.

  It is also important that you explore your client's understandings and feelings about these documents. Does the new teacher you are coaching know that curriculum maps exist at her site? Does the principal agree with the district's strategic plan? Did he have any input into it, or is he being asked to implement something that's not aligned to his site's needs? Does the site have a vision and/or mission statement that directs the work of the staff? Are there pacing guides for the math and English departments, but nothing to guide the instruction of history and science teachers? Does the principal expect that all teachers fully adopt the new curriculum, or is there flexibility? You'll need to explore what these documents mean to various stakeholders, how they feel about them, and how they're actually implemented.

  What all of these documents should yield is insight into systems, structures, and decision making. You'll need this big picture. Knowing it will increase your credibility, ability to support and guide your client, and alignment with larger site and district goals and initiatives.

  2. Gather and Analyze Formal Data

  Coaches should not necessarily be “driven by data,” but coaches need to be aware of data. Gather as much data as possible: data on graduation rates, the percentage of students promoted to the following grade, attendance data, suspension and expulsion reports, standardized test score data, internal district assessment data, English language competency data, reports on special education populations, data on socioeconomic status of students, neighborhood and city demographics, and so on. Search national, state, and county databases, ask for access to a site's printed reports (probably in those dusty binders in the principal's office),and ask teachers for access to grading systems, behavior tracking systems, and so on. You want to be inundated with multiple forms of data.

  Once the data is piled on your desk (or computer desktop), do some analysis. Read through the data looking for patterns, outliers, and surprises. Compile the questions that arise. Follow the leads that surface. Data analysis is a puzzle to organize—keep sorting and sifting and thinking as the picture comes together.

  You also need to explore how your clients think and feel about the data, and how they use it. Is your coachee driven by data? Does she display it on her classroom door? What kinds of data does she gather? How does she communicate data to her students and their parents? How does she explain and interpret the data? How does it inform her teaching? How often does she gather data?

  Given that data is at the crux of the battle over how to reform, fix, or transform schools, and given that some think of a data as a four-letter word while others hold it as a Bible, coaches need to be very attuned to their client's data-related beliefs and behaviors. Without this understanding, you won't be clear on how to use data—not what you've gathered and analyzed or the data you will continue to gather. You'll need to make some agreements with your client about what kinds of data to gather and how often, and how these data will be used. This topic is addressed in Chapter 7.

  3. Initiate Informal Conversations

  You'll want to become familiar with the school grounds where you'll coach, and as you wander around you can initiate conversations with parents, staff members, and students. Ask general, open-ended questions such as: How are things going for you this year? How's that new reading program working for your students? How have you dealt with the latest budget cuts? How's your child doing in third grade? You want to hear from a variety of stakeholders.

  Whether you coach a teacher or principal, yo
u'll want to hear from students. Ultimately, your efforts are going to affect them. Let your client know you'll be doing this, and then ask students what they appreciate most about their school, teachers, and principal, what they are learning, what concerns they have about their school, and so on. Get really curious about the experience for children, and ask as many questions as you can.

  The purpose for doing this is to build relationships and expand your understanding of the site. Furthermore, because you are perceived as an “outsider,” sometimes people will share information that they won't share elsewhere. As long as you use these data to help you better understand your client's context, it's okay. Just be careful not to engage in gossip or share what you heard elsewhere.

  4. Uncover Knowledge, Skills, and Passions

  In addition to getting to know your client as a professional and understanding his personality and psychological profile, you also want to know who your client is outside of school. What are his additional interests, passions, areas of expertise, skills, and abilities? Some of these may have surfaced if you asked the suggested questions in Exhibit 6.1.

  This information allows you to do several things. Hopefully, you'll find some connections to your client, which can be really helpful to have on tap when coaching gets tough. They remind us that our clients have many sides to them—they are also parents, world travelers, musicians—people with a variety of dreams and aspirations and passions. As coaches, we will need these reminders if we become frustrated with our clients.