Caitlin Lyons

Dr. Bacon

ITEC 7460

Coaching Journal #1: Preparing

Last week, I sent out a Microsoft Forms to the teachers at my school to offer my coaching

practices. Being new to this, I did not get many responses, however, Sonja Chapman, another 4th

grade teacher, requested my help. Preparing for my first coaching session with Mrs. Chapman

went well. I pulled Jim Knight’s “Identify Questions” to help me gather the needed information

from the teacher so I could best help her. I also prepared a list of possible tools and strategies to

have at hand during our meeting based on the responses Mrs. Chapman gave on her initial form.

While I am nervous about this first coaching session, I feel more confident after reading Jim

Knight’s chapter on “Identifying” and watching him model this step.

Coaching Journal #2: Identify

Mrs. Chapman and I met after school this week for our first coaching session. She is a

tenured and very knowledgeable teacher who is highly respected throughout the school. While

she has been teaching for 23 years, she is always looking for ways to improve or new tools to use

in the classroom to encourage student engagement. I used this session to identify areas of growth

and goals she has for herself. I utilized Jim Knight’s “Identify Questions” during this meeting,

and they worked great for helping us build a picture of Mrs. Chapman’s current realities. After

our discussion, she decided that she wanted to create an effective check-in system with the

students. We created the goal of increasing student engagement and understanding because it

means a lot to her and is something she would greatly like to improve in her classroom. I

provided a few examples of ways we could implement this goal such as using a “3-2-1 Ticket
Out the Door” or “Levels of Understanding”. We also discussed creating a resource center where

students can go to for strong examples of different parts of writing. Mrs. Chapman agreed to try

these strategies over the next few days and reflect on if one feels more comfortable to her than

the other. We set a date to meet again after school next week to discuss our next steps.

Coaching Journal #3: Learn

Mrs. Chapman and I met during our planning period to discuss the goal she set and

review some possible strategies. After trying the “3-2-1 Ticket out the Door” and the “Levels of

Understanding”, she decided that she would like to learn ways of implementing the latter using

technology. Therefore, I developed and shared three checklists: one for Effective Questioning

built by Jim Knight, one about creating and using Plickers to check for understanding, and one

for creating and using Discussion Boards on Canvas. After reviewing the checklists, Mrs.

Chapman felt more confident about trying these strategies, but requested that I model it for her

so she could see how it would look from a student’s point of view. Therefore, we scheduled to

meet after school that day so I could show her the new resource, Plickers.

Before we met, I asked Mrs. Chapman to download the app onto her phone and explore it

a bit before our meeting. When we met, I explained the different parts and abilities of the app

and demonstrated how to use it to check for understanding. Using the checklist, I helped her

create her own “Levels of Understanding” question on the app so she could try it the following

day with her class. She seemed very eager to try this new tool in the classroom. I am excited to

check in with her next week and hear how it went.

 Coaching Journal #4: Improve

Preparing for my next coaching session with Sonja went a little smoother than the

previous ones because I generally knew what to expect. I reviewed notes from our previous

meeting so we could pick up where we left off and I knew exactly what I was checking in on. I

also prepared questions derived from Chapter 5 of Jim Knight’s book. This helped me confirm

direction of coaching, review progress, invent improvements, and develop next steps.

During our session, I asked Mrs. Chapman how the implementation of Plickers was going

in her classroom to check for understanding. She stated that the kids are really enjoying this new

system and request to use it frequently. Mrs. Chapman said that some kids still need practice

using the cards, but most have caught on quickly. She likes to use the resource to help her build

small groups and see if she needs to focus in on a concept more than another. At the end of our

session together, she told me she would like to try Plickers for a review activity as well. I

indicated that I would help her develop a section of questions in the app at our next coaching

session so she could use the resource the following week.