Coaching Journal #2

Meredith Beard

March 11, 2024

I met with Mrs. English for the Identify stage of coaching. In this stage, our purpose was

to identify a student-focused goal that is reachable for Mrs. English, and provides me a chance to

coach her in order to make positive changes to her classroom. The coaching strategies I used

during this session included strategies that pertain to both facilitative and directive coaching.

When Mrs. English and I sat down together, I asked her the Identify questions, and used these

questions as a form of coaching to guide us to the goals we would set, making this a form of

facilitative coaching. “The facilitative coach focuses on inquiry, using questions, listening, and

conversational moves to help a teacher become aware of answers he already has inside himself”

(Knight, 2018), and I tried to make sure that my conversation with Mrs. English was following

these guidelines. Additionally, my coaching session with Mrs. English also used elements of

directive coaching. “The directive coach’s goal is to help coaches master a certain skill or set of

skills. The directive coach and coachee relationship is similar to a master-apprentice

relationship” (Knight, 2018). Mrs. English has been eager for me to share my technology

knowledge with her since before this semester began, and during our coaching session, she

mentioned several times that she wanted me to teach her how to use QR codes like she has seen

me do in my classroom. As the coaching with Mrs. English continues, I think it is important to

continue to foster elements of both facilitative and directive coaching. I want Mrs. English to

fully understand that she has an equal voice in the coaching partnership and that she already has

significant knowledge inside of her, however, I also want her to be able to directly learn new

technology strategies and skills from me.

 During our coaching session, I believe that Mrs. English’s self-awareness was increased

as she discussed her observation and current reality with me. She was able to provide very clear

pathways of improvement that she wanted to take. Mrs. English was able to identify strengths

and weaknesses in her ESOL classroom, and self-reflect on how she could strengthen her

weaknesses. These are both examples of ways that her self-awareness was able to shine in the

conversation. Additionally, through our conversation, I think Mrs. English was able to gain

clarity by clearly identifying a goal for working with a coach this semester. I could see as the

conversation went on that she was clear about what she wanted to accomplish. Mrs. English also

gained confidence in her ability to begin the process of being able to implement technology in

two new ways in her classroom: to make material more accessible to her students and to give

students an independent way to demonstrate their learning. Finally, I hope Mrs. English was able

to see our coaching partnership as a collaborative way to mutually grow and develop in our

professional knowledge.

When participating in the coaching process for the first time, I came across a few

challenges that align with the reading we have done so far in this course. One challenge was

being able to effectively balance both the facilitative and directive coaching approaches. While it

was my goal to empower Mrs. English through inquiry-based facilitation, her request for

technology guidance required a more directive approach, as she is aware that I am advanced in

educational technology. This felt like it created a bit of tension as “directive coaching is the

opposite of facilitative coaching” (Knight, 2018). To make sure that this wasn’t something that

would cause a problem for the rest of the coaching experience, I knew I needed to effectively

integrate elements of both approaches, to ensure Mrs. English felt heard and seen while also

opening the doorway to provide direct instruction on technology use. Additionally, as we all
know is common in the education world, time constraints were something that raised a challenge

during our coaching session. We met after school, and it had been a particularly long day, so I

felt that we were both kind of ready to get it over with, which limited the level in which we dove

into Mrs. English's goals. I was thankful to have Knight’s series of Identify questions so that we

could quickly and effectively identify her goals. We have read in our literature this semester

about time being a constraint, so I think it is something that must be navigated on a case-by-case

basis, and I feel good about the length of time Mrs. English and I spent in conversation. As time

goes on, I am continuing to recognize the complexity of coaching dynamics and understand the

importance of flexibility in order to be an effective coach.

Knight, J. (2018). The Impact Cycle: What Instructional Coaches Should Do to Foster Powerful

Improvements in Teaching. Corwin.