Take a minute to think of your coaching toolbox. What are some of your go-to questions? Go ahead and list a few.
Now reflect on those questions.
Though we know that open-ended questions are the best way to prompt teacher reflection, it helps to remember that we want to do this with intentionality. And to ask questions intentionally, we need to think about what response we are hoping to get from a teacher and which question would be best at getting that answer.
Let’s look at this example using a myTeachstone video below: Lights Out Freeze Game.
Now, imagine you have just completed an informal observation on this teacher, focused on how she is using Behavior Management strategies during the clean-up transition from free play to small group time. You noticed several effective moments including clear and consistent expectations, monitoring of the classroom, and redirection when appropriate. You also noted moments to build on--including inconsistently anticipating problems and attending to children’s positive behavior.
Your goals for the feedback conference are to help the teacher:
Here we have identified four types of questions you might ask based on your goals for the conversation, the teacher’s learning goals, and the specific observation at hand: identification, analysis, comparison, and brainstorming.
Given those types of questions, let’s look at some specific questions you could use.
Type of Question |
Potential Starters |
Specific Examples |
Identification |
At what point did you notice …? Describe what happened when … Tell me more about … |
How did you attend the the children’s positive behaviors? Tell me what you said and did. |
Comparison |
What do you think went well? What do you think did not go well? What was the difference in these moments? |
Tell me about a moment when you did not attend to the positive. What was different? Why is it harder to attend to the positive at that moment? |
Analysis |
How did you know [a behavior] was effective? Why did you decide to …? What is the value of …? |
Why is it important to attend to children’s positive behaviors? How do you see your children respond when you note their positive behavior? |
Brainstorming |
How will you plan to …? What are some ways you can …? How will you include …? |
What are some common positive behaviors the children show during transitions? What statements can you use to attend to those behaviors? |
Here you can see several effective questions with various goals for teacher learning. Used together, these questions can help the teacher think about specific interactions in her classroom, analyze those moments, and brainstorm ways to implement her effective behaviors more consistently.
And this is just the beginning! In addition to the ones above, you might ask questions that:
Let’s go back to the beginning and look at your list of go-to questions. In what category do they fit? How do these categories change how you think about your list of questions?
Please share your ideas, as well as other categories or questions that you have found especially effective in conferences! You can log into the CLASS Learning Community to be part of the conversation.
As you jump in to help your teacher, working side by side as a collaborator, everything seems clear at the beginning. There are some obvious areas to address and both you and your teacher have tons of energy, ready to change the world. After a few visits, however, an unsettling feeling begins to creep up on you.
In today’s world, there isn’t much technology can’t do. It can help you stay connected to family and friends, keep you on track to achieving your fitness goals, and can even adjust your thermostat while you’re away from home.
And now, with myTeachstone, it can promote positive child-outcomes through facilitating on-going, meaningful, and continuous improvement efforts.
When I first learned about CLASS Group Coaching—a training for early childhood professionals about building relationships with children—I was more than a little interested. This, I thought. This is what teaching is all about. It seems to be an obvious concept, but once we dig deeper, we are able to identify the whys and hows of our interactions. CLASS Group Coaching allows us to identify the benefits of our classroom relationships with our students and helps us be intentional in our daily practices. It allows us to utilize each moment we have with our students to deepen our understanding of their perspectives and genuinely connect with them as people. It helps us see the world from their view and guide their learning in a way that is relevant to them.
Since the coronavirus has disrupted many of our in-person plans, you might be trying to figure out how you can transition in-person coaching to online coaching. Online coaching can open a number of doors for coaches and teachers that might not be an option in face-to-face work.