Teachers!

• Do you ask your students for feedback on your lessons and courses?
• Do you plan to include feedback from your students in the future?

Planned or not, it's already happening
You can see their feedback in the quality of your relationship, the communication between you, and your shared sense of purpose.

As a teacher you probably give your students feedback all the time. Not just when you return their test papers with a grade, but every time you get into conversation with them. The tone of your voice and your body language speak loudly, much louder than your words. You probably already know that.

And the students give you plenty of feedback in the tone of their voices and their body language. You probably already know that too.

The challenge is to get some clarity and constructive changes from their feedback.

So I'm suggesting that you, as teacher, ask your students for feedback in a more concrete and planned way than simply observing the general tone of voice and body language. Based on the information you receive you will be able to influence the quality of your relationship, the communication between you, and your shared sense of purpose.

So what's coming up in your mind right now about asking students for feedback? If your relationship with the class so far has been less than wonderful, some students might use feedback as an opportunity for revenge. You might learn some inconvenient truths about your teaching. You might risk having your self-confidence shattered by certain remarks. So let's see what you can do to minimise the potential damage so that you can get to the useful information that can guide you in developing your relationship with your students.

• First of all, the feedback can be anonymous.
• Second, the feedback can focus on one lesson, or part of a lesson.
• Then, depending on your current relationship, interpret the feedback with the knowledge that there might be some revenge going on.
  Take a pinch of salt with the feedback.

I feel confident that teachers can design feedback forms, so I will give just a few examples here.

Anonymous Feedback
Use one sheet for the whole class.
Pass it round the room, or pin it to the door.
Good for a first experience of giving feedback.

What did you think of today's lesson?

Poor
OK
Good
Great

Detailed Feedback
Use one sheet for each student.
Good for allowing more detailed comments

What did you think of today's lesson?

Explain what you want the students to give you feedback on, for example:

Contents
How relevant was it for this course?

Delivery
How interesting was it?

Effect
How much did you learn?

                    Poor     OK    Good     Great    Comments

Contents 

Delivery

Effect  

After five years of research, asking teachers what works really well in their classrooms, and relating what they told me to the Core Skills that are required of a Coach, I notice that there are at least a dozen distinct, interconnected coaching skills that teachers use in the classroom.

There are two ways to finance coaching, either a sponsor pays, or the client pays. Either way, there is an agenda for the coaching.

Sponsor's agenda
In cases where a sponsor is willing to pay for the coaching, they usually expect a benefit from the client being coached. Usually the sponsor has an agenda for the client. A company sponsor might want their employee to "fit in better with an existing team", "sell more than they do today", "become more healthy (lose weight / stop smoking / train more /...". A family sponsor might want their child to "have a better attitude / get better school results / eat more healthily /...".

In some cases the client has first approached the sponsor and they have come to an agreement about the coaching agenda before contacting a coach. In some cases the sponsor contacts the coach first and arranges a meeting together with the client. In some cases the client contacts the coach, creates the agenda and then a sponsor is sought.

In sponsored coaching, the coaching can only be successful when the client is in full agreement with the sponsor's agenda.


Client's agenda
When a client pays for their own coaching they are setting the agenda for themselves.

Client's own agendas can also be "fit in better with an existing team", "sell more than they do today", "become more healthy (lose weight / stop smoking / train more /...)", or "have a better attitude / get better school results / eat more healthily /...".

Often, what a client pays the coach for is to be an ally the fight against their fears, or to be a partner on their journey to a 'better' place.

The details of the agenda are created by the coach and client together. By creating a safe and courageous environment the client dares to face up to their fears and open up to the call of their dreams.

In the end
Whoever pays, the coaching can only be successful when the coach holds true to the client's agenda.

How might a coach approach talking about rubrics in a classroom?

What's a rubric? Rubrics are a means of sharing  expectations, providing focused feedback on work in progress, and measuring results.

I have used rubrics as a teacher AND as a coach for a wide range of purposes. They are useful, can be time-consuming and can be heavy to employ. Yet, there's deeper benefits to them than simply grading results.

Look at Rubistar for examples and tools for creating school subject rubrics. Here is an example from the Rubistar website.

Participation and Professionalism
Let us suppose that a school teacher has designed a rubric regarding how students work in class.

She has identified a number of key factors, and brilliantly named them:

• Politeness
• Promptness
• Professionalism
• Preparedness
• Problem-Solving

Here's what a coach-like approach might sound like.

• The teacher writes the heading and the 5 key factors on the board
• and says "This is part of what we shall focus on in November (pause)."
  
• "What's included in 'Politeness'?".
• "What might teachers, parents, (employers,) and other students include in the meaning of the key factor 'Politeness'?". "What do you include in the meaning of the key factor 'Politeness'?"
• The teacher gathers the ideas from the students on the whiteboard.
• "What might your, and some different people's reasons be for including 'Politeness' in a course such as this one?". "What might yours be?"
  
• "What could be some of the short-term and long term benefits to you, and to others from getting a high score on the key factor 'Politeness'?", "What benefits can you think of?"
  
• The teacher then splits the class into 5 groups (using what she knows about their general personalities, and their current eagerness to respond to the previous questions)
• "Group A will work with 'Politeness', Group B will work with 'Promptness' etc"

The resulting rubrics
After the set period of time the students then represent their groups and share what they have discussed.

They answer:

1. what's included in the key factor
   
2. why it is included
3. what the benefits are

These results are written large on paper and pinned near the door to the room so that it can be seen by the students as they come in, and leave.

My own growth as a rubric-writer
Initially I borrowed rubrics from previous courses, and the ones on websites like Rubistar. Later, I started writing my own rubrics. Then I realised that the best thing to do is to educate the students in writing their own rubrics. Sometimes laziness is a virtue.

I have found that, with a little prompting, students often come up with almost the same rubric descriptions that I have previously chosen. In some cases they have better descriptions, and of course I use their self-generated rubrics.

Since we now expect students to continue studying well through their teens and into their early twenties - key personal development years, the Education System needs to include personal development as well as intellectual development, in a structured and professional way.

I believe that a coaching approach is a step in the right direction.

I am a teacher and a coach, my aim is to bring a coaching approach to the Education System. Looking at how good teaching is carried out in schools it's easy to see that good teachers already coach!

Four key aspects of coaching, compared with teaching Based on the International Coach Federation's description of Core Coaching Skills

www.coachfederation.org


1)    Professional
In both professions there's an overall agreement from a governing body that describes the role of the teacher/coach. There are also agreements on behaviours and goals that describe the teaching/coaching at an individual level. There are specific standards for how to teach/coach, and ethics that guide us through challenging situations.


2)    Personal relationship
Teaching/coaching is based on a relationship of mutual trust. In both professions effort is put into building up and maintaining a level of trust and confidence in each other so that the teaching/coaching has an effect.

Simply put:

• A teacher/coach is genuine, displays personal integrity, honesty and sincerity.
• A teacher/coach is clear, keep promises and is supportive in all situations.

3)    Effective Communication
The best teaching/coaching relies on effective communication that is adapted to the student's/client's visual-auditory-kinesthetic style of communication, as well as their way of perceiving the world.

In both professions it's essential to listen actively to hear what's happening below the level of the words in what's being communicated.

Both professions use questions to generate the desired change, although a different mix of closed/open questions is used for teaching/coaching. Good teachers know that open questions open up the conversations so that more learning can take place. Coaches use open questions almost exclusively. Good teachers know that questions that are related to the student's world are most effective. Coaches aim to use open questions that bring the client's values into play.

Teachers follow the school's given course plans and their own lesson plans. Coaches use well-researched tools and well-established techniques that follow sequential steps. However, for best results, both professionals know to be flexible and adapt to what's happening in the moment.

In both professions honest and direct communication produces the best results.

4)    Learning and Results
The focus for both teaching and coaching is to arrive at a specific result, and learn from the process, the balance between the result and learning will be different from one time to another.

Teachers and coaches both aim to create awareness so that the next step becomes visible and desirable. For teachers it's more effective to guide the students to become aware of what more they can learn about the given subject before attempting to teach it. For coaches, guiding the client to become aware that there is something they can learn about themselves is the major part of the coaching process.

Both professionals know that internally-motivated students/clients are capable of achieving much more than externally-motivated students/clients.

Both professions design activities such as practice, research, trying something new, holding focus etc, aimed at reaching the desired goal. Teachers and coaches may have some favourite suggestions to make, but both know they do better when such activities are co-designed with students/clients.


Both professions use planning and goal-setting as part of their design structure. The difference is in the degree of influence the teacher/coach has over the planning and goal-setting.

In the school situation much of the overall planning, such as the number of lessons per week and what time of day they will be, are the result of logistical compromises based on physical limitations, the size of the school, the number of teachers, the number of students, and all the other lessons that the school shall provide.

Coaches have time-planners too. The number of coaching sessions, dates and times have to be in synchrony with the coach's and the coach's other clients' availability.

In the Education System goal-setting is currently based on an externally imposed curriculum. The coach's goal-setting comes from the client's expressed need for change and development.



Summary
The Education System was originally designed to make a positive difference to society by providing education free of charge, to all. An astounding and controversial investment in our shared future!

A generation or two ago students left school in their early teens, most moved on to jobs that their parents could only have dreamt of. The current system has provided opportunities for higher education and better employment. It has succeeded.

Now the Education System is expanding to include support for students well through their formative teenage years, and into their early twenties. To encourage and enable students to remain this long in the Education System, it has to offer more than just intellectual development. It has to offer personal development.

But that's OK. Because good teachers already coach!

The Coaching Agreement, at 2 levels

The coaching agreement can be viewed from a macro and a micro level. By macro I mean a large overall partnership, covering at least the whole duration of the coaching partnership; and by micro I mean a partnership for the session, or part of a session.

At the Macro Level
Since the students mature during their time at the High School, it is useful to have a signed coaching agreement on paper, based on the one that your school provides. This agreement should be read and signed by the people concerned, such as administrators, teacher/coach, student and possibly parent(s) /guardian(s).

At the Micro Level
At the start of each session there is an opportunity to define / refine / redefine the coaching agreement

Normally you remind each other of the existence of the coaching agreement that makes the relationship one of coach and coachee, rather than teacher and student. Often all that's required is a phrase like "Is it OK that I coach you for the next 5 minutes (pause)?"; or from the student "Would you coach me on my results?"

The Coaching Agreement
As adults we have many agreements with other adults. We have agreements that describe the service we are using and explain the relationship between us. The agreements protect us, and ensure good service. Such agreements are especially important when it comes to private and intimate issues, and when working with young adults.

Teachers have agreements
Through their employment at a High School, teachers have agreements that describe their rights and expectations and responsibilities and authorities.

Dentist have agreements
That's why Dentists are allowed to dig around inside our mouths, we have an implicit agreement with them that it's OK to look in an otherwise private and intimate place.

Doctors have agreements
That's why Doctors are allowed to look in places that we normally regard as private and intimate. They have given an Oath that promises their actions have good intentions.

Coaches have agreements
In the same way Coaches need to have a Coaching Agreement that allows them to dig around in intimate places and look at private things.