Learning from Hoiberg and Prohm

Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

What if Fred Hoiberg (I’m still in denial, sorry Coach Prohm) only showed up to coach the ISU Men’s Basketball team ONLY on the days they were playing KU?  It’s a pretty big game, right? There could be some failure and so therefore it would be nice to have that extra person watching in, collecting data, and helping to support the players toward a victory.  But, only for the KU game.

If Hoiberg, or any other coach for that matter, only showed up to coach for one critical basketball game per year, that basketball program would be in deep trouble.  Instead, we know that Hoiberg and his staff enter into a coaching cycle with their players.  At the college level there are several coaching cycles going on at once.  Let’s look at individual player improvement alone.  Coaches collect data on players (free throws, turn-overs, assists, steals, etc.), and players analyze the data with the coach.  Often times players watch film of themselves and analyze their performances in order to improve their skills as a basketball player.  When it comes time for the game, the players and the coach are cognizant of the plan they devised in order to win the game.  

Instructional Coaching is very similar.  In order to really get to a point where deep reflection is happening, a teacher and an Instructional Coach will go through a coaching cycle.  Coaching is not a one time event.  The basic parts of a coaching cycle involve a planning conversation, an observation and/or modeling, and a reflective conversation.  

Planning Conversation

In a planning conversation, an Instructional Coach would simply be there to ask questions in order to help the teacher clarify his goal, determine a way to measure success, and make a plan for how to meet the goal.  It’s very important to reiterate that this goal is not a goal that the coach has for the teacher.  This goal is created by and owned by the teacher.  Art Costa and Robert Garmston, who are widely known in the Cognitive Coaching world said, “Novice teachers tend to focus on the event.  More skillful teachers focus on goals and success indicators.”  The purpose behind having a planning conversation with an Instructional Coach is to provide on-going, job-embedded professional development.  Having a quality planning conversation is one component of growing as a professional.    

Coordinating Activity

In this part of the coaching cycle, a teacher may ask the coach to model a strategy or come in to observe him teaching the lesson or a part of the lesson he planned with the coach.  Whether the coach models a strategy or not, a coordinating activity that would happen in a coaching cycle after the planning conversation is to have the coach come in to collect some data around an area determined by the teacher (see the Observable Pedagogical Practices for ideas or these Observational Look-Fors).  Gathering data is not a time for subjective judgements.  The purpose behind collecting the data is to better reflect on whether or not the goal or a part of the goal of the lesson or lesson sequence was met.  This is why the teacher determines what data will be collected, and how that data will be collected.  The coach simply collects it.    

Reflecting Conversation

During a reflecting conversation, an Instructional Coach encourages the teacher to share his perception of how well the clarified goal was met.  The coach shares the data collected with the teacher, and the teacher makes comparisons between what was planned, his impression of the lesson, and the data that was collected.  As the reflection continues, the coach would have the teacher spend some time thinking about how this particular reflection impacts other aspects of future planning and teaching.  Ultimately, what has the teacher learned from this particular coaching cycle that he would like to hold on to and remember as he refines his craft.  Perhaps that could be the start of another planning conversation.    

And repeat…

Photo courtesy of Cyclones.com

Thank goodness both Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm show up for more than one game a year! If the support required to keep the players afloat and reflective about their skills as a basketball player was missing the rest of the season, the team would not function to their highest ability.  Just like basketball players need coaches, teachers need coaches to come alongside and enter into a coaching cycle in order to stimulate deep reflection about their professional craft on a regular basis. If you haven't engaged in a coaching cycle yet, reach out to your coach and give that regular, ongoing job-embedded professional development a try!