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Peer Coaching - the PROCESS

| Before you proceed, have a quick look at the Peer Coaching series
on the WHAT, HOW, RATIONALES and MIND SETTING first |

In-classroom peer coaching involves colleagues working together around the shared observation of teaching. In these instances, there is generally a Pre-Conference, an Observation and Post-Conference. The cognitive coaching approach |Costa & Garmston 1990| offers a useful model for those activities.

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Peer Coaching - MIND SETTING

So far, peer coaching sounds great!...

...to reduce teachers' isolation, to create collegial and professional environment, to provide a forum for problem solving, and skills transfer from training session to classroom.

Peer coaching is a delicate process. Principals and school leadership need to assess the implications at the initial stage - i.e. the planning stage of the program. At least with the following checklists:

1. Do we really want peer coaching to become a culture?

2. Are we ready for it? Clear about the concept and implementation?

3. Which model that will give immediate impact?

4. What are pre-conditions for change and cultural variables? The key success factors?

5. What are available support systems for peer coaching?

Implementing peer coaching is very much about creating a new culture... And the right mind-setting process is the prerequisite.

Next (the last posting) will be on the PROCESS.

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Peer Coaching - the RATIONALES

Teaching is rooted in a traditional of isolation... describe as "one-room schoolhouses repeated every few meters down the corridor..." |Glickman 1990|. To a certain extend the physical characteristics of schools impose barriers to communication - about successful instructional and curricular practices!

Frequently, the historical tradition of isolation produces unwritten laws or norms - that govern relationship among colleagues in schools... and a 'live and let live' syndrome prevails.

Peer coaching, properly implemented can transform the norms of isolation into norms of COLLABORATION. When teachers work together REGULARLY to REFLECT on, analyze and refine teaching practices...and they will find this work intrinsically meaningful.

Peer coaching will help teachers work smarter - not harder!...learning from a colleague save time by not having to reinvent the wheel. Integrating the curriculum will result in content rich with a shorter period of teaching.

...to be continued tomorrow - the MIND SETTING.

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Peer Coaching - the HOW

Peer coaching has nothing to do with EVALUATION. It is not intended as a remedial activity or strategy to 'fix' teachers. It's a way to INCREASE FEEDBACK about instruction and curriculum.

It provides platform to teachers to take risks and try out NEW IDEAS, INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES or different approaches to the curriculum and discuss the results with a TRUSTED COLLEAGUE.

Consider the following approaches:

• Two or more colleagues working together around the shared observation of teaching - pre-Observation, an Observation and post-Observation; OR

• A pair or a team of teachers co-planning a lesson or curriculum unit. They might involve problem solving, videotape analysis or study groups. In some cases may occur between an expert and a novice or between experienced and less experienced teachers; OR

• Teachers share stories about teaching experiences. Conceptualizes teaching as a narrative act can provide a non-threatening way to teachers to share pedagogical knowledge; OR

• Action research platform. A teacher formulates a set of hypotheses about classroom practices to develop a plan to test them by asking colleagues to observe and take notes. Later, the colleagues discuss and analyze the data. Some teachers have kept reflective journals of their findings; OR

• Out-of-Classroom coaching, called 'talk walking' (Caro 1991) - strategy is design to help teachers engage in collegial dialogue (focused on instructional and curricular issues) and physical exercise - to help teachers integrate new learning with existing classroom practices.
  

[Collegial dialogue of this nature has both COGNITIVE and PHYSICAL implications for teacher growth].

The above approaches or practices by the way, demonstrate some forms of peer coaching!...

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PEER COACHING - the WHAT

There are many ways to define it ...from the root words 'peer' and 'coaching' anywhere! However, it depends on the client you (as a Coach) work with.

For the purpose of this discussion (in 5 series) I am taking EDUCATORS' environment to start with.

Peer Coaching

is a confidential process
through which
two or more professional colleagues
work together TO REFLECT
on CURRENT PRACTICES;
expand, refine, and build new skills;

SHARE IDEAS, TEACH ONE ANOTHER;
conduct classroom research or
SOLVE PROBLEMS in the WORKPLACE."

- Pam Robins, ASCD Virginia "How to Plan and Implement a Peer Coaching Program"

Note:
1. Peer coaching practices sometime referred as (used in school): peer support /consulting colleagues /peer sharing /caring.

2. The other names seem to have evolved, in some cases, out of teacher discomfort with the term 'coaching'. Some claim the word 'coaching' implies that the one person in the collaborative relationship has different status?

As research and experience inform us, "...the reality is that they are at the SAME RANK (Sizer 1995)... Teachers have the same classroom space, number of students and requirements. They all focus on the collaborative development, refinement and sharing of craft knowledge.