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EDL725 : The Class : Coaching : Coaching : Coaching | |||||
Have you had experience as a coach or a mentor? Have you been coached as an
athlete or monitored as a teacher? If so, you know some of the elements of a
good coaching. How many of you watched the Olympics on television? It is amazing
how easy the best athletes make their skills look. I find myself almost as interested
in the coaching behaviors as in the skills of the athletes. The gymnasts hardly
have time to catch a breath before the coaches are right there with hugs and
tips for improvement. In fact, it was the Russian coach who found the vault
was set two inches too high in the woman's competition and had it corrected
along with another chance for those who wanted it. The divers barely got the
water out of their ears before a coach was at their sides with words of advice.
In every case, the coaches were priming the athletes for success, telling them
what they were doing well and what to work on.
One thing we know is that not all good teachers make ideal coaches. In addition
to being good teachers, coaches must also provide nurturing qualities such as
trust, confidence, support, communication, and expertise in instructional pedagogy
and subject areas. They are able and willing to accept the roles and responsibilities
of being a professional advisor, personal confident, and instructional guide.
In doing so they provide encourage and inspiration in an accepting and befriending
manner that is so necessary for teachers to grow. They also help teachers to
locate materials, plan for instruction, assess learning, and manage the classroom
including discipline.
Research by Bruce Joyce (1993) supports the importance and need for coaching
in order for teachers to grow professionally. He found that theory alone does
build a knowledge base but the transference of this knowledge to on-the-job
application achieved only 5% effectiveness. By adding demonstration to theory,
teachers achieved a 10%-40% skill acquisition but still exhibited only 5% transference
to on-the-job application. By adding practice and feedback to theory and demonstration,
a higher skill acquisition level was achieved at 80%, but the skill transfer
to on-the-job application remained at 5%. But when coaching was added to theory,
demonstration, practice, and feedback, it boosted the skill acquisition to 80%
and on-the-job application to a high 90%.
Coaching is the keystone of the professional growth experience. It makes the
greatest difference in the rate or skill acquisition and transfer to the classroom.
A qualified mentor is said to be the most important person in a beginning teacher's
professional life and often remains so throughout the duration of one's teaching
career.
Effective mentoring begins with building trust. What are some concrete ways
to build trust? Some suggested ways include the following:
What are some ways that you can be a model for your student teacher?
Trust is indeed the foundation of effective communication. What we say and do in a conference, even an informal one, creates and deepens trust. Anything that breaks down that trust compromises communication. Trust needs to be rebuilt to establish a working relationship. One way to facilitate communication is to know your own style of interaction with others as well as the interaction style of your student teacher. One way is through the use of the Array Model.
To complete this Topic successfully, please complete the following activities in the order shown below:
TEXTBOOK READING: Read
Chapters 9 and 10
Go on to The Array Model
or
Go back to Coaching and Conferencing
E-mail Dr. Gloria Smith at
gjs8@jan.ucc.nau.edu
or call (480) 854-7673
Copyright 2001
Northern Arizona University
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED