M6: Plan a Coaching Conversation

Title of Scenario: Elementary educator in need of feedback and/or professional development

Setting of Conversation: After all students left the classroom, I will set up two chairs by the

teachers desk.

Conversation:

Me (cheerfully): Good afternoon, Ms. Campbell, how are you today?

Paraeducator Campbell (nervously): Im fine, how about yourself?

Me (excitedly): Im doing really great! Thanks. Earlier today I walked by Susies kindergarten

classroom, and saw you were supporting her during the large-group instruction time. I am sorry

that I observed your performance for about two minutes without any notifications.

Paraeducator Campbell (understandably): Oh, that is totally okay. I hope I did fine.

Me (calmly): Oh, the most parts you did fine but there are little things if we work together and

change them, in my opinion, Susies learning will be increased a lot!

Paraeducator Campbell (calmly): I have some time, let us talk about it now!

Me: Great! I absolutely enjoy how you love and care about Susie. However, from my

observation, she was not engaged in the activities that her peers were doing, and I could think of

two ways to improve this. First, Susies assigned spot was too far away from the teacher, so her

attentions could easily be distracted. What do you think about this situation?

Paraeducator Campbell: Yeah, I am with you on this point, and I think she needs to be re-

assigned so she can be closer by the teacher.

Me: Yes! I totally agree with you! So, I am going to talk to Ms. Harris tomorrow morning, and

see if she is willing to re-assign her spot or she is willing to move around the circle while giving

instructions so she could get other students attentions as well.

Paraeducator Campbell: Sounds good! Is there anything that I can do to help Susie?

Me: Great question! I like the way you are thinking! This is the second part that I would like to

talk about. I know that at the beginning of the semester when we did the orientation, we did not

spend a lot of time on how to support them being included with their peers. That is not your fault,

and please do not feel bad about it. We are going to figure this out together! Sounds good?

Paraeducator Campbell (excitedly): Yeah! I will try!

Me: Nice! I have two things that I would like you to try tomorrow. First, I would like you to take

a few steps back when Susie is participating in the class, and leave her some open space so she

can learn to ask for help. Moreover, when her peers see that she is struggling, most of the time

they will help her. Cannot lie, their help is the most natural way to provide supports. If they are

still cannot figure it out, that is the moment you or Ms. Harris should jump in and support them.

Do you kind of seeing my point?

Paraeducator Campbell: Yes, I do, so I just stay back and observe them?

Me: Partially, yes! You can also go help other peers in their group activities during that time. In

addition, if you do not feel comfortable of helping other groups, you can fill out an Ecological

Inventory sheet that provides me some feedback about Susies performance in that class so I am

able to develop some modifications, adaptations, or accommodations that can best help her in the

classroom.

Paraeducator Campbell (happily): I like these ideas, and I never thought about it. I would love to

try these in order to help Susie!

Me (happily): Awesome! I would love to see how it goes tomorrow! I appreciate your patients

and your time! Thank you! Have a good evening!

Paraeducator Campbell (happily): You are welcome! Have a good evening!

Title of Scenario: General Educators Physical Classroom Environment

Setting of Conversation: Ms. Williams (general education teacher) and Ms. Moore

(paraprofessional) and me (special education teacher) will meet in the conference room during

planning time.

Conversation:

Me (cheerfully): Good afternoon Ms. Williams and Ms. Moore! How are you guys?

Ms. Williams and Ms. Moore (cheerfully): Im fine! How about you?

Me (excitedly): Im really good! Thanks! Today we are going to look at a picture first and we are

going to discuss about what should we do to change or avoid this happen in our classroom. This

picture is called Island In The Mainstream. As you can see from the picture, Fred, the student

with disabilities, is located in the far side of the classroom, and he has Mrs. Cooper who is his

paraprofessional provides direct instructions while Mrs. Jones is teaching. In addition, Mrs.

Cooper and Mrs. Jones are still trying to figure out why Fred does not feel like part of the class.

What do you think about this situation for Fred? And what would you like to do to change this

environmental challenge?

Ms. Williams: Interesting topic, nice job picking this picture out! I think that Fred has a hard

time to be involved in the class because he is in his own island and Mrs. Cooper is directly

teaching him. If I am Mrs. Jones, I will re-sign Freds seat to the front of the classroom so he is

able to clearly look at the blackboard and physically be a part of the class. If possible, I also will

change the arrangement of their seats into small groups so they are able to support each other and

increase their opportunities to get social interactions.

Me: These are some useful ideas Ms. Williams. In my opinion, changing Freds location is just

part of the process, and providing peer supports, even peer tutoring will extremely help him in
this situation. For example, I will help Fred find common interests with his peers by using a

common interest worksheet, and after he got matched with one of his classmates, he will

participate different activates with this peer during the day and different classes. In the picture, I

think the paraprofessional could do a better job supporting Fred. Ms. Moore, what is your

opinion about it?

Ms. Moore: I enjoy listening to the good ideas that you guys just talked about. I think that Freds

paraprofessionals is not the teacher who should be teaching the lesson because Mrs. Cooper is in

a supportive role and his job is to provide modifications, accommodations, or adaptations from

the lesson plan that Mrs. Jones wrote. I understand that paraprofessional is an important role in

the education teams because they are able to free the general education teacher when doing

clerical tasks, engage in follow-up instruction, provide personal cares, facilitate social skills and

peer interaction, and provide supervision in group settings. However, in the one-to-one support,

paraprofessionals should give the students with disabilities some space while they are working

on a task or engaging in the class. In addition, they can walk around the classroom and help other

students or groups so the general education teacher has time to provide direct supports to the

student with disabilities. I hope that I explained well.

Me: Awesome responses! I think you totally understand the paraprofessionals role in the

educational team, and I think all three of us need to communicate and collaborate each week

during this time in order to improve our teaching. What do you guys think?

Ms. Williams: Sure, I think it is a great idea to communicate and collaborate at the same time

every week. Also, we can discuss the next weeks lesson plans during this time so you and Ms.

Moore have enough time to talk about it and be on the same page of how to support the student.

Ms. Moore and me: I like this idea, and I would love to do it! Thank you very much!