Coaching Journal-Parker 1

Coaching Journal

Silvia Carolina Parker

PL and Technology Innovation ITEC 7460

Kennesaw State University University

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Coaching session 1: 3-15-17

Strategies

For my first coaching experience, I decided to work with Ms. Cerchezan who is a 2nd

grade teacher. I asked Ms. Cerchezan to be my collaborating teacher because of the way she

interacts with her class. She is always kind and respectful toward her students; moreover, she is

always trying to become a better teacher. Ms. Cerchezan and I sponsor an after school program

together, and our conversations about improving her craft have been ongoing throughout this

school year. According to Knight (2007) it is important for instructional coaches to start

coaching experiences by establishing a sense of partnership in which the teacher feels heard and

understood. The strategy I used to engage the collaborating teacher was a one-on-one interview.

During the first coaching session, I interviewed Ms. Cerchezan in order to better understand her

views on technology. From that interview, I discovered Ms. Cerchezan’s greatest objection with

technology was the lack of resources available for every student. The teacher expressed that the

six devices she currently has in her classroom can be used in student centers, but that she does

not always use them because the applications preinstalled in those devices (Kindle Fire tablets)

are not always related to the standards she teaches. During this interview Ms. Cerchezan also

stated that she did not have the freedom to install applications that she thought would benefit her

students. Ms. Cerchezan also expressed the fact that using technology sometimes ends up

wasting time due to connectivity problems or the fact that students are not always proficient at

using technology.

After the interview, I explained to Ms. Cerchezan my coaching philosophy which is to

establish a collaboration partnership in which the ultimate goal is to maximize student learning.

Knight (2007) states that focusing on “the Big Four Issues: behavior, content knowledge, direct
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instruction, and formative assessment” is a great way to instill interest in potential collaborating

teachers. For this reason, I asked Ms. Cerchezan to tell me the areas she would like to be

supported on. She expressed the need she has on improving her students’ math and reading

skills. It was obvious from her response that she wanted help with direct instruction as well as

content knowledge. Another strategy that I used during this first coaching session was to have an

open dialogue between Ms. Cerchezan and I. According to Knight (2007) “Dialogue brings

people together as equals so they can share ideas, create new knowledge, and learn”. It was

obvious from our dialogue that the collaborating teacher wanted to focus on how to implement

technology within the workshop model. We decided that the best time for second graders to use

technology would be through learning centers. Once the time in which students would be using

technology was established, we looked at the reading and math standards that she would be

teaching in the upcoming weeks. Then, we came up with ways in which she can use technology

in her math and reading centers. During the interview, I showed Ms. Cerchezan a website named

Front Row ed. I had used this website in the past, and I explained to her that my students and I

had great success with it. Together, we decided to further explore Front Row ed in order for her

to implement it her in her classroom.

Skill and Affective Changes

Based on the information from the interview, Ms. Cerchezan seems to have had negative

experiences with technology. These experiences have resulted in her reluctance to implement

technology in her classroom. I was pleased to know that she had already heard about Front Row

ed from another teacher, yet she had never fully explored the resource. The fact that Ms.

Cerchezan had never used Front Row ed even though she knew of her existence cause me to

place her in an early majority stage of implementation. Ms. Cerchezan expressed she feels the
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need to increase technology integration in her classroom, but that she does not know exactly how

to fit it in. According to Orr (2003), “Adoption becomes a necessity as the implementation of the

innovation-decisions of earlier adopters result in social and/or economic benefit.” I hope this

coaching sessions would help Ms. Cerchezan become more assertive at using technology in her

classroom, and that she will become an innovator herself.

Reflection

I believe my first coaching session went well. During the first session, it was very

important for me to establish the fact that my role would be to become her instructional

technology partner. I wanted Ms. Cerchezan to be open about her struggles and about her desired

outcomes; therefore, I was very receptive and understanding every time she expressed her views

and feelings toward technology, and I also tried to offer solutions instead of judgement. I

expressed to Ms. Cerchezan the fact that she should view me as an extra resource. I told her that

this coaching experience was going to give us both the opportunity to grow as professionals. I

also reassured her of the fact that any discussions we have would be strictly confidential and that

anything shared would be used as an opportunity to grow and change. I hope my emphasis on

establishing a partnership would help the collaborating teacher feel at ease throughout the

experience.

Coaching session 2 and 3: 3-22-17 and 3-23-17

Strategies

3-23-17

When it comes to coaching, Knight (2007) states five activities that a coach and the

collaborating teacher need to engage in as a way to speed up learning. Two of those activities are
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to collaborate and to provide support. I collaborated with the teacher by providing a resource that

would meet the needs of the teacher. I provided support by showing the teacher how to

implement such resource. During the second coaching session, I showed the collaborating

teacher a resource called Front Row ed. I have previously used this resource with my fourth

grade students and they greatly enjoyed it and benefited from it. Ms. Cerchezan expressed the

fact that she wanted a resource that aligned with the standards she taught, and Front Row ed does

that. In order to make it easier for the teacher to use the resource, I created a class profile on

Front Row ed and I added all her students. I walked her through the main components of Front

Row ed. and all the services the website provides. Once the collaborating teacher had an

opportunity to explore the resource, we decided to try it with her students.

3-24-17

The next day, I went into Ms. Cerchezan’s classroom to show the students how to use

Front Row ed. The collaborating teacher chose a group of students to sample the resource. I

showed the students how to access the website and how to log in while Ms. Cerchezan observed.

After that, the collaborating teacher instructed students to practice either math and word study.

Ms. Cerchezan and I decided to wait on for reading practice due to time constrains. As the

students worked, and I offered assistance, the collaborating teacher took notes and walked

around paying special attention to the type of questions and feedback the resource offered the

students. Another selling point for Ms. Cerchezan was the website’s easy to use format. Students

could easily navigate through the website and best of all, it works on any device including the

Kindle Fire tablets. Besides collaborating and providing support, Knight (2007) also states that

modeling, observing, and providing feedback are great ways to speed up learning. I engaged in

these activities by having Ms. Cerchezan observe while I modeled instructions on how to access
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and operate Front Row ed to her students. At the end of the session, we were able to debrief

about the experience as a whole. After school, Ms. Cerchezan and I met to discuss the positive

aspects of the experience which were the content as well as the layout of the resource itself. The

collaborating teacher was pleased with the fact that students took a math pre-test before formally

starting practice. She also liked the phonics component of the word study practice since this is

something her students need to practice more in order to be successful readers.

Skill and Affective Changes

During this coaching session, Ms. Cerchezan and I encountered several problems. First,

the students were not able to log in and start their practice session promptly due to connectivity

and troubleshooting issues. Second, the students did not have enough time to practice because of

all the trouble they had logging in. Finally, Ms. Cerchezan expressed discontent with this and

expressed the fact that “it is issues like this what discourages [me] from using technology in the

first place” (O. Cerchezan, personal communication 2017). After discussing what went wrong,

we decided that a longer period of time was needed for students to successfully complete a

practice session. We decided to check out the laptop cart for future practice sessions in order to

sample the resource with a larger number of students. Lastly, we also decided to explore the

reading practice component of the resource. It was very encouraging to see Ms. Cerchezan

willing to give another chance to technology. I believe she has been able to see the quality of the

resource and the impact it can have in her classroom.

Reflection

Overall my second coaching session went well. Even though we encountered problems

and objections, we were able to stay focused on the important issue which was to evaluate the

academic effectiveness of the resource. Ms. Cerchezan was pleased with the fact that Front Row
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ed is aligned with the standards and that the students were constantly receiving feedback while

practicing. One of the most stressful aspects of the second coaching sessions were the

connectivity and troubleshooting issues. When Ms. Cerchezan grew frustrated due to the

problems we encountered, I decided to remain calm and not to take it personal, and I must admit

it was hard to do so. In one hand, I did not want the teacher to eliminate technology from her

instruction due to issues like this, but on the other, I could not avoid the fact that this was indeed

an issue that wasted the students’ time which is something Ms. Cerchezan did not want to

experience. I believe teachers trying to implement more technology need to know that these

issues are going to arrive at some point or another, and a great way to cope with this is to always

have an alternate plan in order to avoid waste of time. I believe that the way we react toward

problems is what helps us grow and keep moving. I explained the aforementioned to Ms.

Cerchezan, and she reacted in a positive way. I was pleased with the fact that in the end, she

wanted to continue implementing the resource, and we came up with an improved plan for the

last two coaching sessions.

Coaching session 4 and 5: 3-29-17 and 3-30-17

Strategies

3-29-17

For these last two sessions, Ms. Cerchezan and I continued to engage in collaboration,

modeling, observing, and providing feedback and support, but it was also important for me to dig

deeper into whether Ms. Cerchezan was starting to change her views toward using technology.

According to Knight (2007) a teacher is more likely to implement and embrace an idea if it is

better and easier to use that what is already in place. This is why I did my best to provide Ms.
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Cerchezan with all the tools she needed to make this resource part of her daily routine.

According to Orr (2003), Ms. Cerchezan was in the decision phase of the diffusion process. That

is, she was becoming aware of the usefulness of the resource and she was starting to see the

benefits of its use, but she was not implementing it on her own. I asked Ms. Cerchezan to tell me

how she visualized our last two coaching sessions. She expressed the fact that she wanted us to

continue working together on finding out the features of the resource, but she was very adamant

about me leading the last sessions with the students because she wanted to have more time to

observe. Ms. Cerchezan’s response confirmed the fact that she needed more time before she

could begin to implement the resource on her own.

During the fourth coaching practice, Ms. Cerchezan and I explored the reading resources

Front Row Ed had to offer. The collaborating teacher loved the fact that the website levels the

students before assigning practice in reading as well as previously seen in math. One of the best

features of reading Front Row ed is the length and layout of the reading passages. Ms. Cerchezan

particularly liked the fact that the students were able to refer back to the text while answering the

questions. The collaborating teacher was definitely sold when she saw the length and topics of

the reading passages and the types of questions the students were asked to answer. In second

grade, students need to learn how demonstrate understanding by making reference to key details

from the text. Ms. Cerchezan liked the fact that the questions grew increasingly more complex

as well as the fact that the answers required students to use their inference skills, which is

something her students needed to practice more. Lastly, we explored the feature of assigning

practice passages to students. Ms. Cerchezan enjoyed creating reading passage assignments for

students to work on after completing the pretest. Front Row Ed has a plethora of articles in

different genres students can use to practice reading for understanding. Just as with the previous
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session, I went into her classroom the next day to model how to use the resource and to assist

with any troubleshooting issues that may arise.

3-30-17

During this last session, we had twice as many devices and every student was able to take

the reading pre-test. Ms. Cerchezan was pleased to see how engaged all the students were during

the practice session. The collaborating teacher was also able to see how proficient the students

were at using the website’s tools, such as highlighting, while completing the pre-test. By the end

of the session, several students were able to start on the practice session the teacher had created

for them. Happily, we did not encounter any connectivity or troubleshooting problems during

this session which translated into more productive time and a more positive working

environment. The strategies I used during the last session were modeling, observing, and

providing support and feedback. I was also pleased to see Ms. Cerchezan take more initiative

during this last session. She was constantly monitoring students to make sure they were on the

right spot. She was also stating positive statements as she saw the reactions students were having

as they read the passages.

Skill and Affective Changes

Throughout this last session, Ms. Cerchezan was pleased on how the use of technology

increased student engagement. She was happy to see that all students were captivated by the task

at hand, and that the level of productivity increased as a result of this. I think a better

management system as well as the increased amount of devices during this session were the key

factors of its success. Ms. Cerchezan expressed the fact that she will check out the laptop cart

more often and that she will use the data provided by Front Row ed to modify and remediate her

instruction. She also believes students will be able to use this resource for centers in the future.
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Ms. Cerchezan expressed the fact that she would like to know more about technology resources

that students can use to create products. We decided to meet in the future to discuss how she can

better incorporate eClass, which is the digital learning system of Gwinnett County Public

schools, in her instruction.

Reflection

I was pleased with the results of my coaching. However, I remain cautious about follow

up and adoption. The main reason why I believe this is the fact that Ms. Cerchezan seems to need

more coaching on how to implement this resource every day. Because of conflicts on schedule,

the coaching sessions did not always take place during math and reading workshop. For

subsequent coaching sessions, I would like an opportunity to observe Ms. Cerchezan using what

she has learned about this resource during her reading and math workshops. The feedback I

would get from those observations could help Ms. Cerchezan make adjustments in time

management as well as in instruction. In order to ensure adoption, it would be best if Ms.

Cerchezan continues to use this resource for the remaining part of the school year. If she does so,

she would increasingly grow more confident with it, and she would be able to integrate this

resource at the beginning of the following year.

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References

Cerchezan, O. Personal Communication. March 2017

Front Row Ed. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://www.frontrowed.com/

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Parker, S. C. (2017). Technology Integration Action Plan [Word].

Rogers, E. (1995.). Diffusion of Innovations (G. Orr, Ed. 2003). Retrieved April 2, 2017, from

http://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm