Moving Coaching into Action with Deliverables
Coaches can grow frustrated when they see that what they’ve discussed in coaching with a teacher does not translate to action in the classroom. When coaches use a discussion-based form of coaching, such as cognitive coaching (see my post 8 Misconceptions about Directive Coaching for more), teachers may appreciate their conversation with the coach but struggle to implement change in their teaching.
I’ve found that making coaching meetings very focused and using half of the session or more to practice are incredible tools for building new habits. (More on this in future posts.) But here I’d like to share a simple strategy that has a big impact on implementation: accountability through deliverables.
What is a “deliverable”?
In coaching, a deliverable is a clear next step or action that the teacher takes after the coaching meeting to implement their new learning. In addition to trying the strategy in their classroom, the deliverable helps the teacher (and you) see the impact.
I first learned about deliverables from Michael Sonbert, who coached me for a year when I transitioned from coaching teachers to coaching coaches. In his book Skyrocket Your Teacher Coaching, Michael shares these examples of deliverables:
“If you scripted out a week’s worth of objectives [in the coaching meeting], have them [the teacher] script out next week’s objectives and send them your way. Maybe it’s not scripting, but you want them to observe and write a reflection after seeing a [another] teacher who has students respond to each other using academic language. Maybe they watch a video of their own class, and then send you a reflection on that.”
A key concept with deliverables is that they clearly align to the focus of the coaching meeting. They should help the teacher implement the new strategy and reflect on it.
Additional Deliverable Examples:
If the focus of the coaching meeting is.:
Building relationships with students through giving a student survey that you designed together in the coaching meeting
Sample Deliverable: Email the coach within 24 hours of giving the survey with 2 things the teacher learned from the survey and 2 next steps they’ll take as a result of the survey
Using whiteboards as an active student response strategy
Sample Deliverable:For at least 3 questions where students respond on a white board and hold up their answer, write down data on how many students answered correctly and send the data to the coach by email with a sentence about how the teacher was able to adjust instruction in the moment based on that data
Designing lessons where 50% or more of the lessons requires students to engage in rigorous thinking and doing
Sample Deliverable: Send 3 lessons plans for the remainder of the week that demonstrate a plan for activities that require rigorous thinking for 50% or more of the lesson
Deliverables can include:
Sending a brief email reflection to the coach after trying a new strategy
Recording and reflecting on a certain activity or part of the lesson
Visiting another teacher’s class (at a planned time) to observe a given strategy and send a reflection
Collecting a certain type of data, such as student participation, student objective mastery, etc.
Planning a lesson or part of a lesson
Scripting questions or directions
Sending student work samples with a brief teacher analysis
Remember that deliverables should be purposeful, or you’ll leave teachers feeling like they have busy work to do for you, which will erode trust in the coaching partnership.
Deliverables should:
Directly align to the focus of the coaching meeting
Be discussed during the “Next Steps” section of the coaching meeting, taking about a minute to agree upon them
Be purposeful
Be brief, taking ideally 15 minutes or less for the teacher to complete
Include a clear timeline for returning to the coach
How do I communicate the deliverable to the teacher?
Coaches often feel nervous to hold teachers accountable. But accountability is simply follow-through on a mutually agreed-upon action. We all need accountability to grow.
This is what it could sound like to communicate the deliverable: “You did an amazing job just now revising all of your lesson objectives for this week to be specific and rigorous. When you complete your lesson plans for this week, please send me a copy by Friday at 5 pm where you highlight the words in the objective that make it specific and rigorous. Does that work for you? … Great! Can you play that back to me in your own words - what will you send me?”
When deliverables are this specific and doable, I have rarely had a teacher who wasn’t on board.
Having a focused and attainable next step in the form of a deliverable is a powerful way to help move coaching into action in the classroom.