Precise Feedback during Practice
Since this post focuses on the feedback coaches provide during the practice section of a coaching meeting, I recommend that you check out my previous posts on practice in coaching meetings and scaffolded practice for context, especially if the concept of active practice in coaching meetings is somewhat new to you.
High quality and specific feedback is what supports rapid teacher growth during the practice portion of a coaching meeting. As Jim Knight writes, “A good coach has high expectations and provides the affirmative and honest feedback that helps people to realize those expectations.” Feedback is essential for growth.
During the coaching meeting, ideally half of the time is spent in teacher practice. To launch the practice section, the coach should provide a brief model and name the criteria for success for the skill or strategy that is the focus of the coaching meeting. Then, the coach passes the baton to the teacher to try out the skill or strategy by role playing or co-planning together. After each “rep” of teacher practice, the coach should provide specific, actionable feedback and then immediately jump back into another “rep” of practice.
3 Tips for High Quality Feedback
One glow & one grow: After each teacher practice rep, provide one sentence that both names one “glow” from what the teacher just said or did, and one “grow.” And by one, I mean one. Often, there will be much more to celebrate or that needs work, but sticking to one helps teachers remember your feedback to be able to implement it immediately.
Align to the criteria for success: For both the glow and grow you provide, align your feedback to the criteria for success and model that you provided at the beginning of practice. This helps keep feedback targeted and gives you a clear list of what to provide feedback on. It also helps teachers feel like your feedback is not a “gotcha” because you told them what it should look like before they even started.
Be brief: Keep your feedback to just a few seconds between practice reps. Follow the rule of one glow and one grow, and then avoid extra words or repeating yourself. Coaches tend to do a lot of extra talking between reps which means teachers get less reps in during the coaching meeting.
Example of Feedback During a Coaching Meeting
Let’s consider an example of supporting a teacher around building positive relationships with students during the first 5 minutes of class. (See Coaching for Building Strong Student-Teacher Relationships for more.) We’ll say the criteria for success the coach name are: a) greet every student by name with a smile at the door, b) engage in informal conversation with at least 3 students, and c) start the lesson with a joyful welcome, such as “Good morning! I’m so glad you are here today!” (adapted, of course, to the teacher’s personality).
This is what the feedback could sound like:
Teacher practices greeting students at the door:
Rep 1
Feedback: “Great start! You are including names for every student, now let’s try it again, making sure to smile as you greet students.”
Rep 2
Feedback: “Exactly - smiling really warmed that welcome up! Let’s try it again, adding a fist bump or high five for each student.”
Rep 3
Feedback: “Well done! The fist bump is making this feel fun and welcoming. Now, let’s try it again with a warmer tone of voice, like this [model].”
Rep 4
Feedback “Yes, that’s right on. You are warm, welcoming, and including every student’s name. Let’s do it again, just to lock it in.”
Rep 5
Feedback: “That was great. One more time to build it as a habit.”
Rep 6
Feedback: “You missed two students' names on that one. No worries. Let’s try it one last time with greeting every student by name.”
Then, the practice would move to role playing through informal conversations with students as they enter, then to giving the whole class a warm greeting, and finally to putting it all together. In each “layer” of this scaffolded practice, the coach would provide feedback between each teacher rep, just like the example above.
I’ve found feedback to the component that really helps teachers move from good to great. As Joyce & Showers write in their foundational essay on instructional coaching, “The provision of technical feedback helps keep the mind of the teacher on the business of perfecting skills, polishing them, and working through problem areas.”
But feedback is not just an opportunity for teachers to polish their skills, it’s a great learning experience for teachers as well. In the same article, Joyce & Showers write, “The act of providing feedback is also beneficial to the person doing it.” I agree! Providing feedback makes coaches think on their feet, applying their knowledge right in the moment. You never know exactly how a teacher’s practice rep will go, so responding with strong feedback requires careful listening. Using a framework for feedback like what I’ve laid out above can empower you as a coach to not feel flustered or uncertain of how to respond in the moment, but instead hold high expectations for teachers and help them progress towards them.