Recording Coaching Meeting to Reflect
Recording yourself coaching can feel daunting: most people don't like to see themselves on camera or feel the added pressure of being recorded. However, I've found recording coaching meetings to be one of the most helpful tools for coach growth, both my own and coaches that I support.
Why is Recording Helpful?
Depending on how you are using the recording, the process may be helpful for different reasons. I've used the process largely in these two scenarios:
Self-reflection: Recording to self-reflect is helpful to see what really happens in coaching meetings, instead of what you think happens. It is a tool for increased accountability for yourself, especially around particular goals (such as equally sharing "airtime" with a teacher). The recording allows you to accurately capture your pacing and measure exactly how long each part of the meeting takes. Additionally, for challenging scenarios (such as when a teacher pushes back on your ideas or tries to take the conversation off track) the recording gives you time to brainstorm and practice other possible responses, which is difficult to do in the moment.
Share with a coach for feedback: Sharing recordings of my coaching meetings with my coach have been some of the ways I've grown most in my coaching because outside observers tend to see things that you don't. The process of sharing a recording with a coach helps move the coaching partnership from a conversation about coaching to more focused action and next steps. This process is particularly helpful for setting clear goals in your coaching, and checking to see if you've met them or identifying what is holding you back. For example, I work with coaches around setting a "12x12" goal, where they aim to start teacher practice by at least 12 minutes into the meeting, and practice for 12 minutes or more. Without recording, coaches may "feel like" they achieved the goal, but a recording allows them to see that they actually started practice 18 minutes in and the teacher only practiced for 5 minutes.
Logistics of Recording Coaching Meetings
Here are a few things to consider to ease the process of recording a coaching meeting for self-reflection or feedback:
Make sure to ask for teacher permission before you record.
Giving a clear rationale to the teacher is helpful, focusing on the opportunity for your own growth. It may sound something like this, "I'm hoping to record our meeting tomorrow in order to share it with my coach for feedback. The process is about my growth and how I'm facilitating the meeting, and not at all a reflection on you or what you say. Would you be open to allowing me to record?"
If possible, record to the cloud in a secure platform. Time spent uploading videos can be frustrating. If your organization shares a common platform, such as Zoom, use that. (To record in the cloud on Zoom, I just open a Zoom meeting with just me present and then record the teacher and me in the room. I minimize the Zoom window so we don't have to see each other. If teachers feel unconfortable being on camera, I just aim it towards myself.)
Important "Look-fors"
When you are self- reflecting or watching to provide feedback for another coach, there are some of the important things you can be looking for and taking notes on:
Balance of teacher vs. coach voice: How much of the time is the teacher talking compared with the coach talking. Do you best to estimate the actual minutes spent talking by the coach compared with the teacher.
Practice section: How much time is spent in teacher practice? Is it scaffolded? When does it start? Does it start with a coach model and clear next steps? (See my previous post on scaffolded teacher practice.)
Next steps: What are the next steps that the teacher (and coach) will take as a result of this meeting? Were they clearly communicated in the meeting? Are they focused and purposeful?
Growth: Is there evidence that the teacher has grown as a result of this meeting?
Recording works best when you have a partner in the process! If you don't have a coach coach, find a fellow coach and plan to share a recording in order to reflect together.