Virtual Coaching Adaptations in a Post-Pandemic World
While we are nearing the end of yet another school year dramatically shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, educators across the country are thinking deeply about what they’ve learned in this season and how to hold on to their best innovations. Many of us are tired of working in a virtual space. However, as someone who worked as a virtual instructional coach long before the pandemic, there are a number of tools coaches can carry over from the virtual space to make our coaching more effective in a post-pandemic world.
Coaches who innovate inspire teachers who innovate too.
Before moving to a fully virtual coaching space, I began as a school-based instructional coach at a large urban high school. I was highly skeptical of the ability to translate my craft to a virtual world. To my surprise, I found I could be just as effective virtually as I was when coaching in person, even with building relationships with teachers and analyzing student work. I also found that the virtual space often pushed me to be a better coach than I was in person, because I had to be more organized, well-planned and concise.
Why should coaches consider virtual adaptations?
Cut the travel time: For coaches who work with teachers at multiple schools, the travel time between schools can eat up a fair chunk of one’s day. While there is something powerful about connecting in person, shifting some observations and coaching meetings to a virtual space can allow a coach to increase the number of teachers they support each day. Now more than ever, teachers need the support that coaches provide, and this gives us one way to coach teachers as often as possible.
Coaches wear multiple hats: School-based coaches often fill many roles that end up competing with their role as a coach. They are testing coordinators, dismissal supervisors, and PLCs and PD facilitators. When these other “hats” surface as more urgent in a given day or week, using some of the virtual adaptations below (such as asking a teacher to record a lesson for a virtual observation when the coach is out of the building) can help coaches keep coaching a priority.
Inspires organization: Because the virtual world places some limitations on what coaches can do compared to an in-person space (such as a meeting with clear time limits, or a recording of a part of a lesson rather than a full hour-long lesson), it pushes coaches to have to be as organized, intentional and concise. As a virtual coach, I would often coach four teachers (or school leaders) back-to-back in a two hour window. This meant that I had to have my agenda and materials well prepared, and it held me accountable to end the meeting after exactly 30-minutes. In person, I would often facilitate coaching meetings well over an hour with the same (or less effective) results. What teacher wouldn’t relish that extra time?
Virtual tools for the coach’s toolbox
While fully virtual coaching can be highly effective, most coaches are typically school- or district-based coaches. If this is the case for you, consider how you could use these virtual tools a few times a week, month or year to make your coaching more impactful.
Virtual observations: If you are short on time to sit in on teachers’ classes, or want to see two lessons that are happening simultaneously, consider asking teachers to record their lessons to share with you. I’ve found that a 20-minute clip provides more than enough information to inform coaching, especially if the clip is of an agreed upon section of the lesson. Teachers can record and share their lessons in the cloud through Zoom or Google Drive, or on other platforms such as Swivl or Iris Connect that provide education-focused video sharing space (both require paid accounts). In order to collect as much information as you would by physically visiting the class, make sure to instruct the teacher to position the camera in the back or side of the classroom to capture not only the teacher but also the majority of the students. One of the greatest benefits of virtual observations is that teachers often watch the recording themselves (either as a requested part of coaching or just because they’re curious). Watching a recording of your own teaching is a powerful PD experience, but pairing it with coaching just makes it all the more effective.
Virtual coaching meetings: For coaches who travel between buildings, incorporating some virtual coaching meetings into your schedule may allow you to support your teachers more regularly. After establishing rapport in person, coaches could consider alternating in-building with virtual meetings. Since most teachers are now comfortable with Zoom or other video conferencing platforms, virtual meetings (especially 1:1) can be just as effective and often quicker than in-person meetings. In order to make coaching meetings successful, it’s helpful to have a shared visual, such as slides or a shared Google Doc for collaborative work during the coaching meeting.
Virtual student work analysis: To keep the focus on students and their learning, examining student work in virtual coaching meetings can be highly informative. Coaches can ask teachers to send a photo or scan of a sample of student work from a project, a particular assignment, or an exit ticket. There is no need to scan an entire class’ work, as looking at 2 examples of students that exceeded expectations, 2 that met expectations, and 2 that didn’t meet expectations will give the coach and teacher plenty to discuss. Even for coaching meetings or PLCs that take place in person, inviting teachers to send student work ahead of time allows coaches to look for trends in the work to develop the direction of the training.
Virtual follow-up: Since many coaches meet with teachers at most once a week, teachers’ immediate implementation of new learning can be tricky to assess. Virtual follow-up can help coaches see specific evidence of teacher’s follow through and celebrate their successes. After coaching meetings, consider asking teachers to send a 1 - 3 sentence reflection by email of how implementing a new skill went the next day in class. Alternatively, teachers can record a very short clip of their class, even just 2 - 5 minutes, of them using their new learning from coaching. This follow-up helps increase the accountability without much extra work on the part of the coach.
Even beyond this list, you may have found other virtual tricks for coaching that have worked great in your context. Consider: what virtual tools have you used during the pandemic that you can carry over to be as effective of a coach as possible in a post-pandemic world?
Coaches who innovate inspire teachers who innovate too.