“We Talkin’ ‘bout Practice?!”
Inevitably, when I talk about practice in coaching meetings while training coaches and leaders (at least when I’m in Philly), someone quotes Alan Iverson’s 2002 rant to the press about practice. While I’m not much of a sports fan myself, I can’t help but love Philly sports fans. At one point Iverson says, “We talkin’ about practice. How silly is that?”
In my opinion, at least when shifting from basketball to education, not silly at all! In fact, I believe the strongest instructional coaching meetings involve opportunities for teachers to practice! Let me give an example.
The focus of a coaching meeting that I recently observed between a school leader and a teacher was around creating an environment where all students feel welcomed and seen in the first five minutes of class. During the coaching meeting, after the check-in and a celebration of the teacher's glow area, the leader shared the "grow" data about how the start of the teacher's class was currently going: dozens of redirections of students in just minutes which meant a slow start to the lesson and declining student engagement. The leader shared a simple strategy for shifting the first few minutes of class by welcoming every student by name with a high five or fist bump, and having an activity ready for them at their seat. After discussing this for just a minute, the teacher saw the value in making this adjustment to the start of her class.
And then she jumped up.
In many coaching meetings, this may have been weird. But not with this leader. She had built a culture of practice in her coaching meetings, and so the teacher jumped up to walk to her door, knowing she would practice these teaching moves right in the moment with her coach. And that's just what they did.
First, the leader modeled in her "teacher voice" exactly what welcoming students at the door would look like and sound like. She named the criteria for doing it well. Then she said, "Alright, your turn!" and they traded places. "Let's start with welcoming 5 students by name in a warm tone. You can use any student names from your class." The teacher tried this out, receiving immediate feedback from her coach, and then tried it again. They continued practicing for more than ten minutes.
To wrap up the coaching meeting, the leader asked, "What are your biggest takeaways from practicing just now?" The teacher responded, "I already feel like my classroom already feels more engaging and welcoming, and I can't wait to try this tomorrow! Starting class with that group is always so stressful for me, but this feels much more like the start of class that I want to have, and I think my kids do too."
What is practice in coaching?
Practice is the opportunity in the coaching meeting for teachers to not just talk about a teacher move or strategy, but to actually try it out. It’s the opportunity to do, rather than just discuss. After hearing or seeing a clear example (model) from their coach, teachers have the opportunity in the low-stakes environment of the coaching meeting to practice their new skills. They receive feedback and get as close to perfecting a strategy or skill as they can before trying it out with students.
Typically, practice opportunities can involve role-playing through a scenario or co-planning a part of the lesson or activity. (More on role-playing vs. co-planning practice in a future post.)
Practice is active, engaging, and puts ownership on the teacher.
Why is practice important in coaching meetings?
Many coaching meetings that I experienced in my early career consisted largely of discussion and reflection. (See my piece 8 Misconceptions about Directive Coaching.) But for the last decade, I've seen the powerful impact of actually practicing with teachers right in the coaching meeting.
Here are some of the most important reasons for including practice in coaching meetings:
Builds a new habit: By practicing with teachers, we help them develop new habits, not just familiarity with new skills. Coaching should help teachers move from occasional implementation to consistent implementation where they no longer need to consciously think about what they are doing. The repetition of practice helps teachers build new neural pathways in their brain that makes whatever skill they are working to develop become a habit.
Low-stakes first attempt: Oftentimes, teachers try a new strategy that was suggested in coaching in their classrooms, and then they come back to report, “It didn’t work.” The very first attempt at something usually doesn’t go that well. By practicing with teachers in the coaching meeting, they get to do their first attempts at something new in a much more low-stakes environment. Teachers get coach feedback and actually get good at a skill before using it in the classroom.
Strong implementation: Because teachers have made their first attempts at a new skill in the low-stakes environment of the coaching meeting, their implementation in the classroom tends to be much stronger the first time. While teachers should constantly be working to grow, our students deserve the best possible version of teaching strategies, instead of having to be a part of the struggle with all the kinks the teacher is trying to work out.
Engaging and teacher-centered: Just like great teaching, practice in coaching meetings is engaging. It centers the teacher as the doer and the learner.
5 Elements of Practice in Coaching Meetings
Model first: Before the teacher tries out a new or revised skill in practice, make sure to model the skill first. The model should help the teacher see exactly what strong implementation looks like. For example, this could be modeling a few higher-order questions in your “teacher voice” or showing an example of a lesson plan where all the activities clearly align to the rigorous learning objective. Along with the model, explicitly name the criteria for success with this strategy to help “pull back the curtain” on what good teaching looks like.
Provide feedback: After each round of practice, provide brief feedback to the teacher on what worked well and one small thing to improve.
Short feedback loops: Then, immediately after providing feedback to the teacher, ask them to try it again, implementing the feedback that you provided. By using short feedback loops, teachers can grow quickly in their ability to implement the new strategy. In their book Practice Perfect, authors Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway and Katie Yezzi write, “Speed of consequence beats strength of consequence pretty much every time. Give feedback right away, even if it’s imperfect.”
Build automaticity: This is one of the things that feels most awkward at first for folks who are new to practice in coaching, but it is well worth getting over the initial discomfort. After your teacher has practiced a skill with your feedback and then they nail it, ask them to do it again 3 - 5 more times. We are used to seeing someone do something well, and then move on. However, by asking teachers to do their new skill at least 3 - 5 times perfectly, it helps to literally rewire their brains to be able to use this skill with automaticity. Again from Practice Perfect: “Stress learning skills all the way to automaticity so that participants can use them automatically– and before they consciously decide to do so.” This is where a new skill becomes a habit.
Practice for half: Because of the power of practice, plan to practice for half the coaching meeting or more. For a 30-minute coaching meeting, this means 15 minutes are spent in practice. That means the other elements of the agenda need to be focused and brief to be able to prioritize practice.
Additionally, practice should grow in complexity and the amount that it mirrors a real classroom environment. This is what I call “scaffolded practice.” (Check out my post on scaffolded practice.)
Practice is one of the most powerful tools to help teachers grow quickly and see the corresponding positive impacts on the thriving of all their students.