1:1 coaching: 1:1 coaching describes when a coach works individually with a practitioner, typically before or after an in-class coaching session. During 1:1 coaching sessions, coaches and practitioners may work together for a variety of reasons, including time to planning lessons, problem solving, discussing student progress, and debriefing about observed lessons.
Andragogy: Andragogy is the method and practice of teaching adult learners.
Articulation: Articulation describes when a coach clearly and explicitly verbalizes the steps, procedures, or process for implementing a lesson or strategy.
Attuned: Being attuned is being aware of and responsive to children’s responses, cues, and signals.
Classroom management: Classroom management describes a practitioner’s ability to create an organized and predictable environment for child learning combined with the emotional climate and support that fosters children’s feelings of acceptance.
Coach: Coach describes a professional who provides direct and individualized professional development services to educators. Coaches are also sometimes referred to as specialists or mentors.
Coaching competencies: Coaching competencies describe sets of skills that are needed to show mastery across various aspects of coaching. There are six coaching competencies: characteristics of effective specialists, observation skills, providing feedback, fostering reflective thinking, demonstration and articulation, and supporting continuous improvement. Each of the six coaching competencies is made up of a series of related skills that collectively show mastery of the coaching competency.
Coaching micro-credentials: Coaching micro-credentials are a digital form of certification that indicate competency in a specified set of skills (National Education Association, 2018). To earn coaching micro-credentials, coaches select the competency indicator they want to show mastery in. Then, coaches complete the requirements needed to earn the selected coaching competency. Individual badges are awarded upon successful completion of each requirement for the selected coaching competency. Additionally, a micro-credential badge is awarded upon successful completion of all of the requirements for the selected competency.
Coaching strategies: Coaching strategies are methods/techniques the coach uses to support practitioners in developing and improving their instructional skills and abilities.
Continuous improvement: Continuous improvement describes the practice of guiding practitioners to set measurable aims and test whether the changes they make lead to improvements. Typically, this process encourages practitioners to 1) make a change related to an aspect of classroom instruction; 2) implement the change; 3) examine the data resulting from the implemented change; and 4) reflect on what they have learned by abandoning, revising, or increasing the change (Langley et al., 2009).
Co-teaching: Co-teaching is a process by which the coach (1) joins the practitioner in planning the lesson, (2) begins the lesson by modeling and guiding the first turn, and (3) transitions to supporting the practitioner in implementing the remainder of the lesson. Co-teaching is a process that combines coaching strategies such as instructional planning, modeling, side-by-side coaching, and reflective questioning to provide practitioners with a rich learning opportunity and high levels of support.
Cues: A cue is a type of receptive communication that provides a message from one person to another.
Demonstrating: See definition of “Modeling.”
Gradual release: Gradual release describes how coaches scaffold practitioners’ instructional improvement over time. Gradual release is a process by which the coach strategically scaffolds practitioners’ learning in order to provide sufficient initial support as practitioners are acquiring new knowledge and learning new skills. It may occur over a few minutes, a day, a week, a month, or a year.
In-class coaching: In-class coaching is defined as when the coach works with a practitioner during a period of classroom instruction when students are present. A coach may demonstrate, provide verbal or nonverbal guidance, observe, and provide feedback during in-class coaching sessions.
“In the moment” coaching: In the moment coaching describes when a coach provides feedback or intervenes while the practitioner is delivering a lesson or implementing a strategy.
Instructional planning: Instructional planning is a very intentional period of sitting down with a practitioner, mapping out a specific activity or lesson, usually with data, curriculum guides, activity guides, etc. This is a process of helping practitioners to organize and optimize their instruction. It is an organized description of the activities and resources the practitioner will use to guide the children to a specific learning objective. It details the lesson the practitioner will teach and how to teach it.
Modeling: Modeling is when the coach demonstrates a lesson, approach or strategy they would like to see the practitioner do. Modeling is a high-intensity coaching strategy because the coach is the one doing the “heavy lifting” with interactions that often target specific behaviors and instructional change. The process for demonstration includes feedback and then immediate practice.
Reflection: Reflection is described as an ongoing process of learning from experiences in order to gain insights about the individual/practice. Reflection occurs when a practitioner demonstrates self-awareness and critical evaluation of their teaching practices and professional learning/development. The purpose of reflection is to gain new understanding in order to improve future practice.
Responses: Responses are a child’s reaction to any event, situation, question, experience, or other type of stimulus.
Scaffolding: Scaffolding refers to a process in which coaches model or demonstrate how to solve a problem and then step back, offering support to the practitioner as needed.
Side-by-Side Coaching: Side-by-side coaching is the process of providing the practitioner instructional support while the practitioner is providing classroom instruction. This strategy is used when the practitioner is very familiar with the instructional practice or activity. During the lesson, if the coach identifies a missed opportunity, the coach should briefly interject with a comment, suggestion, or tip while the practitioner is providing classroom instruction. The practitioner is doing the majority of the work teaching the lesson, while the coach is close by to “jump in” to improve or enhance the lesson as needed.
Signals: Signals are gestures, actions, or sounds that children use to convey information.
Skill development: Skill development describes practitioners’ instructional efforts that are focused on increasing students’ independence, learning, problem solving skills, and critical thinking skills.