Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Accountability and Cognitive Coaching

We are Works in Progress. Initially this may not sound comforting. However, after careful consideration it is like a breath of fresh air. Works in Progress are constantly sowing and growing. I believe the reference is clear: Lifelong Learners. Exactly what is a Lifelong Learner and how does one verify this status? The first step is to think individually of someone you perceive to be a Lifelong Learner. Next run a mental list of what you have actually seen that person do or say to qualify as a Lifelong Learner. This scenario can and must be conducted for children and professionals. Soon you will be noting the behaviors that Lifelong Learners exhibit. How exciting that as professionals we are able to embark on the same journey as our children.

We have attended numerous training sessions that focused on the Art of Coaching and read various professional texts. Some of the text include: Asking the Right Question, Powerful Designs for Professional Learning, The Heart of Coaching, and Taking the Lead.


Taking the Lead continues to be a focus for Coaches since it highlights roles for teachers and school-based coaches. As a School Instructional Coach I am required to keep a Daily Activity Report. This serves as an accountability tool and is generated using an Excel Spreadsheet. The Spreadsheet has 5 headers titled:

  • Date
  • School Hours
  • Topic/Activity
  • School ID or School Number
  • Code or task

School Instructional Coaches are required to submit their monthly Activity Report to the Schultz Center, our professional development center. The data is then compiled and presented to the school board. No, it is not my hearts desire to complete an Activity Report in 15 minute to hour or longer increments on a daily basis. I complete my Activity Report because it is part of my job. As School Instructional Coaches this tool is a vehicle that enables the district to view the value of our position and see how we contribute to the academic achievement of our children along with schoolwide professional learning communities.


Activity Report Snapshot




Completing and maintaining my Activity Log helps me to focus and prioritize my tasks as a School Instructional Coach. This year we have a new format for our Activity Reports. The Excel Spreadsheet is also divided into each month of the school year with additional tabs that provide a monthly and yearly graph along with a summary report. What each instructional coach strives for is to provide their teachers and students with the (5) Power Roles. The (5) Power Roles include:




Snapshot of the Five Power Roles




  • CL: Classroom Supporter
  • IS: Instructional Specialist
  • CS: Curriculum Specialist
  • LF: Learning Facilitator
  • DC: Data Coach

I share this information with you because I am now able to analyze the data from my Activity Report and determine where I am spending the majority of my time along with reflections on the path of my next journey or the focus of my next journey/journeys. My journeys enable me to practice vital coaching skills and strategies that continue to help me communicate with my peers. This is at the heart of our professiona-to impact each child's academic achievement by helping each child know what success looks like and how success feels.


Those of us that remember America's Choice know that my job title has gone through several name changes. First came the title of Design Coach, followed by Standards Coach, and keeping with the spirit of Works in Progress we are now referred to as School Instructional Coaches.

Each title change really did not change the work or tasks set forth for us to accomplish. What is interesting is that with each name change the challenge and opportunities to communicate with our fellow peers was an ever present constant. I still pray each day for guidance as I strive to communicate with my fellow peers with clarity using a respectful, constructive, productive, and purposeful delivery manner. The ultimate goal is to be a good listener and distill the essential elements of each session together.


I have always searched and probably will continue to value learning hip-to-hip, side-by-side, or on the shoulders of valued peers. I am honored and humbled to learn from my peers that possess the true art of communicating with seamless qualities.

2008 begins either my 9th or 10th year of coaching. I consider myself to be embarking on a new journey each year because...well...I am a Work in Progress! I use the term journey because it epitomizes the process of traveling from one place to another coupled with time elements, vehicles ,passages one weaves in and out of along with the progress charted. One vital aspect I will never loose sight of are the wondrouprofessional travelers I meet along the way.

School Instructional Coaches have embarked on a new journey together. This journey is known as Cognitive Coaching. I have currently attend two sessions of an eight session program. The training sessions are conducted at the
Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership.


Two days of training and (14)...yes, 14 pages of typed notes continue to provide me with a plate full of food for thought. Can you imagine how full I will be after eight sessions! What I am trying to practice as I slowly digest/synthesize the first two days of Cognitive Coaching is that I am ever so thankful to be a Work in Progress.

The Cognitive Coaching framework provides support, knowledge, and guidance for all teachers in an effort to become self-thinkers who possess the ability to function as a member of their school family. This framework evokes the opportunity to embrace student learning as we strive for our children to know what success look like and experience how success feels. The coaches role is not that of a problem solver but rather to take the teacher on the journey of exploration. This exploration will pave the way for teachers to solve problems that may be as unique to them as the mixed ability groups they teach and work with on a daily basis. I believe that the emphasis is on self-assessment for the intent of learning.

The mission of Cognitive Coaching is to produce self-directed persons with the cognitive capacity for high performance both independently and as members of a community. -2007 Center for Cognitive Coaching

In other words the intent is to take an individual from where they are and move them to where they desire to be...arrive.

During the course of session one and two our journey with Cognitive Coaching allowed us to explore some of the following components:

  • Becoming Self-Directed
  • Self-Modifying: Analyzing when the change comes from the person that is when it stays
  • Self-Assessing: What do you think...How will that work...The more emphasis on the outside monitoring the less that person know on the inside of themselves
  • Help students become Self-Evaluators: Don't always answer for them...get them to think...
  • Holonomy: holos=whole on=part omy=study of
    The study of being simultaneously whole and part. Think about yourself as part of a community of learners where you are equally good by yourself and as part of your professional learning community or in the case of children...part of their learning community
  • Holonomy and the Five States of Mind:
    Consciousness
    Craftsmanship which I link with being a Lifelong Learner
    Efficacy
    Flexibility
    Interdependence
  • Identity
  • Mediator: Not a fixer of a person's problem...might rob person of room to grow...never say never...about developing capacity in other to accomplish tasks
  • Elements of Rapport:
    Posture
    Gesture
    Tonality
    Language
    Breathing
  • Trust: Relational Trust and Lenses of Trust
    Respect
    Competence
    Personal Regard for Others...even beyond the classroom
    Personal Integrity
    Trust takes time
  • We discussed (4) Support Functions of Coaching and how to support functions to guide meditation interactions
    Cognitive Coaching
    Collaborating
    Consulting
    Evaluating
  • Cognitive Coaching Capabilities: relate to the how of learning
  • Listening Set- Asides: there are natural ways humans listen. When we want the focus on the other person then we must set these aside:
    Autobiographical Listening
    Inquisitive Listening or Soap Opera Listening
    Solution Listening
  • Response Behaviors
    Paraphrasing which sends three messages:
    I am listening
    I am interested
    I understand
  • Pausing - Wait Time
  • The time to leave coaching and move into consulting

During the course of our two day Cognitive Coaching Sessions we participated in table talk, viewed videos, read/synthesized/summarized using reading protocols, watched role plays, studied theory, watched demonstrations, and we were assigned HOMEWORK.

I have been immersed in classroom visitations, modeling lessons, going to classroom observations with teachers, conducting verbal and written debriefs, along with holding conversations with students and staff members. I am diligently trying to practice the art of Cognitive Coaching as each opportunity presents itself. I am investing in the Cognitive Coaching tool as I adjust the focus of my coaching lens. I am even polishing this lens for greater clarity as I apply the components I am learning throughout my Cognitive Coaching journey.


Packing wisely for my Cognitive Coaching travels is a must. The Cognitive Coaching vehicle provides me with a wondrous opportunity to continue my journey as a Lifelong Learner.

I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
I reflect and I learn.

-Carmen Friesen
Tulare County Office of Education


Technology Refresher/TIPS: (I will try to include at least one or two MacByte Tech TIPS within each new blog post)

  • Remember Worlde? Give it a try as a creative and fun way to help your students explore and investigate vocabulary.

  • Resource:
    K-12 ProQuest is an online subscription that Duval County Public Schools has purchased for teachers and students. It consists of a wealth of resources that are avaiable once you log in.
    Username: jacksonville Password: jacksonville