Weekly Coaching Roundup: Student-Centered Coaching

This month’s Weekly Coaching Roundup topic is student-centered coaching! Learn all about Diane Sweeney’s coaching methodology, how PLCs can carefully amplify its impact, and more!

TeachBoost’s Weekly Coaching Roundup is our hand-picked list of first-person perspectives, resources, and tools from instructional coaches! If you’d like to stay up to date on coaching news be sure to subscribe to our weekly roundup below for fresh content delivered Wednesday’s straight to your inbox.

Student-Centered Coaching and PLCs

Diane Sweeney provides a playbook for creating harmony between PLCs and student-centered coaching.

“Student-centered coaching is organized through cycles that are flexible, responsive, and needs based. The goal is to create partnerships that lead to a deeper level of shared decision-making and follow through. Teachers choose how they will engage in coaching cycles. They also choose with whom they will engage. Given the personalized nature of coaching cycles, teachers are more able to be vulnerable in ways they can’t be in PLCs.”

Keys to Success in Student-Centered Coaching

Christina Brammall shares 4 invaluable components to coaching that she’s amassed from colleagues, books, and trainings.

“As an instructional coach you spend every day being a catalyst for change. Sometimes, our work results in successful collaboration and growth for the students, teachers, and ourselves. Sometimes our work is derailed due to a lack of buy-in from our teachers. For me, Student-Centered Coaching is my what and my why are the students.”

What is Student-Centered Coaching?

Michelle Smith defines student-centered coaching and provides four practical examples of how it’s used in her coaching efforts.

“Ongoing communication with a school-based coach or administrator can further strengthen the coaching that we as consultants provide. . . . We strive to build a greater understanding of the wide array of resources available to the teacher to meet their students’ individual needs.”

Student-Centered Coaching: An Interview with Diane Sweeney

Adela Valcea published a Q&A session from a Diane Sweeney webinar that addresses many tactical questions on implementing her work.

“The first conversation in a coaching cycle is a great opportunity to frame coaching around a goal that is standards-based. This will help a teacher think bigger than day-to-day planning. Once you get going, the conversations naturally turn to planning individual lessons. . . . In this way, I can ensure that we both have a clear vision and can think together as the instruction plays out.”

Moving Beyond Modeling

Diane Sweeney also offers 4 strategies that surface coachable moments and build relationships.

“Co-teaching is an untapped strategy that provides coachable moments throughout a lesson. It is a dynamic process in which the teacher and coach work together to move student learning forward. In a classroom where co-teaching is occurring, it’s hard to tell who the teacher is and who the coach is, because both are engaged and involved partners in the delivery of the lesson. To get there, the teacher and coach develop a shared vision through co-planning and then work side-by-side to ensure that they get the results they are looking for.”

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