Coaching is the ultimate form of personalized professional learning. There is no better way to help teachers refine their craft then to work with a coach. And better yet, what if coaching helps the students grow too? That’s what student-centered coaching is about, increasing student achievement and developing teacher capacity…all at the same time. I … Read more
We are excited to have published our new book, Student-Centered Coaching: The Moves (Corwin, 2016). It was so much fun to write this book, especially since I had the opportunity to work with co-author Leanna Harris, a fellow consultant on our team. I have recently been asked how this new book compares with Student-Centered Coaching: … Read more
White Paper A Vision for Supporting Model Classroom Teachers in the State of Iowa Written by Diane Sweeney, author of Student-Centered Coaching (Corwin, 2010) and Student-Centered Coaching at the Secondary Level (Corwin, 2013) Introduction School districts throughout Iowa are implementing grant programs through the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC) that focus on building teacher capacity … Read more
A recent article by Charlotte Danielson in Education Week has taken the Twittersphere by storm. In it she writes, “I’m deeply troubled by the transformation of teaching from a complex profession requiring nuanced judgment to the performance of certain behaviors that can be ticked off on a checklist. In fact, I (and many others in … Read more
This post was updated and revised in December 2019 – please go here to read: https://dianesweeney.com/coaching-cycles-getting-to-60-percent/ Getting to 60% (PART III OF III) In this blog series, we have addressed the importance of coaching cycles as a method to increase our impact on student and teacher learning. We also surfaced common barriers to getting traction … Read more
This post was updated and revised in December 2019 – please go here to read: https://dianesweeney.com/coaching-cycles-getting-to-60-percent/ Coaching cycles are our best chance for creating authentic partnerships that increase student outcomes. In a coaching cycle, the teacher and coach are both in the mix, reflecting on their decision-making, problem solving, and figuring out how to adjust … Read more
This post was updated and revised in December 2019 – please go here to read: https://dianesweeney.com/coaching-cycles-getting-to-60-percent/ During a recent session with a partner district, I asked a K-12 team of coaches and principals to jot down the percentage of time that they would like to see dedicated to coaching cycles. I have to admit that … Read more
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 … Read more