Have you ever been teaching and told that today you will have visitors attending your lesson to observe, coach and give feedback, to then be filled with dread? Even though you are confident in your ability to teach and you are fully prepared; the nerves kick in and you fear all of the possible worst things that could go wrong or the horrendous things they could say about the lesson. There could be two reasons for this feeling... 

1- You care! You care how you reflect on the school. You care how well you are teaching. You care about the impact on the pupils. This is brilliant news and whatever feedback you are given will be reflected upon and will enhance your future teaching.

2- You have had some bad experiences with lessons observations, learning walks and negative feedback. We all want to feel like we are doing our absolute best- not for our egos, but for the children- however at times we need to hear what isn't working well and what elements need improving. This part is all in the delivery.

Recently, we had a team meeting at Roade English Hub, where the training focus was on responsive coaching and giving effective feedback. I had read the book 'Responsive Coaching' by Josh Goodrich and used it to train our staff. Part of the Literacy Specialist role is to coach phonics teachers and those delivering additional reading support. Our team are confident at jumping in to the middle of a phonics lesson to model or whispering advice into the ear of a phonics teacher. Another part of the role is to upskill the Reading/Phonics Leader so they can do the same and so the question was asked "How do we coach a coach?". Our aim is to ensure the Reading/Phonics Leaders we support in our Partner Schools coach and give feedback with the same confidence and positivity that we do. We can support them with where to sit for optimal coaching; when to jump in; what to look out for during the lesson and now how to structure individual feedback. 

In the book, it talks of strengthening teachers awareness to the change that needs to be made but how do we know what the member of staff is already aware of? Well, we can use some prompts during feedback...

Tell me about the moment you...

Tell me about X during the time on the carpet.

I noticed that... Can you tell me about what you saw that lead to this? 

Using similar prompts allows the coach to direct the member of staff to share what they noticed at the specific moment, without the question being leading. This is a great way to find out if they have noticed what the coach has also noticed. If it correlates, then the coach can ask for suggestions on changes that can be made and they can work together to plan next steps. If the member of staff is not aware of what the coach has noticed, then the focus needs to be on developing awareness and the coach will need to give further guidance, telling the member of staff what strategies are needed to be put in place and the reasons why. Each member of staff will need different feedback based on their previous experiences and our roles as coaches is a lot like our role as teachers- we look for a list of positives then an individual target to help the individual to develop and progress even further. Even as adults we are constantly learning, adapting and changing and part of that is through receiving and reflecting on feedback. So now, when you are told there will be a learning walk with coaching and feedback- embrace it! Listen to the positives and reflect on what can be made event better.