How to coach the teacher to collect, analyze, and utilize the student work?

        When we mentioned student work in the past, most people would think of the ones presented on the paper. However, Generation Y teachers (Rebore 2015) make a broad use of the technology in teaching. Therefore nowadays, especially during and after the pandemic, teachers began to collect student work electronically as well, for example, the assignments submitted to Google Classroom. Student work can be from the formative assessment like classwork, homework, or quiz, and summative assessment such as the midterm exam or a project. 

      The mentor can guide the mentee to do a “class evaluation census” by using the Student Work Analysis Protocol (Protocol by RIDE). They can jointly review the learning goals, the standards, and the rubric to reach an agreement about proficiency. Then the mentor may coach the mentee to diagnose student strengths and needs by doing a “quick sort” of student work: objectives met, partially met, not met, not sure. The mentee teacher writes down or types the student names in the columns in order to monitor progress (2012). It also allows the teacher to calculate the percentage of the class who met the objectives (high), partially met the objectives (expected), and did not meet objectives (low), see the following chart:

       I found it is important and helpful to form a habit of writing notes on the student work. The following examples are the notes I took on the student work collected from the 10th English class I observed. 

Student work from the gifted student This student demonstrated high proficiency of the vocabulary words by answering all the questions in each activity correctly.  This student paid close attention to the capitalization, punctuation, and the directions of the questions.  The teacher may provide this student with additional practice with more challenges.

Student’s work from the English learner This student answered most questions correctly. This student skipped the last 2 questions in the activity 1: In-Context Predictions . Teacher’s explanation is needed.  This student answered all the 9 questions correctly in the activity 2: Fill-in-blank sentences. However, she answered on the blanks and left the column marked “My answer” blank. Teacher’s explanation about where to write the answer is needed.  This student showed confusion of the vocabulary “civil” and “idealism” in the activity 3: Fill-in-the-Blank Scenarios.    This student answered all the 9 questions correctly in the activity 4: Matching.  This student answered all the 9 questions in the activity 5: Application of Vocabulary. The questions in this activity are open-ended without the standard answer key.  This student was able to express himself/herself.  This student needs to work on the capitalization and the plural form.  Scroll down to see the notes on the pages of the student work.

Student’s work from the student with special learning needs This student answered most questions correctly. This student answered 7 out of 9 questions correctly in the activity 1: In-Context Predictions . Teacher’s explanation is needed to explain about the vocabulary “futile” and “hierarchy”.  This student answered all the 9 questions correctly in the activity 2: Fill-in-blank sentences. This student answered 3 out of 9 questions correctly in the activity 3: Fill-in-the-Blank Scenarios. Detailed explanation and various strategies are needed from the teacher to this student.     This student answered 3 out of 9 questions correctly in the activity 4: Matching.  This students showed understanding of the vocabulary “civil” and “contrite” because she answered the questions about these two words correctly in the activity 1, 2, 3, and 4.  This student answered all the 9 questions in the activity 5: Application of Vocabulary. The questions in this activity are open-ended without the standard answer key. This student answered these questions very briefly without following the directions to use the underlined vocabulary word in the answer.  This student was able to express himself/herself.  Teacher’s explanation of the definition of the vocabulary words and the directions of answering questions are needed. Differentiate strategies are needed to provide to this student for him/her to improve with equity.  Scroll down to see the notes on the pages of the student work.

   

After diagnosing what the student knows and still needs to learn (Protocol by RIDE), the mentor can discuss with the mentee together the learning needs for the students in each level: high, expected, and low. The reflective questions may include:

1. What went well in your teaching? What did not go well? Why?

2. What is the trend of the class of this work?

3. What are the teaching strategies you plan to use to benefit the whole class?

4. How would you like to help English learners and students with special learning needs?

      After discussing the above questions, the mentee should be encouraged to fill in the chart with the strategies for the gifted students, average students, English learners, and the students with special learning needs.   

      It is also a great interactive and engaging method to include the excellent student work in the teacher’s slide to demonstrate the work sample, explain the expectations, and connect the subject matter with the students’ real-life contexts. 

      The ultimate goal is increased student learning. The key for student learning is the teacher. Providing support and coaching to the new teachers and veteran teachers with timely instructional feedback can promote the quality of teaching and learning. 

Resources: 

Center for Collaborative Education (2012), Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts, Boston, MA. 

Rebore (20215), Human Resources Administration in Education, Pearson. 

Student Work Analysis Protocol, Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE).

https://www.ride.ri.gov/portals/0/uploads/documents/teachers-and-administrators-excellent-educators/educator-evaluation/online-modules/student_work_analysis_protocol.pdf

How to prepare for a class observation?

       According to Coaching with a Focus (class material), the first part of the collaborative coaching cycle is the collaborative planning conference (pre-observation conference). It allows the mentor and mentee to discuss lesson plan goals and objectives and to determine the focus for a classroom observation. Understanding and analyzing the classroom context is essential to the mentoring cycle. What is the classroom context? It is established by the teacher and students through daily practice to create a positive and effective teaching and learning environment, for example, set up and follow the class rules, ask and respond to the questions, borrow and return the pencil. Examining the classroom context with the mentee helps the mentor understand the classroom culture during the observation. 

       During the collaborative planning conference, the mentor can guide the mentee to get to know deeper about students by examining students' assets. This process allows the mentee to discover students’ weaknesses, strengths, and more. The mentor can ask the mentee the following guided questions “Who are your students outside of the school walls? What do they love? Where did they come from? What do they fear? (Harper, 2020)”. The mentor should provide the standards to the mentee and jointly select the standards as the focus of the observation and coaching. Many schools in California apply the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) for observation. In order to to help the mentee exceed this standard, the mentor can guide the mentee to truly know about her students’ background, interest, strength, and areas that need to improve by asking the above questions. Knowing students’ assets can make her teaching connect with students’ lives in a more meaningful and fun way. The coach can also share the growth mindset with the mentee what Labor (2020) states regarding the asset-based approach to teaching: that is grounded in what students can do rather than what they cannot do or areas of weakness. 

       It is crucial for the mentor and the mentee to analyze students' learning needs during the pre-observation conference. It can be conducted by using and analyzing the collected data to distinguish the different learning needs groups: advanced, average, and struggling students. The mentor can guide the mentee to plan the differentiated teaching to each group to meet their needs with equity. 

       Marzano (2012) states that setting goals or objectives is associated with gain in student achievement. Goal-setting strategies are most effective when used in specific times, for example, at the beginning of a unit. The discussion between the mentor and the mentee about the learning goals and objectives can help the mentor to have the focus of the observation and the mentee to have the clear purpose of teaching. 

       During the collaborative planning conference, the mentor and the mentee can also discuss how to collect students' work products, such as how many sample works are needed, should it be randomly selected, or select sample works from the advanced, average, and struggling group of students? In the following conference, the mentor can discuss with the mentor about the collected students’ works from the gifted student, English learner, and student with special needs. The mentor can support the mentee to analyze and dig more deeply into the evidence they have captured together (2014). The mentor and the mentee can analyze students’ strengths and areas that need to be improved, and discuss the ways of adapting teaching to meet students’ needs with equity.

Resources:

2014, A Reflective Guide to Mentoring and being a Teacher Mentor by EdPartnerships International, commissioned, the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Coaching with a focus, Concordia University class material

Labor (2020), 3 Steps to Developing an Asset-Based Approach to Teaching, Edutupia, https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-steps-developing-asset-based-approach-teaching

Nichelle Harper (2020), Empower Your Classroom: Let's Talk About Assets-Based Instruction, https://www.yeseep.org/blog/empower-your-classroom-lets-talk-about-assets-based-instruction

Robert J. Marzano, Julia A. Simms (2012), Coaching Classroom Instruction, Marzano Resources