Tool Guides
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Tools Professional Development
Video overview for using the three primary coaching tools in the APLM online. The Goal Attainment Scaling Tool, the Coaching Conversations Guide, and the Coaching Log.
Video Transcript:
Speaker: Jocelyn Washburn
Thank you for working with the APLM WRITE Team. We are thrilled to have you. The goal of this professional development for coaches is to make sure coaches are comfortable using the coaching tools in the APLM online, so they can later show teachers how to use them during their coaching sessions.
There are three primary coaching tools in the APLM online. The Goal Attainment Scaling Tool, the Coaching Conversations Guide, and the Coaching Log.
Here is an overview of our plan for the hybrid professional learning. First, create your APLM online account using the link provided. Next, watch demonstration videos on how to use three coaching tools. Review the accompanying how-to documents. There are three how-to documents to serve as resources for the Goal Attainment Scaling Tool, the Coaching Conversations Guide, and the Coaching Log.
We invite feedback on these how-to documents because they will eventually be added to the APLM online. Explore creating each coaching tool to prepare to use them with teachers while you are exploring. Please make note of any suggestions for improving this professional learning experience for future coaches. Any challenges with using the tools. Feedback on the tools, usability and functionality, and suggestions for the how-to documents.
Later, we’ll get together as a group to debrief. We’ll debrief the tools. We’ll have a conversation about key points for their use, and we’ll exchange ideas for improvement. These three coaching tools are intended to support the coaching cycle to be shared next. The goal of these tools is for the coach to support teachers in using WRITE data to make instructional decisions and monitor student progress in writing performance.
This is a high level overview of the sequence and the interactions between what happens in the classroom and what happens during the coaching sessions. First, in the classroom, teachers will use write progress monitoring to gather student data during the first coaching session. The teacher will share with the coach the students performance and work together to set a goal and then, using the Coaching Conversations guide, have a conversation about an instructional plan that will yield improvement in student performance and writing, and then set an implementation plan and how you will work together to reflect and document progress in both instruction and in student growth. And then in the classroom, the teacher will implement the instructional decision that was decided during the coaching session, gather evidence of implementation, and administer WRITE for a second time. Then we’ll loop back to have another coaching session to check progress on student goal attainment. Make any new instructional decisions or adjust the instructional decision and set another implementation plan. And this cycle can repeat.
Thank you for your time and energy in partnering with us to refine the APLM online, which is designed to support you as a coach.
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Goal Setting with Goal Attainment Scaling
A Technology-Enhanced Tool to Support Setting and Attaining Meaningful Goals
Overview
Purpose: The APLM Online goal setting tool is intended to provide clarity and focus for teachers and coaches about a specific way to improve student learning through improved instructional practices. The goal attainment scaling tool is intended to provide further clarity for teachers and coaches about a specific path for goal attainment, as well as a progress tracking system to show movement toward the goal.
Background on Development: A well-written goal can be the difference between a teacher making progress toward better instructional practices, and a teacher remaining reliant upon comfortable but less effective instruction. Various goal-setting formulas focus on features of goals such as specificity, relevance, and connection to student learning and data. The APLM Online is flexible in that it can accommodate whatever goal setting formula a coach and teacher wish to use. One consistent challenge in goal setting is finding a goal of an appropriate “grain size.” The APLM Online system is built for goals that are worthy of sustained attention, and may serve as a focus over many weeks or months. In order to help users determine goals that fit this description, APLM Online uses goal attainment scaling, a validated process for breaking down and measuring attainment of personalized goals. Coaches and teachers determine a path for goal attainment by determining points of progress ahead of time that will drive coaching and implementation activities.
Uses: The goal setting with goal attainment scaling tools can be used to set meaningful, context-specific, personalized goals for each teacher participating in coaching. Through using the goal attainment scaling tool, coaches and teachers can also create a pragmatic set of markers for measuring progress toward each teacher’s personalized goals. These tools might provide evidence of professional growth, provide a broad view (through APLM goal reports) of a system’s instructional focus, and inform needs for system wide professional learning efforts.
Tips for Teachers:
Allow thoughtful reflection to drive goal setting. This will help to ensure your goal is personalized to your professional needs.
Follow the guide on Goal Attainment Scaling. This will help to ensure progress can be measured in ways that make sense for you and your goal.
Get personal. Set a goal that is personally meaningful to you, that you will be proud and excited to work toward accomplishing.
How-To Steps for its use in the APLM Online:
- From the APLM Online homepage, hover over the drop-down arrow on the “Coaching” heading in the Toolbar at the top of the screen, move cursor down to hover over “Coachee Goal,” and click on “Create Coachee Goal” to the left of the menu.
- In the Goal Name field, enter a succinct name for a goal. Often, coaches and teachers find it helpful to follow a goal template, such as this:
By end of semester 1, 80 % of students will be able to complete a multi-paragraph writing assignment with no sentence fragments or run-ons by using a sentence writing strategy with 80% accuracy 100% of the time according to teacher/coach observation notes.
By (this date), (this percentage) of students will be able to (perform this instructional task) using this (instructional strategy) with (this percentage of accuracy) (this percentage of the time) (using this method of assessment).
This template may not be appropriate for all teachers, but the idea is for teachers and coaches to work together to develop a clear, concise, measurable goal that teachers feel excited to work toward accomplishing.
- Click on the Assigned To field and select the correct teacher from the drop-down menu.
- With the teacher, provide a description of the goal in the Description field. Include any clarifying language about the goal that the teacher and coach believe is necessary to accurately capture the goal.
- In the Goal Attainment Scale section, begin with the first box titled Starting Point Description. Ask the teacher, “With respect to this goal, what is your current reality?” Record a concise description of what current reality looks like, sounds like, and feels like for the teacher and students.
- Next, in the Goal Attainment Scale section, scroll down to the box titled Target Goal Description. Ask the teacher, “What will it look like when this goal is fully accomplished? Record a description of what “fully accomplished” will look like, sound like, feel like for the teacher and students. This may begin with the goal statement you just composed, but could be more detailed than that.
- Next, in the Goal Attainment Scale section, move to the Midpoint Description and discuss with the teacher what it will look like, sound like, and feel like for the teacher and students when this goal is halfway accomplished. Record the description in the Midpoint Description box.
- Next, work with the teacher to develop descriptions for the One-Quarter and Three-Quarters boxes. All descriptions should be concise, with just enough detail for the teacher and coach to fully understand during subsequent coaching sessions what level has been achieved.
- When you have developed descriptions for all the boxes in the Goal Attainment Scale section, click “Submit.”
- Coaches may view any teacher’s goal by hovering over “Coaching” from the main menu, and clicking on “Coachee Goals.” Goals are displayed by the teacher, or coaches may also choose “All” to display the goals for all teachers.
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Coaching Conversations Guide
A Technology-Enhanced Tool for Teacher-Coach Partnerships
Overview
Purpose: The Coaching Conversations Guide in the APLM Online is a technology-enhanced tool to focus a coaching conversation about what a teacher will do with their students to reach a goal for their performance in a specific area (e.g., writing performance). The Coaching Conversations Guide is co-created by teachers and coaches.
Background on its Development: Formerly, coaches and teachers have used fidelity checklists while coaches observe a lesson taught by a teacher and to debrief how instruction went. In these situations, the power dynamic leaned towards the coach. This is because coaches are often seen as the experts, and teachers may feel like they are being evaluated. With this new tool, the power dynamic is intended to lean toward the teacher because the teacher will build the checklist in partnership with the coach, specifically based on their goal for their students. After an artifact from instruction during the target instructional practice is shared with the coach (e.g., student artifact, video of instruction, observation of instruction), then the same Coaching Conversations Guide is used again to have a conversation about how instruction is contributing to goal attainment. By sharing artifacts from instruction with the coach, teachers can provide evidence of their progress and get feedback on how they are doing. This will help to create a more collaborative and productive coaching relationship.
Uses: The Coaching Conversations Guide can be used to help teachers identify instructional strategies for achieving their learning goals for students. This guide can be used to help teachers reflect on the effectiveness of their instruction and track progress over time. This can be done by asking questions like: What went well? What could be improved? What will I do differently next time? This will help to ensure that the coaching conversation is productive and that the teacher is getting the support they need to reach their goals. This guide can also serve as evidence of professional growth.
Tips for Teachers:
- Build the checklist in partnership with the coach. This will help to ensure that the checklist is aligned with your goals for your students.
- Share artifacts from instruction with the coach. This will provide evidence of your progress and get feedback on how you are doing.
- Be open to feedback from the coach. The coach is there to help you improve your instruction, so be open to their feedback.
- Use the tool to focus your coaching conversations. The tool can help you to stay on track and make sure that your coaching conversations are productive.
How-To Steps for its use in the APLM Online:
- From the APLM Online homepage, click on the drop-down arrow on the “Coaching” heading in the Toolbar at the top of the screen.
- Click on “Conversations Guides”, then “Create Conversations Guide”.
- In the Coachee field, select the teacher’s name in the drop down menu.
- In the Guide Goal, select the Goal that was prepared previously using the Goal Attainment Scaling tool.
- In the Start Date, enter the date of your coaching session or the date when the teacher plans to begin working towards their Goal with students.
- In the Date and Time for Next Coaching Session, enter a date that is approximately two weeks from the date of the current coaching session.
Have a conversation about instructional methods or strategies that students may need in order to make progress in their writing performance.
- In the Writing Instructional focus field, in a word or phrase, name the instructional decision made during your conversation.
Have a conversation about the elements of instruction that will be present and what evidence might be reviewed during the lesson or during the next coaching session in order to reflect on how the instruction impacted student performance.
- Under “Writing instruction evidence-based procedures of focus,” either select from the options provided or click “Add new choice”. These are the instructional procedures that would be evidenced upon a class observation (live or video-recording) or shown on an artifact, such as a student product or lesson plan.
- As applicable (e.g., if the form of evidence to be gathered is a class observation [live or video-recording), add elements of an evidence-based lesson plan.
- The “Video and Questions” section will be completed after instruction of the writing instructional focus. This is where the teacher will share with their coach any evidence that can be reviewed together about how instruction went.
- The “Custom Guide Sections” is open-ended and a place where teachers and coaches can add other plans for instruction or sources of evidence to be reviewed. Click “Add Section” to try it out.
- Click the “Submit” button to save the Coaching Conversations Guide. Once saved, after the teacher delivers instruction and administers the next WRITE assessment (approximately two weeks later), the Coaching Conversations can be reviewed during the coaching session to assist with reflection and progress monitoring.
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Coaching Log
A Technology-Enhanced Tool for Supporting Coach and Teacher Growth
Overview
Purpose: The Coaching Log in the APLM Online is a technology-enhanced tool to support coaches and teachers in tracking growth and learning. Instructional coaches work with teachers to develop a goal, and log progress toward goal attainment during coaching sessions with teachers. Coaches are also able to generate a number of reports about coaching sessions, goals, and goal attainment. The coach is the primary user of the coaching log, but coaching log contents are informed by the work of both teachers and coaches.
Background on its Development: Instructional coaching can yield an overwhelming amount of information about different teachers, student groups, classrooms, and instructional goals. Coaches often work with many teachers in a building and some coaches work with teachers across multiple buildings. Setting a goal, making a plan to achieve the goal, and tracking progress toward that goal are central to an effective coaching process. The APLM Coaching Log provides a single online space for coaches to track progress toward goal attainment, store evidence of progress, and generate helpful reports to provide both individual and systemwide views of coaching work.
Uses: The APLM Coaching Log is intended to be used by coaches during their instructional coaching sessions. Coaches can log in to the APLM Online system and create a new log for a teacher. Space within the log is designated for recording goals, logging progress on goals, taking notes about key ideas from the session, and assigning next steps for administrators, coaches, and/or teachers. Once a session has been logged, coaches can navigate to a teacher’s previously-logged session to acquaint themselves and the teacher to key ideas shared during their prior session.
Tips for Teachers:
- Work in partnership with your coach to determine what evidence can be gathered and shared to indicate progress toward your goal. Evidence can be uploaded as a file to track your goal progress over time.
- Ask your coach for reports. The APLM Online system can provide teachers with reports on progress toward your goals, which can be very exciting to see over time.
- Review your coaching session logs. The APLM Online is intended to support transparency between coaches and teachers, and any information about your coaching sessions is accessible to you in the APLM Online system.
Tips for Teachers:
- Work in partnership with your coach to determine what evidence can be gathered and shared to indicate progress toward your goal. Evidence can be uploaded as a file to track your goal progress over time.
- Ask your coach for reports. The APLM Online system can provide teachers with reports on progress toward your goals, which can be very exciting to see over time.
- Review your coaching session logs. The APLM Online is intended to support transparency between coaches and teachers, and any information about your coaching sessions is accessible to you in the APLM Online system.
How-To Steps for Using Coaching Logs in APLM Online:
- From the APLM Online homepage, click on the drop-down arrow on the Coaching heading in the Toolbar at the top of the screen.
- Hover over Coaching Logs in the drop-down menu, and then navigate to Create Coaching Log in the menu that appears to the left of the main drop-down menu.
- In the Coachee field, select the teacher’s name in the drop-down menu for whom you wish to create a Coaching Log.
- Click on the Date and Time field. Select the date of the session from the calendar, and use the time fields to indicate the time of the coaching session. When you have the correct date and time set, click Done.
- When the coaching session is complete, you may wish to indicate how many minutes you spent in the session in the Elapsed Minutes in Session field.
- If you are engaged in virtual coaching using the VECTOR virtual coaching model, select the VECTOR phase that best indicates the content of the session.
- In the Goals section, use the drop-down menu to select a goal you previously developed for this teacher.
- If the teacher has any data to share or discuss that indicates goal progress, click on Add Data Item and enter a name or description of the data.
- In the Goal Stage box, refer to the corresponding Goal Information box to the right and discuss with the teacher which Goal Stage should be selected based on the previously-determined Goal Stage descriptions.
- If you or the teacher has any files to share related to the goal (e.g., student work samples, lesson plans), you may both upload those in the Notes section. Both of you are also able to add narrative notes in that section.
- If you, the teacher, or another person have any follow-up steps to complete, click on Add To Do in the Next Steps section. Write a description of the action to be completed and use the checkboxes to the right to indicate whether the action step is for the teacher (coachee), the coach, or for use in an administration summary.
- If the teacher is working toward earning a Micro-Credential, use the Micro-Credentials section to indicate which credential, the stage completed, and any other relevant fields in that section.
- Click the Submit button to save the coaching log. Once saved, you and the teacher can return to the log to review your work any time. We recommend coaches and teachers review at least the most recent log before each coaching session to refresh their minds about what was discussed during their previous session.