My Coaching Experience

BRIDGET PETERSON
MAT 781

Coaching Situation

Completed my coaching with my grade level team leader

Her experience:

13 years of teaching experience

6 years of teaching kindergarten at Fernbrook

Has attained her Masters in Education

The SMART goals were created in the area of literacy

Reasoning:

Important component in kindergarten education

Our district has adopted a new literacy and phonics curriculum

Original SMART Goals

SMART Goal #1

Each kindergarten student will be able to identify and produce all twentyone consonant and ten short and long vowel sounds with 100% accuracy by
the end of the 2014-2015 school year.

SMART Goal #2

Each kindergarten student will be able to read independently at a DRA level

of D or above by the end of the 2014-2015 school year.

Strategic Activities

Knight (2007) states that teachers should ensure that students are
experiencing engaging, meaningful activities

Utilization of Benchmark Literacy curriculum

Teaches all letter names and sounds (a letter a week)

Teaches 42 high frequency words (1-2 a week)

Utilization of Jolly Phonics curriculum

Teaches a letter sound per day (40 days)

Identify struggling students and implement interventions

Implement guided reading groups based on current DRA data

Indicators of Progress

Teachers need to know whether their students are learning the

content and reasoning being taught (Knight, 2007)

Letter Sound assessments

DIBELS

Each trimester for all students

Every week for struggling students

DRA

Quick DRA assessments

Two times per trimester for all students (middle and end)

Additional formative assessments can be conducted when necessary

Adjusted SMART Goals

SMART Goal #1

90 % of kindergarten students will be able to identify and produce all

twenty-one consonant and ten short and long vowel sounds with 100%
accuracy by the end of the second trimester in the 2014-2015 school year.

SMART Goal #2

Each kindergarten student will be able to read independently at a DRA level

of C or higher by the end of second trimester in the 2014-2015 school year.

Rationale for Adjusting SMART Goals

SMART Goal #1

75% of students had already attained the end of the year goal

Adjusted date and percentage of students to meet goal

Retains the rigor, but allows additional time for struggling students

SMART Goal #2

All but two students were already reading at a level B

Adjusted the date and attainable reading level

Allowed for more relevant goal for students

Provided additional opportunity to adjust the end of the year goal, if

necessary

Relationship With My Coachee

Two years of experience working together

Open and honest communication

Mutual trust

Trust is an important aspect of effective coaching relationships and

effective schools (Marzano & Simms, 2013, p. 10).

Conversation Reflection

Celebrations

75% of students meeting the end of the year letter sound SMART goal at the
end of the first trimester

22 of 24 students reading at a DRA level of B or higher at the end of the first

trimester

Conversation Reflection

Expressed concerns:

Connected text provided with Benchmark Literacy Phonics program is not

written at an instructional level for most kindergarten students

My suggestion was for her to supplement the books with materials that have
worked in the past

Finding the necessary time to test each students DRA level twice per
trimester

My suggestion was for her to assess students reading above a D only once per
trimester

Gallwey (2000) explains that allowing someone to choose what to work on and
how to work on it builds trust and keeps a coaching relationship from becoming
manipulative.

Possible Changes for the Future

Peer observations

Take turns watching one another teach the content area

Learn from one another

Opportunity to provide additional feedback

References
Gallwey, W. T. (2000). The inner game of work. New York: Random
House.
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to
improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Marzano, R. & Simms, J. (2013). Coaching classroom instruction.
Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory.