Coaching Exploration Outline

Before a coach can begin their work, it is important that they take time to gather
documents, analyze data, and begin conversations with stakeholders. In this module, I will
pretend that a coach is about to work with a first year teacher who is struggling in having a
majority of students meet grade level expectations. Below is an outline of how the coach will
proceed in exploring this situation.
Gathering Relevant Documents
There are many documents that will need to be gathered to help prepare for this coaching
scenario. According to Aguilar (2013), these documents should yield insight into systems,
structures, and decision making (p. 101). The coach will want to collect the following
documents: teacher schedule, curriculum map, pacing guide, assessments, professional
development schedule, and student data reports (Aguilar, 2013, p. 101).
The teachers schedule will allow the coach to see how much time the teacher has during
the day devoted to each content area. This will help the coach to compare time in each area to
required time by the district. A curriculum map will help the coach understand the content that
the teacher is required to teach to her students. The pacing guide will provide insight as to when
content should be taught and how much time the teacher should devote to each focus area. The
formal and informal assessments given in class will help the coach understand what students will
need to know and how they will demonstrate their learning. The professional development
schedule will allow the coach to know what learning opportunities the teacher will have during
her first year. This will also allow the coach to see if the teacher has been given any formal
training in curriculum. Finally, student data reports from the current year and previous years will
help the coach to analyze learning trends of this teachers class.

Once all of these documents are gathered the coach may want to ask herself some of
these questions. Has the new teacher had the proper training in the curriculum she is using?
Does the new teacher know how to use the provided curriculum maps and pacing guides? Is the
teacher providing adequate time for students to practice and master content before assessment?
Gathering and Analyzing Formal Documents
In addition to relevant documents that may be used by the classroom teacher the coach
will need to gather formal documents as well. These formal documents will need to be analyzed
by the coach in order to best support the teacher receiving the coaching. Some documents may
include attendance data, records of retention, standardized test scores, district assessment data, as
well as information on demographics (Aguilar, 2013, p. 102).
These documents will inform the coach how about the students in the teachers class are
preforming compared to state and district norms. This will be helpful for the coach to create
questions to guide the teacher in thinking about what the data says and using it to do what is best
for kids.
The coach may think about some of these questions when analyzing these documents.
Does the teacher know how to analyze classroom data and use it to guide instruction? How is
this data communicated to parents in order to build parent partnerships? Are there influences
outside of school impacting student performance?
Initiating Informal Conversations
It is important to begin conversations with all of the stakeholders this will give the coach
insight into the school culture. These informal conversations will also help the coach to build
relationships since they are an outsider (Aguilar, 2013, p. 103). For this situation the coach
should try to have informal conversations with the teacher, principal, students in the classroom,

and parents. These conversations will be essential to gathering information about the school and
new teachers classroom.
Two questions the coach could ask any of the stakeholders would be How are things
going this year (Aguilar, 2013, p. 102). What is going well what needs improvement?
After taking time to gather documents, analyze data, and begin conversations with
stakeholders the coach will be more prepared to begin work with the individual teacher. The
coach will have data and background knowledge to use when guiding conversations with the
teacher. In addition, the coach will be able to make sure that the teacher has all of the tools
available to help her be successful.