Reflexiones y comentarios

(En inglés)

Reflection and Feedback

[Music]

Man: Yeah, it's ... Exactly. It's ...

Narrator: Teachers and other practitioners want to implement best practices that support children's learning. Practice-based coaching helps achieve that goal, when a coachee and a coach come together and target an identified set of effective practices. After they share and set goals, engage in action planning, and carry out a focused observation, they do a debrief, allowing for necessary reflection and feedback.

Darbianne Shannon: And so, during the debrief meeting, we always – always start with reflection. We talk to the teacher about: Based on the goal that you've set for yourself, and what you've identified as something that you want to enhance in your classroom and to really do to support young children in their learning, how do you think it went today?

Narrator: While practitioners are very busy professionals with planning and paperwork, attending to children's and family's needs, development, and other responsibilities, it's important to set aside time for reflection.

April Bowen: During the reflection process, it's important for the coachee just to remember to take that time to really reflect on what worked and what didn't during that process.

Narrator: Following reflection, coaches provide two different types of feedback: supportive and constructive, which are valuable for practitioners who are being supported to implement practices as intended.

Kelly Jamison: It's important to have both types of feedback, supportive and constructive, because it shows – it validates what the coachee is doing. That supportive feedback, you know, gives that pat on the back and says, "Yeah, this is what I observed today, and you're doing a great job with X, Y, and Z."

Narrator: The other type of feedback, constructive, needs to be specific to benefit the practitioner.

Mary Louise Hemmeter: Constructive feedback is used to help the coachee implement the practices better, more often, or in different kinds of situations. So, the idea behind constructive feedback is you build on what the coachee is doing, but you help them figure out how to do it more, how to do it better, or how to do it in different situations.

Narrator: Practitioners say both forms of feedback are appreciated.

Lily Hutchinson: I felt appreciated in the beginning, like when she talked about all your strengths and efforts and challenges, and how every detail she looked at it, and even though we don't realize them each day, she looked at it: How I was handling the classroom, the management and activity, but when she tells about your strengths and efforts and what you did, great things in the class, that's amazing to know. And then she starts to tell you about how we can improve together, bring more new strategies, new ideas.

Narrator: Reflection and feedback can be delivered either shoulder-to-shoulder or at a distance where coachee and a coach might use Skype or Coaching Companion to reflect on the focused observation and provide feedback. Once a practitioner and coach reflect and give feedback and resources, as well as other supports are identified to promote continued growth around that targeted set of teaching practices, the cycle is complete, and a new one begins. Practice-based coaching is like a road map for a practitioner to work with her coach on a targeted set of practices to implement and sustain.

Jennifer Harrington: It's an amazing feeling to, as a coach, see your coachee become more confident and competent in their implementation of practices, as well as to know that, together, you have developed a plan that they feel is feasible and sustainable over time in their setting that they work.

Nilda Price: Once they were able to see their assessment scores and the growth, and they were able to reflect and see how they're using specific practices now that they weren't using at the beginning of the school year, they felt more comfortable with it. So, by the end of the year, they were very happy that we challenged them to try something new.

Narrator: Developing that collaborative partnership forms the foundation and drives the practice-based coaching cycle: shared goals and action planning, focused observation, reflection and feedback; all in a safe, supportive environment.

Eunice Lopez: The best outcomes for children is what we're looking for, so, this whole coaching model is really tied into children's outcomes. When we support practitioners, we know that that's going to be reflected in the classroom, and then children win, teachers win, and everybody is happy at the end of the day.