Inquiry Question:
How do coaches successfully center equity within each of the four coaching roles?
For the fall course of my SPU Digital Education leadership program, EDTC 6105 focuses on educational technology leadership, specifically through peer coaching. As I continue to learn more about being a successful peer coach and grow in my own experience, I think about the multitude of roles and responsibilities peer coaches assume when working with teachers. Additionally, I think it is essential that coaches are engaging teachers in conversations and practice around equity. The combination of this inquiry and belief drove me to want to gain a better understanding of how when assuming any of the four peer coaching roles (facilitator, collaborator expert, and catalyst), coaches can successfully center equity. In exploring my inquiry question for this module, my research is focused on the first and third indicators from ISTE Coaching Standard 1: Change Agent:
1a. Create a shared vision and culture for using technology to learn and accelerate transformation through the coaching process.
1c. Cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals.
As peer coaches, we work to support teachers in improving their practice and effectively reaching all of their students by successfully navigating between being a facilitator, collaborator, expert, and catalyst. For peer coaches to be successful in supporting teachers, and as a result, effectively reach all students, I believe that the focus of equity must be at the forefront of this work. Elena Aguilar (2019) explains in an issue of The Learning Professional: The Learning Forward Journal that, “It isn’t an option for coaches to be neutral on issues of justice — and there are injustices occurring in almost every school, every day. It’s our moral and professional obligation to lead and coach in a way that surfaces and interrupts these inequities” (p. 10). Figure 1.0 When Do We Talk about Race? below is a list of questions for coaches to ask themselves when approaching conversations about racial equity. As I thought about the transition between each of the four peer coaching roles while writing this blog, I regularly reflected on the questions and assumptions from this table.
Coaching_for_Equity_Conversations_That_Change_Prac…_-_Pg_275-275
Figure 1. When Do We Talk about Race?, Retrieved October 1, 2020, from Coaching for Equity: Conversations that Change Practice by Elena Aguilar
In working to center equity in peer coaching, I also think it is important to acknowledge the position, privilege, and implicit bias that I step into coaching conversations with as a white male. By acknowledging this, and consistently and constantly learning, growing, and listening, I can work to be successful in transitioning between peer coaching roles.
Facilitator
In the role of a facilitator, peer coaches assume the role of planning and implementing meetings, activities, and professional learning. As a facilitator, peer coaches guide teachers with questioning and push them to think deeply about their practice. Through one-on-one, small group, and large group conversations, coaches guide teachers through reflection, inquiry, and strengthening their instructional practice. In the facilitation of this learning, peer coaches can work to intentionally center conversations and work around racial equity. Elena Aguilar (2020) reminds coaches that, “We should talk about race whenever we can, as soon as we can in a coaching relationship, and whenever it comes up. If we talk about race regularly, it won’t feel like a big scary conversation” (p.252).
Collaborator
As a collaborator, peer coaches work with teachers to design, implement, and evaluate learning activities. Coaches can be successful in this coaching role by being open and transparent with the teachers they coach, by sharing ideas, experiences, and suggestions. Through the collaborator role, coaches can walk through the learning process with teachers, in an effort to build trusting relationships and partnerships. The article Coaching for Equity: Disrupt and Transform Practices that Reveal Implicit and Explicit Biases (2019) states that one way coaches can collaborate with teachers through an equity lens is to, “…explicitly identify an equity issue and co-construct an equity action where both have a responsibility to move on that action with the intent to disrupt or dismantle practices that lead to inequitable outcomes for students” (p.47). Through this collaborative practice, coaches can demonstrate their own practices, a shared vision, and vulnerability to the teachers they are working with. By collaborating in the learning process, coaches can provide teachers the space to take risks and work together to evaluate the impact of learning activities.
Expert
When assuming the role of expert, peer coaches share their expertise on a given topic. While in the coaching role of an expert, teachers are looking to peer coaches to share their expertise, it is also essential that coaches engage teachers in being active participants in the learning of the topic. Although I could never be an expert in teaching equity, as an expert in technology integration and as a peer coach, it is essential for me to keep equity at the forefront of my work in the conversations and connections I have with teachers. Additionally, by continuously seeking out professional learning-centered in equity, I can provide teachers with recommended resources from educators who are in positions of expertise in that work.
Catalyst
In shifting to the role of catalyst, peer coaches support teachers in improving their practice through reflection and the utilization of questioning strategies. As a catalyst, coaches can center equity work through coaching reflective practice and inquiry to empower teachers in becoming instructional decision-makers. For this to be effective, peer coaches must first build trusting relationships with the teachers they coach and listen intentionally. As Elena Aguilar (2015) explains in How to Coach for Equity, Part 2, “A coach for equity needs to listen to all kinds of people and needs to listen in specific ways. You’ll need to listen to students, to their families and caregivers, to colleagues, administrators, and so on” (n.p.). By listening to all people connected to student learning, peer coaches can more effectively coach teachers in learning-focused conversations and use guided questions to insight inquiry. Through the role of a catalyst, peer coaches can supportively guide teachers to take risks, explore innovative practices, and lean into new learning opportunities.
As I move forward in my practice as a peer coach, I want to continue to work to intentionally center equity in the coaching conversations I have with teachers. I have a lot of learning, unlearning, and listening to others to do, but I believe centering this work as a coach is essential to interrupting educational inequities. As a coach, how do you work to successfully center equity as you move through various coaching roles? How do you support other educators in this work? Please share your thoughts and experiences, as well as any feedback or questions you have, in the comment section below.
References:
Aguilar, E. (2020). Coaching for equity: Conversations that change practice (First ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.
Aguilar, E. (2018, March 22). How to Coach for Equity, Part 2. Retrieved October 05, 2020, from https://brightmorningteam.com/2015/09/how-to-coach-for-equity-part-2/
Aguilar, E. (2019). What I’ve Learned. The Learning Professional: The Learning Forward Journal, 40(6), 1-88. doi:https://learningforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/the-learning-professional-december2019.pdf
Foltos, L. (2013). Peer Coaching: Unlocking the Power of Collaboration. Corwin.
Foltos, L. (2018). Coaching Roles. Peer-Ed, Mill Creek
ISTE Standards for Coaches. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-coaches
Orange, T., Isken, J., Green, A., Parachini, N., & Francois, A. Coaching for equity: Disrupt and transform practices that reveal implicit and explicit biases. The Learning Professional: The Learning Forward Journal, 40(6), 1-88. doi:https://learningforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/the-learning-professional-december2019.pdf
Wang, S. (2017). Teacher-Centered Coaching: An Instructional Coaching Model. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, 29(1), 20-39. https://www.mwera.org/MWER/volumes/v29/issue1/V29n1-Wang-VOICES-FROM-THE-CLASSROOM.pdf
