Coaching Cycles

About Coaching Cycles

Coaching Cycles are a flexible framework to organize the collaborative coaching practice between a coach and a teacher. An alternative way to view Coaching Cycles is a comprehensive feedback loop between the teacher, the coach, and the students. 

Traditional Coaching Vs. Coaching Cycles

In traditional coaching, a coach will observe the classroom and provide feedback. Coaches may use 1:1 meetings with teachers as a way to share resources for lessons teachers are preparing or help problem-solve issues teachers are seeing within their classes. The goal of the traditional coaching model is supporting teachers so they can do their job with fewer obstacles.

However, with traditional coaching, little emphasis is placed on systematically helping teachers grow. Professional development may be curated based on common opportunities coaches are observing within classrooms, yet no work is done to encourage the implementation and growth of these practices after professional development.

For example, incorporating student choice may be the focus for a professional development session — but there is no followup to ensure teachers are incorporating this best practice within their day-to-day lesson plans.

Coaching Cycles allow a teacher a duration of time to experiment with growing a specific teaching skill or strategy. The measure of success for a teacher in a coaching cycle is: did I move the needle for improving student learning in my classroom? The goal of Coaching Cycles, however, is to improve instructional practices so that student learning is impacted beyond the conclusion of a coaching cycle. 

Source: Building Out Coaching Cycles