2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS Regional Steering Team Working Session Welcome and introductions – name, position, board Holiday Inn Select, Toronto January 27th, 2009

Goals Share the 2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS vision Develop an understanding of the regional steering team’s role, protocols and monitoring processes Revise and/or refine emerging 2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS board proposals through provincial cross-pollination 2

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ice Breaker Coaching in my board is like: Revolutionary Road The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Wrestler Doubt 3

Establishing Norms All ideas will be listened to carefully and responded to respectfully Everyone will have a voice All suggestions will be presented with the intent to move the collective forward Clarifying questions are welcome Everyone will engage fully in the moment the right to pass It is important that we have clarity around the working agreements, or norms, for the next two days and for future meetings. These are the norms that we will be starting with. Feel free to identify any additional norms. 4

Coaching Coaching is: the art of identifying and developing a person’s strengths. a partnership between the coach and coachee; plans are developed through [focused] conversation. seldom a one time event. A coach works to understand how a practice fits with an individual teacher’s style and then helps that teacher develop his or her own strategies within the parameters of a school [or board] reform effort. It is important to develop a common understanding of the distinctions between coaching, facilitating, and mentoring. Differentiated Coaching: A Framework for Helping Teachers Change, Jane Kise (2006) 5

Facilitating The facilitator focuses on effective processes (meeting dynamics) allowing the participants to focus on the content or the substance of their work together. Facilitation can: involve many different levels of knowledge and skill include work on all kinds of problems and challenges assist the group in fulfilling its desire or include pushing participants to new levels of understanding. Facilitation Skills for Math Leaders, Nyren Collaboration and Bob Forester and Associates (2008) 6

Mentoring Mentors are typically organizational insiders. They are typically senior experts supporting novices. Mentoring is considered voluntary. Coaching for Math GAINS is not about creating better mentors. Coaching Leaders to Attain Student Success, New Teacher Center at University of California, Santa Cruz (2006) 7

Working Together Facilitating Coaching Mentoring Group goals 1: many Individual Goals 1: 1 2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS is providing more people to have opportunity to work on individual goals, based on research on adult learning, in every board in Ontario. This initiative is intended to shift professional learning from workshops with centrally determined content to one’s where content are determined by needs identified by teachers. In increasing the voice of teachers, there should also be a shift from facilitated sessions to a blend of facilitating and coaching. The thrust of this initiative is not to increase people’s workload. Boards must consider system needs, readiness of teachers, and capacity for coaches within the system. We can build more capacity by having coaches and coachees working together in a variety of contexts, including a blend of many, working 1:1, and working 1:many. We are expecting to see lots of both facilitating and coaching blended together in precise and personalized manners. Mentoring 8

Taking the Pulse - Senteo Questions Purpose is to collect data to: inform the two day agenda focus opportunities for provincial cross-pollination assess the needs of coaches determine the impact of this working session The agenda is an early draft. The SENTEOs will help inform agenda. 9

2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS Taking a Pulse 10

Reflecting on the Pulse Think-Pair-Share Choose one piece of data that was significant to you and consider the implications of this data for our work together Whole group share 11

Differentiated Discussion & Development Consider the approaches for 2008-09 Coaching for Math GAINS: TIPS Focusing on Important Mathematics Teaching through the Mathematical Processes Effective Uses of Interactive Whiteboards Professional Learning Resources based on the Work of Established Researchers First Steps in Mathematics / PRIME The Role of Questions in Differentiating Instruction You now have an opportunity to drive some of the structure for discussion groups this afternoon. There are ten approaches identified here. Collaborative Assessment Task Development and Marking ONAP / Numeracy Nets Effective Uses of Manipulatives and Technologies 12

Differentiated Discussion & Development Select 1-2 approaches that are reflected in your Coaching for Math GAINS proposal Record each approach on a colour-coded post-it note with a related question (you may include your name and board) Post your post-it notes by approach and subgroup by questions, if appropriate Outside in the hallway are large papers with each of the approaches identified. Find the appropriate page and post your question there – cluster with other like-questions where possible. 13

Thank you Enjoy the break! 14