1. Instructional Practice Guide: Coaching Tool
Making the Shifts in Classroom Instruction
Ignite 2015
San Diego, CA
February 20, 2015
Sandra Alberti
@salberti
@achievethecore

2. Objectives for this Session
Participate in a detailed walkthrough of the Instructional Practice Guide: Coaching Tool
Practice with the Coaching Tool
Plan how to use and share the Coaching Tool and this training with colleagues
One of the questions we hear most frequently from coaches is, “What does the Common Core look like in the classroom?” Teachers ask a version of this question, “How do I know if I’m doing the Common Core?”
During today’s session we’ll be talking about the Instructional Practice Guides and how they help to answer these questions. During the session you’ll get an overview of the guides – including how they are designed and used. You’ll have a chance to try them out, and, finally, we’ll talk about ways you can plan to use them to support your work in local settings.
We recognize that the people in this room are from different places and have had different experiences with the Common Core and the Instructional Practice Guides. We imagine that this will be the same with groups you work with in your local settings. As we go through this session, we’ll be leading a few different activities but we’ll also stop at points to voice over and reflect on how this training and information might be used in different environments to facilitate different discussions. As we move through this, we encourage you to consider how what’s here might be used or customized to support your needs. Feel free to ask questions along the way!

3. Student Achievement Partners – Who We Are
A nonprofit organization founded by three of the lead authors of the Common Core State Standards
Our mission is to design and take actions based on evidence that substantially improve student achievement
Funded by multiple foundations and committed to the following three key principles:
We hold no intellectual property. Our goal is to disseminate high quality materials as widely as possible. All resources that we create are open source and available to teachers for free.
We do not compete for state, district or federal contracts. Ensuring that states and districts have excellent materials for teachers and students is our top priority.
We do not accept money from publishers. We have no financial interests with any publisher of education materials. Our independence is essential to our work.

4. Getting Started: Guiding Principles for the Instructional Practice Guides
The Standards require a shift in what happens in the classroom – CCSS-aligned teaching requires aligned content
This work starts with a shared understanding of the expectations of the Standards and then specific descriptions of what these expectations look like in practice
Professional development, coaching, feedback and professional learning community conversations must be focused and coherent to support these expectations
Before we begin, who has had PLC or coaching conversations aligned to the expectations of the Standards?
In what ways? What tools or protocols have you used?
By show of hands, has anyone here
Been trained on the Instructional Practice Guides?
Worked with the Instructional Practice Guides in a school or district?
Great! During the session, we hope you’ll share some of your experiences and help offer your perspective on how these tools have been useful.
In developing these, there were a few critical principles at the center of our conversations:
CCSS requires a shift in what happens in the classroom; aligned content is fundamental to that change. Simply, CCSS aligned teaching requires aligned content.
Teachers, coaches and leaders need to understand the expectations of the standards and what they mean for practice. Shared expectations are critical for effective dialog.
Finally, PD, coaching, PLCs, etc – all of the structures that are in place to support the Shifts in practice need to be focused and coherent.

5. Purpose of the Coaching Tool
Designed to guide effective integration of the Common Core Shifts into instructional practice
Intended to help teachers in developing their practice through:
Teacher self-reflection
Teacher-to-teacher learning in PLCs, grade-level meetings or other collaborative structures
Feedback from instructional coaches and leaders
Not designed for evaluative purposes
The Coaching Tool is designed specifically to support teachers in developing their practice, and to help coaches or other instructional leaders in supporting them to do so. The Coaching Tool is intended to be used to assess effective integration of the Common Core in instruction.
This process of shifting instructional practice to meet the expectations of the Common Core must be developmental and recognize the hard work teachers are doing in implementing the strategies required by the Common Core. In support of this, we imagine multiple possible contexts for using the Coaching Tool, including in:
- Teacher self-reflection
- Teacher-to-teacher learning in PLCs, grade-level meetings or other collaborative structures
- Coaching and feedback from instructional coaches or leaders
The Coaching Tool was not designed for evaluation. It was designed to help facilitate and foster conversation about what’s happening in the classroom. The initial name for these tools was actually “evidence guides” because the focus is really meant to be on the process of gathering and discussing evidence of the Shifts.
All guides are available at achievethecore.org/instructional-practice.

6. Coaching Tool: Versions
The Coaching Tool exists for a single lesson and for over the course of the year
Coaching Tools by subject and grade:
ELA/literacy (grades K-2; grades 3-12; History/Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects)
Mathematics (K-8, HS)
The Coaching Tool is available for daily lessons or to consider instruction over the course of the year.
It is available across grades and subjects.

7. Coaching Tool: Actions and Indicators
Each Coaching Tool for a single lesson has 3 Core Actions
Each Core Action has 3-7 indicators (look-fors)
Each indicator has an area to note the evidence that has been observed or gathered
Indicators include a binary (yes/no) or 4-point scale that may be used to further focus the evidence collected
The Coaching Tool was designed to be targeted and focused and to capture a few critical concepts specific to how aligned content and classroom practice work together.
Each Coaching Tool has 3 Core Actions. The Core Actions are targeted and specific.
There are a limited number of indicators under each Core Action. We think of these as the “look-fors”.
The Coaching Tool leaves space to capture evidence – this is the most critical part of the process and will be the basis of the dialog between teachers and coaches or peers.
Finally, there is an optional rating for each indicator. The ratings help to focus the evidence and ask the observer to consider different aspects of the evidence they capture.

8. The Shifts are the basis of the Coaching Tool
Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational
Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction
ELA/Literacy
Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus
Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics within grades
Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application
Mathematics
The Shifts are at the center of the Coaching Tool.
If you are working with an audience of people who are unfamiliar with the Shifts, you’ll need to spend more time here. There are a number of trainings and supports on achievethecore that can help you with developing this knowledge and understanding. (achievethecore.org/PD)

9. A Contest! Find the Language of the Shifts
Each table will be assigned a Shift.
You will have three minutes to find as many references as possible to the Shift in the Summary Page of the Coaching Tool.
Share out!
Introduce activity
Time 3 minutes
Share out (each table gets 2 minutes): How many references to the Shifts did you find? What interesting observations did you have?
Take away: the Shifts are present throughout the tool, and there is lots of helpful language that can help you as you ground others who are familiar with the Shifts in this tool, if it is new to them.

10. Standards Aligned Instructional Practice in English Language Arts (Example Grades 3-12)
Focus each lesson on a high-quality text (or multiple texts).
Employ questions and tasks, both oral and written, that are text specific and reflect the standards.
Provide all students with opportunities to engage in the work of the lesson.
When the Shifts in ELA/Literacy are effectively integrated into instructional practice, evidence of the following can typically be observed:
Evident in Each Lesson
Evident Over the Course of the Year
Students encounter an appropriate balance and sequence of texts.
Students are asked to practice the range of reading and writing tasks the Standards demand.
There is evidence of student mastery of grade level English Language Arts and Literacy Standards.
We are about to move onto an activity in which we watch a part of a lesson.
As in a real observation setting, you won’t see everything at once.
Some things should be part of every lesson.
Some will be evident over time.
Guides are structured to focus capture of evidence to facilitate discussion about what you see.

11. Standards Aligned Instructional Practice in Mathematics (Example Grades K-8)
Ensure the work of the lesson reflects the Shifts required by the CCSS for Mathematics.
Employ instructional practices that allow all students to master the content of the lesson.
Provide all students with opportunities to exhibit mathematical practices in connection with the content of the lesson.
When the Shifts in Mathematics are effectively integrated into instructional practice, evidence of the following can typically be observed:
Evident in Each Lesson
Evident Over the Course of the Year
The lessons and tasks students encounter reinforce focus and coherence across and within grades.
There is evidence of student mastery of the grade level Standards for Mathematical Content and student progress on the Standards for Mathematical Practice.
The teacher regularly and productively collaborates with other teachers to improve practice.
- Quick review of slide (similar to previous slide, but math content).

12. Activity: Using the Coaching Tool to Observe Practice
Task:
Each person at a table selects one Core Action from the Coaching Tool to focus on while watching the video lesson (if there are more than three people, multiple people may choose the same Core Action).
As you watch the video, use the Coaching Tool to gather specific evidence of the Indicators throughout the lesson.
After you watch, discuss:
What evidence did you gather using the Coaching Tool?
How is the evidence that you gathered different from observations you’ve collected (or received) from other tools?
What kind of next steps would we want for this teacher, based on the feedback you’ve collected?
Video: Ms. Eckhardt (Grade 9, ELA) – Symbolism in "The Lottery“
We’re going to watch a video for about 15 minutes.
We want to give you a sense for an experience doing an observation (you want to leave at least 15 minutes), but we realize that sometimes in a setting like this it can feel a little long if we don’t tell you what to expect!
This is an activity you can do with colleagues (other option for elem ELA video in the notes, and more great examples available on America Achieves website).
Everyone at the table should choose a Core Action. (Each table should have at least one person doing each Core Action).
Turn to your Core Action in the Coaching Tool in front of you and take notes during the video.
When the video is over, please discuss these questions at your table.
Someone should be assigned to be the recorder and should be able to share out for your table.
You’ll have about 15 minutes to discuss and then we’ll share out.
Other Potential Video
Video: Analyzing Text, 5 mins, Teaching Channel - Ms. Brewer (Grade 5 ELA)
Video: Nonfiction, ~17 mins – Ms. Sims (Grade 5 ELA) – Start at minute 4:20 (text selection) Graphic Nonfiction “Harriet Tubman”:

13. Instructional Practice Guide: Coaching and Lesson Planning Tools
The Instructional Practice Guide includes the Coaching Tool and the Lesson Planning Tool
Lesson Planning Tool developed as a companion tool for teachers to use to prepare
The Shifts are the basis of both tools
The same Core Actions and Indicators facilitate meaningful discussion between teachers and coaches
Many people using the Coaching Tool used it to facilitate planning discussions.
The Coaching and Lesson Planning Tools work together.
They are both based on the Shifts and use the Core Actions and Indicators.

14. Closing Activity: Planning to Use the Coaching Tool
Task:
Pair up with someone at your table and choose to discuss ways you might use the Coaching Tool at the school, district or state level.
Consider specific activities you might do with relevant audiences.
Discuss the following:
What existing activities or initiatives relate to the use of the Coaching Tool? How would you adapt or replace these activities?
What supports or trainings might you need to facilitate your use of the Coaching Tool?
What other individuals or groups might be most relevant to your work with the Coaching Tool?
After you discuss with your partner for 10 minutes, we’ll share out some of the ideas to the groups.
Feel free to pose questions you encountered during your turn and talk to us or the group

15. Additional Resources
Resources for teachers and instructional leaders
Achievethecore.org/instructional-practice
Achievethecore.org/PD
Achievethecore.org/materials-alignment-toolkit
commoncore.americaachieves.org: Lesson videos and teacher reflection on the Shifts.
Teaching the Core: Lesson videos annotated using the Coaching Tool, includes the lesson materials and teacher interviews. Coming Soon!
Student Achievement Partners
Sandra Alberti: