“Jo, are you seriously making me role-play?” Ms. Anderson said to me during a coaching conversation.
“Yes,” I said with a shockingly creepy smile. “It’s good for you.”
Ms. Anderson reluctantly stood up and walked to the front of the room. “I will give my directions for the independent practice and then move to the corner to monitor them starting.”
“Yep, now do it.” I was not backing down. I know the value of practice.
She rolled her eyes and got into rehearsal mode. Immediately, her practice revealed several gaps in her ability to implement the action step. Her register was not formal enough, her body positioning did not show control, she was moving as she gave directions, and she was missing the student-level voice instructions.
“Try again.”
Ms. Anderson regained herself and tried again, this time with more urgency.
After four rounds of practice, she had it down. At the end, I asked, “You didn’t want to practice, but you did. Why?”
After remarking on my stubborn nature, Ms. Anderson summarized the value of practice perfectly, “My kids need me to get this down.”
They sure do.
Why Practice in Coaching
Ten years ago, coaching was all about teacher voice and choice. The evolution of coaching has shifted from Jim Knight's partnership principles1, emphasizing collaboration and reflective dialogue, to Paul Bambrick-Santoyo's more directive practice-based development. 2 This shift reflects the changing nature of our teacher population, many of whom lack formal training. Effective coaches must now provide targeted feedback, model effective practices, and guide teachers through deliberate practice sessions to enhance their skills, including their ability to reflect and refine their own performance.
Years of professional development research have emphasized practice. The landmark study by Joyce and Showers (2002) illustrates the impact of practice during professional development and the importance of coaching.3
Practice in coaching goes beyond mere repetition. It involves intentional and focused efforts to improve specific skills or behaviors. This practice serves several purposes:
1. Skill Development: Practice allows teachers to develop and refine their teaching skills by practicing a narrow action step.4
2. Development of Mindsets: Through practice, teachers reflect on their mindsets that support (or hinder) their performance.
3. Feedback Integration: Practice enables teachers to receive feedback from a leader (or peers) and integrate it into their teaching approach. This iterative process of receiving feedback, making adjustments, and practicing again increases their confidence in their ability to apply what they have learned.
4. Reflection and Growth: Practice encourages reflective practices where teachers can analyze their actions, identify areas for improvement, and set goals for future growth.
The Practice Sequence
The practice sequence is a structured approach to skill development and mastery. It is designed to guide teachers by fostering a deeper understanding of the narrow action step and its application in the classroom.
Name the action step clearly.
Model the action step.
Give time to plan.
Practice and give feedback.
Practice again (increase complexity)
Example Practice Sequence
Name the Action Step Clearly
Now that we have analyzed the problem. Here is your action step:
Every time you use a shared text with the class, stop and jot using aligned questions every few paragraphs or pages:
Write or select an aligned question.
Find a stopping point in the text for the students to answer the question.
Have them write in a given location (i.e. annotate in the margins, note catcher, Canvas, Cornell notes, post-its, etc.)
What impact will this move have on you and your classroom?
Go ahead and write down the action step.
Model the Action Step
Let me show you what this looks like with the lesson that I observed.
You read Module 9, Lesson 4, Mr. Linden’s Library by Walter Dean Myers. You were analyzing the author’s use of sensory words and imagery. I found a few stopping points to practice the objective for the text you read today. I will walk you through the stop-and-jot points, questions, and exemplars.
The curriculum provides some questions that will work for this objective. Let’s find them.
At the end of page 233, we can use the question:
Which words and phrases help you picture Josiah Linden’s house? (“scrawny oak tree, gnarled and twisted”; “when the moon was full . . . ”; “the corner of the house would glow white against the darkness”; “an eerie glow”)
What kind of mood do these words and phrases establish? (mysterious, eerie, magical)
After paragraph 17, we can use these questions:
What are some of the sensory words and phrases that help you picture what Carol experiences as she enters Mr. Linden’s library? (“bright with sunlight”; “dark green bookcases”; “wooden box”; “window seat that looked out over the bay”)
How does this description of the inside of Mr. Linden’s home compare with the description of his home at the beginning of the story? (The inside of his home seems a little mysterious, but it doesn’t seem eerie like the description of the outside. The inside of the home seems brighter and more welcoming, and the library seems inviting.)
For the stop-and-jot, I will have students write only the first question of each. The other question I am going to use out loud.
Let me show you what that would look like in practice. “Now that we read page 233, it’s your turn to think about and write on this question in your first box of your notes. Go back and re-read the section to help you answer the question. I am going to walk around and see if you are on the right track. The question is: Which words and phrases help you picture Josiah Linden’s house? Write in box 1, go.”
What did you see from my model that is present in the action step?
Write or select an aligned question. My question was: Which words and phrases help you picture Josiah Linden’s house?
Find a stopping point in the text for the students to answer the question. I chose at the end of page 233.
Have them write in a given location. I chose to use a graphic organizer that shows numbers boxes.
Give Time to Plan
Let’s practice this for tomorrow. What is the text and objective?
Module 9, Lesson 8, Finding Bigfoot: Everything You Need to Know by Martha Brockenbrough. Make and confirm predictions; this is the first read of the text.
Let’s see what questions the curriculum provides us and see if there are ones we can already use. Take a few minutes to read through the Teacher’s Guide and text to find your stopping points. Write your questions on post-its and put it at your stopping point.
Make sure that you have at least 3. Check alignment to the objective. The goal is to get them as much aligned practice as possible.
Practice and Give Feedback
Now, let’s practice execution. I’ll play the students. I want you to go ahead and lead me through the first stopping point.
Look for:
Body language and tone
Question is aligned
Directions are clear, concise
Question does not get buried in the directions
Stopping point is appropriate
There is a clear strategy on where and how students will write
<Provide feedback. Include one strength and one push to practice again. Interrupt at the point of error (if appropriate)>.
Practice Again (Increase Complexity)
Now, I want you to do it again.
Look for:
All the same as above
Monitoring is part of the execution
This sequence is structured progressively to optimize learning and skill acquisition. The action step establishes relevance, clarity, and motivation, while modeling provides a clear example to emulate. Planning encourages strategic thinking and preparation, leading to more effective practice sessions. The iterative nature of practice and practicing again with increased complexity promotes mastery. Taken together, the practice sequence is the single most effective way to build teacher skills.
Some Sentence Starters for the Practice Sequence
Try using these sentence starters when moving through the practice sequence.
Action Step
Let’s state clearly what we are driving towards.
Now that we have named the problem, we have to name the solution.
Based upon that analysis, we have our action step.
Now it’s time to name the action step.
Our action step this time is this…
Then, our next step will be to…
Model
Let’s practice and break down how you do this with the lesson that I observed.
Watch for all parts of the action step as I show you what this may look like.
It can be awkward to practice so I am going to do it first to break the ice.
Let me try first.
I’m going to take it live now so you can see the aspects of this action step.
Plan
Take a second to script out what you will say.
Let’s both write our scripts and compare it to one another to determine what we can steal from each other’s ideas.
I don’t want to put you on the spot so I will give you a few minutes to think, process, and plan.
Take a look at your lesson for tomorrow.
Practice
Let me see what you got.
Thanks for playing along. It’s time to practice.
Let’s go live and practice.
It’s best to do this now and work out the kinks rather than doing it in front of your kids.
I want to make sure that you really understand and can practice this action step so let’s test it out.
Practice Again
Good start. Now, let’s apply what we learned.
Let’s make it even trickier now.
I want to put this action step under pressure now.
What would happen if we changed the variables slightly?
I want you to try again, but this time…
Conclusion
I am seriously going to make you role-play. While practice can be awkward, it is one of the most important strategies for building teacher capacity. 5 Through practice, teachers like Ms. Anderson can apply new strategies, build confidence, develop problem-solving skills, and ultimately enhance their instructional effectiveness.
The insistence on role-playing every time is grounded in the understanding that practice drives growth. It's not about perfection from the start but about continuous improvement through iterative practice. Just as athletes hone their skills through repeated drills, teachers benefit from practicing and refining their instructional approaches in a supportive coaching environment. But, yes, it’s awkward.
Knight, J. (2018, August 29). Partnership principle 7: Reciprocity - the radical learner’s approach to reform. Instructional Coaching Group. https://www.instructionalcoaching.com/blog/partnership-principle-7-reciprocity-the-radical-learners-approach-to-reform
Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2016). Get better faster: A 90-day plan for developing new teachers. Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand.
Joyce, B. R., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve (ASCD).
Lein, J. (2022, March 14). A three-step coaching model to help teachers grow. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/blogs/a-three-step-coaching-model-to-help-teachers-grow
Lein, J. (2022, March 14). A three-step coaching model to help teachers grow. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/blogs/a-three-step-coaching-model-to-help-teachers-grow