Audience: ESL Staff and Faculty

For decades, I have taught ESL courses. Supervisors periodically assessed my teaching and I remember feeling evaluation anxiety: Would I pass muster in order to qualify to teach yet another semester? Now, as the coordinator of a Texas-based intensive English program, I support my teachers in two crucial ways. First: rather than evaluate, my observations are coaching sessions. Second: our assessment rubric is clear, pragmatic, and ongoing. This short article presents the rubric and procedure.

Teacher Coaches

I define teacher coaches in three categories: political, psychological, and practical. First, observing teachers in a coaching capacity allows the power dynamics between employer and employee to be less threatening. Second, with the shift in power comes a more positive psychological climate. Instead of being viewed as the boss with hire and fire capacities, as a coach you become a resource—a helpful guide, motivator, cheerleader, and supporter. Third, coaches are pragmatic and look for ways to help their players improve. Coaches recap what they observe, then solicit feedback from the performer to understand motivation. Then they show and suggest; for example, suggesting during a session that a teacher script, then practice, a specific maneuver such as a 3-minute turn and talk, in order to give them confidence and ease in the classroom.

Significantly, whether you are a swim coach or a teacher coach, to gain effective learning outcomes with the people you support requires you to demonstrate your trust and confidence in them. Likewise, any flaw a coach may uncover puts the onus on him or her to provide sufficient training and support to his team player.

The Rubric

How does my observational rubric appear? I adopted many of my strategies from Match Education, an innovative educational group located in Massachusetts. Theirs and mine are student facing, with two primary attributes: behavior and learning.

Behavior

Are students on task? Your observations should note whether students are doing what this teacher wants them to do during class. Also watch to see if transitions from activity to activity are efficient and smooth, keeping students on task. If students go off task (misbehave), watch to see whether the teacher notices this, and, if so, if teacher redirection is successful and nondisruptive.

Learning

Learning pertains to target task mastery and has four areas:

• task rigor
• thinking tasks
• practice time
• teacher feedback

In accordance with Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development, our teachers strive to offer linguistic tasks that challenge students. This is not easy, as all students are unique, but it is possible, given that students often may work collaboratively. In observing thinking tasks, look to see if directions are clear, if tasks are sequential, and if the broad learning objective aligns to the activities. Next, do students have enough real-time practice? Finally, does the teacher give each student, individually, and the group as a whole, meaningful feedback?

Tips for a Great Coaching Session

How does a coaching session flow? Focus on one small but significant maneuver that you want your teacher to practice and improve. (Neurologically, it’s impossible for teacher brains to remember a myriad of suggestions while teaching.) Start by reviewing, by asking the teacher to describe how he or she has improved concerning the previous takeaway—the advice and scripted suggestions you made. After the teacher talks, offer your input. If you agree the maneuver is down pat, start fine-tuning another procedure.

References

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the Development of Children, 23(3), 34–41.

Valerie Sartor, PhD, worked as the Intensive English Program coordinator at St Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas from July 2015 to May 2015. Prior to this position she was a Global TEFL Fulbright Scholar in Russia (2014-2015).  She is currently on the faculty at the University of Akron.