Reflecting on your Coaching Session

When I supervise student teachers and teacher assistants, I use cognitive coaching to frame my classroom visits. Students fill out a pre-observation action plan, using their goals for professional growth to identify a focus for the observation.

After the observation, we use a coaching reflecting conversation to reflect on the lesson and construct new learning. Students then reflect on the process by writing a blog post on the subject.

They are invited to use one of two formats for their written reflection:

Option 1: What, So What, Now What?

• What? What are some of your main takeaways?
• So what? Why are those important to you? 
• Now what? What are the implications? How? When? Who?

Option 2: Mirror the reflecting conversation framework.

• How did it go? (Were you successful? How do you know?)
• Why was it so? (What caused it to go that way?)
• How did you grow? (What have you learned? How will you apply this in the future?)
• How did this help you know? (Be meta-cognitive: Reflect on the process.)

Here are a few sample posts from a few of my students to show how this might look.

• From @rwhite21793, a post titled: Reflections on My Teaching!
• From @KelseyJohnsonGV, a post titled: First in-school Coaching Observation 
• From @DominicTaylor11, a post titled: Fun Classroom Management?
• From @KalieGVMath, a post titled: What? So What? Now What? (Round 2)

So, how do you go about reflecting on your teaching?