According to the US President S Commission on Web-Based Learning (2000), Inadequate Teacher

Introduction

According to the US President’s Commission on Web-based Learning (2000), inadequate teacher training is one of the greatest roadblocks to integrating ICT into a school’s curriculum.

After ten years of investments in ICT infrastructure, most of our nation’s classrooms are connected to the Internet. Children in our schools have access to more than ten million classroom computers.

Unfortunately, teachers often lack the skills, knowledge, and strategies that will help them integrate ICT into a assessment standards-based curriculum. Some teachers simply don’t use ICT. Experts suggest that many of these teachers avoid ICT because they have had too few meaningful training opportunities. The Peer Coaching Programme was developed to provide timely, effective staff development to teachers.

Beavers (2001) defines peer coaching as:

... a process by which teachers work together to enrich the curriculum and pedagogy within subjects (for example, by approaching subjects from a multicultural perspective) and to make connections between subjects (for example, by exploring the workplace applications of academic subjects). Peer coaches attend one another’s classes, discuss what went on, and help one another solve problems. Unlike performance-review visits, which can be tense, visits from peer coaches are stress free and even enjoyable because the process is based on mutual support. Peer coaching provides an opportunity for teachers to help one another and to share the ups and downs of teaching. Peer coaching is not subject-specific, so it is adaptable to just about any discipline, including ICT integration. (p. 44)

The overarching goal of the Microsoft Peer Coaching Programme is to enhance assessment standards-based academic achievement through the integration of ICT. The Peer Coaching Programme helps teachers successfully integrate ICT into their classrooms.

Programme Mission and Goals

Programme Mission

The mission of the Peer Coaching Programme is to implement a professional development model to enhance assessment standards-based instruction through engaged learning and ICT integration.

Programme Goals

The Peer Coaching programme is designed toprovide teacher leaders with the preparation, experience, and communication skills they need to be successful coaches. The programme goals are to:

• Train teacher leaders to serve as peer coaches for colleagues.
• Engage students in powerful, ICT-rich learning that will prepare them for their future.
• Foster systemic adoption of 21st Century teaching and learning.
• Assist schools to build the capacity to meet their own professional development needs.

Curriculum

The curriculum for the Peer Coaching Programme is designed to be implemented in a rich, flexible format to reach the diverse needs of participants with varying levels of ICT integration skills and knowledge. The activities for the training are developed around five central themes:

Coaching skills: Throughout the training, participants practice communication and collaboration skills that are essential for coaching others on using ICT to support learning.

Engaged learning principles: Design tenets for each facet of the programme reflect our belief that ICT is best employed when paired with engaged learning strategies. Peer Coaching Programme activities reflect engaged learning principles.

Curriculum planning skills: The heart of ICT integration is effective teaching practices. Planning is key to effective teaching. Participants in the Peer Coaching Programme will practice using tools and processes that provide a framework for planning assessment standards-based, ICT integrated learning activities.

Modeling: Peer Coaching Programme facilitators model different ways to organize and manage ICT integrated learning activities in a variety of classroom environments. Facilitators will also model different instructional strategies to engage participants in active learning.

ICT skills: In each session of the Peer Coaching Programme, participants will use ICT, including software, resources from Learning Essentials, and other ICT tools, to help them develop the skills and comfort needed to assist other teachers to use these same teaching tools in their classrooms.

Peer Coaching Programme CD and Other Key Electronic Resources

Navigation of the Web Sites

Initially, participants need regular demonstrations of how to navigate the Peer Coaching Programme DVD and the Peer Coaching community on Canvas, which will be used for interaction and assignments during the e-learning phases between contact workshops.

Peer Coaching Programme DVD

This is the main resource for the Peer Coaching Programme. You will find step-by-step directions for the major activities of the Peer Coaching Programme. Often you will show directions to a group of participants and work through the activities together.

The DVD has a menu on the top of the page that links to the Peer Coaching Programme sessions, online tools, and resources. Some of the sessions will be face-to-face sessions facilitated by you in person; other sessions will be “eLearning” sessions, during which time the Peer Coaches will be working with their partners and peers at their schools, while communicating and sharing with the group online.

Community

By “Community” we refer to an online site where Peer Coaches can discuss issues, share links and share documents. The Canvas Learning Management System is being used to manage the community sessions which include, discussions, less formal conversations and sharing resources via an eportfolio.

Coaching Portfolio

The Coaching Portfolio allows participants to have a personalized portfolio of resources they can use for coaching in their schools. Each participating Peer Coach will create an eportfolio in Canvas and make it public. During the Peer Coaching Programme, coaches willbe prompted to use Canvas tostore an eportfolio of coaching resources, collect coaching artefacts, and record their reflections.

Key Instructional Strategies Used in the Peer Coaching Programme Training

The Coaching Cycle

Coaching is a process. Participants must identify who they will collaborate with, identify goals with their collaborating teacher, and then help that teacher plan and implement a lesson or series of lessons. To do this, the coach will provide ideas and resources for integrating ICT into a assessment standards-based curriculum, as well as offer encouragement and feedback. We use the Coaching Cycle as a framework for thinking about coaching.

Purpose of Activities

Throughout the Peer Coaching Programme, time is given for participants to share ideas, read and discuss journal articles, and clarify beliefs. Make sure your audience understands why they are doing an activity and what the benefits are. You may find it valuable to explain why you are using a particular teaching strategy, such as group discussion, and the benefits of this approach. The process of providing information to your audience helps provide context for participants. It also may help shift the responsibility of learning to the participants and away from the facilitator.

Collaboration/Group Work

During various activities throughout the Peer Coaching Programme, participants are asked to work with partners. When creating a Web lesson, for example, pairs will work to define and create a classroom project. As part of this process, they practice using an effective planning methodology and have the opportunity to practice the coaching communication skills introduced earlier—for example, paraphrasing or asking probing questions.

Facilitators may want to point out that participants will be much more productive working in a team. By collaborating, they will develop skills necessary to coach others. Teachers who are coached collaboratively will also be better able to model collaboration for their learners. Many successful active learning strategies rely on learners working in groups or as a team. Remind participants that learners will need teamwork and collaboration skills as they enter the workplace.

Clock Partners

Early in the Peer Coaching Programme, participants complete a Clock Partners form that assigns participants to a variety of partners. Throughout some of the face-to-face sessions, participants will be directed to pair with new partners as designated by the Clock Partners form. Working with a variety of partners provides participants with new perspectives, encourages them to sharpen their communication skills, and sparks a shift in energy by allowing participants to move around and talk to different people.

You can use this strategy in other activities to help participants process new information or to shift the energy level in the room. Just ask a question, then ask the participants to find their next clock partner to answer the question or summarize the material presented (Lipton, 2000).

Communication Skills

Coaching is a highly collaborative activity that requires a strong, trusting relationship between the coach and collaborating teachers. A coach who is able to use a variety of communication skills will be able to maintain a balance between being an expert (for example, advocating a specific approach to a lesson) and a peer (for example, offering support and encourages reflection).

Throughout the Peer Coaching Programme, we incorporate the use of specific communication skills. These skills help coaches understand and build trusting relationships with collaborating teachers.

We have drawn the following communication skills from the works of Costa and Garston (2002) and Lipton and Wellman (2001):

• Active Listening occurs when the listener is fully attending to the speaker, blocking out competing thoughts with the intent of discussing with the speaker details of the presented idea, problem, or concept. An active listener will often lean into the conversation to signal close attendance to the conversation.
• Paraphrasing the speaker ensures the listener has heard the idea or problem accurately. This signals that the listener is trying to understand the speaker’s viewpoint. It can also be used to organize the speaker’s thoughts into categories and to extend a conversation.
• Pausing before speaking allows for thinking time in a conversation and demonstrates that all participants are processing what they heard before speaking.
• Clarifying Questions are used to provide listeners with information so they can have a clearer picture or understanding of a topic or idea presented by a speaker. They are factual; for example, “How did you present the lesson to the learners?” “What experience did the learners have with PowerPoint before this lesson?”
• Probing Questions are more thought provoking and are meant to help a group see multiple perspectives or to think more deeply about a topic. They often call for speculation; for example, “How might the lesson have been changed if you had started with a different task?”

Protocols

Protocols are tools that provide frameworks for discussions so that all participants’ ideas are heard and key issues are brought into conversations. We use several protocols to practice communication skills and debrief work sessions with the coaches.

At the conclusion of an activity based on a protocol, inform participants where the protocol was originated and take a little time to debrief how it worked, whether it was useful, and how it could be used in other situations.

At first, using protocols for structuring conversations might seem awkward; some participants may ask to use open discussions instead of the protocols. Explain that following the protocols will focus the conversation and ensure that every voice is heard. Groups that have used these protocols in the past have found them invaluable once they were familiar with the process.

Parking Lot

One useful technique for gathering questions from the participants and encouraging input relies on responding to direct questions raised during activities. However, some participants may not want to ask questions directly. Another way to encourage questions and input is to distribute sticky notes and designate a place on the board or chart paper—the Parking Lot—to post them. Encourage participants to write ideas, comments, or concerns on these notes. Take time to read the notes and address them at natural transition points in the training, such as after a break.

Suggested Times for Activities

Suggested times are provided for each activity in this guide. These are estimates of the time needed to complete each activity. You may need to modify and adjust the times as you go along. For example, if a discussion takes ten minutes longer than intended, make up the time later in the day by shortening another activity.

Collaborative Online Discussions

Throughout the Peer Coaching Programme, participants are asked to collaborate online. There will be several eLearning Sessions, which take place between face-to-face sessions. During these eLearning Sessions collaborative online discussions will occur using the Canvas Learning management system. At other times, online discussions will occur during the face-to-face sessions. Online discussions introduce participants to one another, raise important coaching issues, foster discussions that may continue at later dates, and post resources for all to use and revisit.

Be sure that you are comfortable using the online discussion and conversation facilitiesin Canvas before encouraging participants to use it. At first, some participants may resist using the online discussion facility, preferring face-to-face conversations. Explain that many face-to-face discussions will occur during the Peer Coaching Programme and that online discussions are an important tool for fostering collaboration and community. You may also want to mention that having a discussion take place online allows all voices to be heard and all comments to be revisited later for reflection—two elements that are important for all Peer Coaching Programme discussions.

Session 1

Preparation

Prepare for Session 1 by completing the following activities.

If your participants do not have a management person from their school, recommend that they share the information from Session 1 with a management person when they return to school.

Session 1 at a Glance: Description

Summary

Session 1 is designed to orient participants to the Peer Coaching Programme. They will begin to understand the goals and objectives of the Peer Coaching Programme, review background research in professional development, and identify how peer coaching can play a role in effective professional development. Participants will begin to define their roles as peer coaches and outline resources their schools will need to provide for coaching to succeed. They will also be introduced to the resources found on the Peer Coaching Programme CD and the online discussion facility used to encourage collaboration among coaches. Peer Coaching Programme Group Norms will be explored and set for future Peer Coaching Programme sessions.

Objectives

1. Prepare for use of the online community during e-learning phases of the course.
2. Identify who participants will coach, when they will meet, major roles and responsibilities, and the school’s resources available to support their coaching programmes (by completing a Coaching Plan with their principals).
3. Identify the attributes of effective school-based professional development.
4. Describe key research that supports ongoing, collaborative staff development for teachers.
5. Create a Coaching Plan by setting goals related to the needs of collaborating teachers that are aligned with their school’s improvement plan.

Facilitator Tips for Session 1

• Text in Bold Italic is meant to be read or paraphrased by the facilitator.
• Words separated by > indicate a path to a specific Web page; for example, Peer Coaching Programme DVD > Sessions > Session 1 would direct you to the agenda for Session 1.
• Notes that provide information about a specific step in an activity appear boxed and are entitled Note.
• Participant handouts for each activity are included in the Coaching Handbook.
• Participants are introduced to the online discussion facility in Session 1.
• The directions in this Facilitator’s Guide frequently tell the facilitator to review information from the Peer Coaching Programme DVD. During the review sections, try to avoid reading the text. Instead try one of these methods to review the information:
• Paraphrase the content.
• Ask participants to read sections.
• Ask guiding questions that require participants to read the content.
• Add a personal story that emphasizes key points of the information.

Session 1 at a Glance: Schedule

9:00–9:30 Activity 1: Welcome and Session Overview (30 minutes)