Coaching Strategies

The mentor/coach may use these strategies to help focus skill development or problem solving:

• Videotaping - Either the mentor/coach or the beginning teacher can be videotaped as they use a particular skill, procedure or technique. The mentor/coach and/or beginning teacher can then review the tape.
• Reflective questioning - The mentor/coach asks the beginning teacher questions to reflect back on their perception of how they felt about their performance. Sample questions might include:
  1. What happened?
  2. How do you feel about it?
  3. What did you learn?
• Study group - Have the beginning teacher be part of a study group in which several beginning teachers get together to explore a topic or idea (action research).
• Reading professional literature - The beginning teacher reads about a particular strategy, procedure, skill or topic in texts, professional journals or periodicals.
• Practice opportunities - The mentor/coach provides practice opportunities for the beginning teacher either in a role play or other situation to perform a skill, technique or procedure before it is used in a classroom setting.
• Journaling - Have the beginning teacher keep a journal of their experiences. This can be a record of their experiences or can also include reflections on the experiences.
• Have other peers or students provide feedback - Have other peers beside the mentor/coach or students in the classroom provide the beginning teacher feedback on how well a particular lesson or activity went.