Using video:This section provides examples of techniques and skills to use in coaching conversations for modern languages. Best used in combination, they are separated here so that they can be analysed and enhanced.
Using video:
Select clip 26 and clip 27 
to view modern languages specialists using video to inform the coaching conversation.
Clip 26 and 27 prompt text
What are the different approaches taken?
What is the effect on the discussion of using the video?
Clip 26 and 27 reveal text
Video helps to even up the power between coach and coachee.
The post lesson conversation is not about one person telling the other what has been seen, but about both accessing data (the video) which exists outside judgement. It also supports learning from looking. Comments and discussion can take place as the video plays, and sections can also be selected and viewed prior to comment. Where possible, control of the video during the conversation should lie with the coached teacher.
The effect on the discussion is to root it in specific incidents and details so that it remains relevant, tangible and focused. In particular, the coachee's self-awareness of conscious and unconscious behaviours is powerfully enhanced and so rendered subject to greater control and development.
For detailed consideration of the use of video for professional development and coaching, including child protection issues and professional protocols of access and usage select the following resource – 
Using video to encourage reflective practice (PDF, 37kb).
Through active listening and observing, the coach notices critical moments or comments, small details and big points in the discussion and judges whether and how best to explore them as the conversation unfolds.
Points may not be pursued immediately. It is useful to keep brief notes of key comments or experiences for subsequent development, but the amount of detail included needs to be carefully judged so that note-taking does not interrupt the flow of the discussion.
What do you think active listening needs to be effective?
For active listening you need to:
Effective questioning stimulates reflection, focuses and clarifies thinking and helps to construct understanding. It is valuable to plan key questions that will trigger constructive critical thinking about the lesson's effectiveness.
It is important to avoid 'controlling' questions and where possible to ask genuine, open questions which are neutral in terms of judgement or expectation.
Effective questioning depends on how as well as what questions are asked. It's worth remembering the coachee as well as the coach can ask questions as part of the conversation.
Select clip 28 and clip 29 for examples.
Clip 28 and 29 prompt text
What types of questions are being asked?
What is the effect on the conversation?
Clip 28 and 29 reveal text
At the start of the conversation, the coach asks a series of questions which establish the positive basis for the discussion. They move from requiring descriptive and broadly evaluative comments to increasingly probing questions which elicit analysis and explanation.
In the discussion of the clip, the coach again begins with an open question, but then follows this with a key question, prefaced by a sensitive appreciation of the strengths in the observed practice. This single question clarifies the central issue in the coaching focus and helps to ensure that the coaching dialogue is effective in influencing subsequent action'– ...'something more that we could do' (note the use of 'we' to consolidate the sense of collaboration).
For a comparison of controlling and neutral questions Select Use of questions as a tool in coaching (PDF, 29kb)
Facial expression, body language and conversational features such as backchannelling (mmm, yeah, uh huh), are powerful tools in eliciting and encouraging responses.
The coach can be working very effectively in this way while remaining almost silent.
Select clip 30 for examples.
Clip 30 prompt text
What examples of non-verbal communication can you spot?
What effect do you think they have on the conversation?
Clip 30 reveal text
The discussion takes place in a relaxed setting. The coach maintains eye contact, nods her head, smiles and gestures. She listens intently and waits carefully before making responses. Her posture mirrors that of the coachee and she uses backchannelling at key points (mmm, yeah, uh huh etc.) to encourage the coachee to continue.
The effect is to elicit more from the coachee and to create a conversational tone to the dialogue. Though she says little at this point, she is extremely active in developing and sustaining the conversation. Note also the occasional use of 'we' to establish the collaborative nature of the work.
Select the Resources button below for a list of alternatives to questions for promoting discussion.
At key moments in the conversation, the coach and coachee can draw together the main points which have been covered in a short summary, while maintaining the conversational tone. Summarising is particularly important as a means of establishing the basis for agreeing action and next steps.
Select clip 31 for an example of the strategy being used collaboratively by coach and coachee in a post-lesson conversation.
Clip 31 prompt text
How do coach and coachee work together to summarise the discussion?
What is the outcome of the interaction?
Clip 31 reveal text
Coach and coachee take complementary roles in summarising the key points and agreeing action. They ask questions of each other. The coach establishes the broader school context of questioning for independent learning while the coachee lists the range of techniques which will be focused on in his own practice and also within the modern languages department. He also identifies a specific group of pupils and a timescale for action.
Observing can lead to feedback and so is potentially threatening. Feedback as reflective dialogue, however, is as critical to professional learners as it is to pupils.
Observing should be informed by a detailed understanding of the coaching focus. Data may include notes recorded on an observation schedule, sampling work and, crucially, discussion with and comments from learners.
Select clip 32 and clip 33 to view coaches observing lessons.
Clip 32 and 33 prompt text
How do the coaches gather and record data during the lesson?
What types of evidence do they collect?
Clip 32 and 33 reveal text
The coaches are supportive and engaged observers. They use mutually agreed schedules to make notes of important details of teacher behaviours and pupil responses related to the coaching focus. At appropriate moments they talk to pupils in a sustained way to gauge the quality of learning, moving from what to how learning has happened. At these points, the coaching skills of open questioning, non-verbal communication and active listening are important as a means of eliciting more information. Both coaches use video to inform the post-lesson conversation. They are active participants in the lesson, without undermining or unduly influencing the whole-class interaction between the coached teacher and the pupils.
For an observation schedule used in one of the featured lessons and for a proforma which can be adapted for different lessons select the following resource – Lesson observation (PDF, 15kb).
This screen has a quiz. It gives you the chance to test your understanding of questioning within coaching conversations. You have to decide if a question is either a controlling or a neutral question. When you have finished you can check how you have done and read the feedback.
The controlling questions are:
The neutral questions are:
Feedback
Controlling questions
An underlying problem of controlling questions is that the phrasing can often imply subtle blame. These questions imply both criticism and a requirement for the teacher to justify their actions. Assumptions are being made that the teacher has a fault in their teaching.
Neutral questions
These types of questions are open and enable the teacher to diagnose a situation, identifying positive and negative outcomes. Neutral questions encourage the teacher to reflect back on training and apply it.
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