Procedure: Check-Up Meeting – Feedback

Coaching Process > Check-Up Meeting – Feedback

1 - Interview
2 - Assess Classroom
6 - Evaluate Intervention
3 - Check-Up meeting - Selected
5 - Implement Intervention
3 - Check-Up Meeting Feedback - Selected
4 - Menu of Options: Choose Intervention
Performance Feedback Loop
PD: Effective Communication
Procedure Overview
How To
1. Introducing and Providing an Overview
2. Delivering and Processing Feedback
3. Transitioning to Options and Goal Setting
Reflection & Tips

Overview

After you have prepared for the Check-Up meeting to provide feedback, you will schedule a meeting where you will share the information you have gathered from the interview and the classroom visits/observations. Ideally, when you schedule the feedback session with the teacher, you will want to allow for enough time to present the feedback, create a menu of options, and complete the goal setting in one meeting. If needed, you can move the goal setting process to a separate meeting if time will not allow; however, conducting all of these steps together makes the process seamless and more cohesive. The first part of this Check-Up meeting is focused on delivering feedback to the teacher in a very structured way.
Purpose

Personalized feedback is a well-documented method for evoking change talk and motivating the teacher to make positive changes in the classroom environment or the teacher’s pedagogy. Teachers are in a better position to make good decisions about their classrooms when they receive very specific information about things that are going well in the classroom and things that could be improved.

Personalized feedback fosters motivation to change and increases teacher use of effective practices.

There are four elements to delivering effective feedback:

1) Create a safe and accepting environment for the teacher and withhold judgments.
2) Deliver feedback in a brief, matter-of-fact tone in the spirit of collaboration and support.
3) Check in often to clarify understanding and shared agreements.
4) Use open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries to facilitate the conversation.

How To

After you finish assessing the classroom, arrange a meeting with the teacher to review the personalized feedback, sharing both strengths and areas of concern across the domains of the five CARES elements, positive behavior supports, and classroom climate. In this same meeting, you will work with the teacher to identify strategies they will want to use in their classroom. You should anticipate the meeting taking about 45 minutes. In this section, we will review the process of providing valuable feedback.

Below, we break the feedback process into three parts: introducing and providing an overview, delivering and processing the feedback, and transitioning to the menu of options and goal setting.

1

Introduction and Providing an Overview

Spend a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting engaged in social conversation, providing an overview of what to expect during the feedback meeting, and introducing the feedback form.
Quotation Mark
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. What I want to do today is share with you the information that I have been gathering from our interview and my classroom visits. I really want to hear your thoughts about the information I give you. Based on the information and what you want to do, we will then come up with a plan for next steps that you want to take. Do you have any questions before we begin?
Ask the “What did you learn” question. This question invites the teacher to reflect on your past conversations and helps connect the interview discussion to the feedback. Sometimes teachers will not have had time to reflect on the interview, which is fine. Simply ask the question, reflect or paraphrase what they say, and then move on.
Quotation Mark
I asked a lot of questions when we met for the interview. Sometimes that gets people thinking about themselves and their classroom. I’m just wondering what, if any, thoughts you’ve had since our last meeting.
Affirmations. Next, it is always a good idea to start a conversation with affirmations about the positive aspects of the classroom and the teacher. It is best if these affirmations are sincere and specific.
Quotation Mark
I really appreciated the chance to be in your classroom. I love your energy and passion for teaching. I hear it in your voice and in the way you spend time with your students. It is clear how much you care about them.
Introduce the feedback form. Finally, prepare the teacher for the remainder of the session by giving an overview of what’s to come and then describing the feedback form. It can be helpful to use a blank feedback form when describing what the colors on the form mean.
Quotation Mark
The way I want to share the feedback I have for you is with this form that breaks it down into different aspects of the classroom (show blank feedback form). You see for each area there is a range of colors. Areas that are in the green indicate those in which I have observed more evidence and that are strengths of your classroom, things that we want to keep doing; areas in the yellow are ones that we may want to think about working on; and those in the red are areas we will want to focus on improving, or areas where I have seen less evidence. As we go over the form, if something stands out to you that you want to work on, let me know and I will write it down. Then, at the end, we will come back to the list of areas you noted. Any questions?
Tips for Success
  • Show the teacher a blank feedback form first. Otherwise, their attention will be focused on how they were rated rather than listening to your overview.
  • Try to sit side by side rather than across the table from the teacher. This setup conveys partnership and allows for shared viewing of the feedback form.
  • As you review the feedback, keep a pad of paper next to you and create a list of areas the teacher wants to work on with you. Do not begin planning new strategies until you finish reviewing the entire form. Use the list as your menu of options for next steps.
2

Delivering and Processing Feedback

When providing feedback, some basic rules are to be matter of fact, reserve judgment, check in to assess agreement, and use a lot of reflections and summaries as the meeting progresses.
Matter-of-fact delivery of difficult feedback. Talking in a neutral tone:
Quotation Mark
When we look at your use of praise, it is in the red. This is because when I visited your classroom, I kept a tally of how often you provided praise to students and how often you provided a reprimand. Your ratio of positive to negative recognition was 1:4, meaning you had four reprimands for every praise. Does that surprise you?
Checking in. Be sure to regularly check in with the teacher throughout your delivery of feedback or if you notice surprise, concern, or change in interest as you deliver feedback. Check-in questions or statements include:
  • “What do you make of that?”
  • “Does that fit with how you see your classroom?”
  • “What do you think of that?”
  • “You seem surprised by that.”
  • “You’re nodding your head and seem to agree.”
  • “I noticed you cringed when I said that. What was going through your mind just then?”
Reflect and summarize what you hear the teacher saying:
Quotation Mark
In this section about authentic relationships, you feel really good about your relationships with students. One thing you would like to do better is to learn more about students’ lives away from school, and also to share more about your life, as well.
3

Transitioning to Menu of Options and Goal Setting

Once you finish reviewing the Double Check Feedback Form, provide a summary of the feedback and a transition to start talking about next steps.
Quotation Mark
A few things stand out to you about the feedback. You were pleasantly surprised that your transitions were quicker and more efficient that you expected. The rate of disruptions and off-task behavior really concerns you, and you want to get a handle on that part of the classroom. Next, we are going to look at this list that we developed, identify where you want to focus, and come up with a plan. Any questions or thoughts before we move forward?

Reflection & Tips: 

CP3 - Check-Up Meeting Feedback - DC Reflection
Take a moment to reflect on your skills and comfort in delivering feedback to teachers.
View Reflection Tool

References to Other Relevant Resources:

Herman, K. C., Reinke W. M., Frey, A., & Shepard, S. (2014). Motivational interviewing in schools: strategies for engaging parents, teachers, and students. New York: Springer

Reinke, W., Herman, K., & Sprick, R. (2011). Motivational interviewing for effective classroom management: The classroom check-up. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

CARES Overview

Greeting Students at the Door

Using Journals to Build Relationships

Identifying Reinforcers for the Classroom

Using Social and Emotional Coaching

Using Behavior-specific Praise

Using Active Supervision

Using Group Contingencies

Using Precorrection

Teaching Behavior Expectations

Providing Academic Feedback

Increasing Opportunities to Respond

Developing and Using Clear Academic Objectives

Posting and Using a Schedule

Coaching Process – Menu of Options

Coaching Process – Providing Feedback

Coaching Process – Introduction and Overview

Observation Practice 4

Observation Practice 3

Observation Practice 2

Observation Practice 1

Using an Attention Signal

Teaching Classroom Routines

Physical Classroom Structure

Values Card Sort – Example

Card Sort Introduction

Coaching – Interview Guide

Opening the Meeting

Defining and Teaching Classroom Rules

Mrs. James

Miss Faber

Positive Behavior Supports & Classroom Climate

Concentration Areas: Smooth Transitions, Pacing of Instruction, Student Engagement, Clear Expectations, Use of Praise, Use of Reprimands, Level of Disruptive Behavior

What is Positive Behavior Supports & Classroom Climate?

Positive Behavior Supports refers to the proactive ways that teachers work with their students, as well as the ways that teachers respond to challenging situations with students. The focus is on recognizing and affirming student strengths rather than punishing them or taking something away from them. A positive approach to the classroom will promote a classroom climate that is welcoming to all students and is a place where students want to engage with the teacher, each other, and the curriculum. All individuals, students and teachers, and the interactions between and amongst all classroom members play a role in the climate.

There is no single element that works independently of the others. All Positive Behavior Supports & Classroom Climate elements, together with the CARES domains, support one another and need to be applied to the classroom to be successful.

Why is it important?

In a classroom climate that is positive and welcoming to all members, the classroom becomes a safe place where culture and diversity can be openly discussed. A supportive climate is one that promotes student engagement and success. Students feel supported and motivated to be an active member of the classroom community. The teacher taking a positive and proactive approach creates a climate of care and respect and promotes desired student behaviors. This classroom is also a place that provides consistency to students, which is especially important for students who may experience stress and uncertainty outside of the school building. Teachers who have positive and proactive classrooms report fewer disruptive behaviors from their students, an increase in student achievement, and better overall perceptions of school climate.

CARES

Concentration Areas: Connection to the Curriculum; Authentic Relationships; Reflective Thinking About Cultural, Racial/Ethnic, and Class Differences; Effective Communication; Sensitivity to Students’ Culture

What is CARES?

CARES is an acronym for the five domains that research has found to be successful in engaging students of culturally diverse backgrounds at school. Each letter refers to a significant element of interaction within the classroom. Applying all five domains of CARES works because it promotes a better understanding of students and ourselves by using strategies that deepen those relationships every day.

There is no single element that works independently of the others. All five CARES domains, together with the Positive Behavior Supports & Classroom Climate elements, support one another and need to be applied in the classroom to be successful.

Why is it important?

Research has shown that each of the five CARES domains has a significant impact on students and their behavior when used regularly and over time. Students who are known and understood by their teachers as individuals in the classroom report deeper connections academically and to their school. When teachers understand their own cultural heritage, they better understand the differences between themselves and their students and report higher levels of mutual respect with students. This also helps teachers to recognize the similarities they share with their students as well as recognize ways in which they are different. Students are more connected and engaged in classrooms where teachers welcome exploration; invite, acknowledge, and celebrate cultural differences; make relevant connections to the curriculum; listen attentively to understand how each student is approaching the concepts; and use humor and other effective communication tools.

Double Check Classroom Check-Up Overview