Content-Focused Coaching

West, L. & Staub, F. (2003). Content-focused coaching; Transforming mathematics lessons. Heinemann. Portsmouth, NH.

Summary

This book describes content-focused coaching as professional development with thoughtful dialogues for improved teaching and learning while stressing the importance of collaboration. The authors state that teaching is complex and improvement will not be a quick fix, but will take time and joint accountability between coaches and teachers. They discuss short term goals to refine lessons for particular students and long term goals to develop professional “habits of mind” and “general teaching expertise” (p. 2). Joint accountability for lessons occurs during 3 phases: a pre-conference (planning), the lesson, and a post-conference. Rather than focusing on teachers, conversations will be around students’ thoughts, comments, and misconceptions, and an examination of student work. The ideas for lesson design shift teaching from “mechanically implementing curriculum” to “mindfully making use of curriculum” (p. 5). In chapters 3-7, the authors provide examples of coaching with a novice teacher, an experienced teacher, and a teacher leader. Chapters 8 and 9 look at the role of the principal and district, while chapter 10 focuses on preparing teachers to coach. The authors frequently reference Resnick & Hall’s (2001) Institute for Learning’s Principles of Learning.