Reflection and Feedback: Strategies for Success

Coaching Corner Series: Reflection and Feedback: Strategies for Success

Joyce Escorcia: Hello, everyone. I'm Joyce Escorcia with the National Center on Early Childhood Development Teaching and Learning, or the NCECDTL. Thank you so much for joining us today for our latest installment of the Coaching Corner webinar series: "Reflection and Feedback: Strategies for Success." I'm joined in presenting this webinar today by my colleague Sarah Basler. And just as a reminder, the Coaching Corner webinar series happens every other month, and we just invite you to go ahead and mark your calendar for our next webinar, and that's going to be on July 24 at 3 p.m. Eastern.

And so, the goal of every episode is really to support you as a coach by exploring topics that are relevant to you and your role, identifying resources and strategies kind of specific to whatever topic we're talking about, and then giving a chance to put things into practice that we learn through, whether it's scenario videos or get the opportunity to ask questions and have some discussion with us and with each other.

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And this is just kind of letting you know what we're doing today. By the end of the presentation, we really want you to be able to walk away ... Being able to discuss how to prompt reflection and deliver feedback effectively, to identify some of those effective reflection and feedback strategies, and then also just to explore some of those resources that support effective reflection and feedback.

And then just as a reminder, practice-based coaching, or PBC, is a research-based coaching model, and PBC is a cyclical process for supporting a coachee's use of effective teaching or home visiting practices that help to support learning outcomes for children. So, each component within the PBC framework is designed to inform the actions taken by a coachee and the coach. And then this is a reminder that a coachee is that person that is participating in coaching. They're receiving the coaching. So, that could be a teacher or a home visitor, teacher assistant, family child care provider. And so, PBC is really focused on effective teaching, care giving, and home-visiting practices based on collaborative partnerships. It's guided by the goals and a plan for refinement and action. It's assessed through focused observation. It's supportive of the coachee and the growth and development through reflection and feedback.

So, today, we're going to be focusing in on the third component of the PBC cycle, and that's reflection and feedback. So, reflection and feedback is the time for the coach and the coachee to reflect on the observation and the data that the coach collected based on the action plan. It's a time to give and receive feedback based on the goal the coachee and the coach have developed. It's really a time to support and problem solve together and also to identify additional supports or resources that are needed.

So, the reflection and feedback component of PBC can help or hinder the development or kind of that nurturing collaborative partnership, and that's because it can be extremely vulnerable to reflect honestly, and if feedback is delivered in a way that kind of feels judgmental, it can really damage that partnership that you have worked so hard to build with your coachee. So, it's important that coachees feel supported, and that you're able to provide them with the tools and resources to help them reach their goals.

So, encouraging thoughtful reflection and giving good feedback is an art that coaches really need to learn. And so, we know that that takes time to develop the skill. So, that's what we're going to be talking about today and I'm going to turn it over to Sarah, and she's going to kind of get us started with our conversations today.

Sarah Basler: Alright. So, let's begin by talking about prompting reflection through effective questioning and how to deliver feedback in a way that promotes change in practice. So, let's begin the reflection first. We can encourage reflection through the use of specific open-ended questions, and it's important to plan for, and be intentional about, the questions that we want to ask the coachee. We want to think about the information that we want to gain from the coachee, and then decide what type of question would help to elicit that sort of response. The types of questions coaches might use include objective questions that prompt the coaches to recall implementation efforts or their use of practice and remember the impact that their efforts might have had on children or the family.
We might ask interpretive questions that could be used to encourage coachees to share their perceptions or feelings about the events or actions. Comparative questions can help the coachee to be reflective about what occurred and draw conclusions that might support implementation efforts. So, that could be really comparing two points in time for the use of one practice versus another, and sometimes simply asking a question isn't enough to prompt quality reflection with the coachee. It's important to really think about what you'll do if the coachee answers a question with a more closed-ended response.

So, for example, if you ask what he think would happen if you let Benjy select his center first, and the coachee said something like, "I don't know," you want to have another question prepared to prompt a deeper reflection from the coachee. This can help the coachee think about their implementation of the practice, and it also will provide the coach with more information about what the coachee did and why the coachee did it or even how the coachee feels about their implementation of the practice or how comfortable they feel.

We want to be careful of reflective questioning that's too broad or vague. Broad questions can certainly be powerful, but you need to know your coachee and anticipate the type of question that they might need in order to reflect. PBC is not one-size-fits-all, and coachees are going to need different types of support. So, some coaches will naturally reflect when you ask the question like, "How do you think it's going with implementing the practice?" That might be enough for a coachee to reflect and respond about their implementation, but sometimes a question that might be too broad, and coachees might not know how to respond.
It's always a good idea to ask specific questions that are focused on one aspect of implementation instead of overall implementation because answers can be more focused that way. So, sometimes when we ask broad questions, we receive a more closed-in response, like, "It went well." In the event that you get a response like this, you just, just like I mentioned above, you want to volley it back to the coaches and ask something like, "What is one thing that went well, that you thought went well?" And this gives the coachee a chance to think more analytically about their practice, and it can give the coach more information. Alright.
So, now we're going to watch a clip of a coach and a coachee during their reflection and feedback meeting. So, as you're watching, I want you to think about a question that you might ask to the coachee to prompt their reflection.

[Video begins]

Coach: Can even be a good idea to kind of target those kids that are having a hard time because I think ...Is Madison the one that's having a hard time? She's a target child.

Coachee: She is.

Coach: Well, I was kind of thinking about her because I noticed, I think you had her writing or doing something there, doing that. Tell me a little bit about her in that situation and how that's coming up, because it seems like kind of consistent.

Coachee: Hers was just not being friendly with the kids. That was why she had more of those things checked, and what I was doing was, I took one of the rules and that's what I had her writing, what she wasn't doing.

Coach: Right. Right.

Coachee: So, that's the only thing I could think of at the time. I'm sure it could be something better.

Coach: Well, I think the only thing that I would worry about with the writing is that we don't want her to connect writing with something negative.

Coachee: Right. I have thought of that.

Coach: Yeah. So, that was the only thing that I thought of. And so... But it is really hard. It's like, "Okay. She's not doing it."

[Video ends]

Sarah: Okay. So, now we want to hear from you. Type in ... Using the Q&A widget, type in a question that you would ask a coachee next to prompt reflection. I'm going to give you some time to see the responses coming in. What question would you ask to prompt reflection here? Let's see. Okay. So, we have ... "What do you think is something else you could try?" "What might you ask her to do instead of writing the rule out?" "What are some strategies you've used before that you feel are effective?" So, kind of pulling on those past experiences. Let's see. We have someone that says, "Oh, what, what did you notice?"

Joyce: And, Sarah, Barbara just shared one I thought was kind of neat. She said, "Now that you've had time to kind of think, what other strategies could you have used?"

Sarah: That's a great one. Sometimes, we have to think about what happens. You could ask something like, "What do you think happened before that it caused her to be unfriendly to peers?" That might be something to think about. "Does the child" ... So, we had one response, "Does the child understand the expectations?" So, it might be that there's a misunderstanding of what she's supposed to be doing at that time.

Joyce: And that was a "Great minds think alike," Sarah, because I had picked out ... I just saw one from Joanna, and she said, "Do you think the child understands what the rule means?" That's kind of another way of having her to reflect on is that the best thing to do?

Sarah: Mm-hmm. Let's see. Oh, this is one. We have someone that offers up a coaching strategy. "So, do you think role-playing might be an effective strategy?" So, the coach is asking the coachee if they'd like to, to practice. So, let's see here. "What skill do you think might be helpful to teach Madison here?" So, really focusing on the teaching. Oh, this is a good one. "What time of day does this behavior normally happen?" Kind of seeing if there's some patterns related to it. I see one here. "How can you help her feel more comfortable with peers?"

Joyce: Here's another one, Sarah. Andrea says, "Do you have any tools or kits that show children kind of what you want them to do?" So, kind of connecting to maybe resources that are already available.

Sarah: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joyce: Thinking about some of like maybe the pyramid resources and stuff that could be used in the classroom.

Sarah: Right. Then I see another one here, too. "What strategies do you use throughout the day to reinforce the classroom rules?" So, it's trying to figure out what practices the teacher is using throughout the day. Alright. And then the last one that I am going to refer to is asking ... It's about going back to the family. "Has the family said anything about noticing behaviors at home?" So, that connection to home to see if these are things that the family might be noticing, too. Great. Thank you for your responses. One thing I want to point out to you is that this coach never cast judgment, and I know that it's just a short clip, but you never hear her say anything that, that's judging during this interaction. She even validates the teacher by saying that it is really hard. So, we want to remember that, in order for coachees to feel comfortable to reflect, we need it to feel non-judgmental, and it should be a safe place for coachees to try out new things.
So, now we're going to talk about feedback, and, of course, we know that reflection and feedback go hand in hand. Good reflective conversation can assist the coachee to deliver their own feedback, which can be really powerful to help create that independence and teaching them the skill of reflection. Another strategy is for the coach to, to provide effective feedback. So, in order to provide feedback, it starts with the information that you're collecting during the observation.
So, when a coach collects data, it should be directly focused on the action plan goal, and it should focus on what the coachee is doing or saying, as well as what the children or the families are doing and saying as it relates to that coachee's goal. Having direct quotes can also be very powerful to share. As the coach prepares for the meeting, you want to be sure that you are thinking about what feedback will be provided and how it will be framed.

So, in order to prompt meaningful reflection and deliver feedback that's effective, the coach needs that time to prepare. It takes time to think about the questions that you want to ask and the feedback that will be the most impactful, and it takes time to also gather resources that can help support that coachee in their implementation.

So, the provision of feedback really should be very intentional. When you deliver feedback, the coach should be direct, use first person, and be as precise as possible. So, for example, "You stopped in the story and expanded on what Jamie pointed out," verses, "You were very responsive to the children during story time." The first example really points out what's happening, and there's no vague terms that, that have a lot of different meanings.

So, be specific. Clearly state what was observed, but also be careful not to provide too much feedback.  Providing a coachee with one or two pieces of supportive feedback and then a key piece of constructive feedback can be more powerful than a laundry list of things that went well or things that could use improvement or enhancing. When we provide too much feedback, either supportive or constructive, it becomes overwhelming, and it can become unclear on what to continue doing. So, if it's supportive, what, what am I doing well that I need to keep doing? Or what should I do to change?

We want to go a mile deep instead of a mile wide with our feedback. In the event that there are several things going well, or several things that could use refinement or improving, you want to select the one or two pieces of feedback that have had the biggest impact on the coachee's practice, the children, or the families. Or what would help with implementation the most. It can be challenging to come up with the right words to say when offering constructive feedback.
So, preparation is key to doing it well. It, it's important to remember that constructive feedback is not telling the coachee what they did wrong. In a perfect world, you'd ask a reflective question to the coachee, and they would identify the same thing that you noticed in the focus observation, and then they might identify what would need improvement. And then you could just offer suggestions. But sometimes it doesn't happen that way. So, when you provide constructive feedback, you want to start with what you observed regarding the targeted practice. So, focus specifically on what you saw the coachee you do without judgment.

So, for example, when you asked Tineka to clean the car, she did it, and you said, "Good job." So, it is fact based and non-judgmental. Give information and suggestions for improving the practice. An important part of coaching is that providing information to increase knowledge of the practice and suggesting strategies that can help implementation. It's important that you don't skip describing what you observed the coachee do, and then just jump to providing suggestions because that doesn't provide the coachee with information about their implementation or what they were doing, and it can come across like you're just providing them with some good ideas or some tips.

So, for example, if you said, "It might be helpful to set a timer to go off at five minutes before center time ends so you can remind the children that they are five minutes until it's time to clean up and go to lunch," instead of, "I notice that when it was time to clean up, you told the children to put away their things without a five-minute warning," and then you suggest using a timer. That gives the teacher, or the coachee more information and doesn't seem like it's just a good idea.  The first statement alone indicates that this, this might be something good to try.  The second indicates what you were doing and how to improve. The difference is the pairing of the description of what the coachee did with the suggestion. You want to ask the coachee to reflect on additional ways to improve that practice.

So, coachees build confidence and competence when they're given the opportunity to reflect and brainstorm strategies rather than being told what to do or how to do it. Coaching is something that happens with coaches and not to them. They're also more likely to integrate these strategies into their practice if they have input and buy in. So, the coachee also knows what will be feasible to put into place in their environment.

It could be that your coachee needs you to provide them with a few suggestions, and then let them choose from those suggestions. And that could help them decide what's most feasible in their classroom. It's important that ... That if you offer more than one suggestion, that you ask the coachee what they'd like to try. What happens if we offer ... Too many choices and we don't prompt the coachee to identify what to work on, they could end up not trying any of the suggestions.

It can be as simple as saying something like, "We talked about this practice and this practice. Which would you like to try?" And then you can add it to the action plan as a step. If we throw out too many options and then we never land on one that we're going to try, it can be confusing, and the coachee might leave thinking, "Well, what was I supposed to do next?"

You want to provide resources to support implementation. You want to take the time to search for and provide resources that can help improve the targeted practice. And it's important that we don't offer resources just for the sake of providing resources. You want to really think about a resource that will provide the coachee with either information about doing a practice differently or better, or providing a resource that will help them implement the practice, like, it might be that they need a visual, so you bring a certain visual or a material. It's not limited to just information that they're receiving.
Okay. So, we want to hear from you. Using the Q&A widget to answer the question, "What challenges do you face with providing either supportive or constructive feedback?"
Joyce: Hey, Sarah, I was just going to add in here, we actually had a question came up that is kind of related to this from Myeesha. And her question was, "What do you do when you're trying to give feedback and the coachee, like, physically just avoids you, and you're not able to have that time together?" I thought that was kind of a nice connection here. And one thing that I thought of was going back to that one, that collaborative partnership, to see, you know, kind of what ... Is there's something else that we need to do to really work on us having that collaborative partnership and that understanding of what the goal of our time is together and making sure that that is kind of like a planned and scheduled time for reflection and feedback could also help with that.

And also, thinking about possibly the coaching agreement. Like, is there a need to kind of go back and revisit your coaching agreement or your coaching contract. Seems maybe there's like just a misunderstanding somewhere or something else that can be done that kind of helped create that safe space. Just some of the ideas that I thought of. Of just kind of being in the same space as the challenge. Or finding that time to be in the same space.

Sarah: Mm-hmm. I saw here that having time right now is a challenge for someone, so trying to provide feedback through email, and that can have its pros and cons. So, we all know that time, time is going to be one of our biggest challenges when we're trying to navigate coaching, multiple coachees, and different schedules. So, having a really laid out and clear schedule yourself can help you stay organized and really putting in to your schedule those meetings that you have that are mandatory and really trying to follow up and making that time with each of your coachees. Let's see.

So, making feedback feel organic and not forced is a challenge for someone. I think ... Or manipulative. Yeah, I think that's going to come from really some of the strategies that we mentioned before. So, when you really ... You want to have organic feedback, but you do also have to really prepare for what you're going to say because otherwise, what's the point of the meeting? You really want to get your point across. So, you have to prepare for that. So, that can be a challenge to have your prepared feedback and kind of your questions prepared, but also do it in a way that feels relaxed and organic. And I think that's something that will, as your partnership develops over time, that that does get easier.

Let's see. What are some of the other responses we have? OK. So, sometimes the coachee has a negative view of the observation and doesn't see what the coach sees. So, a suggestion was maybe videotaping -- that videotaping has really helped that. That's really ... And I think sometimes, when we are coaching, we will face that. We'll have people that we're coaching, and they don't see all the wonderful things that we see and that's a great solution -- to videotape to kind of show that coachee all the wonderful things that they're doing.

And I think, also, that's where that support is, feedback comes in. And for that kind of coachee that really is negative and hard on themselves so to speak, you might make sure that you provide them some extra supportive feedback that might be helpful. Oh, this one. I have this problem sometimes. The rambling and giving too much feedback. So, that's where that preparation beforehand can help really deciding what's the most important and what's going to impact coachee practice the most. But that can be ... And especially if we get nervous, and we start talking. That can be a challenge. When someone gets defensive during the meeting when they're giving ... When the coach is giving constructive feedback.

So, I think this ties back to what you were saying, Joyce. We want to make sure that we've built that collaborative partnership and that it feels safe and non-judgmental. And then another piece of that is, I think we want to make sure that we're asking questions that maybe might get at that constructive feedback. That could help the coachee kind of identify their implementation, and they might identify what you were going to deliver for constructive feedback, but then also going back to that, stating objectively what you saw, and then asking for coachee input.

Oh, this is a good one. Coaching teachers who are uncomfortable with or unfamiliar with reflection. It feels like they always just want the answers. And that can certainly be a challenge. I would think that there, you just want to make sure that you have those backup questions because those type of coaches might be the ones that answer with more close-ended responses. So, having another question to volley it back, and then they'll likely feel more comfortable as the process goes on. And it is definitely one of those skills that comes easier to some, more easier to some than others. But really having extra questions prepared to volley it back if you get more closed-ended responses. Joyce, are you seeing anything that pops out to you?

Joyce: I'm seeing a few that are kind of similar, in people just stating, you know, that having a coachee that maybe doesn't share a whole lot as far as like reflection, you know, where they don't have a lot to say. And I've seen that a few times kind of come up in the comments, and I think, again, one that kind of comes back to thinking about that collaborative partnership. But, too, just knowing that depending, like, if they're just kind of ...If this is their first experience with coaching, then knowing that, that just might be OK kind of starting out, right?

If you're new being a coach, than being the coachee, too, that can kind of have its own set of feelings, as well. So, knowing that you may not get as much, you know, reflection or, you know kind of that self-reflection kind of moment, especially starting out and know that that's okay, but maybe try to figure out like how, how can we grow from that, and it may be ... That might be part of, "OK, so for like next time, you know, we're going to ... Our goal is maybe just to write like down one or two reflections things." So, maybe that's a way for the coachee to be able to reflect and say, "OK. I'm going to bring a couple of my thoughts in writing."

Starting out, too, I think that as that collaborative partnership grows and gets stronger and that relationship between the coach and the coachee really starts to gel, then that, that conversation will just naturally pick up. But that might be a way to kind of bridge that until it just flows a little bit more.
Sarah: I found this one good response here. "I keep giving feedback, and they choose" -- they being the coachee -- "choose not to utilize the feedback, and then keep coming back with the same problems. It's a vicious cycle." So, we're going to get into some strategies in the slides to come, so spoiler alert. But what I would suggest here ... It might be that the feedback, is it supportive enough to help the coachee implement the practice, or try it a different way. So, it could be that maybe you offer up a different type of support as the coach. It could be that you need to do some role-play during your feedback session or you might set up a time, of course, with the coachee's permission, to maybe model the practice with the feedback that you're trying to give them.

So, I think sometimes we need to step back and think, "What is the breakdown?" And maybe sometimes just volleying it back to the coachee and asking, "You know, I've noticed that this, whatever is happening, happens frequently. Tell me a little bit about that. What do you think is causing it?" And that can give you a little bit more information. Or if you're asking them to implement a practice that maybe they're not ready to implement, it could be that you might need to modify the goal or the practice that you're working on.

So, thinking about how you could support or maybe even looking into revising. OK. Alright. Let's see. Last one, and then I think we'll move on. Oh! Working as a colleague, but ... So, maybe you had a different role, and now you've transitioned into coach and how to give feedback in a way that is effective. So, what do you do if you've been someone's colleague and now you're their coach.

I think that's where when Joyce mentioned that coaching contract ... There's going to be these situations that we face that might be a little uncomfortable or we might have to lay out the ground rules. And I think a coaching contract can kind of help to set up what those expectations of that partnership looks like because this could be a challenge for many of you as coaching is being implemented and people change roles. I would suggest utilizing a coaching contract so it's really clear what the expectations of coaching are and what the coachee can expect from the coach or what the coach can expect from the coachee. So, these are great. Alright.

So, some takeaways. Encouraging thoughtful reflection and giving helpful feedback is a skill that takes time to develop, but there are some ways that we can set ourselves up for success. It starts with collecting detailed and specific notes or data, of course, related to the action plan during the focused observation. If we aren't intentional about the data that we're collecting, it can be difficult to come up with the feedback for the coachees. Direct quotes from the coachee, the children, or the families that you're observing can be powerful data to share at the meeting.

Also having like the number or a tally of the time -- the amount of times that something occurred or even the absence of the times that something occurred could be an opportunity for something to occur. And you can give specific details about how that might look. We need to plan for specific open-ended questions. So, scheduling time in your day to plan between the observation and reflection.

So, you want to really think about the feedback that you're going to deliver and the questions that you're going to ask. Effective reflection can lead the coachee into identifying areas for improvement on their own, which is even more powerful than you providing them that feedback. So, you want to be sure to ask specific questions, avoid those broad or vague questions, which can lead to close-ended responses, and be prepared with more questions in the event that you receive a more closed-ended response.

So, you want to be prepared to volley it back to the coachee to prompt them to really think more deeply about their implementation. You want to plan feedback that's specific, non-attributed, or judgmental, and provide the coachee with that objective, fact-based detail about what you observed and provide them with information that's meaningful and pertinent to their goal. Provide suggestions about how the coachee could improve or expand their implementation of practice. But make sure that the suggestions are connected to a description of what was observed or you might run the risk of it seeming more like a good idea instead of a need. And if you offer many suggestions, have the coaches identify one or two things to work on.

If you leave the meeting without making a selection, it can become unclear what the coachee should work on in between the meeting and the next observation. And finally when you prepare to share meaningful resources, don't just offer up resources for the sake of sharing a resource. It's OK to not always have something to give the coachee at each meeting, especially if what you're sharing won't be useful to them to help them implement that practice. OK.
So, now we've discussed ways to prompt reflection and how to deliver effective feedback. We're going to look at some coaching strategies that can be used during this meeting. So, this slide outlines the coaching strategies that can be used during the reflection and feedback meeting. You notice that reflective conversation is bolded, and that's because reflective conversation should really happen each time that you meet.

The reflection and feedback meeting should be a reciprocal conversation, meaning that there's input from both members of the discussion. The rest of the coaching strategies are more supportive, and they might not be used during each meeting, but can be more supportive in helping the coachee to achieve their goals. A problem-solving discussion probably happens with the majority of your coachee, more often than not. A problem-solving discussion can happen naturally when we plan intentional reflection questions. These discussions will include, first, identifying what the problem is, coming up with some ideas or solutions. Selecting a solution that the coachee would like to try, and fourth would be trying out the solution and evaluating how it works.

The fourth step of problem solving usually happens later because the coachee can't really implement the practice during the meeting. And if any of these steps are missed, problem solving might not be fully implemented. You could review video. So, that would be when the coach or the coachee reviews video that was collected during the observation. If the video is long, it's best that the coach select a segment to watch with the coachee, and the video that is captured should be around the implementation of the goal or practice, of course.

And while the coachee and coach watch the clip, reflective questioning could be happening throughout. You could even have the coachee tally the number of occurrence or take data while you're watching the video clip. You could even graph it at that time. Role-play would be when the coach or the coachee act out a practice and what it may look like during the meeting. It could be that the coach takes on the role of the coachee and that the coachee takes on the role of the child or parent or vice versa. They could act out a conversation or how to implement a certain strategy that they're targeting. And sometimes, it might be helpful if you don't announce like, "Let's try role-playing," it could be that you say something like, "Let's practice -- I will be the parent, and you tell me what you would see."

So, instead of announcing, because sometimes, people might bristle if you say, "Let's try role-playing." And then a demonstration could be done either live or with video similar to role-play, but it's usually the coach demonstrating a certain practice or strategy. And then a video demonstration would be when the coach and the coachee watch a video clip together of a practice or strategy.

Often coaches might send the video clip to a coachee as a resource, but if you have time, I would suggest watching it together instead of just sending it, because when you watch it together, you can point out things that you want the coachee to see and talk about it there in the meeting. You can graph data with the coachee and this would be if the coach assists the coachee in creating a graph of the data collected. It could be interpreting a graph or teaching the coachee how to interpret the graph.

Database feedback can be a very powerful tool, and it's visual and concrete evidence of progress. You could be helping with the environmental arrangement, and that would be when the coach offers the coachee with help setting up the learning environment or by creating or adapting materials or physically arranging the space. And then, of course, providing resources is another way to support the coachee's implementation. It's important to know the types of support that your coachee is comfortable with receiving will vary among your coachees.

The strategies on this list that you want to gain permission before implementing, for sure, would be help with environmental arrangement. You would never want to physically arrange a coachee's space without talking about it first. These strategies are different than strategies that you'd implement during a focused observation. Those strategies will require some planning during your reflection and feedback meeting and permission from the coachee prior to implementing those. Alright.

So ...We want to hear from you. Which reflections and feedback coaching strategy have you tried and had success using? And why was it successful? Let's see. What reflection and feedback coaching strategies have you used -- have you had success using? And why was it successful? Got some distant typing. I've implemented using graphing. I found that to be really successful with a coachee because you can like visually represent the data that you take, and sometimes, it makes more sense. Well, I'm a visual person, so I like to read data, but I find that effective.
I see here we have instances that video seems to work best, because it gives them an outsider's view of their own practices. And sometimes coaches aren't really aware of what they're doing, so, video can really give that objective view. I'm seeing video a lot here. So, that's a strategy that you guys are really comfortable with using.

Joyce: I see someone said providing materials, or what she does is a lot of modeling and demonstrating, as well.

Sarah: Alright. Problem solving. Oh, because this strategy, Barbara says, is more a team-based approach. That's right. It's really reciprocal whenever you're problem solving. Role-play in demonstration because it gives the coachee live and hands-on type of support. Lots of video ... Video playback. And on-the-spot coaching. So, that on-the-spot coaching would happen during the observation, and then maybe playback of video that was taken during the observation. Providing material, reflection, because the person was able to look at the situation again. Yeah.

So, I want to make sure that we have enough timeto get through our resources,  so I'm going to move on. I'm going to start with sharing this resource here. As we mentioned before, the coaching strategies will be influenced by coachee comfort and their willingness to receiving support. And, of course, it's based on the individual needs of each coachee. What you see here is a snapshot of a coaching log, and it can be found on the National Center of Pyramid Model Innovations, and it can be found in the resource list.

And you'll notice right away that the title is, "Classroom Coaching Log." But this resource could be used by a coach coaching a home visitor, or a family child care provider, too. So, don't let the name fool you. This resource can be used by the coach to track the types of support that they're providing their coachee, and this data can be important for the coach to reflect on how they're supporting their coachee. It can help the coach think about if there are opportunities maybe to provide more supportive strategies or try a different strategy.

The coaching log lists focused observation, reflection, and feedback strategies, as well as essential strategies of PBC. You can see that under the observation strategy, observation is listed. For the reflection and feedback section of the log, reflective question, conversation is present and so are supportive and constructive feedback.

Outside of observations, reflective conversation, and supportive and constructive feedback, the rest of the strategies are really optional, but they can really enhance the observation or the meeting. It's also important to understand that a coach and a coachee can certainly have a quality observation in a meeting without the use of these strategies. But these strategies can be a more supportive way to help a coachee reach their goal. So, like is one of our participants.  A coachee not meeting their goals or not accepting the feedback that's given. You might want to try one of these coaching strategies.

If you decide to use a coaching log, you could even create your own to fit the unique needs of your program. For those of you that have created your own coaching log, we'd like to invite you to log on to MyPeers and share them in the community so that we can see all the wonderful things you've created. So, now I'm going to turn it over to Joyce. She's going to give us some ideas and resources.

Joyce: Yeah. Thank you, Sarah. And so yes, just to kind of continue the conversation about resources, we just want to kind of continue in sharing some of the resources that are available. Some might be new to you, and some might be just some friendly reminders and refreshers. And so first, we just wanted to point out on the ECLKC. And that stands for the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. So, if you just Google ECLKC, it'll take you right there. So, this site can really help programs to implement PBC and provide ongoing support to coaches and coachees.

The resources on the ECLKC are kind of categorized by topic. So, the PBC resources are found under Professional Development. But again, you can Google ECLKC PBC, I know that's two acronyms right there together, but that will kind of get you to that same place, as well. And so once you get to the ECLKC, you can scroll down to the bottom of the PD topic page, and then click on Practice-Based Coaching. And so resources there, anything from tips for coaches, PBC program leaders guide. They're also archived Coaching Corner webinars. So, our past Coaching Corner webinars for the past few years all live there, as well.
And there was a question or two that came up in the Q&A box about previous episodes, so you can find those there, too. You can find video briefs. Again, you can use things like the Tips for Coaches and other material really to help you either kind of give yourself a refresher in kind of some other things about what it means to be a coach, or things related specifically to the cycle, or maybe some of the systems-related questions about implementing coaching. So, we have that available.

And then again within the ECLKC site ... This is just a clip from what it actually looks like, and there's an archive Coaching Corner webinar center there, and you can download those. There's also transcripts and things that are available there. And then in the resources for this webinar, we've included several handouts that could support you during reflection and feedback. And they're also ... These handouts are also provided during the PBC coach training or the PBC coach training institute. So, they might be familiar, again, to many of you. And they can also be found within the PBCTI materials within the MyPeers PBC community, in the files tab.

So, the ones that we provided for you today are the reflection and feedback starter phrases, constructive feedback examples, and reflection of feedback coaching strategies and then just the tips for coaches handout. So, that's just some things we wanted to provide for you.
And then also, there's a free resource from the Teachstone website. And so there, they have a regular blog that's open and freely available to anyone. So, it will provide additional strategies that you could use with coaches during reflection and feedback, and that link is also included within the resources widget for the webinar, as well.

And then another great resource would be the Head Start Coaching Companion. So, the Head Start Coaching Companion is just another tool that could be used to support coaches and coaches during the entire PBC cycle, but especially during reflection and feedback. You're able to upload video and actually kind of timestamp it and provide feedback kind of there in the moment. So, this is a tool that you could use if you're doing coaching onsite, or virtual or both, as well.So, it's really meant to support you in what you do.

And there's more information also on the ECLKC on how to connect with the Head Start Coaching Companion. If you don't have access, you can gain access via the ECLKC. So, we have that resource available. And then, of course, we have MyPeers. That's another great resource for kind of supporting your coaching practice, no matter if you're coaching a classroom teachers, or home visitor, or family child care providers.
So, connecting with Sarah and myself and then other coaches or people that are supporting coaching in the MyPeers community is another great place just to get connected to talk about reflection and feedback strategies. What are some challenges? How can we get past those things? People share resources and have kind of real time conversations. So, that's another great place to get connected there.

And, again, if you are not a member of the MyPeers community, you can access, you can gain access via the ECLKC. So, we look forward to kind of connecting with everyone there. And then we also wanted to share ... This is just another kind of newer resource that's out, and that's an interactive curriculum consumer report. Actually, it's a new ECLKC resource, in case you haven't seen that. We have that available. And then this is kind of a new event that's coming up, the Home Visitor e-Institute. And, again, you can gain access with that via the ECLKC. So, that's something that we're kind of planning and getting ready for. I just wanted to share those resources again. You have them available in the slides from the PowerPoint, and then you have links to some of those in the resource list, as well.

So, thank you for joining us and for attending the webinar today.