Coaching Cut #33 Modelling Matters

Coaching Cuts: Bite-sized tips for better coaching

Today’s tip

To form an internal model of how to do a teaching practice for themselves, teachers need to see models of great practice. But…

Your model is only as good as what your coachee notices and interprets. You can show the best model in the world (so you think), but if they don’t recognise what’s great about it, it isn’t functioning as a model.

A recent study on using models to train teachers found that watching a model was far more effective than just reading about the same technique (Sims et al., 2023). Interestingly, adding text to the model video – explaining what the teacher was doing and why – didn’t make a statistically significant difference. But, that might be because participants had already read about the technique in detail beforehand.

The key takeaways?

1. Models matter.

2. Models matter most when teachers understand what makes them great. If we fail to make those features visible, we “run the risk of trainees missing the most valuable aspects of the lesson, or misunderstanding the reasons for their value” (Sims et al., 2023, p.24).

With that in mind, we coaches need a clear model of how to model well!

Watch how…

Coach Caroline skilfully uses a video model to help her coachee, Emma, understand how to use mini whiteboards well in her lessons.

First, Caroline plays the Steplab model video in full, so Emma gets a complete sense of what’s happening. We join them just as they finish doing this.

Coach Caroline then recaps the success criteria for the technique:

• Be efficient

• Be rapid

• Ensure 100% participation

• Scan systematically

Together, they rewatch a short clip, pausing at key points to analyse what the teacher does and how it meets those criteria. The criteria become the lens for their discussion, helping Emma focus on small things the teacher is doing and why.

Notice how Caroline spots and names details Emma initially misses like the teacher asking children to ‘hover’ their boards to make the check more efficient, rapid and to ensure 100% participation. That moment in today’s clip shows the value of pausing and analysing the model together.

Why might modelling well matter so much?

Because it’s not about our coachee copying the model necessarily, we want them to construct the model internally for themselves. This depends on them noticing the important actions the teacher is taking in the first place and crucially, understanding the reasons why. This will allow the teacher to adapt appropriately when they come to rehearse and embed the practice. The coach’s job is to support them to see the important things and guide that sense-making about why it works.

When would (and wouldn’t) you model like this?

Showing a model in full and then breaking it down to analyse certain key parts is usually the best way to do it. Modelling is a form of scaffolding and like with all scaffolding, the level of the support depends on the needs of our coachee. If it’s clear from what your coachee says that they have a good sense of the model pretty quickly, pausing and discussing may be kept to a minimum or not done at all.

On the other end of the spectrum, if the teacher is very new to the practice, more detailed discussion might be needed. But, we need to consider cognitive load: if we point out everything that’s great in the model and why, we are likely to overload our coachee and make the practice feel unattainable. We need to pick what’s most important for them to focus on and master in today’s coaching conversation, trusting that we can build on this practice next time. For example, if Caroline was coaching a teacher who would have found the whole mini-whiteboard routine too overwhelming, she may have just focused on the instructions for the routine and nothing else.

HUGE thank you to Caroline Sherwood @caroline_alice_ and Emma Bloxham @emmabloxham for sharing their coaching with us! And, a huge thank you to Steplab for their treasure trove of video models, which enable great coaches to model well!