What's a coaching cycle?
A coaching cycle is simply a road map that defines a path for a coach and teacher to take over a defined period of time (usually 4 weeks up to a semester) to work toward improved teaching and learning. Coaching cycles are the bread and butter for coaches.
Coaching is not well-defined in many schools and districts. Schools are also busy places with more tasks than people available to do them. It is easy for coaching cycles to take a backseat to all the other duties coaches often have.
For an explanation of why it is important for coaches to spend 60% of their time engaged in coaching cycles, check out what Diane Sweeney has to say.
Each coaching expert seems to offer their own version of the coaching cycle, but the essential elements are usually the same- figuring out what to work on, engaging in activities that will help the educator learn more about a strategy or set of strategies, then practicing and refining those strategies.
What makes it Dual?
So which coaching cycle do I use? I use my own. As I reflect on my coaching cycles, I find myself changing the cycle. I keep what works and tweak the rest.
This is my current version, but I really consider it a working document. What is working right now is that at each stage, I can really use a Dual Lens.
Setting a goal around student engagement? We can define engagement with language acquisition stages in mind.
Learning about new strategies? We can start with those mentioned in the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education.
Assessing our progress? We can think about how our work has or has not impacted sociocultural competence of our students.
Keeping the focus on what makes Dual different helps both of us think more deeply and engage more intentionally in the coaching cycle.