Coaching as Assisting Teacher Agency within School-Based Teams to Enact Equitable Classroom Discussions

• In Event: Centering Equity & Agency in Teacher Learning: Innovations & Tensions in Professional Development Across Contexts

Abstract

Although most studies of coaching focus on coaches and individual teachers, this study investigated how three university-based coaches assisted the agency of teams of teachers to enact conceptual discussions between teachers and a small group of students that included all learners and their backgrounds. The teachers worked at schools serving Native Hawaiians. A goal was to sustain the practices through team collaborations. Data sources included monthly team-coach meetings, interviews with coaches, and coaches’ reflections. The most frequent forms of assistance were questioning, positive feedback, and direct instruction. Coaches modeled the target practices in the meetings and through storytelling. Pilina, the Hawaiian concept of relationships, developed over time, through routines and shared backgrounds and affected coaches’ assistance and teacher agency.

Authors

• Lois A. Yamauchi, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• E. Brook Chapman de Sousa, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

• Rebecca 'Ilima Ka'anehe, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• Jamie C. Simpson Steele, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University