Coaching Class Management Software

[Claribel Szwaja]

Effectiveclassroom management helps to create a safe, supportive, and productive environment for learning. It also reduces stress and burnout for teachers. Yet, very few educators receive formal training on this aspect of teaching in their teacher prep programs. Job-embedded instructional coaching can help.

Instructional coaching for classroom management is a practice where coaches and teachers work together to create and implement classroom management strategies based on observational data.

An instructional coach will observe a classroom, often using video, to assess the classroom environment and pinpoint areas that may be contributing to negative classroom behavior or inefficient use of time and resources.

The coach will then share their findings with the teacher, often watching portions of the video together. Along with notes about what they observed in a lesson or activity, a coach may come with questions in hand that will lead the teacher to make observations of their own.

Effective instructional coaching for classroom management will also include a follow-up session where the coach can observe the classroom after new practices and strategies have been implemented to see their impact on classroom behavior and productivity.

Novice teachers can be extremely concerned about classroom management. After all, they know that effective classroom management is key to student learning, and they want to get it right from the start.

Instructional coaching is a great tool to help deal with this imbalance. Coaches provide teachers with the feedback, resources, and support to promptly meet behavior issues head-on, freeing up time and energy for constructive classroom instruction and student learning.

Classrooms are full of activity, and many teachers practice a variety of routines throughout the day. Of course, no one instructional coach can observe every single thing in a classroom, but most coaches will focus their attention on:

More effective coaching happens when instructional coaches share the observational process with the teacher. As they observe the classroom environment and activity together, the coach and teacher can discuss issues they see and then join forces to develop a strategy to improve the classroom environment.

Classroom management and behavior would be included in Domain 2, and this is usually where instructional coaches start to ensure teachers have the foundation to then focus on the higher domains.

When an instructional coach visits a classroom in person, they can offer valuable feedback on what they observe. But often, an in-person visit limits what the coach is actually able to observe and take note of, simply because of time restraints and the difficulty of trying to simultaneously observe and take notes.

A teacher can record a lesson or activity and share it with their coach. The coach can then watch the video on their own time with the ability to start and stop the video to revisit particular moments or incidents for closer examination.

Video enables a coach to provide time-stamped feedback to the teacher that points out effective strategies and areas where the teacher could have done something differently. Coaches can ask probing questions in their comments as well make observations about connections between what a teacher does and what the students do.

Recording their classroom practice also allows teachers to see themselves in action. Watching a video together with a coach can help teachers be more objective about student behavior incidents and brainstorm solutions for better outcomes.

Instructional coaching for classroom management is empowering for teachers, and this is what TORSH Talent is all about. TORSH Talent provides an all-in-one platform that streamlines and simplifies:

When teachers lead by example and pass on roles to the students, they are empowering their students to be leaders themselves, freeing up precious time to allow the teacher to focus on the main role of instruction.

Again, an opportunity can be observed for the students to take ownership in the classroom. The coach may encourage the teacher to create an expectation where the students know to separate their desks for independent work and bring them back together into pods for group work.

The goal of instructional coaching for classroom management is to create a classroom culture where teachers can spend more time on instruction and positive student engagement than behavior management.

These first weeks of school, my coaching work has been focused on supporting our new teachers in creating a positive classroom culture. This was an intentional decision made on the part of our leadership team since, as you likely know, classroom management and creating a learner friendly environment is so super important in the overall success of a teacher, her kids, and their growth and learning. So we really wanted to help teachers hit the ground running.

We decided we would coach new teachers only during the first 6 weeks of school, then narrowed down what we wanted them to know and be able to do at the end of those 6 weeks. Two of our goals were strategically tied to the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards so that our work was aligned with the criteria teachers would be evaluated on.

Our leadership team also did a round of walkthroughs to collect data on how the learning we worked on with teachers was being implemented. We used this walkthrough tool to help us collect data and calibrate our looks-fors and feedback.

Thank you so much for this wonderful post of helpful tips and strategies. I just got off of the phone with a call regarding working with a kindergarten teacher on classroom management! As a first year instructional coach, it is wonderful to know that I have a place to go for guidance and resources! Thank you again!

This punctuality reiterates to members that not only do we want to start on time, but we want THEM to be there on time, too. The best way to get members consistently strolling in the door five to 10 minutes late is to have inconsistent start times at your gym. In my experience, most people HATE waiting around because someone has poor time management, so plan accordingly and start your classes on time.

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Are there any other aspects of timeliness you think are important for managing group classes? Or, how do you manage some of the described aspects of keeping things running on time?

For 20-years, I've managed customer service departments and process-improvement projects for Fortune 500 companies. As such, when I say the "majority", I am not speaking figuratively to illicit controversy. I believe CrossFit is still the best type of fitness facility to achieve healthful and awesome results. I realize some folks have a personality that thrives in an environment of mismanagement. Others are willing to put up with it for the benefts the Boxes provide. Unfortunately, many more (x-ref. the attrition rates at most Boxes) expect any gym that charges a high monthly fee would demonstrate professional consideration and a decent level of business-admininstation skill.

The majority of Boxes I've attended are great in their love of fitness and creating WODS that are challenging and beneficial. Unfortunately, most Box owners have had no real business (i.e., customer service) experience, at least at a highly professional level. Hence, so many are clueless regatding the negative impact of their lackadaisical approch regarding start-and-end times, replying to emails and messages in a timely manner, and be proactive (or even just awareness) of member attrition.

Until they get their act together, most Box owners will remain clueless as to how many potential new members were lost because the owner didn't reply or follow up enough with inquiries made to their emails, web pages, etc. Likewise, they will continue to tmale excuses to do the hard ("boring") eork of NOTICING AND ACTING when existing members start showing signs of dissatisfaction or departure. Mature management does not blame to customer, but instead looks for ways to indefify and address the underlying concerns the customer may not be expressing. Granted, this type of effort is far less glamorous than developing great WODS or exciting COMPS, but grown-ups in the business world do not focus only on the 'fun stuff'. Clueless owners will continue to blow off their own lion's share of responsibly for keeping members satisfied, motivated, loyal, and supported. Clueless owners will blame attrition on "a lack of commitment" of the members, and play down the impact their own mismanagement on attrition.

Folks left traditional gyms because CrossFit promised more. Folks are constantly leaving Boxes (in search of a better managed and responsive Box, or alternative cutting-edge community-fitness facility).

Most metropolitan areas are saturated with a dozen Boxes to choose from. Alternative cutting-edge, communal-fitness facilities are on the rise. The two-edged sword of Box-on-Box competition that Corporate itself may thrive on is resulting in spread-thin coaches, classes, and owner time to provide exceptional customer service. All this makes retaining members (ensuring they remain satisfied and loyal) is increasingly a challenge, but also increasingly vital for Box survival.

Coaches spend significant amounts of time designing professional development, coaching teachers 1:1, and curating resources for instruction. We build into teachers all year long to ultimately improve instruction across the entire school. When classroom management is an issue, it can drain our teachers. Even when 10 things go right in our day, we tend to focus on the 1 thing that went wrong. Our teachers do that too. They focus on the class, or the students, that drain them. Over time this takes a toll on teachers. They burn out and they start to consider other options for work outside of our school or teaching altogether. Coaches combatting high turnover find themselves starting from square 1, perpetually clarifying their role, and ultimately see the transformation of instruction slowed. If we, as coaches, prioritize supporting teachers with sound classroom management structures and strategies- we can lessen the negativity teachers carry and help them do what they set out to do- change student lives through education.

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