Cognitive Coaching article

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Cognitive Coaching:

A StrategyFor Reflective Teaching

By Arthur Costa and Robert Garmston

Cognitive Coaching is amarriage of the professionalexperiences of Art Costa and Bob

Garmston. Art had been workingwith a supervision model longbefore we came together in theearly 1980s. Arts backgroundwas in cognition and intellectualdevelopment, having studied withJean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, HildaTaba, J. Richard Suchman,Reuven Feuerstein, and others.Bobs background was parallel,having also been influenced by

Suchman, and by Caleb Gattegno,Fritz Perls, Carl Rogers, AbrahamMaslow, and most recently, JohnGinder. Cognitive Coaching is ablend of our two perspectives.

AssumptionsCognitive Coaching is based

upon some fundamental beliefsabout teaching and human growth

and learning. We believe that allhuman beings are capable ofchange, that we continue to growcognitively throughout our lifetime

and that we all possess a vastreservoir of untapped potential.

We believe that teaching cannotbe reduced to a formula or a recipe.There is an enormous amount ofinformation today about specificinstructional behaviors which producecertain student learnings. In suchprocess-product research studies,however, there were always certain

outlier teachers who did not usethese behaviors but obtained goodresults in student learning. Still other

teachers who did use all the behaviorsproduced poor results. Thus, whilewe have knowledge about teaching,we do not have certainty aboutteaching.

Another fundamental assumptionis that a teachers observableclassroom performance is based uponinternal, invisible skills-thoughtprocesses that drive the overt skills ofteaching. We subscribe toShavelsons (1973) proposition thatthe basic teaching behavior is

From Northeast Georgia RESA. Teacher support specialist instructional handbook. Winterville, GA:Northeast Georgia RESA, pp. 91-96. Reprinted with permission.


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decision making, and we buildour assumptions on theresearch of Peterson and Clarke(1986), who describe a four-

phase cycle of instructionaldecision making in whichteachers engage before, during,and after classroom instruction.The first phase comprises allthe thought processes whichteachers perform prior toclassroom instructiontheplanning phase. The secondincludes those mental functionspreformed during the teaching

actthe interactive phase. Thethird is the reflective phase inwhich teachers look back tocompare, analyze, and evaluatethe decisions that were madeduring the planning andteaching phases. Finally, thereis an application phase in whichteachers abstract from whathas been learned during theirown critical self-reflection andthen project those learnings tofuture lessons. They then cycleback to the planning phase.

A fourth assumption is thatenlightened, skillful colleaguescan significantly enhance(mediate) a teachers cognitiveprocesses and therefore theteachers perceptions and

decisions which produce theresulting teaching behaviors.

GoalsCognitive coaches keep

clearly in mind three major

goals or outcomes of employing thisprocess: trust, learning, andautonomy.

The first goal is trusttrust in

the process, trust in each other,and trust in the environment. Bothparties in the coaching relationshipneed to trust and respect eachother, realizing that neither personneeds to be fixed. Coachesbelieve that people have the innerresources to achieve excellence.Increasingly, they place their faithin the coaching process. As the

coach and teacher work together ina non-threatening relationship, theyrealize the intent of this process isto grow intellectually, to learn moreabout learning, and to mutuallyincrease their capacity for self-improvement. Cognitive coacheswork toward long-range gainsrather than fixing a lessonimmediately. Occasionally, with anew teacher, it may be necessary to

save the lesson, but that is notgenerally what we are after.

Another aspect of trust is in theschool environment. The culture ofthe workplace often signals normsand values which may be moreinfluential on teacher performancethan are teacher training, staffdevelopment, or coaching (Frymier1987). Thus, the effective coach is

also interested in creating,monitoring, and maintaining astimulating, mediational, andcooperative environmentdeliberately designed to enhancecontinued intellectual growth.

Coaching Skills 4 HO.1.3



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A second goal is learning. Webelieve that all learning requires an

engagement of and a transformationof the minds. To learn anythingwella golf swing, a poem, a newcomputer program, or a differentway of teachingall require thought.Coaches, therefore, are skillful inengaging the teachers intellect, inmaintaining the teachers access tohis or her higher cognitive functions,and in employing tools andstrategies which will enhanceteachers perceptions and expandtheir frames of reference.

The third, and most profound ofthe goals, is that of developingcognitive autonomy. We givecoaches and teachers a mentalcoaching map: a protocol of specificobjectives for the pre-conferenceand post-conference. Once they

have internalized that map, they canbe totally present with each other.Coaches can then use theirrelationship skills, knowing that trustand rapport in the relationship isparamount if the teacher is to beable to think. As a result ofcognitive coaching over time, ourintent is to develop teachers abilityto self-monitor, to self-analyze, andto self-evaluate. Indeed, the

ultimate purpose of CognitiveCoaching is to modify teacherscapacities to modify themselves.

Coaching CompetenciesTo accomplish these goals, five non-

judgmental mediational competencies ofthe coach are required. The coach mustremain non-judgmental throughout thecoaching process so that people can thinkwithout fear of being judged. When peoplefeel judged, their thinking shuts down.

The first ability is posing carefullyconstructed questions intended tochallenge the teachers intellect. The

second process is paraphrasing. Accordingto Carl Rogers, the paraphrase is probablythe single most important communicationtool and yet the most underused.Paraphrasing communicates that I amattempting to understand you, therefore Ivalue you. Because it conveys suchpowerful empathy, its use permits deepand tenacious probing.

The third is the skill of probing forspecificity, clarity, elaboration, andprecision: Which students specifically? or

What criteria will you be using to assessthe accuracy of student responses? or

What else were you considering when youreorganized the assignment? for example.Probing invites and promotes deeper, moredetailed thinking that results in greaterconsciousness and more analytical,productive decision making.




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The fourth skill is using silence. Aswe know, wait time has been foundby Mary Budd Rowe (1986) and

others to be a significant linguistictool leading to more creative andreflective thinking.

A fifth competency is that ofcollecting data and presenting itobjectively. Skillful coaches assistthe teacher in designing strategies,or they draw from their ownrepertoire of data-gatheringtechniques relevant to the teacher.The coach and teacher can thenexamine the data in literal and non-

judgmental way (Costa, DArcangelo,Garmston, and Zimmerman 1988).

Thus, the cognitive coachingprocess is much like a Socraticdialogue. The better thinkerscoaches are, the more capable theyare of producing and stimulating

thinking in others.

The CognitiveCoaching Process

Cognitive Coaching is a modelused for supervision or peercoaching. It is equally appropriatefor administrators, departmentchairs, resource teachers, mentors

or peers: anyone in a helpingrelationship. It is not evaluative. Asa supervisory process, it is very closeto the original clinical supervisionmodel developed by Anderson

and Goldhammer (1969) and Cogan(1973). Their intent, which has beendistorted in some recent clinical

supervision models, was to provide acollegial relationship that supports teachersin becoming critically self-reflective abouttheir work. We have simply overlayed theirprocess with a cognitive, developmentaldimension.

Cognitive Coaching includes a pre-conference, a lesson observation, and apost-conference. Thus, the format of thecoachs role is compatible with the fourphases of thought that effective teachers(or any competent, thoughtful problemsolvers for that matter) perform.

We attach great importance to the pre-conference. Without it, teachers are morelikely to be anxious about the observation,and coaches will lack the teachers valuableguidance for their data collection. Asecond, more compelling reason for the

pre-conference is that we believe planningis the most important of all the instructionalthought processes. The quality of the planaffects the quality of all that follows. Onecritical mental process during planning is toidentify lesson outcomes and literallyenvision what students will be doing duringthe lesson that will indicate whether or notthey have achieved those objectives.Effective teachers, like winning athletes,mentally rehearse what they will be doing

to produce desired results prior toperformance (Garfield 1986).




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In the pre-conference thecoach invites the teacher toelaborate on the learning goalsand to describe how the

teacher will ascertain, duringthe lesson, whether studentsare learning. This may bedifficult for some teachers whoconceive the judgment ofstudents learning to bedetermined at a later time,when a test is given. Ourassertion is that by then its toolate. The teacher needs tomonitor the cues indicating

student success during thelesson. Skillful coaching assiststhe teacher in imagining,elaborating, and devisingstrategies to monitor suchformative cues from students.

The teacher is asked abouthis or her instructionalstrategies for reaching theseoutcomes. In addition, the

coach asks what he or sheshould pay attention to andcollect data about in the lessonthat will support the teachersgrowth. The coach does this bybecoming another set of eyesfor the teacher and a mediatorof the teachers processing ofhis or her own teachingexperience.

During the lesson itself thecoach collects only that datathe teacher requested duringthe pre-conference. Suchobservations may focus onstudent performance indicatinggoal achievement, on-task

behavior, or a particular studentsproblem behavior. The coach may alsobe requested to collect data abouttechniques which teachers are striving to

perfect: wait time, questioningstrategies, proximity, movement, clarityof directions, etc.

The post-conference is frequentlybegun with an open-ended questionsuch as, How do you feel the lessonwent? We say frequently because,while coaches have certain conferencingobjectives they intend to meet, thedialogue is more individualized and

Socratic than it is a recipe. An openinvitation allows the teacher to decidehow he or she will enter thisconversation and begin self-assessment.The next question may be somethinglike, What are you recalling from thelesson thats leading you to thoseinferences? This question focuses onanother important cognitive function ofteachingmonitoring and recalling whathappened during a lesson. This differs

from some coaching systems in whichthe coach simply feeds back what wasobserved and recorded on a taped script.Because the ultimate goal of CognitiveCoaching is self-modification, teachersneed to develop the ability to monitortheir own and their students behaviorsand to recall what happened in thelesson. Data collection is fundamental totheir self-analysis and self-coaching.

Processing the data from the lessonenables teachers to reconstruct andanalyze what went on while they wereteaching to make the teachingexperience intelligible.




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References

Anderson, R. and Goldhammer,

R. Clinical Supervision. NewYork: Holt Rinehart & Winston,1969.

Cogan, M. Clinical Supervision.Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin,1973.

Costa, A. The School as aHome for the Mind. In A.Costa (Ed.), Developing Minds:

A Resource Book for TeachingThinking. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision &Curriculum Development, 1991.

Costa, A.; DArcangelo, M.;Garmston, R.; and Zimmerman,D.Another Set of Eyes:Conferencing Skills. Videotapes and trainers manual in

ASCDs Supervision series.Alexandria, VA: Association forSupervision and CurriculumDevelopment, 1988.

Costa, A. and Garmston, R.Supervision for IntelligentTeaching. EducationalLeadership, 42 (5), 70-80,1985.

Foster, N. The Impact of Cognitive

Coaching on Teachers ThoughtProcesses As Perceived by CognitivelyCoached Teachers in the Plymouth-Canton Community School District.Doctoral Dissertation, Michigan StateUniversity, Detroit, MI, 1989.

Frymier, J. Bureaucracy and theNeutering of Teachers. Phi DeltaKappan, September, 69(1), 9-14, 1987.

Garfield, C. Peak Performers: The NewHeroes of American Business. New

York, NY: William Morrow andCompany, Inc., 1986.

Garmston, R. How AdministratorsSupport Peer Coaching. EducationalLeadership, 44(5), 18-26, 1987.

Garmston, R. Cognitive Coaching and

Professors Instructional Thought.Human Intelligence Newsletter, 10(2), 3-4, 1989.



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