cognitive coaching (lower case intentional)

Cognitive Coaching

Okay, I have to say it. Call me a cynic, call me a grumpy old man. Call me whatever you need to, but I still have to say it. You don’t have to convince me that cognitive coaching is worthwhile – I think it has tremendous potential just from my brief encounters with how it works. BUT, and this is the thing I have to say, the “Components of the Cognitive Coaching Model” on pages 6-7 is a little over the top.
To accept it at face value, we would have to accept that the cognitive coach is some kind of enlightened being, a pedagogical arhat whose enlightenment shines like a beacon in the educational wilderness. Given that this was written by someone who is a cognitive coach, I think it fair to say that someone forgot a bit about the “humility and pride of admitting that there is more to learn (p. 7).”
By the way, I am pointedly NOT using uppercase when referring to cognitive coaching. As a practice, cognitive coaching incorporates a set of beliefs in guiding its practice/implementation, but one tremendously powerful aspect of it seems to be its flexibility. Giving it the caps? Well, that (perhaps symbolically) gives it the weight of dogma and dogma has no place in educational practice.

First rant of 2011 is now over and I can proceed.
The distinctions between coaching, consulting, collaborating and evaluating are excellent. The table format on pages 14-15 also provides an easy reference point for side-by-side comparison. Understanding the distinctions between the four ideas would make it easier for me as an educator to feel safe being coached and to develop as a coach myself. Clarity of purpose leads to clarity of thinking.
Most importantly, the cognitive in cognitive coaching provides the time – the pause – to think and examine what we/I do. Somewhat like parents who learn the most about parenting from their own parents, as teachers I believe we are initially shaped most by our own teachers. For example, as a new teacher twenty years ago, I at first fell back on my experience as a student to inform my teaching. It took some reflection and time to examine what I was doing and come to see what I wanted to be as a teacher. I was lucky to have quite a few good teachers, but I wanted to be something different. In other words, I needed to “transform the…mental models, thoughts and perceptions” (p.14) of what a teacher is.
This kind of change is not a matter of learning tricks or curricula. Instead, it is an intellectual refinement, an enhanced clarity of thought about what we do and how we do it that comes best from time to think. Further, I believe strongly that talking with someone trusted provides one of the most effective times to think. Every year at back to school night I tell parents that it is the time to talk with others and to think that is the most important part of the classroom.