Dear Steplab... I know I'm now a much stronger, more confident teacher

Darren Farman is a teacher of Maths at Lynn Grove Academy, part of Creative Education Trust, in Norfolk.

Following a recent visit to the school, Darren sent us a letter sharing his coaching journey as a more experienced teacher.

My coaching story.

As a teacher with over 20 years’ experience, I was offered the chance to take part in coaching with our new Vice Principal, Amy Brooks. Although I knew how to teach - with so much experience I knew my ways generally worked quite well - I am always mindful that there could potentially be a better way of doing things, so I agreed.

Over the next year, we had around 15-20 coaching sessions of 10-15 minutes with feedback sessions of a similar duration. I would stand and rehearse the single minor change that Amy thought would make my teaching more effective, not necessarily “better”.

This was very awkward to start with and I felt a little uncomfortable and embarrassed, but I gave it my best and I could feel the efficacy of my teaching improve.

One small step at a time never felt like an imposition.

Each step made sense, so I made it my goal to implement each step with every class that I taught to enable the step to become ingrained in my everyday teaching. This was harder than I thought, but now it has become second nature.

Amy then became our Principal. She introduced us all to Steplab and I could hear the murmurings of the other teaching dinosaurs (yes, I consider myself to be one of them as I approach retirement) so I shared my positive experiences with as many colleagues as possible.

Over the next few years, I had the opportunity to observe and drop-in on teachers in different subject areas and also other members of my own department. This has given me more training than I had in my teaching practice last millennium!

I cannot emphasise enough the benefits I have taken from watching other experienced and ECT staff, and how it has developed my teaching, bringing it into the 21st century way of thinking. The opportunity to become a coach has ensured I'm now far more analytical about my and my colleagues' teaching practice.

The feedback sessions are also a revelation. Most members of staff don’t realise how good they are. Sometimes during the coaching feedback sessions, when I read through my memory trigger notes and adulate the smallest of things, I can see their facial expressions and body language change positively. Smiles for the minutia that make up the whole that go largely unnoticed by the deliverer.

Consequently, when we practise the minor change that has been identified, both of us have to think about how the change can be implemented. With 2 or 3 rounds of practice, my initial idea is taken on board and developed during our conversation, making it even more effective for both of us.

I know I am not the only teacher that has seen the benefits of coaching.

One specific example of coaching with another very experienced teacher was when she said she was going to incorporate some of the things I was doing into her lessons. In her feedback session, I thanked her for letting me see a lesson she wasn’t that happy with. I pointed out the multitude of examples of the simple steps detailed in the Steplab library that could help make a potentially difficult lesson run so smoothly.

Again, as I approach my retirement, I know I am a much stronger, more confident teacher than the one I was 4 years ago, let alone the one I was 28 years ago!

As a Teach First mentor, I know they are advocating the use of coaching as an integral part of their Training Programme. During mentor meetings, I have had to listen to other mentors bemoan its usage and have, politely and sternly, tried to change their mindsets with my positive experience of coaching with Amy and Steplab.

As with anything in life, what you put in determines what you get out.

If anyone asks what’s the point of coaching, direct them to this testimony!

Yours forever grateful for coaching,

Darren Farman

(Dinosaur and a much stronger teacher of Mathematics than I have ever been!)

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