Teachers’ Mathematics Learning Opportunities During One-on-One Coaching Conversations

Abstract

Coaching is a popular, yet costly, professional development structure. Therefore, understanding the learning opportunities coaching provides is essential. Following a framework by Campbell and Griffin (2017), we explore five elementary school teachers’ learning opportunities during 15 meetings and 23 lessons with two instructional coaches in two schools. Using Greeno’s (2005) situative perspective, we focus on coach–teacher dyads, examining the substance and depth (Coburn, 2003) of their conversations. Results indicate that most coach–teacher talk centered on logistics, whereas mathematics conversations were rare. We consider institutional contexts that shaped the dyads’ discussions, ultimately viewing the coaches and teachers as “sensible beings" (Leatham, 2006) with valid reasons for focusing discussions as they did. Coaching implications and directions for research are discussed.