Pedagogical sensemaking during side-by-side coaching: Examining the in-the-moment discursive reasoning of a teacher and coach

ABSTRACT

Background

Pedagogical sensemaking, in which teachers attempt to figure something out in relation to teaching and learning, as a form of generative teacher discourse can provide opportunities for teachers to learn. However, much of the research in these areas examines how teachers reason during sustained collegial discourse outside the classroom.

Methods

This exploratory case study of one side-by-side coaching session, in which a coach and teacher collaborate to support both student and teacher learning in the classroom, qualitatively examined the coach-teacher discourse to determine whether and how pedagogical sensemaking can occur in a practice-embedded teacher learning setting.

Findings

We find that generative pedagogical sensemaking is possible despite the contextual constraints. Findings indicate that teacher-coach interactions included and frequently moved between talk at three altitudes: within, across, and beyond moments of the lesson. The topics of these interactions were complex and connected across the lesson.

Contribution

These findings point to particular affordances of practice-embedded settings for generative pedagogical sensemaking. While prior research has emphasized the need for sustained time for sensemaking to support teacher learning, this study expands this conception by finding that, when coupled with shared experiences of pedagogy, brief, cumulative interactions during teaching can also create opportunities for generativity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).