Notes
Coaching Session #4 – Optimizing Performance
Coachee: Allysa Reck
Date/Time: March 9, 2026 4:15 p.m.
Next Coaching Date/Time: March 30, 2026 4:15 p.m.
Overarching goal: Student A will engage in one-on-one instruction for phonics and phonemic awareness lessons for blends by March 17, digraphs by April 15, and long vowel sounds by May 15 at 80% academic success measured by PSI and FastBridge assessments.
Alyssa emailed me that the student performed at 90% for Nonsense Words and 90% for sentences on her most recent assessments. She has made excellent progress.
Here is a link to the teaching video for digraphs discussed during today’s coaching session: https://youtu.be/EfnfQNmyyWU
Coachee reflections on data and current teaching video: I have been meeting with my student daily for about 10-15 minutes to do a small group intervention that focuses on blending, segmenting, encoding and decoding. My district uses that 95% Phonics curriculum, but I have found that I need to add blending and decoding into the lesson. The curriculum primarily focuses on segmenting and encoding at the intervention level. We have been working on initial and final blends. My student just passed her Skill 3 (blends) PSI with 90% accuracy. Now, we are working on digraphs (Skill 4). This particular lesson in the video is day 1 of teaching the /sh/ sound. She did a really good job with blending and segmenting the words. My student really likes to encode. Some of the things I noticed is that she is still struggling a lot with staying focused even though she is one-on-one, knee to knee. I also noticed that she is yawning a lot and seems very tired throughout the lesson. I do not remember her being this tired back in January when I started recording lessons with her. I need to reach out to her parents and let them know how tired she is and how it is affecting her learning. I have noticed that my student is progressing really well through the phonics skills that I introduce. She has not gotten stuck on any skill. At times, she still struggles with certain final blends like /nt/, but I have also noticed that she is doing a better job of chunking blends without prompting, which makes it easier for her to decode words. I’m hopeful that she will move quickly through the digraphs because she has grasped onto the concept quickly. She does need more practice decoding digraphs because in her reading group (done at a separate time), she will still try to read /sh/ as /s/ /h/. I have been really pleased with her progress and what to continue using the same lesson format.
Coach reflections on data and current teaching video: Allysa worked with Student A on the digraph /sh/ during the recorded lesson. She explained and defined digraph for the student (they have worked on this skill in whole class instruction). The student is very good at encoding and continues to ask good questions during the session. She asked, “What is shunt?” “Why is (the disk) orange?” She is curious about words and will make comments about words that she encounters during the lesson. For example, when the word was “ship,” she said, “like a boat, shipwreck, pirates.” Allysa has high expectations for the student and is consistent in what she says to the student and what she expects in the way of behaviors. The student demonstrated that she knows the difference between vowels and consonants. She successfully encoded two more complicated words, shift and shelf. The student’s attention issues affect her performance, but not her progress. We discussed the possibility of having the student standing during one-on-one lessons or using a wobble chair. We will not video record future lessons because it is too distracting for the student. Allysa will audio record only.
Coachee reflections on Schutz and Hoffman article: Allysa found the article interesting, especially the idea of conducting research in the classroom and publishing the results.
Questions to consider:
What are some “baby steps” that you noticed outside of the goal itself? The student knows the difference between vowels and consonants now.
What specific actions did you take to meet the goal? The student is consistently working on vowel sounds, and finger stretching during the lessons while encoding.
How is the planned course of action working for you? For your student? The lessons have gone well; sequencing is right for this student. Blending skills are assumed in the current curriculum even though those skills are not necessarily present or easy for the student. Allysa has incorporated this into what the student works on in lessons.
When you return from spring break, what will your student(s) need to stay on track for goal achievement? Allysa anticipates she will need to review vowel sounds with the student and continue to work on blends after spring break. Repetition is needed by this student every day.
Scaled questionnaire or checklist based on coachee’s goal
On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your progress? 10
On a scale of 1 to 10, how effectively do you think you are using the strategy you have chosen? 9
What barriers are there to effective implementation? The student is noticeably tired; she yawns frequently, and she is tardy to school. Outside barriers during the lesson include other students interrupting the lesson.
On a scale of 1 to 10, at what level of fidelity would you say you are implementing this strategy? 10
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the results of your implementation of this strategy? 9-10
What additional resources do you need (strategies, supplies, tech support, accountability partner, cheerleader, etc.)? None needed at this time.
Working on Next Steps
Identify a specific problem of practice that we can add to your goals. This is something you want to work on within your own practice. We can work on applying it with the current student(s) you are working with, OR we can work on it separately.
Keep working on steps toward goal with your identified student(s) that you want to meet by mid-April.
Create video for this goal of your teaching and student learning.