Coaching conversation guide

For the 15-minute debrief inside the coaching cycle · Pairs with the observation rubric (evidence) and the tutor’s self-reflection (their words first)

Alignment note: the conversation structure below — evidence first, one strength, one focus, tutor generates the how — deliberately mirrors the feedback approach in the companion portfolio project Should this be a course? (repo 02), which builds a manager feedback model from the same evidence-first principle. Where that project’s job aid gives managers five minutes, this guide gives coordinators fifteen and a rubric behind every sentence.

0 · Before the debrief (2 minutes of prep)

Re-read the rubric sheet ticks, the tutor’s self-reflection, and any tracker flags. Write down: (a) your strength + the tick that proves it; (b) your single focus move + the rubric line; (c) your micro-practice plan. Walk in with three things written; improvise nothing.

1 · Open with their week, not your form (1 minute)

“How did the group feel this week, from your side?”

Then listen for the same thing your rubric saw. A tutor who says “the tickets kept slipping” has already started the data conversation for you; a tutor who says “great week!” gets your evidence sooner. Their reflection — if they shared it — is your opening line.

Why: the debrief is a coaching conversation, not an audit reading. The first minute decides which one it becomes.

2 · Name the strength with evidence (3 minutes)

Open with what you saw, tick-anchored:

“Three times today you asked before you explained — the distributive one was textbook: ‘What did the 2 multiply?’ and Amara found −8 herself. That’s the strongest questioning I’ve seen from you.”

Rules: evidence before adjectives; name the behavior (they can repeat it), not the trait (“you’re a natural” teaches nothing); tie to growth where true (“last observation you asked once; today, three times”).

Why first: a debrief that opens with the fix teaches tutors to dread observations. A debrief that opens with evidenced strength teaches them the rubric is a lens, not a trap — and it keeps the strength on the record when the focus move comes.

3 · Land one focus move (5 minutes)

Name the move, show the evidence, shrink the gap:

“I want to work on one thing: wait time. I counted three times you asked a good question and then answered it yourself inside two seconds — the x-on-both-sides one, at about minute twelve. The students never got the silence. Here’s what I’d love: three seconds of nothing after every question. Count it. That’s the whole move.”

Rules:

One. Move. Not “wait time and also your exit tickets and also—” One.
Evidence, then the move as the gap-bridger. “Three times you self-answered” is evidence; “be patient” is a virtue. The rubric line is the bridge.
The tutor proposes the how (“What would make three seconds possible mid-sentence?”). Self-generated tactics stick; assigned tactics decay. If they stall, offer the two that work: the silent count on the plan sheet, or writing the question down in advance (Module 3).

4 · Micro-practice the move (3 minutes)

“Show me. I’m Amara — I wrote 2x − 4 for 2(x − 4). Go.”

Two minutes, right there: tutor runs the move, coach plays a realistic student, immediate feedback (“you held five seconds — did you feel it?”). If the move is structural (exit-ticket protection), rehearse the sentence: “Two minutes left — land this one, tickets out.”

Why in the debrief: a focus move not rehearsed is a New Year’s resolution. Two minutes now buys the transfer; the coaching cycle makes it a fixed step for this reason.

5 · Close with the trail (2 minutes)

“So: focus move is the three-second pause. I’ll look for it — explicitly — when I observe you in two weeks. What will leave a trail I can see?” (Good answers: pauses ticked on the plan sheet; the question written in advance; “you’ll hear the silence.”)

Name the re-observation date, confirm what you’ll both ignore for now (important — say it out loud: “your review block is fine; I’m not watching it this cycle”), and end on the strength.

When tutors get defensive — three scripts

“You only see 30 minutes. I have bad days.”

“Absolutely true — one observation is one slice. That’s why we re-look every two or three weeks and why growth is measured across three observations, not one. What I can promise: what I write down is only what I saw today, with the minute it happened.” (Concede the true part; re-anchor to the cycle’s design. Never argue the slice by generalizing from it — “well, everyone says…” is the road to a rubric nobody trusts.)

“That student would’ve kept going if you’d let me explain.”

“Maybe — and it’s worth testing, which is exactly why the move is ‘wait three seconds’ and not ‘never explain.’ Run it as an experiment for two weeks: your plan sheet, the pause, and we look at what happened to the students’ next tickets together.” (Convert verdicts into experiments. The rubric’s authority comes from being testable, and so should the coach’s.)

“This is the third focus move in two months. I’m drowning.”

“That’s real, and it’s on me — if three things are ‘focused,’ nothing is. Let’s pick ONE and park the others in writing: your review block is fine, your data loop is fine, I’m not watching them this cycle. Which of the two on the table do you want first?” (Over-focus is a coach error, not a tutor flaw. Fix it visibly — name what’s parked — or trust dies.)

What this guide deliberately omits

No “compliment sandwich,” no “two stars and a wish,” no written-up scores in the meeting (scores live on the rubric sheet and in the measurement plan; the conversation is about moves). The structure is: their week → evidence-anchored strength → one focus move → rehearse it → name the trail. Everything else is ceremony, and ceremony is what makes 15 minutes too short.