Volume 2 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research - Page 41

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 39 Support. Even further analysis revealed sub-themes for Person - alized—Relationship and Experience which are discussed in the following sections. Overall Experience with Instructional Coaching All participants reported an overall positive experience with instructional coaching and indicated they valued the relationship between themselves and their instructional coach and felt instruc- tional coaching contributed to their professional development. All twelve participants indicated their instructional coaches provided assistance with instructional strategies, offered advice, and pro - vided feedback. Classroom Instruction All twelve of the participants reported an impact to their class- room instruction as a result of instructional coaching. The specific impact varied from participant to participant and included areas such as: classroom management, lesson planning, instruction- al strategies, small group instruction, technology integration, formative assessment, instructional strategies, reading and math workshop, inquiry and exploration, and balanced instruction. While no two participants reported all of the exact same areas of impact for classroom instruction, there were some trends. Nine of the twelve participants reported an impact on lesson planning, eight out of twelve participants reported an impact on classroom management, and six of the twelve participants report- ed an impact on instructional strategies. District Expectations Eleven of the twelve participants reported instructional coaching impacted their ability to implement district expectations. While the majority indicated that instructional coaching impacted their ability to implement district expectations, the specific impact varied among the participants to include: student collaboration, lesson design, technology integration, inquiry and exploration, workshops, student centered learning, and common instructional expectations. In addition to the specific areas reported above, several participants reported that instructional coaching impact- ed their ability to implement district expectations as a result of accountability that developed during interactions with their instructional coach. The participants shared that the instructional coaches maintained district expectations as a focus in their week - ly meetings. Professional Development All twelve participants indicated they viewed instructional coaching as professional development and that it was aligned to their specific needs. While all twelve participants indicated they believed instructional coaching to be a form of professional development, two participants stated that they had not previously thought of instructional coaching as professional development until asked by the researcher. Emerging Themes As previously stated, the researcher created nodes in NVivo 11 Pro for five major categories, Professional Development, Class - room Instruction, District Expectations, Overall Experience, and Future Implications. Throughout the process of coding the participants’ data into the major categories, themes related to instructional coaching began to emerge including: Personalized, Conversations, Experience, Relationship, and Support. Personalized When analyzing the participants’ responses to the question about their perceptions of instructional coaching as a form of pro- fessional development, the theme, Personalized , emerged. All twelve participants indicated that instructional coaching is indi- vidualized or personalized. Upon additional analysis of the data, sub themes emerged under Personalized to include: Observation and Feedback, Teacher Voice, and Reflective. The participants consistently referenced observations and feedback when describing the professional development, they experienced with their instructional coach. When describing their professional development experiences with instructional coach- ing, the participants often used words indicating the instructional coach listened to them and their teacher voice directed the focus of the learning. When describing their professional development experiences with their instructional coach, the participants often used the words “reflect” or “reflection” to describe their interac - tions with their instructional coach after an experience in their classroom. They indicated that their instructional coach facilitat - ed reflective conversations in which the participants reflected on their instructional practices and then set goals for future instruc- tion. Conversation When analyzing the participants’ responses to the interview ques -