Procedure: Interview
Coaching Process > Interview
Performance Feedback Loop
Overview
In the first meeting with the teacher, you will conduct a Getting to Know You Interview. As the name implies, it is for you to learn more about the teacher both professionally and personally. The first meeting sets the stage for the entire coaching relationship and for gathering information about the classroom. Typically, the meeting lasts between 30 to 45 minutes; ideally, it occurs in one setting but can be spread across two meetings if needed given the constraints on teachers’ time.
Purpose
The main purpose of the Getting to Know You Interview is to build a trusting, collaborative relationship with the teacher. In addition, it is helpful to learn about past experiences the teacher has had with coaching or consultation in an effort to remedy any misperceptions. Lastly, the interview is a way to help you learn more about the teacher’s values and perceptions toward helping them meet personal development goals.
There are five elements to an effective interview:
1) Create a partnership with the teacher using collaborative language (“we”), listening skills, affirmations, and evocative questions.
2) Clarify the purpose of the interview and expectations for the entire consultation relationship.
3) Ask questions in a conversational manner, but provide structure for guiding the interview through selective open-ended questions and reflections.
4) Use effective listening skills. As an effective listener, you will use open-ended questions, provide affirmations, reflect back what you hear the teacher saying, and provide brief summaries of the conversation. As a rule, you will find that the teacher does more talking than you during the interview.
5) Explore a teacher’s values in relation to their personal development goals.
How To
Conducting the Getting to Know You Interview
The first meeting is a guided “Getting to Know You Interview” that follows a series of questions. The meeting can be broken into the following four steps:
1
Opening the Meeting
Begin by explaining the purpose of your meeting and the structure of the Classroom Check-up process. Indicate that you will collect information from the teacher and observe in the classroom during the coming week. Then, you will set up a second meeting, ideally within a week or two after the first meeting, when you will share the information you gathered and help the teacher develop a plan based on that feedback.
Example:
My role is to support you in any way that you find helpful in building your classroom management skills. Today, I’m going to ask you some questions about your background and your current practices and ask you to fill out some forms. I’ll do some observations in the classroom and then we will find a time to meet so I can share with you what I have learned. At that time, you can decide what, if anything, you would like to work on together.
2
Interview Guide
The interview guide consists of a series of open-ended questions based on effective consultation. The questions proceed from broad aspects of the teacher’s experiences and background to more specific questions about classroom management and their expectations about and prior experiences with coaching.
Ask the questions in a conversational manner. You may want to skip questions that you feel that you and the teacher may have already discussed. The questions and flow of the interview were designed quite intentionally to elicit conversation about critical classroom management variables and to evoke motivational speech in the teacher.
Using Effective Listening Skills
The interview guide will only work if you use it as a guide simply to learn more about the teacher. Listening skills are the foundation for making this happen.
Effective listening skills can be best summarized by the acronym OARS:
- Open-ended questions: These are questions that require more than a single word response (like yes or no). Open-ended questions are a primary tool for eliciting change talk in motivational interviewing.
- Affirmations: These are verbal or non-verbal behaviors that convey acceptance, support, and encouragement for the teacher.
- Reflections: These are statements (not questions) that paraphrase comments made by the teacher. Simple reflections may repeat or rephrase what the teacher said. More complex reflections involve guessing at intended meanings or implied feelings.
- Summaries: These are two- or three-sentence responses that try to link together a series of big ideas that were expressed during earlier parts of a conversation or that serve as a transition to another topic.
After asking open-ended questions from the interview guide, be sure to occasionally repeat, paraphrase, or rephrase what the teacher is saying as a way to show you are listening, to invite continued conversations, to clarify what you are hearing or guessing about what the teacher is feeling, to support and encourage the teacher, and to link ideas that you hear the teacher expressing.
Honing Your Skills
The following video provides an example of a Getting to Know You Interview. Watch this brief interview and then answer the self-reflection questions below.
Self-Reflection Questions about the Interview Guide
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Ideally, the coach is comfortable with silence and allows space and time for the teacher to reflect on the questions. Even in brief interactions, it is important to appear calm and patient and not to rush the pace of the conversation. |
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He nodded his head, he made eye contact, he leaned forward, he repeated things back to the teacher that were said, and he asked clarifying questions. |
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The coach is relaxed and sits in close proximity to the teacher. He smiles and nods his head. His tone of voice is calm and reassuring. |
3
Values Card Sort
A primary goal of the Getting to Know You Interview is to learn more about the teacher’s personal values, as these facilitate the relationship between you and the teacher and also become critical for understanding and fostering the teacher’s motivation to improve classroom management skills. Although there are many ways to do this, including simply asking the teacher to tell you about his or her most important values, the strategy we have found to be most impactful and effective is to conduct a brief Values Card Sort task.
Values Card Sort Steps:
- Print the Values Card Sort procedure and 20-30 value statements in advance of the first meeting with the teacher. Add any additional values you think would be important to your work with the teacher.
- During the Getting to Know You Interview, ask the teacher to sort the cards into three piles:
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Pile 1 = Very Important Pile 2 = Important Pile 3 = Less Important 
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- Ask the teacher to pick out the three most important values from the Very Important pile.
- Invite the teacher to discuss why the final three values are their most important values.
- Write down the values and keep in mind the discussion of why the teacher selected these values in future meetings and discussions with the teacher.
Common Questions About the Values Card Sort
- When do I do it? You can do the card sort at any point during the first interview. We typically do it after the first set of interview questions about teacher experiences and background.
- How long does it take? The Card Sort usually takes about 10 minutes to complete.
- Why should I do it? Discussing values is a way to learn a lot about a person in a short period of time. Most teachers find it very engaging and challenging. The Card Sort often evokes strong emotions, passions, and interest in changing, growing, and learning. Don’t be surprised if the teacher becomes emotional when discussing their values, as this activity taps into important ideologies for individuals.
- What is my role? Your task is simply to listen to what the teacher says, reflect back what you hear, ask clarifying questions as needed, and validate what you hear (e.g., “That makes perfect sense,” “I can see why that is so important to you”).
4
Ending the Meeting
After completing the interview questions and Values Card Sort, your job is to summarize the meeting and prepare the teacher for the next steps. Provide a brief summary of the most important points that you heard the teacher express during the meeting, including a statement about values that were discussed. By brief, we mean three or four sentences.
Example:
I feel like I learned a lot about you today. It’s clear how important it is for you to be a role model for students and make each student in your class feel important and special. There are many things going well in your classroom. If you could change one thing, it would be to feel more organized at the start of each day. Is that a good summary?
Next, get permission to visit the classroom to observe (see Setting Up an Observation). Ask the teacher the best times to observe to see their instruction and any specific times of days they think would be most important for you to see (e.g., most challenging times of the day). Finally, schedule a time to meet again, ideally within a week or so. Explain that you will share all the information you have gathered during your observations with the teacher and then work with them to develop a plan that will work in their classroom.
Reflection & Tips:
Take a moment to reflect on your skills and comfort in conducting a Getting to Know You Interview.
References to Other Relevant Resources:
Herman, K. C., Reinke W.M., Frey, A., & Shepard, S. (2014). Motivational Interviewing in Schools: Strategies for Engaging Parents, Teachers, and Students. New York: Springer
Reinke, W., Herman, K., & Sprick, R. (2011). Motivational interviewing for effective classroom management: The classroom check-up. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
