Blog
Giving and receiving effective feedback is an art. Birth-to-Three Quality Initiative (B-3QI) coaches have a great deal of experience receiving feedback themselves, both in previous roles as teachers or administrators and in their current roles as your support specialists. They know what it feels like to have commentary on their job responsibilities, and have developed a strong sensitivity to providing feedback in an intentional and helpful way to you. Our coaches will ask you how you like to receive feedback, what helps you to absorb it and how they can do it in a way that honors your unique strengths. Generally, coach feedback is broken down into two major types for our coaching purposes: supportive and constructive.
With supportive feedback, which you will always receive when working with a B-3QI coach, coachees receive information on their many strong points, and what specifically is going well in the classroom and in administration. This type of feedback highlights practices that make a positive impact on children, families and coworkers, and allows coachees to see what they might easily overlook–the ripple effect of high-quality interactions to create a nurturing child care climate for everyone. “Good job” or “I like the way you did that” are positive comments, but provide very little information. A B-3QI coach might say instead, “When you smiled at Kayden and asked if he wanted to read a book while using his name, he opened right up to you and brought the book over. He clearly felt cared for.” Supportive feedback allows coachees to identify the practices that make a difference.
Constructive feedback is only provided once a solid foundation of trust has been built between the coach and coachee. This kind of feedback is handled delicately, because if trust has not been built, the coachee may take these comments as an indication that they are not doing well enough in their practices. When a teacher or administrator has a lot of experience, this can feel like an invalidation of their knowledge and skill, even when it is only meant for useful purposes. Constructive feedback from our coaches is always framed in a way that allows for open discussion because the coach understands that coachees know their classrooms and centers best. B-3QI coaches are open to other perspectives on what they observe and are lifelong learners themselves. They take into account the coachee’s indicated preferences on how they take in constructive content. Constructive feedback from a B-3QI coach may sound like, “Tell me what it was like for you to follow the diaper-changing procedures. Which parts were easy for you, and which did you feel needed more practice?” Our coaches encourage coachees to view feedback as a tool that is in no way personal or judgmental. When provided and received well, feedback can have a powerful impact on the quality of the environment for children, teachers and administrators.
