In order to effectively institute the coaching process, three stages of conferencing are needed to plan, observe, and provide feedback for instruction. Barkley (2010) identifies and explains each of  these three stages in his book, Quality Teaching in a Culture of Coaching.

The Pre-observation Conference: The underlying goal of the pre-observation conference is for both the coach and the coachee to establish a relationship and engage in a meaningful conversation about targeted areas of development. During this conversation, the coach and coachee communicate about what will be observed during instruction and set professional goals to enhance instruction. Ideally, the pre-observation conference is casual in nature and could take place in a coffee shop, agreed upon meeting place, at home, or via telephone. Barkley (2010) suggests that certain norms be set to maintain a positive coaching relationship. Some include:

• The coachee is not broken or in need of fixing.
• The coach asks the questions; the coachee has the answers.
• The power is granted to the relationship, not to the coach.
• Except when expressly stated otherwise, all conversations in the coaching sessions remain private and confidential.
• The coachee remains open to suggestions, changes, or improvements.
• The coach refrains from judging, evaluating, critiquing, or sharing advice or opinions unless requested by the coachee.

The Observation Conference: The observation is based on the conversations and ideas generated from the pre-observation conference. Here, the teacher practices certain targeted areas, strategies, and practices agreed upon with the coach. Frequent, shorter observations may be more meaningful than long observations. If shorter observation visits by the coach occur regularly, certain skills should be focused on and reinforced within instruction during this time. Very often, teachers strive to employ questioning techniques within lessons. Questioning techniques are a fundamental skill for coaching as well. The four questioning modes below explain how this skill can be deconstructed. Here, a teacher may ask his or her coach to observe these questioning techniques during instruction and how students’ reacted to them.

• Skill: Modes of Questions;
• Skill: Clarity of Questions;
• Skill: Wait Time;
• Skill: Responding to Answers;

Adapted from Steve Barkley’s book, Quality Teaching in a Culture of Coaching

The Postobservation Conference: The underlying goal of the postobservation conference is to allow everything that was established, demonstrated, and accomplished in the preoobsevation and observation to come together. During the post-observation, the coach and coachee discuss what was agreed upon in the preobservation conference and what was exhibited during the observation. A postobservation conference distinctly differs from an evaluation. An evaluator merely reports his or her findings and is mostly a one way conversation. However, here, the coach poses questions to draw the teacher into the conversation to discuss strengths and instructional areas of improvement for the future.