ABSTRACT
Coaching has proven to be the most difficult of the three Paideia columns to apply in the classroom for several reasons. First, Adler and Sizer originally described coaching as if it could only occur in a tutorial or small group situation (see Paideia Program,pp. 32–46). This restriction complicated implementation for the average public school teacher, faced with a class size of anywhere from 20 to 35. In addition, the original description did little to formalize coaching in the same way that it formalized the seminar as a teaching technique, and this, too, led to some doubt and disagreement about whether coaching was actually very different from the types of guided practice or cooperative learning used across the country. As it is defined here, academic coaching draws on the original definition of Adler and Sizer but takes the concept to a much more formal level where it is possible for teachers to be effectively trained, tactfully coached, and eventually attain mastery as coaches.
