Facilitating debriefing conversations within one-on-one coaching cycles: Productive practices for mathematics specialists

This study investigated changes in the discursive actions of 12 mathematics specialists during debriefing conversations with teachers in content-focused coaching cycles, following their engagement with a debriefing conversational structure. We compared each specialist's initial debrief conversation, which was conducted prior to learning about the conversational structure, to a subsequent conversation after learning about the conversational structure. Analysis revealed eight productive practices that emerged in the second conversation, including anchoring discussion in the instructional and learning goals, establishing shared clarity about those goals, examining specific instances and patterns of student thinking through a structured approach, connecting those observations to lesson design and implementation, and identifying both general and content-specific implications for future teaching. These findings extend prior research on effective facilitation practices that mathematics specialists use in planning conversations and broader teacher interactions, offering implications for the professional development of mathematics specialists and future research on debriefing conversations within coaching cycles.