The Impact Cycle: Reflection Guide

Jim Knight, Jennifer Ryschon Knight, Clinton Carlson

The Impact Cycle Reflection Guide is intended to guide you along in your personal or group study of the Impact Cycle. It can also serve as your go-to resource covering the most essential aspects of the Impact Cycle in an easy-to-find format.

“Instructional coaching honors the humanity of all involved in the learning process, and when the Impact Cycle is used to provide structure, focus, and responsible accountability to the coaching process, exciting gains can be made in your practice and–as a result–in student learning.”

– Jim Knight

The Impact Cycle

01

What Does it Mean to Improve?

The 7 Partnership Principles

Three Approaches to Coaching: Facilitative, Dialogical, Directive

Deep Learning, Deep Coaching

02

Introduction to the Impact Cycle

In this section, readers are introduced to the six foundational beliefs about communication. Readers are provided with prompts, questions, and activities to guide them as they thoughtfully decide what ideas drive the way they communicate.

03

Identify

Getting a clear picture of reality

Identifying goals

The Art of Listening and Questioning

04

Learn

Teaching Strategies

Instructional Playbook

Checklists

Modeling

CoTeaching

05

Improve

Measuring and Planning for Improvement

Partner with Teachers to Improve Teaching and Increase Student Success

Deep Instructional Coaching Uses the Impact Cycle

When coaches enable deep coaching, they guide teachers through a reflective process that involves setting goals, identifying teaching strategies to be implemented to reach those goals, collaborating, and adapting teaching and learning until the goals are met. When instructional coaching is done well, it empowers the learner to experience deep learning.

Our Approach

Read About Other Success Factors

Our research has helped us identify seven success factors that are essential for developing and sustaining a great coaching program. Success Factor #4 is the Impact Cycle. View Jim Knight’s collection of books to learn about his research and other success factors.