The purpose of this week is to really begin to think about the coaching cycle and the meaning of coaching. You are reading an in depth view of the coaching cycle in EP&L, and reading 2 articles on the principles for coaching and how coaching is related to professional development. Do you have an instructional coach at your school? Have you been coached? What was that like if you were?
Think about your own strengths as a potential coach. What do you think they are?
I'd suggest reading in this order: guiding principles article, EP&L strategy, and team coaching.
Blog about how you think the ideas in the readings are related to each other and to our class discussion. What are the 2 most important ideas about coaching that you learned? How do you think team and individual coaching are similar and different?
Of course you look much younger than they do! You rock!
ReplyDeleteSo in our schools back home there are literacy teachers/coordinators, however I am not aware of them being coaches in their area which leads me to say that I have never been coached.
As a potential coach I see myself as a very creative person. I am always looking for new, innovative and fun ways to do things and I’m all for encouraging others to trying new things as well. Also, I think I will be great at motivating others. Having interest and enthusiasm about something will make the rendering process much more fun, enjoyable and stimulating. I would very much dislike the fact that persons would be bored and do not learn anything from my coaching. It would be in my best interest of course to render fun and effective material. As a coach I would be friendly/personable, relatable, and supportive. Those I believe would be my strengths
Do you have an instructional coach at your school?
ReplyDeleteI teach at John K Hubbard Elementary in Noble, OK. In Noble schools we don’t have coaches. We have reading specialists that usually work with at-risk students, a team of teachers who assist with those students, and coordinate testing data and analysis. We have had a state department person come in to try to be a tool for the teachers in regards to literacy. This only happened for about 2 weeks then the program was stopped.
Have you been coached? What was that like if you were?
As mentioned above, we have a literacy coach come in briefly. All we knew about her was that she was from the state dept. She would come in every few weeks and tell us to do certain things in our classroom. There was little collaboration or facilitation that occurred. In contrast to that experience, I had a teacher (though she wasn’t labeled as a literacy coach) work with me specifically regarding my literacy instruction She was actually a Reading Recovery teacher with many years of experience. She came into my room and worked with a small group of students during guided reading time. I knew I could go to her anytime I needed anything. As a young teacher she was a treasure trove of help.
Think about your own strengths as a potential coach. What do you think they are?
This is not an easy question to answer. I haven’t served in this capacity before. I think in general I would be the type of coach who values the professionalism of other educators. I think that there is rarely a teacher who is in the profession simply for a salary. Each person needs to be treated with respect, and their opinions valued. I think that I would be a coach who is willing to have open conversations. Sometimes people are reserved in sharing their thoughts if they know they will be shot down. Building relationships with people is a key to this type of communication.
Do you have an instructional coach at your school? Have you been coached?
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I am not in a classroom/school but when I was in one for a short period of time there wasn’t a Literacy Coach per-say but instead there was someone who was a Literacy Facilitator. When she did work with me she did reviewed my lesson plans, conducted observations, and provided me with feedback in one-on-one meetings. I think this can be viewed as coaching, because I was being helped and guided, which are some characteristics of a coach.
Think about your own strengths as a potential coach. What do you think they are?
When we wrote our purpose statement on our own blog last week I was really thinking about myself as a Literacy Coach. With that said, I believe that those are the strengths that I have. As a potential coach I believe that I am a selfless individual, I am someone who is helpful, patient, hardworking, creative, innovative and most of all loving. I am also willing to learn from my mistakes and others, and engage in activates that will help me grow as a learner and a Literacy Coach.
Do you have an instructional coach at your school?
ReplyDeleteI teach at Monroe Elementary in Norman and last year we had an instructional coach for the first time. Her time was divided at our school and another Norman school so she was with us three out of the two days a week. Unfortunately because of budget cuts, all the instructional coaches in Norman were cut. She only worked at our school for a year. We also had a reading specialist who worked full time at Monroe.
Have you been coached? What was that like if you were?
Our literacy coach was very active in our school building. One of her requirements was to come into each classroom teacher and model a literacy lesson. We would send her an email of what we would like to see (ex. small group instruction, whole group phonics skill, comprehension etc.) and she would set up a time to come and teach a lesson with the students. It was very beneficial because we would debrief after. By no means was the lesson perfect, she would say it herself, but just seeing another educator teach always inspired me because there was always something I learned from the lesson, weather it was great or even not so great. I asked her to teach a small group literacy lesson on sight words with a medium reading group and a high group. It was really beneficial seeing the game she used, the strategies she taught them and even the management side of teaching a small group lesson! I also liked that she was available if I ever had any questions about my curriculum. She would always try to find ways to answer my questions if she didn’t know the answer. I had a really great experience even with the short amount of time our literacy coach was in our building!
Think about your own strengths as a potential coach. What do you think they are?
It is hard to think about my strengths as a potential coach because I have a hard time putting into words my strengths as a human being let alone being a literacy coach! I hope to be someone who is approachable, knowledgeable and inspires others to be great teachers. I think teachers can be intimidated or scared to reach out for help but I want to be someone who they can feel comfortable enough to reach out to.