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Learn and Improve


Learn

I am so blessed to work in an environment where most teachers love to share and learn from one another. My grade level is very supportive and loves to collaborate about strategies that work. I have found that it is a little harder for some to open up about things that are not working. I wish it was easier for everyone to trust each other enough to open up about the challenges and struggles that they are facing.

Instructional Coaches

Instructional coaches are pivotal people in our schools. They have the opportunity to share strategies that work. Knight (2018) states that “instructional coaches help teachers improve student learning and well-being by improving teaching” (p.104). After talking with the reading and math coaches assigned to my school, I realized that it is harder to be a coach than I thought. Both coaches told me that teachers really don’t understand the role of the coaches and even feel threatened when they enter their classrooms. Many teachers in our building were looking for the coach to be another person to work directly with students. Dudek et al. (2019) explain that coaches should move beyond service providers and become an active participant who maintains a presence in the classroom. The coaches in my building are working hard to build relationships and communicate their roles.

I love how Knight (2018) clarified that when presenting, teaching, or sharing strategies more is not necessarily better. I found this to be especially true when I presented my professional development. I identified with this because I saw firsthand the effect of this. I now know that it would have been much better to have only focused on a few apps instead of everything I wanted to share. Then I could have held another session after there was time to digest the material.


via GIPHY

Knight et al. (2017) states, “Through testing and refining we’ve identified three major ways for instructional coaches to share and teach teaching strategies: (a) by creating an instructional playbook, (b) by sharing checklists, and (c) by modeling” (p.79). Instructional coaches “must be able to clearly describe a set of teaching strategies teachers can use to hit their goals” (Knight, 2018, p. 104). Dudek et al. (2019) also agrees with the ways to share strategies. They found that coaching which includes observing, modeling, practicing, and ongoing feedback has been effective in helping teachers develop skills and ensure implementation of new strategies.

Checklists

I am a list kind of person and I absolutely love the idea of short and simple checklists when coaching. As Knight (2018) stated, checklists are made up of the most important parts of a teaching strategy so it helps teachers remember and process those strategies better. I also feel that checklists act as a motivator. I love checking things off my list, so having a checklist is like a call to action for me. I am excited about implementing checklists in my coaching session.

Modeling

There are many options when it comes to modeling. I feel that as a coach, you must go with the way that makes the classroom teacher feel the most comfortable. Some people are perfectly fine allowing you to model in front of their class, where others would rather students not be present. Another teacher may like visiting another classroom to see the strategy in action. The important thing about modeling is that “the teachers learn what they need to learn so that they can confidently implement a new teaching strategy” (Knight, 2018, p. 126).

Improve

The last stage of the Impact Cycle is Improve. This is where you check to see if teachers and students have met their goals. Knight (2018) breaks this stage into four steps:
  1. Confirm Direction - review the goal
  2. Review Progress - look at related data
  3. Invent Improvement - what needs to be changed
  4. Plan Next Action Steps - what, when, and who
With all of these steps, it is important to ensure there is dialogue between the coach and the cooperating teacher. According to Knight (2018), this step is the “most challenging” and “also the most exhilarating” (p. 133). He continues to say this is where real learning takes place.

I am looking forward to this step in my coaching cycle. The teacher I am working with has been sharing exciting things that are happening in her classroom.


References

Dudek, C. M., Reddy, L. A., Lekwa, A., Hua, A. N., & Fabiano, G. A. (2019). Improving universal classroom practices through teacher formative assessment and coaching. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 44(2), 81–94.

Edutopia. (2020, August 6). Helping teachers grow through instructional coaching [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUc33m8pTis

Giphy. Stressed Cbs Gif by Paramount. https://media.giphy.com/media/ZbZ9SgRhmPpAPKqFl3/giphy.gif

Knight, J. Knight, J. R., & Carlson, C. (2017). The reflection guide to the impact cycle. Corwin.

Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 21, 2021 at 8:12 PM

    Dana, I'm so excited for you that it is going well! From getting to know you, I know that your best quality is how good of a listener you are. Something I need to improve on!

    I think you did a great job summarizing the last parts of the coaching cycle. In my past experiences, a lot of teachers can be hesitant to the ideas being presented. As I have worked through my Google Trainer modules this past week, there is a great emphasis on the statement "working WITH the teacher, not FOR the teacher" (Google for Education, n.d.). While beginning my coaching cycle, I was very supposed to have seven teachers volunteer. I am honored that they would trust me to come into their classrooms and work with them. I think that is a great advantage that we have of working with our colleagues in our own schools.

    References:
    Google for Education (n.d.). Google Teacher Center. Google for Education. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://edu.google.com/intl/ALL_us/teacher-center/?modal_active=none
    Knight, J. (2018) The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.
    Knight, J., Ryschon Knight, J., & Carlson, C. (2017) The reflection guide to the impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heather NewlandOctober 22, 2021 at 6:33 PM


    Dana,
    Hi! I appreciate your honesty about how parts of your training did not go well. It's always helpful to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. While I would do my training almost exactly the same if I had it to do over again, I still think my participants could benefit from digging deeper into some of the information. A study I read by Hashim (2020) noted all sorts of inconsistencies with implementing coaching. So, I’m sure next time your training session will go better! Being able to identify where you need improvement goes hand-in-hand with the improve section of The Impact Cycle (2018).

    References
    Hashim, A. K. (2020). Coaching and Districtwide Improvement: Exploring the Systemic Leadership Practices of Instructional Coaches. Teachers College Record, 122(10). https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=23439

    Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.

    ReplyDelete

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