The
roles of an instructional coach are many and varied, depending on context and
job description. However, it’s safe to
say that coaches, in their work with individual teachers and teams, will be
expected to guide, challenge, and celebrate instruction. Let’s think about each of those power-packed
coaching verbs.
Guiding
A
coach is a guide by the side who models and recommends to help teachers’ instructional
practices rise. Let’s consider a metaphor
from vacation travel: Tour guides can provide some insight about how to magnify
the role of instructional coach as guide.
Like me, you’ve probably taken a vacation tour or two with a guide who
had memorized a script and could regurgitate it perfectly, with a litany of
facts and timed pauses after jokes. Although informative, I haven’t left such
tours more curious or inspired. I can
contrast those experiences with the expert guide we had on our tour of the
ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza or our brilliant guide through Old
Jerusalem. In Chichen Itza, the woman
who guided us through the ruins took time to ask about our background and then
personalized her presentation to help us make connections to our own
experience. In Jerusalem, our guide was
a professor of ancient history from an Israeli university. He shared many
insightful details that gave us a deeper sense of the place and left us curious
to find out more.
From
these experiences I learned that, as an instructional guide, knowing about the
curriculum is insufficient. Coaches will
be more impactful when they connect with teachers’ previous experiences and
current goals, when their pedagogical and content knowledge is deep and broad,
and when they come with their own curiosity as they seek to guide.
Challenging
Coaches
challenge, not by arguing or being confrontational, but by pushing teachers to
think in new ways and try new things. Think of someone who has challenged you
in positive ways. For me, it was a principal who had enough faith in me to ask
me to try something new (coaching), even though no one else in the district was
doing it – yet. Prior to this, he had
given me opportunities for leadership in a variety of situations. He asked me questions about how I thought
something should be done and then he stepped out of my way and let me do
it. He trusted I would do it right.
My
principal taught me that people accept and succeed with a challenge when they
are prepared and trusted. Coaches
prepare teachers for new instructional challenges by posing questions that compel
them to think critically before jumping in.
Issuing challenges in this way improves ongoing outcomes as the coach
steps away and the teachers move forward.
Celebrating
We
all need someone with whom to share small victories. Perhaps that is part of the appeal of social
media: When something turns out well, we can Pin it or share it and receive
affirmation. In a more personal way,
coaches champion teachers’ successes, even the small ones. The positive things we notice become ways to
advocate for the practice and the teacher.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “What
gets tested gets taught.” In a more
positive vein, what gets celebrated gets taught.
As
coaches guide, challenge, and celebrate, they lift and lead the teachers with
whom they are working. Instructional
coaching isn’t just about content area and pedagogical expertise. It is about
helping those around us rise in their practice.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Maximizing
coaching in the month of May:
Entering a lesson on the right foot by
focusing on now:
Building
independence so teachers can confer during reading workshop:
Exploring propaganda through dystopian
literature:
Highlighting mistakes as a grading
practice:
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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