As
teachers and students settle into the routines of a new school year, coaches
are also figuring out structures that will best support their work. Being
responsive to the unique context where you are working means there is no “one
way” that coaching should be done. Coaching needs vary based on how your
position is defined, who you are working with, and the demographics of both the
teacher and the student population. Whether you are working at the district or
school level, whether your mentees are student teachers or have years of
experience, the following questions bear consideration.
When
will you take a team approach to
coaching, and when would working with individual
teachers be best? Team work has the advantage of efficiency and
collaboration, while working one-by-one can offer coaching customized to the
needs of a specific class or teacher. Finding the right blend depends not only
on the population with whom you are working, but also on the time you have
available.
How
much time will you spend in classrooms
during instruction? How much time should be scheduled for conferring? This balance might vary based on your relationships
with teachers, whether they’ve established personal goals for instructional
improvement, and the type of support that is needed (modeling vs. questioning, for
example).
Will taking a student-centered approach be
comfortable and effective? Would time spent on curriculum or lesson
planning yield broad and impactful change? Data discussions might lead us
in one direction, and planning lessons as a team would have a different
outcome. Choose structures for coaching that match the outcomes you’re aiming
for.
Each
of the above decisions will be guided by the way your focus shifts between assessment, curriculum, and instruction. Many coaches begin the
year with a look at last year’s summative assessment results and then launch
into assessment for screening and diagnostic purposes. Don’t overlook the power
of day-to-day formative assessments and kid-watching! These provide data that
can truly guide instruction and help determine curriculum needs.
As
you establish a schedule for your work this year, there are many factors to
consider! Although improved student learning is always at the core, there are
many ways to get at that focus. Choose a plan based on your unique situation,
and then be ready for the plan to evolve as improvement you’ve worked for leads
to new platforms for coaching!
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Cheap
and ingenious classroom organizers:
Why
adults observe children - a letter to the class:
Blog
post: What close reading isn’t (or shouldn’t be):
Share
this with students (intermediate and up) at the beginning of the school year to
help them stay organized:
If
your first day of school hasn’t happened yet (or even if it has!), check out
this post:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching
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