Monday, July 31, 2023

Coaching for the Teacher Not the Coach

 

Coaching for the Teacher Not the Coach

Instructional coaching has become a trend in supporting teachers in education, but coaching is not a new idea. When people hear of “coaches” they think sports; this is the experience most people have with the term. “Coaching” in education is the same idea as “coaching” in sports. You take someone who has a deep knowledge of the skills and strategies needed to be successful in reaching a goal. Whether it is helping an athlete in a sport, a teacher in the classroom, or an executive in the board room - they are all driven, passionate people who want to be the best in their field. Coaching is how we get there.

The district I work in sees the importance of the instructional coach; unfortunately, our funding does not permit us to have a coach for each campus. The coaches we do have work hard to meet the needs of all the teachers they work with, but this got me thinking… How can I get more coaching on my campus? How can I grow my teachers? The answer to both questions is the same: start a coaching cohort on campus. This campus has many teachers that would like to be instructional coaches in the future, so why would I not grow them in this passion? That is what we are doing this year.

Campus Coaching Cohort

  We will be starting this journey by developing a common understanding of effective coaching and learning from Jim Knight, Sean Conner, Jennifer Froehle, Kathryn Kee, and Karen Anderson. We need to have a solid understanding of what our purpose is: Student Success! Our cohort will develop the structures we will need as we learn.  These structures will be based on best practices that we will adapt for our purpose and members. Coaching peers is not the same as coaching from a district instructional coach and we want to acknowledge that difference. We understand trust must exist before we can start this journey and are including culture building in our back-to-school PD.

The cohort will look at observations and the feedback that should go along with them.  Developing a common belief of what observations are for is vital for our process to be effective.

Observations:

Observations

Are

Are Not

·         Built on trust

·         A way to honor the teacher’s work

·         A compliment

·         For everyone

·         To promote self-reflection and growth

·         “I got you”

·         Just for new teachers

·         To “fix” issues

·         A compliance piece

 

If your staff has a negative connotation when it comes to observations, it sets the tone for how they will accept feedback. School principals need to build trust with their staff.  Teachers need to believe their principal has confidence in them as teachers and their ability to help students be successful. It is important for teachers to feel that their campus leadership is out to help and support them be great teachers, so when they visit the teacher’s classroom it is not a scary interaction. Build a culture of trust and you will see teachers want the feedback you are giving.

 

All teachers want to make a difference in their students lives, I truly believe this. In order to help your teachers be the most successful they can be, you must empower them. When you empower teachers, you are building their self-efficacy and ability to reflect on their own performance, all of which promotes engaged and motivated students. When you coach a teacher, as opposed to dictating what they need to “fix,” you are giving teachers the ability to reflect on the strategies they use, the knowledge they have, and what they know about the students in their class. You are valuing them as a professional and an expert on their students. The reflection process should be guided by coaching questions to help the teacher think through the solution that will best work in their classroom. Always go into reflection conversations ready to let the teacher find their answer.  Be a thinking partner, not a giver of solutions.

 

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