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.
