Last week I had my second 1-on-1 coaching experience as the "coachee". It was definitely a bit odd to be on the other side of coaching, especially since the last time I was coached, I was still in the classroom. In the role of instructional coach, I spend a lot of time with teachers, administrators and at times, other coaches. I am constantly running into ideas that would be awesome to try out.
One of the large differences between coaching and teaching is the time structure. When I ran across a great idea on Twitter or a blog as a classroom teacher, I knew immediately where I could fit that into my curriculum. I knew which topics a strategy would blend with, and whether it was an idea I could adapt to fit multiple spots in the content. I knew what I would need to do with my kids to prep them for the new activity or strategy. If it didn't work, my resilient kids would just roll with it because we were always trying new things, keeping class interesting. Coaching is different.
Throughout my day, and a whole lot more at night, I run into ideas that I'd love to implement with my teachers. My district has been awesome in providing support for instructional coaches. We have monthly meetings, established relationships with other coaches in other buildings and have been provided with coaches of our own. I get so many great ideas, but unlike the classroom, it isn't immediately obvious where they all go, or what will work with my building.
Enter the coaches. I was fortunate enough to have 2 coaches come out and help me out. Through discussion, they both were able to elicit information and ideas from me that I would have been completely unable to do in isolation. It was masterful. The process has helped me to come up with actionable steps to help me implement some of the great ideas that are out there. It has helped to push my thinking, to prioritize and to act. I'm hoping that this blog will soon be replete with strategies that I can turn back to in the future so that when I run into great ideas, I will have an archive of ways to implement them, just like my days back in the classroom. My first attempt in implementing my own new learning will be in helping teachers incorporate some small group instruction into their current teaching style, as discussed and prioritized with my coaches!
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Coaching Manifesto (1st Draft)
I'm in the middle of reading The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar (@artofcoaching1). One of her suggestions is to create a Coaching Manifesto. I figured a blog post about it would help me to clarify my thoughts and help me to see my own progression over the course of time. I have many firm beliefs about education and fleshing them out in writing may prove to help me learn a bit about myself and how I can be more effective in my position of helping others in their learning journeys.
1. All students can learn. Given enough time and proper motivation, anyone can learn anything. The issues hampering learning are almost always time and motivation. Leveraging the time we have with students (and teachers) to get the most bang for the buck is crucial to affecting positive improvements.
2. We can always do better. I will never be satisfied with the way things are. There is always room for improvement, always another way to look at things. A lesson might be great, a conversation fulfilling, but there is no such thing as perfection and that's OK!
3. Change is a process. Similar to we can always do better, doing better requires a change. Change is not a bad thing and it is an ever present process in teaching and learning. Change will never be "over". Change is not a destination or outcome. To implement lasting changes in the classroom, incremental steps must be taken. Trial and error are required. Failing will happen, should be expected, embraced and engaged.
4. Everyone's experiences are different. Every student and every teacher has their own life, viewed through their own lens. When starting a conversation, knowledge needs to be transferred in both directions. If there is an idea or strategy that we'd like to try that I am knowledgeable about, I need to know what experiences the teacher has had, what their classroom is like, what their style is. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that works with everyone in every room. There are no silver bullets in education. Accounting for individual styles, preferences and experiences is crucial to understanding how to move a teacher's practice forward.
That's all I've got for now. I'm hoping to revisit this concept (maybe annually?).
1. All students can learn. Given enough time and proper motivation, anyone can learn anything. The issues hampering learning are almost always time and motivation. Leveraging the time we have with students (and teachers) to get the most bang for the buck is crucial to affecting positive improvements.
2. We can always do better. I will never be satisfied with the way things are. There is always room for improvement, always another way to look at things. A lesson might be great, a conversation fulfilling, but there is no such thing as perfection and that's OK!
3. Change is a process. Similar to we can always do better, doing better requires a change. Change is not a bad thing and it is an ever present process in teaching and learning. Change will never be "over". Change is not a destination or outcome. To implement lasting changes in the classroom, incremental steps must be taken. Trial and error are required. Failing will happen, should be expected, embraced and engaged.
4. Everyone's experiences are different. Every student and every teacher has their own life, viewed through their own lens. When starting a conversation, knowledge needs to be transferred in both directions. If there is an idea or strategy that we'd like to try that I am knowledgeable about, I need to know what experiences the teacher has had, what their classroom is like, what their style is. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that works with everyone in every room. There are no silver bullets in education. Accounting for individual styles, preferences and experiences is crucial to understanding how to move a teacher's practice forward.
That's all I've got for now. I'm hoping to revisit this concept (maybe annually?).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)