It is important to start by saying that I am new to the idea of instructional coaching. We don't have what you would call Instructional Coaches in my district. I guess you could consider some of the teachers working at the district office to be instructional coaches. They are what we call Resource Teachers. These select few work in all different departments and are available to educate teachers in anything new that comes through. I would say that is kind of my dream job, to teach teachers. With my master's degree in technology, I would love to be able to help other teachers find and use technology in meaningful ways. The video below talks about coaching teachers to do just that.
I feel like all teachers engage in coaching and mentoring with each other on a daily basis. We stand around and talk about students, good and bad. We bounce ideas off of each other and may even decide to try some of those ideas. It could be something as simple as a strategy to stop a problem behavior with one student that worked in another class.
In the article, Benefits of instructional coaching for teacher efficacy: A mixed methods study with PreK-6 teachers in California, Walsh et. al (2020) says "Instructional coaching is a way of embedding professional learning opportunities into the day-to-day work of teachers. Their work can increase both teacher efficacy and agency in the coachee's ability to promote students' learning and increase teacher retention rates, particularly in urban areas." (p. 1144-1145). This leads me to believe that districts should take the idea of instructional coaches seriously. With more research being done, the number of educators open to the idea will grow. Those of us in college programs that offer tools on instructional coaching will be able to move into those roles as they become more prevalent.
The instructional coaching cycle is a great way to get started when new to the concept. Most teachers can identify something they need to improve on without having to think too hard. In my first year of teaching, it was definitely classroom management strategies. I would get so much advice from other, more seasoned teachers, but nothing I tried worked for me. I wish that there had been someone to coach me through that difficult time. I did survive, but had a rotten year. Luckily for me, I was not asked back and was able to find a job that helped me grow more as a teacher.
In The Impact Cycle, Knight (2018) begins by describing a coaching relationship with a teacher in which she was able to find the right goal by having her lesson recorded. This helped her to see what someone else would see if they were in the classroom watching her and her students. This helped herself and her coach to collaborate and make a plan. I think the idea to video is the perfect way to process your own teaching. It could be helpful to imagine that you are being filmed everyday by professionals that will share your teaching. In a way, you sort of are. Every day that you teach, those students are filming you in their minds. That means that everyday is the most important day in your teaching career.
The next steps in the Impact Cycle are to learn and improve. Walsh et. al (2020) says that "Stage Two, Learn, includes partnership work of discovering, attempting, and enhancing teaching strategies in order to meet the identified goal. This work can include coach modelling [sic], co-teaching, and viewing other teachers' live or recorded examples." (p. 1145). This makes me always think of being a life-long learner. Teachers need to always be learning new things to make sure that they can be the best. With learning new things and strategies, we can apply those to our teaching and improve our methods.
Back to what I am striving to achieve. I want to use my knowledge of technology to help other teachers enhance their lessons with technology. One thing you always hear from teachers is, "I don't do technology."
This is a terrible statement. What they really need to say is, "I'm willing to learn." This is why we need instructional coaches. Maybe someday soon I can find this role in my own school or district.
Knight (2018) says there are three approaches to coaching -- facilitative, directive, and dialogical. I think the best approach is the dialogical approach. In this approach, you should have the best results. Knight says, "Dialogical coaches do not give advice; they share possible strategies with teachers and let teachers decide whether they want to try one of them or some other strategy to meet their goals." (2018, p. 13). This means that the coach is letting the teacher be the decision maker and they will be able to put the students' needs first. When the students are taken into consideration over the teacher, they will have the best outcome.
Now that I have a better understanding of what an instructional coach does, I think I could do that in the future. As long as I continue to learn and practice, I can accomplish those goals and more.
https://giphy.com/gifs/latenightseth-seth-meyers-lnsm-late-night-with-L0whQvfHEaU4f6cEg9
https://youtu.be/4l5JBUacW1w
Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin, A Sage Company.
Walsh, N. R., Ginger, K., & Akhavan, N. (2020). Benefits of Instructional Coaching for Teacher Efficacy: A Mixed Methods Study with PreK-6 Teachers in California. Issues in Educational Research, 30(3), 1143-1161.
