Instructional Coaching Institute

1. Instructional Coaching Institute Lisa Wyatt Education Service Center Region XIII

2. The Mom

3. Housekeeping Items • Cell phones • Restroom Breaks • Lunch

4. Vacation Partners • Find a person for each vacation destination on your form. Be sure to write their name under that destination.

5. What will we cover? • Why instructional coaching? • Overview of instructional coaching. • Roles of coaches. • Dealing with change. • Communication is key. • Tools

6. What is Instructional Coaching? • Definition: • Instructional coaches are on-site professional developers who teach educators how to use proven instructional methods. To be successful in this role, coaches must be skilled in a variety of roles, including public relations guru, communicator extraordinaire, master organizer and, of course, expert educator.

7. Natalie Gilbert – National Anthem • What does this athletic coach do that you think is similar to what an Instructional Coach should do?

8. So, why coaching?

9. A Look at Education Reform

10. Ellwood Cubberly, 1934 • One of the nation’s foremost educational thinkers of his time: • The public schools of the United States are, in a sense, a manufactory. • Students were the “raw” material. Teachers would “pour” in math, then the next subject, etc.

11. In their defense… • Schools at that time were not intended to educate large numbers of students to a high level. In 1893, less than 3% of American students graduated high school. • Even as late as 1950, majority of students dropped of out high school before graduation.

12. Today • All students must master rigorous content, learn how to learn, pursue productive employment, and compete in a global economy.

13. Did you know?

14. At your table: • Discuss any aha moments from the film. • Why is this information important for us?

15. What researchers say about the best path for sustained organizational improvement: • Only the organizations that have a passion for learning will have an enduring influence. (Covey, 1996, p. 149) • The most successful corporation of the future will be a learning organization. (Senge, 1990, p. 4)

16. Research and experts are all saying the same thing • Our kids must be prepared for the 21st Century Global Economy • They must know HOW TO LEARN • The #1 indicator of student success is… TEACHER QUALITY

17. Need for a Collaborative Culture Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we found an effective school or an effective department within a school, without exception that school or department has been a part of a collaborative professional learning community. --McLaughlin and Talbert (2001)

18. Why Should We Collaborate? • Gains in student achievement • Higher quality solutions to problems • Increased confidence among all staff • Teachers able to support one another’s strengths and accommodate weaknesses • Ability to test new ideas • More support for new teachers • Expanded pool of ideas, materials, and methods --Judith Warren Little (1990)

19. “Quality teaching is the most critical means by which to improve student learning and to close achievement gaps. You achieve student success through teacher success.” Harry Wong

20. Theory behind coaching • Implementation rate of traditional professional development vs. instructional coaching

21. The #1 way to improve student success, it to increase teacher quality. • Education has spent all of their money and time on systems change, programs, etc. • Where has it gotten us? • The classroom is where everything happens: • The teacher is the #1 indicator of how a student will progress. • This is where the focus should be.

22. “Decades of research clearly demonstrate that a quality teacher, more than any other factor, enables students to overcome obstacles to learning like poverty and can even erase the achievement gap.” Alliance for Education, 2006

23. Percentage of Children Who Achieve Success with Varying Levels of Home and Classroom Support High Home SupportLow Home Support High Classroom Support 100% 100% 100% Mixed Classroom Support 25% Low Classroom Support 60% 0% Snow, C. (1991). Unfulfilled Expectations. Harvard University Press

24. Teaching without learning isn’t teaching at all. It’s just presenting a lesson!

25. What is Instructional Coaching?

27. What is an Instructional Coach? an on-site professional developer who partners with educators to identify and assist with implementation of proven teaching methods

28. NTLB • No Teacher Left Behind!

29. An instructional coach… • Must BUILD leadership among the teachers. • Don’t become the leader.

30. Instructional Coaches • Enroll • Identify • Explain • Model (You watch me) • Observe (I watch you) • Explore (Collaborative Exploration of Data) • Support • Reflect

31. Enroll teachers • Large-group presentation • Small-group presentation • Interviews • Informal conversations • Principal (or other) referral

33. Identify • The Big Four: • Behavior • Content • Instruction • Assessment

34. Explaining interventions • Instructional Coach • Breaks down the instructor’s materials • Lays out the step-by-step procedures • Suggests what teacher should watch for during the model lessons • Does everything possible to make it easier for teachers to implement • Asks about and addresses collaborating teacher’s concerns • Co-constructs Observation Form with teachers

36. Model Lessons You watch me! Goal: To show a teacher exactly how to implement a particular intervention • Be fully aware of critical teaching practices you need to model • Ensure that teacher knows the purpose of the model lesson • Provide concrete description of what you’ll be doing • Clarify roles for behavioral management • Co-construct an observation form • Ensure your collaborating teacher knows how to use the form

37. Observe “I watch you” • Coach uses the observation form to watch for data related to: • Critical teaching behaviors • Fidelity to scientifically proven practices • Student behavior and performance • Additional specific teacher concerns

38. Collaborative Exploration of Data • Based on the partnership principles • Involves observations to open up dialogue, rather than to state a single truth • Should be • constructive, but provisional • empathetic and respectful • Coach and teacher identify what data will be gathered

39. Top-down Feedback

40. Partnership Feedback (C.E.D.)Reinke, (2005)

41. Partnership Principles • Equality • Praxis • Dialogue • Choice • Voice • Reflection • Reciprocity

42. Your “jigsaw” learning experience • Step one: Settle in with your new group of learning partners • Step two: Read the section you’ve been given from the Partnership Learning manual • Step three: Together with your group, create a graphic organizer on a poster that captures the essential characteristics of the principle • Step four: Attach your poster to the wall, and wait for further instructions

43. Activity • In your new groups, move to your poster. • The person who helped create the poster explains the concept to the group. • When the music starts, move to the next poster (clockwise) • When the music stops, start discussing the new poster

44. Praxis • Reflection and • Creative inquiry • Not banking education • But creative inquiry

45. Dialogue • Respectful, energizing conversation • The developing conversation is more important than being right • Involves suspending opinions & authentic listening • Thinking together

46. Choice • Command and control fosters resistance or external commitment • Choice fosters internal commitment

47. Voice • Build trust • Make it easy for people to say what they think • Give people words, concepts, and tools that help them express who they are--help them find their voice!

48. Reflection • On action • In action • For action

49. Reciprocity • Everyone benefits when one person learns • Teachers learn from students as much as students learn from teachers • Every learning situation is a chance for learning

50. What coaching is and isn’t. (chart)