April 2019 Instructional Coaching Must-Reads

Picture of TeachBoost Team

Must reads header - April 2019

We hope you're having a wonderful April! Lot's of fresh articles from our weekly coaching roundups this month: learn the best qualities of instructional coaches, benefits of innovation for teaching practices, why collaboration among staff is important, how to transition from a teacher to a coach, and more. Enjoy!

Seven Qualities of an Instructional Coach

Amy MacCrindle and Jacquie Duginske identify the key attributes of coaches and why it's important to remain student-focused when beginning your coaching initiatives.

"Everybody needs a coach. Coaching is commonly thought about in terms of sports, however, coaching in the education setting has the ability to inspire, impact change, support, push thinking and be the cheerleader everyone needs. Sometimes, though, it is difficult for educators to recognize a personal need for a coach. It takes the right person with the right character traits to be able to support teachers and help them be successful."

New and Better: Coaching for Innovation

Dr. Christina Podraza explains how innovation can power new teaching practices and how to hit the ground running with your coaches and teacher leaders.

"In order for innovation to thrive in our schools we have to build school environments that foster idea generation, collaboration, reflection, and risk-taking without fear of repudiation if something doesn't go as planned. . . . It starts with foundational best practices for anyone in a school: build relationships, be present, and get to know those you serve."

Say-Mean-Matter in Coaching

Vicki Collet talks about how to shift the focus of a debrief conversation from teaching to student learning.

"I usually use the Say-Mean-Matter protocol to focus on comments students made during the lesson, but it can also be effective when capturing the teacher's role. It is a great tool for drawing out positive insights. With care, it can also be used to focus on less-effective aspects of the lesson."

Building coaching relationships is easy—right?

Building quality relationships is key to successful coaching. Coaches cite relationships as one of the most time intensive parts of their job, and it takes a lot to get it right. TeachBoost Coach helps you build and reinforce the relationships that will create instructional shifts in the classroom.

Your Circle of Influence in a PLC

Brig Leane promotes teacher collaboration as a way to maximize their efforts, particularly in implemeting PLCs and improving student learning together.

"Not only will team collaboration influence more students, it will also impact colleagues—both new and experienced. On a highly effective collaborative team, new teachers are not left alone to make critical instructional decisions, defend why they have selected their essentials, or come up with intervention and extension plans. Experienced teachers get an infusion of new ideas and will leave a legacy of their vast skills with their colleagues when they retire. Otherwise, when those experienced teachers walk out the door upon retirement, all of their skills go with them."

Learning Progressions to Enhance Feedback and Teacher Clarity

Laurel Matthews shares the benefits of learning progressions for teachers in order to to create clear and concise learning goals.

"Improving the skills of our students is, ultimately, our goal as educators and when we can isolate specifically what our students need through conferencing, you can give feedback that actually works. In order for educators to improve teacher clarity we must spend time with our curriculum and understand the skills and content required. When we know our curriculum, isolating the goal and identifying the learning progressions will become far easier."

Establishing Trust: Transitioning From Teacher to Coach

Joy DeFors passes along some of her techniques for establishing trust with your peers while transitioning from teacher to coach, especially those within the same building.

"Just like any relationship in life, the partnership between instructional coach and classroom teacher takes work. Deliberate and considerate attention to relationship building strengthens rapport between coaches and teachers, ultimately leading to a greater impact on student learning and achievement."

Have some interesting instructional leadership news?
Share it with TeachBoost and we'll highlight it here!

Continue reading more great posts!