This week we learned how teachers can take better control of their classrooms, three ways to facilitate professional learning remotely, questions that promote self-reflection for instructional coaches, and more. Enjoy! 😁

Want to get the latest coaching news and insights delivered to your inbox every Wednesday? Subscribe to our Weekly Coaching Roundup emails!

4 Ways to Become a Classroom Management Pro

Classroom management can create more instructional time and student learning. Christine Weis provides teachers with a few strategies for taking better control of their classrooms. 💪

" Good classroom management results in more instructional time and more learning, improving student engagement, grades, and test scores. . . . Relationships built on trust with students are critical to good classroom management. Students will do more for those educators they trust and respect. With building relationships comes investing time and energy in students that misbehave."

Professional Learning While Hunkering Down

Joellen Killion shares three ways to facilitate and support professional learning remotely.

" Educators, like other adults, are asking questions about their lives, social interactions, and work and they seek answers to those questions. . . . In these times, there are multiple forms of professional learning to support educators’ continuous growth. Access to professional learning is particularly crucial for educators to lead, teach, and coach in remote contexts and to maintain their own professional networks to share workloads and cultivate best practices."

Make a Don't Do List

Stephanie Affinito challenges us to jot down and let go of things that bring us down, both personally and professionally.

" A Don't Do list gives you permission to let go of something that brings you down, that saps the joy from your day or simply does not have to be done at that moment. It shortens your list of tasks to complete and gives you more time to actually enjoy the process of completing those that matter most. . . . Maybe you decide that all of those things you keep saying 'yes' to are not actually serving you well. Or maybe, there’s an aspect of your coaching that doesn’t serve teachers well anymore in this new, challenging time and can be let go of too."

Growth Plan

Vicki Collet promotes four questions ICs should ask themselves to help plan their professional growth.

"As you think about the coaching process, you might want to get better at helping teachers define their own essential questions for inquiry or recognizing and celebrating their own growth. You might want to be more intentional about infusing formative assessment information into the coaching process. Pick part of the coaching process and identify an aspect for growth. . . . As this eventful school year winds down and you look forward to summer, what plans do you have for your own professional growth? . . . "

The 3 Cs of Professional Learning

Karen Marklein, Rachael Milligan, and Julia Osteen highlight why flexibility and autonomy are important for professional learning, plus share a framework they use for tackling it from a distance.

" Consistent and thoughtful communication has always been the hallmark of effective school leaders, and it is especially important during remote learning. As leaders of professional learning, we realized the importance of considering not only what we were communicating, but how and how often. It was important to ensure we were using opportunities for communication to build connections. . . . Our favorite part of any professional learning opportunity is the chance to strengthen connections by building community."

Wrapping Up and Looking Forward

Kathy Perret passed along four tips for ending the school year on a high note while preparing for 2020-21.

" Instructional coaches are the kings and queens of reflection! We help others reflect on their practices and we are constantly reflecting on our own. If you still have contact with the teacher you serve – find ways to help them reflect on the past 8+ weeks of remote learning. . . . Please take time to reflect on your instructional coaching practice. Some coaches were sought after during the remote teaching times, others felt isolated and everywhere in between. My best reflection and growth comes when I write."

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