Weekly Coaching Roundup: March 18th, 2019

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Weekly Coaching Roundup - March 2019 (Half) (Seasonal)

This week we learned about the importance of confidentiality in coaching, types of coaching models and why it's important to choose the right one, ways to encourage influential teachers share their skills, and more!

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From Novice to Expert: The Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model

Vicki Collet breaks down a user-friendly, differentiated approach to coaching called Gradual Increase of Responsibility. She walks through the process and offers some new tools you might be able to incorporate into your practice.

"Successful coaching is a developmental process that's responsive to teachers' needs. When working with a teacher on something new, you typically provide more assistance in the beginning and gradually reduce that support as the teacher gains experience and expertise. While this is often the case when working with a novice teacher, your coaching role is fairly different when you're working with an expert."

Choosing Your Instructional Coaching Model

Nicole Turner highlights how a good instructional model, data, and targeted goals set a coach up for success.

"To help determine which coaching model works for you, you first have to find out what the overall goal the either your principal or district has for instructional coaches. . . . Some places have [developed] goals around the instructional coach being the primarily person to provide resources. For others, they have developed goals for the instructional coach to model best teaching practices due to a younger (New Teacher) staff. Most schools will want you to reach several goals that coincide together although they may place more importance in one goal than another."

Why Confidentiality Is Important in Coaching

How is the work of an evaluator and a coach different? Confidentiality! Ellen Eisenberg explains the value of privacy and trust in a coaching partnerships.

"Teachers feel safe when they can share information about the coaching support they received, but without the coach sharing the actual conversation. This is about dependability, trust, and understanding, and not about accountability or responsibility. . . . At the same time, coaches are also responsible for ensuring that their colleagues understand that fidelity to the relationship and the instructional coaching paradigm is what helps move practice forward and creates positive change."

Know Thy Teachers

Fiona Hurtado speaks to the importance of getting to know your coachee on a personal level in order to truly reach them where they're in professional learning.

"There is nothing more validating than being truly heard, and nothing more cultivating of a relationship than listening to what really matters to a human being. And knowing what really matters to the teachers I work with is highly valuable data: it is a jumping-off point to understanding where teachers are. When I know and understand this, I have a much better chance of coaching in ways that will have the greatest impact on student learning."

Leveraging Your Teacher Leaders as Peer Mentors

Teacher leaders can help amplify your coaching efforts in many ways. Read about Ramona Towner's process for encouraging influential teachers to share their work and skills.

"In becoming a mentor, they have to constantly re-evaluate their skills in order to demonstrate them to others and perfect their craft. Through vulnerability, they push themselves outside their comfort zone to demonstrate growth through more listening and less talking."

Coaching Systems Development: Formula for Success

Joseph Kanke contends that coaching is a component of innovation and is most impactful when the role is both explained and supported by an organization's culture.

" A culture of coaching and growth mindset often hinged on the leadership and their understanding, support and development of systems to sustain coaching as an innovation. . . . Giving someone the title of coach; however, does not translate into a magical unicorn, but often a this is all a coach will get in terms of direction and guidance."

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