This week we learned how to create a coaching menu in three easy steps, eight must-haves in your coaching office, a few tips for creating virtual professional learning sessions, and more!

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3 Easy Steps to Create a Coaching Menu

Kayleigh Wright teaches us how to whip up a coaching menu to help explain your coaching role to teachers and share all of the different ways you can help support them. Bon appétit! 👩‍🍳

" My entrées include a site- or teacher-driven professional development training or some specific co-teaching in their classroom. These activities are really the 'meat and potatoes' of my coaching menu. Last, but certainly not least, are the desserts—a sweet little way to connect. This might be just a quick chat to debrief or time to reflect on a fun lesson or activity in the classroom."

Coaching is Teaching

Morgan Davis highlights the similarities between an IC and a teacher, plus a few of her beliefs that guide her coaching work.

"When my husband talks about my job, he starts by saying, 'She's a teacher's teacher.' And, as usual, he's right; I am constantly seeing and seeking the parallels between my job as coach and yours, as teacher. . . . Just like you do for your students, I design and enhance learning experiences – for whole-group, small-group (think PLCs) and 1:1 coaching opportunities – to ensure that you realize a year of growth."

PLC: Network of Collaborative Teams

Amy Foley breaks down the what, why, and how of collaborative teams and their impact on continuous improvement for staff and students.

" Effective collaborative teams should benefit students, but they should also support teacher growth. When done well, collaborative teams are a powerful form of job-embedded professional learning in which team members continually learn with and from one another."

Your Coaching Office

Chrissy Beltran shares eight of her must-have areas to include in your coaching office spaces.

"Before planning out your room, you want to figure out your role and the responsibilities you have this year. You need to understand the things you're trying to accomplish with that room before you get started planning out your space. I recommend making a physical list once you've gotten a firm grip on your role and responsibilities. You can then turn that list into a map. The map can help you think about flow and movement in your space."

Revamp Your Online Learning Sessions

Katie Martin and Katie Novak provide six methods for creating professional learning sessions that are interactive and participant-centered.

" Virtual gatherings are likely here to stay. . . . Provide frequent five-minute WIN breaks. Sustaining virtual attention can be challenging. Remind participants that it's important to recharge, so they're better prepared to learn. Encourage them to explore provided resources if their interest is piqued, stand up and stretch, refill water or coffee, text a friend, or dance to the tunes you play."

How to Improve Teaching After the Pandemic

Frederick Hess believes now is the time for schools to rethink their previous routines and teaching styles to find ways to leverage their staff more efficiently.

" Figuring out how to let individual teachers do more of what they’re already good at is a powerful place to start the improvement process. Yet the pandemic is a good reminder that not all teachers are equally skilled at all the tasks they’re asked to do. We’d be better served, I suspect, by reimagining the teacher’s role so that schools can provide more high-quality instruction, without asking each teacher to excel at so many different things."

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