Can you believe it's October already? 🍂 Start your month off right with a brilliant blueprint for technology integration, three tips to better build teacher capacity, thoughts on how your teachers' expectations can influence their outcomes and behavior, and more. Enjoy!

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A Teacher-Centric Approach to Technology Integration

The rollout of technology is never easy, especially as COVID has forced organizations to do it quickly. To help, Greg Jung shares his fantastic blueprint for technology integration and the six-step coaching cycle process he put together for a successful rollout.

"The goal of any technology integration coaching cycle is for teachers to think intentionally about how they could improve their instruction and make their lessons more engaging, efficient, and effective with the use of technology. This year I've found myself hearing teachers, but not listening to them, and I wanted to change that. As a result, the cycle I've created puts the teacher at the heart of the process from the start. It allows for teachers to have the initial voice in instituting a new idea, goal, or strategy and to keep the focus on them through every phase of the cycle."

How Instructional Coaches Can Build Teacher Capacity (and Why It Matters)

Genevie Rodríguez-Quiñones offers three tips for building teacher capacity, while both reducing the pressure on coaches and empowering teachers at the same time.

"As a coach, I feel the greatest success when teachers can turn to their teams for support and guidance on their instructional practices. Building teacher efficacy takes time, and it's an ongoing process as a team develops their ability to collaborate around student achievement results, and to adjust planning and instruction based on those results. As teachers dialogue and discuss possibilities for instruction, they're deepening their capacity as educators."

Coaching Through a Crisis

Tricia McKale Skyles and Matthew Kelly provide some techniques for self-care to help overcome uncertainties thrown your way.

" I instruct others to strive for a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions with others – I was now going to deploy this strategy on myself. Every time I beat myself up, and sometimes rightfully so, I have to think of three genuinely positive things I've done that day. . . . For every irritant that came my way (and, trust me, I’m no peach to live with either), I stopped, intentionally thought and often spoke directly to them of the genuinely amazing things my tiny circle was bringing to the table."

Teaching Takeaways

Liz Janusz created a great infographic detailing 10 of her tips for taking control of remote instruction.

"Try to frequently provide feedback or create multiple opportunities for peer feedback from your students. Whether you use platforms like Seesaw or Flipgrid, providing relevant and focused feedback will ensure that your students are getting the instruction that they need."

Repair Jobs and Self Fulfilling Prophecies

Vicki Collet explores how teacher expectations influence their behaviors and outcomes, and why ICs should be careful when providing constructive feedback.

"Sometimes a belief brings about consequences that cause reality to match the belief. People are likely to act in ways that reinforce their beliefs about themselves. Attitude effects outcome, and negative self-thoughts may actually create negative outcomes."

A Year of Online Learning

Christine Condon passes along five remote teaching tips from educators around the country.

"Families, kids, and teachers all long for the days of safe and consistent in-person interaction. While challenges persist, in many ways we are lucky that we even have the option to teach kids remotely! We want to honor educators who are offering support to colleagues in their district or the entire online teaching community as they face remote teaching during COVID-19. We also want to celebrate the indefatigable teachers who, in many cases, went home on a Friday like normal—and didn’t set foot in their classroom for the rest of the year. They had to pivot to remote teaching on systems that were often ad hoc and unfamiliar."

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