{"id":165,"date":"2018-11-08T01:27:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T01:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/brenthurley\/?p=165"},"modified":"2018-11-08T01:27:24","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T01:27:24","slug":"how-to-open-doors-starting-an-instructional-coaching-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/brenthurley\/2018\/11\/08\/how-to-open-doors-starting-an-instructional-coaching-program\/","title":{"rendered":"How to open doors: Starting an Instructional Coaching program"},"content":{"rendered":"

As is often the case, I get inspired in my professional practice through Olympic level eavesdropping and spying. I spy on Twitter what my friends and colleagues are doing and think, “That is such a good idea. Could I do that?” I look at blogs and posts by educational leaders and consider, “Is that out of my wheelhouse? Would that work for me?” In most cases, I bookmark the link or save the doc thinking that it will be useful to me tomorrow or the next day and then, 9 times out of 10, I move on. But, that one time that it sticks, that one time that I can translate an idea that I overheard or read in the dark corners of Twitter or in the hallway or at the lunch table, it’s an amazing feeling.<\/p>\n

In most cases, it might be an approach like how I can improve my feedback in my English class on a stack of essays. Or, it’s an emphasis on mini lessons or integrating reading time into my daily plan. But it’s not too often that I get inspired to translate what I heard or read into a year long action plan. Yet here I am, writing about just such a case. Last year my former colleagues at Lakefield College School talked about a pedagogical coaching program they were initiating, and I was inspired. I’ve always tried to collaborate with my colleagues, but normally that was limited to within my English department. I’ve aspired to observe not only members of my department, but also to go into different classes and see how teachers across our community deliver such incredible lessons in so many varied ways.<\/p>\n

The question was how to do it. How do I get the doors to our classrooms open?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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With the support of my school’s administration, I endeavoured to pilot an instructional coaching program that would allow me to learn how to observe, support, and challenge not only my colleagues, but also as a means to improve my own practice. This idea is still in its infancy, but so far the results have been solid.<\/p>\n

My first step was to do some reading and research. I relied on a number of blog posts and scholarly articles and resources from peers and colleagues (thanks @ddoucet<\/a><\/span> and Colin!). One text that proved useful is by Jim Knight, called Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Next, I reached out to colleagues who might be interested in trying this out. Not surprisingly, I quickly found a group of 7 or 8 teachers who were keen to let me into their classrooms to observe some lessons. These professionals teach everything from Spanish to Math to English and AP Seminar! The basic model is that I’ll meet with teachers and discuss what they would like me to observe. I ask them questions about what they want to improve in their teaching, challenges they face with creating student-centred learning, classroom management, integrating 21st-century methodologies, and how they build positive relationships with their students, among other things. Next, I observe their class. I try to remain quiet and unobtrusive. I’ve created a fairly simple template (part of which is pictured below) that focusses my attention on key areas: evidence of student learning and engagement, teacher actions, class observations, and my questions. This is still a work in progress, and I know that I need to improve how I track this data. Finally, I try to follow up with the teacher, and we share notes and observations.<\/p>\n

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Here is a chunk of the observations from one of my Instructional Coaching sessions, in a senior math course<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thus far I have been into one class and have made arrangements to observe three others before the Christmas break. Here’s what I’ve learned:<\/p>\n