Coaches on Coaching

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Coaches on Coaching

• Fairfax County Public Schools
• September 27, 2006

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• Coaching has helped me to step outside of my own
  classroom and begin to see my school from a
  broader perspective.  I have started to see the
  immense connections between instruction at all
  grade levels and between the different content
  areas. 
• As I have become aware of these powerful
  connections, I have initiated and provided space
  for conversation between colleagues so they can
  learn from one another and so that this broader
  perspective can be shared knowledge.
• Sharon Rubright, Instructional Coach
• Glen Forest ES

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• My work as an instructional coach has broadened
  my perspective on education and made me realize
  the irreplaceable value of teacher collaboration.
  
• The instructional coaching program has helped
  mobilize the teachers at my school towards a
  culture of working together around assessment,
  planning, and instruction. Our culture is
  shifting from teachers planning instruction for
  an entire group of students to thinking about how
  to meet the individual needs of all students
  through differentiation.
• Cecilia Vanderhye, Instructional Coach
• Hutchinson ES

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• To me as a professional, the value of coaching
  is that I set in motion opportunities for
  teachers to work together and then get to step
  back and see the amazing results they achieve.
• It is a true joy to watch a group of teachers
  engage in professional dialogue about their
  instructional practice or collectively analyze
  assessment results and hear the ideas they share.
  Around the building now, I am starting to hear
  these conversations spill into the hallway talk,
  and I know our students are direct
  beneficiaries of these moments.
• Alisa Pappas, Instructional Coach
• Hybla Valley ES

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• To my school, coaching has empowered me to talk
  openly and honestly with my administrative team
  to conduct the most effective professional
  learning opportunities throughout the building.
• To the teachers and students I serve, coaching is
  so valuable because teachers have another teacher
  to turn to for job-embedded professional
  learningto practice something new, to more
  deeply understand a technique theyve been doing
  for years (like guided reading groups), and to
  help develop their assessment literacy---and, in
  the end, the students receive the highest quality
  instruction.
• Theresa Blanchette, Instructional Coach
• Woodlawn ES  

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• Coaching exceeds all other professional
  experiences in my thirty-three years as an
  educator.
• Serving as a coach has challenged me to
  re-examine my core beliefs about good instruction
  and defend those beliefs with high quality
  research. It has given me the tools to
  collaborate with other educators and implement
  the best practices. Together we are striving to
  continuously improve each students chance to
  succeed in school and in life.
• Lois Lucas, Instructional Coach
  Mount Vernon Woods ES

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• Coaching has been valuable to the teachers
  because now they are not just hearing about best
  practices, they are able to see what they look
  like in their own classrooms. 
• Then, they are able to try it themselves and
  receive feedback from me.  I have learned that
  standing up in front of the staff and giving a
  training session is far less effective than me
  going into a teacher's room and showing them what
  I'm talking about.
• Michelle Lis, Instructional Coach
• Brookfield ES

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• Learning the power of listening to build
  relationships is crucial before using data to
  improve teachers understanding of childrens
  learning and then moving toward better practices
  of instruction, remediation, and assessment.
• Teachers tell me the value of coaching for them
  is having someone in the building they can talk
  with as we transition to new ways of thinking
  about what we do in the classroom.
• Susan Karn, Instructional Coach
• Luther Jackson MS

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• In any organization there is a great deal that
  goes on behind the scene.
• In schools, students see a dynamic teacher each
  day and they feel supported by the teachers
  response to their needs. Sometimes, their faces
  light up in admiration. What they may not see,
  however, is the coach who planned with the
  teacher before the lesson, or who is supporting
  reflection afterward. This coach might be the
  catalyst for effective teaching and student
  success.
• If students knew what all was going on behind
  the scenes, they would be very grateful.
• Ray Lonnett, Instructional Coach
• Dogwood ES

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• As a professional, the value of coaching is in
  the relationships. I've learned in the past
  year, that relationships are the foundation of
  coaching. It's almost like training a puppy.you
  can't just assume you've taught it/built the
  relationship. You have to keep at it, keep
  working on it, keep following through, and keep
  giving and receiving feedback. There are some
  struggles along the way. That's the time I have
  to stand back and look at my OWN assumptions. I
  have to change my actions before I can even ask
  someone else to change theirs.
• There are many things I was responsible for as a
  classroom teacher. Assessing kids, report cards,
  parent communications, classroom management,
  instructional planning.There were a lot of
  things! But the value of coaching is clear to me
  as I embark in my second year of coaching here in
  Fairfax. I can help teachers impact all of those
  things! I knew I was in the right place, doing
  the right thing when a teacher told me, "I can
  now tell the difference between a good lesson and
  a bad oneand so can my kids. Thank you.
• My students. I think about this all the time. I
  do miss having my own class.then I realize that
  I DO have my own class. It's the school. I
  reflect on the staff's needs. I plan my
  instruction around their needs. And I assess. I
  assess myself as a staff developer in content and
  process. I assess the staff in their
  understanding. And I assess the school as a
  whole to see how the staff development has
  impacted student achievement. I am a teacher.
  Coaching has given me the words, the tools, the
  skills I need to teach more people more
  effectively.
• Mie Devers, Instructional Coach
• Parklawn ES

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• At the end of last year (my first year of
  coaching), I wondered, Did I really have an
  impact and make a difference in my school? I
  wanted to believe that I did, and yet I had
  difficulty finding evidence to indicate that I
  did ..until we returned from the summer. Within
  the first days of returning to school, I began
  having conversations with teachers who were
  reluctant to say much past a Good morning in
  the previous year. At first, the conversation
  was about summer travel and activities and then
  smoothly progressed into planning for the return
  of students. I was invited to come into
  classrooms that I had not spent much time in the
  previous year. I also couldnt help notice that
  a teacher that I had worked with last year had an
  obvious increased sense of confidence. Last
  year, she had been an observer in her team
  meeting this year she was taking more of a
  leadership role and making suggestions that are
  influencing instructional planning for the team.
  I began to see that I indeed am having an impact
  in the collaborative culture in my building, even
  if I cannot always see it.
• As I have been reflecting on this, it reminded me
  of my previous role as a special educator
  supporting students in a general education class.
  To support my students in being successful
  learners, most of my work was invisible,
  occurring behind the scenes (i.e.
  planning/reviewing student work with the
  co-teacher, material prep, etc.). So it is with
  coaching, much of the work appears behind the
  scenes (i.e. relationship building, planning,
  collaboration, data analysis). Yet it is the
  evident end-product of increased teacher
  efficacy, collaboration, and student achievement
  that is at the heart of instructional coaching.
• Stacy Lucas, Instructional Coach
• Lynbrook ES