Literacy Coaches Training Day 1

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Literacy Coaches Training Day 1

• Cathy Toll, Ph.D.
• Literacy Director
• June 2004

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Agenda Day 1

• Introductions, Overview, Agenda
• Vision of Literacy
• (Re) Conceptualizing Change
• Coaching What It Is and What It Isnt
• Coaching vs. Supervision
• Wrap Up

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Agenda Day 2

• Review Agenda Reflect on Day 1
• Survey of Strengths
• Formats for Coaching
• Getting Started
• Communication Strategies
• Dealing With Difficult Teachers
• Yeah, Buts
• Wrap Up

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A Vision for Reading Instruction Elementary

• Students are active and interactive.
• Instruction is provided to whole group, small
  groups, individuals.
• Reading is practiced a lot.
• Instruction is targeted to students needs.
• Teachers are knowledgeable of students reading
  successes and needs due to ongoing assessments.

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A Vision for Reading InstructionElementary
(continued)

• Teachers use their knowledge of students
  successes and needs to plan for instruction.
• Print is everywhere.
• Students engage with a variety of genres.
• Reading is purposeful.
• A bridge is constructed among students home,
  school, and community literacies.

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A Vision for Reading InstructionSecondary

• Students are active and interactive.
• Instruction is provided to whole group, small
  groups, individuals.
• Students are strategic in reading for
  understanding.
• Teachers understand that they can use strategies
  to help students learn content successfully by
  reading it more successfully.

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A Vision for Reading InstructionSecondary
(continued)

• Teachers understands unique characteristics of
  disciplinary text.
• Students have many examples of disciplinary text
  original sources, secondary sources, textbooks,
  and Web sites.
• A bridge is constructed among students home,
  school, and community literacies.

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Thinking About Change

• Respond to the questions on the front side of the
  handout.
• You will be asked to talk about your responses
  with another person of your choice.
• You will be invited to talk about your responses
  with the group.

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Some Ideas About Change

• Change is constant.
• Change is situated.
• Change occurs when one is safe or traumatized.
• Change can focus on a number of targets.

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What do these ideas about change mean for
coaching?
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A coach may

• Conference 11 with teachers.
• Facilitate teams.
• Lead study groups.
• Facilitate inquiry.
• Do demonstrate lessons.
• Provide resources.
• Collect data.
• Lead planning for professional development.

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Gray Area Coaching Activities

• Direct services to students
• Student assessment services
• Resource storage and distribution
• Large-group workshops

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A coach doesnt

• Act as an expert.
• Observe teaching.
• Provide pull out services.
• Supervise.

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Coaching vs. Supervision

• Complete chart about previous experiences being
  coached.
• Complete chart about previous experiences being
  supervised.
• Discuss as whole group.

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Strategies for Coaches

• Separate yourself from performance assessment of
  teachers.
• Do not participate in any aspect of others
  performance assessment process.
• If you see a supervisory matter, trust that the
  supervisor sees it, too.
• Exceptions child endangerment, self-protection.

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Strategies for Coaches (continued)

• Communicate with teachers supervisor in
  neutral manners.
• Provide summary of coaching meetings individual
  and group to those involved and to principal as
  matter of routine not only in exceptional
  situations.
• Summarize coaching activities as a whole (or by
  grade level if there are great differences among
  grades) dont mention teachers names give a
  copy to all staff members.
• Consider having a coachs advisory team with a
  broad range of representation which will help you
  evaluate the coaching process (NOT you or
  colleagues), and report on the process to
  supervisor and staff.

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Strategies for Coaches (continued)

• In cases where a teacher appears to be resisting
  for the sake of resisting, you might
• Ask peer (teacher or coach) to sit in on meeting
  and provide feedback as critical friend.
• Discuss your concern with the teacher and ask how
  to move beyond it focus on observable behaviors
  and your responses (NOT your guess about why the
  teacher is resisting, or what you think the
  teacher is thinking/feeling).
• Work with that teacher one-on-one rather than in
  a group, which will lessen the negative influence
  on others.

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Strategies for Coaches (continued)

• Invite the teacher to take a leadership role in
  sharing successful practices or leading a study
  group (a risk could backfire).
• Ask the teacher not to participate.
• Discuss the matter with the teachers supervisor
  IF you and the supervisor can be sure that the
  other will not in any way reveal to others that
  the conversations took place.

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Strategies for Supervisors

• If you see the coaching process as integral to
  your support of the teachers growth
• Place responsibility in the hands of the teacher,
  not the coach.
• Coordinate your efforts with the coachs efforts
  by asking teacher to help outline who will do
  what.
• Ask the teacher to provide notes of his/her work
  with the coach.

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Strategies for Supervisors (continued)

• Meet regularly with the coach and be aware of
  coaching activities.
• DO learn about the nature of the coachs work,
  including areas of success and struggle.
• DO inquire when the coach broaches topic of a
  particular teacher, whether the teacher should be
  the one sharing the information with the
  supervisor, and/or whether the information will
  be shared with the teacher, and/or whether the
  information will remain confidential.

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Strategies for Supervisors (continued)

• DONT require the teacher to report on
  individual teachers.
• DONT share confidential supervisory information
  with the coach.

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Tomorrows Agenda

• Review Agenda Reflect on Day 1
• Survey of Strengths
• Formats for Coaching
• Getting Started
• Communication Strategies
• Dealing With Difficult Teachers
• Yeah, Buts
• Wrap Up

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Coaching is an exquisitely choreographed dance
between two partners, the coach and the coached.
Linda Tarr
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Cathy Toll, Ph.D. P 630.649.6624 gt F
630.649.6710 E-Mail cathy.toll_at_learningpt.org
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P 630.649.6500 gt F 630.649.6700 800.356.2735 gt
www.learningpt.org 1120 East Diehl Road, Suite
200 Naperville, IL 60563