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5 Lessons I’ve Learned as an Instructional Coach

February 5, 2020

Being an instructional coach is unlike anything else I’ve ever done before. Instructional coaching is a unique role to any school building or district and is one that can be quite complex. When I first became an instructional coach, I had some expectations about what my day-to-day would look like and the different projects I would be involved in. What I quickly learned, however, is that coaching is much different than I had imagined. No two days are the same, and things rarely go according to plan. Here are 5 lessons I’ve learned as an instructional coach.

Lesson #1: Embrace the Chaos, but Set Boundaries

Let’s face it – I’m definitely a type A personality. If you came into my classroom during my teaching career, you would find everything neat, organized, and probably color coded. I had folders labeled with every day of the week for absent students, I had a specific place for all materials, and I would spend about an hour each day putting things back in their place. I remember being told as a first year teacher that by the end of the week, your lesson plans will probably have changed 10 times. I remember thinking to myself that if I planned well enough, I wouldn’t have to change the plan 10 times because change stresses me out – boy was I wrong. It took me about 3 years in the classroom to be comfortable with the idea that no matter how prepared I was, there was a good chance I’d have to redesign my lesson on the fly. For a type A person, change, and especially change on the fly, is a scary and daunting feeling.

One thing I’ve learned as an instructional coach, is that change is a constant in this position. The only consistent thing about instructional coaching, at least for me, is my meeting times with teachers. Everything else should come with the disclaimer, “subject to change.” I meet with each teacher I’m coaching during their conference period on Mondays and Wednesdays and that does not change for the duration of the cycle – mostly. There are times when other things pop up, or teachers are out for something and the meeting needs to be moved, but for the most part, this is the most consistent part of my job. The rest is chaos.

When I first started instructional coaching, I felt more like a fireman than anything else. My days were filled with running from one teacher to the next just putting out fires. My staff was not used to having an instructional coach on campus every day and they definitely took me up on my offer to help whenever possible. In the first few months, I spent very little time in my own office, I was mostly there to read emails and eat lunch. I would have teachers, principals, counselors and support staff constantly emailing me and calling me with questions. I was grateful that everyone was asking for my help, but you can imagine how overwhelming this could be.

One thing I had to learn as an instructional coach was to embrace this chaos. Though I have a plan each day, I never really know what will pop up when I walk into the school building. One of our programs could suddenly go down and derail an entire lesson. The Wi-Fi could be glitchy and wreak havoc in a classroom. A teacher could have an emergency and be forced to leave school without time to prepare for a sub. Life happens, and as the instructional coach, you need to be the rock for your teachers amid the chaos. You need to embrace the chaos as it happens, and remain calm enough to problem solve. There are times you will feel like you spend your day running around just putting out fires for your teachers, but as a teacher that once felt like she was teaching with her hair on fire and I would’ve appreciated having someone to help me.

That being said, it is also important for you to set boundaries as an instructional coach. While we want to do our best to help teachers in their times of need, it is important that we do not enable teachers to use us as a crutch. It’s that old idea of ‘if you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he’ll never go hungry’ kind of thing. For a while, I was just handing teachers fish. There would be a fire and I would put it out and move on with my day. What I have learned, though, is that I needed to teach teachers and enable teachers to put out their own fires. As an instructional coach, you need to set boundaries or all you will ever be is a fireman.

One way you can set boundaries is to determine what is an emergency and what isn’t. When I first started coaching, I thought everything was an emergency. When someone asks me for something, I would drop what I was doing to go help them. That just created more work and anxiety for me. It is important to remember that lack of preparation on someone else’s part, does not constitute an emergency on yours. I have now reached a place where a teacher will ask for something and I can tell them that I am not available right now, but I can help them tomorrow. Either the teacher will figure out their own solution, or it really can wait.

Another way to set boundaries with teachers is to – gently – force them to problem solve themselves. There are numerous times that teachers ask for my help with the same exact problem they had the week prior. There are also times teachers ask for help and the solution they are looking for can be easily found via Google. In these situations, I often send the teacher a link that explains the solution, or I’ll do a quick screencast of the appropriate steps to take and email it back to them. If I drop what I’m doing and go perform the same task for the teacher every week, month, or semester, that teacher will never learn how to do it for themselves. It is important that as an instructional coach we are building capacity in our teachers so they aren’t so reliant on the fireman side of us, and free us up to do more transformational work with the staff. In the meantime, embrace the day-to-day chaos, but do not hesitate to set boundaries for your own sanity.

Lesson #2: Don’t Lose Your Street Cred

You are a coach and a teacher. Not either-or. Staying connected to the work that classroom teachers do every day is essential to your work as an instructional coach. As an instructional coach, you may now hold a title at the district level, rather than the campus level. We all know how teachers feel about people from “the district”. This role also often comes with more paperwork responsibilities than you had as a teacher, which will make it enticing to sit at your desk or be on your computer for extended periods of time. You need to make it a point to keep your teaching skills sharp by spending time in classrooms. As an instructional coach, I tell all of my teachers that I am available to model or co-teach lessons with them. I also make a point to lead a professional development session or present at a conference whenever possible so that I don’t lose those teaching skills or become too detached from the feelings teachers have when they face a classroom full of students.

Having street-cred with your teachers will be one of the greatest assets to you as an instructional coach. Teachers tend to immediately discredit anyone who has been out of the classroom for too long, because they feel like they cannot empathize with their situation nor understand the day-to-day burdens teacher’s face. It is essential that you as an instructional coach, never lose sight of what is going on with your teachers because they are the people you are working for. I have had several teachers tell me that they trusted my approaches because I had not only worked as a teacher in their content area, but worked at the school where I was coaching. I know that this situation is rare, so it’s important to build your street-cred among the staff at your school(s).

One way to build street-cred is to attend all staff meetings and trainings. Even if the topic does not necessarily pertain to you, I would encourage you to still go and listen. Not only does this make you visible to the staff, which is a benefit, but you also get all the same training and information they do which puts you in the trenches with the teachers. Teachers hate working with someone who is living in ‘fantasy district land.’ I often hear teachers say things like “that sounds good, but…” meaning the idea and the application just aren’t matching up. It is important to know your campus and what will work for them.

Another way to earn street-cred with your teachers is to attend school events. Go to football games, go see the school musical, attend a band concert or pop by the basketball game. Many of the teachers you work with are not just teachers – they are coaches, directors and sponsors. These roles are likely as important to them as their role as a classroom teacher. Just as teachers are encouraged to go support their students outside the classroom, we can support our teachers as well. This also shows teachers that you care about them as individuals and understand all the responsibilities they have going on.

Lesson #3: Time Management is a Must

When you’re a teacher, your schedule is neat and tidy. Teachers know exactly when their planning periods are every day, when weekly PD is scheduled, and of course, their lesson plans are all lined up and ready to go. As an instructional coach, your schedule is unstructured, things always change, and it isn’t always so neat and tidy. As an instructional coach, you have a lot more control over your schedule, and your deadlines are not always clear. While you may enjoy getting to use the restroom whenever you’d like, and not having to eat lunch at 10:50am, it is important that you manage your time well because it is not necessarily managed for you.

As an instructional coach, my Outlook calendar is my lifeline. If something is not scheduled, I probably won’t remember it. This goes for everything you do throughout the course of a school day. I have learned that not only do I need to schedule my meetings and classroom visits, but I also need to schedule myself work time, lunch, faculty meetings, PD sessions and even reminders. There will be so many different tasks and projects to keep up with as you work on behalf of your teachers, that it is important to manage your time well.

Early on in my instructional coaching career, I fell victim to the freedom of my schedule. At first, I was on top of everything because I had just come out of the classroom so I still lived and died by the bell. I have now gotten to the point where I don’t hear the bells anymore – and was in fact late for two meetings this week because I didn’t hear the bell. It was freeing to know that I could manage my own schedule, but that puts a lot of responsibility on you as an instructional coach. It is easy to become sidetracked or fall victim to procrastination when deadlines seem far off. It takes some time to figure out how to self-manage your work each day. Time management becomes easier as you find what works for you.

Lesson #4: Have Tough Skin

I will admit, I do not have tough skin – but I am working on it. As an instructional coach, it is important that you develop a tough skin, or even just a strong sense of resilience. In most districts, becoming an instructional coach is considered a promotion from being a classroom teacher. Master teachers become instructional coaches because they have demonstrated that they have the pedagogical expertise to be successful in the classroom, and as a coach, they are able to share some of that wisdom with others. Unfortunately, not everyone will celebrate this promotion.

Teachers like to be recognized for their work and regardless of whether a teacher wants to actually be an instructional coach or not, there may be some resentment from peers. I know I frequently hear teachers speaking negatively of administrators because it is not uncommon for principals to spend 3 years in the classroom and immediately get their principal certification. There are many teachers on campus that will constantly remind you that they have been in the classroom for X number of years, in an attempt to undermine your credibility. For some reason, teachers associate years of service with expertise and many times that’s not necessarily the case. I have worked with some first year teachers that are rockstars in the classroom, and I have worked with teachers that have been in the classroom for over a decade and still haven’t mastered basic classroom management techniques. It is important to know that you are deserving of this role because of the expertise you possess, and you have an amazing opportunity to share your gifts as an instructional coach.

Another reason you need to have thick skin is because it will likely take some time for you to gain the traction you’d like on your campuses. Remember that teachers find working with an instructional coach to be negative and will likely be reluctant to work with you given the choice. In my time as an instructional coach, I have had teachers dodge meetings, tell me my ideas are stupid, say my PD sessions are a waste of time, so on and so forth. While I pray this never happens to you, I at least want you to be prepared for it. Know that these reactions are rarely a response to what you are doing, but are instead a teacher’s way of expressing their own insecurities. Who would volunteer to have someone come into their classroom just to point out everything they are bad at? I know I wouldn’t.

Until you are able to build a rapport with the teachers on campus and show them that you are there to help and not to judge, you will need to have a thick skin. You may feel like you are a salesperson going door to door trying to get someone to buy your product, but I promise you that if you just keep trying, the doors will open.

Lesson #5: You Need a Support System

Teaching can be lonely, but what I have come to learn is that instructional coaching is even lonelier. While you as an instructional coach are still able to commiserate with teachers on your campuses and empathize with their situation using your own classroom horror stories, no one else on your campus can do the same for you. Though teachers try, no one really understands your day-to-day struggles and you’ll find that it’s even difficult for you to describe when asked. Though there may not be any other instructional coaches on your campus or in your district, there is a vast network of coaches across the globe.

As an instructional coach, you need a support system. While the job may start out great and you’re getting along just fine on your own, there will come a day when your patience is tested and your bucket is full. In these moments, you need a cheerleader and supporter of your own. Building your professional learning network and filling it with other instructional coaches is critical to your growth and sanity in this job. You will lean on your network during frustrating days. You will call upon your network when there is a challenge you can’t solve on your own. You will share celebrations with your network so they can cheer you on in your journey.

My network of instructional coaches has grown throughout my years in this role, and I frequently call or text other coaches when I just need a pick me up. These coaches are in similar situations to mine, and can often shed light on something or just remind me that I’m not crazy for taking on this task. We all know that it takes a village to raise a child, but we all need a village sometimes. Use social media to grow your village, especially if you don’t have any other instructional coaches nearby. Coaches are out there, they want to connect and help you grow and succeed.

While there are numerous other lessons I’ve learned as an instructional coach, these top five are the most important and in some cases most unexpected. When you first take on this role, there will likely be bumps, mishaps and just straight up ‘I don’t know what the heck I’m doing’s’, but I promise it does get better. The work you do as an instructional coach is important, and you were chosen for this role for a reason. Recognize your talents, have a thick skin and know that we’ve got your back.

Megan Purcell is a Digital Learning Specialist and Certified Dynamic Learning Project coach in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD located in Carrollton, TX. She enjoys working with teachers to help them elevate their teaching through the use of impactful technology tools and strategies. Megan holds a masters degree in Educational Technology, which she earned overseas at the National University of Ireland in Galway, in addition to being a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator and Apple Teacher. She is a former high school English teacher who loves learning, technology, and helping make life easier for her teachers. She believes that every student should have access to current technology in order to develop 21st century skills necessary for participating in a global society.

5 Fun Ways to Start Setting Goals with your Students Today

January 28, 2020

Here we are, January of 2020. Something about that date just makes me feel like we’re in the future. Entering the year 2020 mostly feels so fresh and cool, but every time I enter a new year, I have that little voice inside my head that asks, “What have I accomplished in the past year? What could I be doing better?” Something about January kicks me into a goal-setting, growth mindset.

With all of the hype around New Year’s Resolutions, I know that I am not alone. Goal-setting is a healthy part of life. It helps us push ourselves to be better. And while goal setting is something many of us do, it can be a difficult skill to teach our students, no matter their age.

In this post, I am going to talk about 5 goal-setting tips that you can use in your classroom right away. We will be looking at everything from books, to Google Docs and Sites, to FlipGrid to help us make goal-setting meaningful and engaging to our students.

TIP 1: Build Interest and Knowledge around Goal-Setting

First things first, we have to help our students understand the meaning of goal-setting, and we need to spark their interest in its importance. One of my favorite ways to spark interest in the classroom is a good old fashioned story. I am a firm believer that read alouds are appropriate and engaging at any level. Even picture books can be used up through higher ed. Goal setting affects literally everyone, so no matter what level you teach, there’s sure to be a goal-setting book for your class. Here’s a list of 18 read alouds to get you started.

Your story doesn’t have to be limited to a book, either. You may have a short video clip that highlights a character setting and achieving a goal, or you may have a video clip that explicitly teaches about goal setting, like these Khan Academy or BrainPOP videos. The key is to find a storyline that your students can relate to. This will spark the interest and engagement.

Once your students have experienced the story, the net part of this tip would be to discuss:

What is a goal?
Why are goals important?
What is an example of a realistic goal? What about an unrealistic one?
It would also be helpful to guide students to identify goals as short and long term goals.

How you discuss these ideas is completely up to you. You can have a verbal discussion with your class – some of the most valuable moments in my classroom came when we were simply discussing a story we read together.

It can also be helpful to have your discussion written down so students can refer back to it as they work on their own goal setting. One tool I love for gathering student input is Padlet. It’s free and so simple to use, for teachers and students. But sometimes it’s nice to just keep work in the Google family, so I’ll use Google Drawings (similar to Padlet). Check out this example to see what I mean, and feel free to make a copy for yourself!

TIP 2: Create Vision Boards

Once students understand what a goal is and why goals are important, then they can start thinking about appropriate self-goals. There are a few different ways you can help your students brainstorm goals.

One way is through a simple activity:

Ask your students to come up with three “stars,” or things that they do well. The sky’s the limit for this activity—the thing they’re good at can be anything from a subject in school to a quality that makes him or her a good friend.
Now that they have their three stars, tell them to come up with a “wish” to complement their stars; the wish should be something that the children need to work on or would like to get better at. They can pick any goal, as long as it is meaningful and important to them.

I love this activity because it starts with something students feel they’re doing well. The confidence hooks them into the brainstorming and makes them more open to thinking of a way they can improve. You can have the students complete the activity individually, or you can use a Google Doc, Form, Sheet, Slideshow, etc. to make it collaborative. Whatever you think will work best for your students.

Another way you can help students brainstorm goals is through vision boards. Visualization is an extremely powerful tool, and people are catching on. Vision boards have become much more mainstream, and for good reason. Having a place to regularly see your goals can help you reach them. A lot of times, vision boards are actual boards where you post magazine and newspaper clippings, etc. that represent your goals. This can be difficult to create with a room full of students. So why not create the boards digitally? Google Slides and Drawings are fabulous online tools for creating vision boards! See this EdTechteam post for more information on the idea of creating digital vision boards. Your students are sure to be motivated by their goals!

TIP 3: Draft Goals

Once students have brainstormed, it’s important for them to choose one or two goals to focus on and SMART format to draft them. According to Positive Psychology, “Goal-setting as a psychological tool for increasing productivity involves five rules or criterion, known as the S-M-A-R-T rule. George T. Doran coined this rule in 1981 in a management research paper of the Washington Power Company and it is by far one of the most popular propositions of the psychology of goals.” In other words, this format increases success. It works. So what does SMART stand for?

S (Specific) – The goal has a specific focus.
M (Measurable) -The goal is measurable. This helps with tracking the results.
A (Attainable/Achievable) – With hard work, is it possible to reach this goal?
R (Realistic) – This is where the students think about attaining this goal in real life. They picture their lives the way they are, then with a plan to reach this goal in place.
T (Time-bound) – A date to reach the goal by.

Again, this step can be an individual process for students, or you can make this collaborative by using a Doc, Slideshow, Site, etc. No matter the tool you use, I think it’d be very beneficial if you’ve set up a template for the students. Goal setting is hard work, and it would help them if you’ve already set up the format of a Doc (or another collaborative tool) with the SMART requirements already outlined for them.

Let’s say that you’re reading over the SMART goal requirements, and you’re thinking to yourself, “I just don’t have that kind of time right now.” Well, I have an answer for you. And it comes from Google itself. It’s called One Simple Thing. It’s a template that Google created for its employees, and it’s caught on like wildfire across other organizations. Even though this is not geared toward students, I am including it because I love the simplicity of this goal-setting process. It could easily be adapted to be used in the classroom, and it focuses on collaboration – sharing your goals is a definite theme in One Simple Thing. And that perfectly leads me to my next tip, Collaboration.

TIP 4: Encourage Student Collaboration

When we share goals with those we respect, we hold ourselves accountable. Students are motivated by their peers, and if their peers know what they’re working towards, and even better, become a cheering squad, then more goals will be met. Throughout all previous tips, there were times for possible collaboration. If you’ve chosen to have students work completely independently up until this point, then now is the time to incorporate some collaboration.

When I think about this tip, along with all previous tips, I picture my students posting their SMART Goal Docs on their Google Site ePortfolios, alongside an embedded Google Form where their peers can provide feedback. I can feel the accountability now, and envision the motivation that comes from it.

TIP 5: Track and Reflect on Goals

We’ve asked our students to choose goals that are trackable, so we have to be thoughtful and helpful for how they actually track their progress. This tip is completely individual to the goal, but here are a few mainstream ideas that come to mind:

Is the data numerical? If so, it could be recorded over time in a Google Sheet. And then students could insert a chart to help them visualize the change over time.
Could students create a Google Form to help them collect the data? Then the data could be pushed to a Google Sheet and charted.
Do students need to record a video of their progress as they try to learn something? Check out this resource on how to use Screencast-o-matic’s webcam recording tool. Or could FlipGrid help students organize their recordings AND open the way for collaboration?
Would a simple daily reflection journal work? This could be set up in Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms. Just think about how you’d organize each entry.

As the students track and reflect, be sure they refer to their vision boards for motivation and as a chance to help them refocus. And if possible, allow students the opportunity to discuss their progress with you or other peers in the classroom. It’s so important for them to feel supported along the way.

At the end of the day, in life, we all work to be better. Whether we call them resolutions or goals doesn’t matter. What matters is that we work to better ourselves over time, and we help each other get better too. That’s a team/classroom community I’d like to be a part of, and I bet your students would too.

What tip will you try in your classroom? What ideas do you have to add to the conversation? Please comment below! We’d love to hear your thoughts!

References

1 “Goal Setting for Students, Kids, & Teens – PositivePsychology ….” 20 Nov. 2019, https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-students-kids/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2020.

2“Goal Setting for Students, Kids, & Teens – PositivePsychology ….” 20 Nov. 2019, https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-students-kids/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2020.

Katie Christie is a Google Certified Educator, Innovator, Trainer, and past LearnZillion DreamTeam member. She currently works with the EdTechTeam as a Spotlight Speaker, Online Lead, Keynote, and Blogger. In 2015, she worked as a partner with Google to help rewrite the Google Certification Training Center content. Katie most recently worked as the Technology Integration Specialist at Runyon Elementary School in Littleton, Colorado. She has nine years of experience in the classroom. She spent her first 4 years of teaching in Shaker Heights City Schools in Ohio, a district known for its academic excellence and cultural diversity. Then she had the incredible experience of teaching and learning in a 1:1 Linux-based netbook 5th grade classroom in Littleton, Colorado for 4 years where Google Apps for Education was integrated seamlessly into the curriculum. Katie has been a Lead Learner for the Google Teacher Academy (now known as the Google Innovator Academy) numerous times and helped with the selection process for each Academy. Katie enjoys sharing her passion for effective technology integration in the classroom by networking with other educators, whether the connection happens online or face-to-face.

3 Tips to Create an Inquiry-Based Classroom

January 8, 2020

This blog post is sponsored by Acer Education, a partner of EdTechTeam.

Inquiry-Based Learning, or Enquiry-Based Learning, is a student-centered approach. The teacher acts as a facilitator while students are self-driven to acquire knowledge. The incorporation of technology into this kind of instruction can be done for most age groups to enhance their learning, indefinitely. All of these practices are predicated on the general research methodology of motivating inquiry, exploring research and reflecting in an evaluative way.

There are several models of teaching that lend themselves to being used to plan inquiry-based lessons. The 5Es (BSCS) model is similar to Inquiry Training and Scientific Inquiry models as well as the well-known Group Investigation (Thelen & Dewey).

5E Inquiry Model Steps:

Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate/ Extend
Evaluate

Motivate by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Engage & Motivate

Puzzlements are ways to engage students in inquiry-based learning. They are often the initial steps of inquiry-based models of teaching. The best lessons begin with a strong motivation to captivate students.

Presentation tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides can be used to introduce puzzlements such as quotes, media and other inspirational ideas.

Google Slides Q&A feature – You can check students’ understanding and highlight popular questions with this tool. Furthermore, students can use this technology to be inspired to ask questions and then utilize resources to find their own answers through investigative research.
Slides Add-ons such as Nearpod and Pear Deck make lessons interactive while promoting the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration & creativity)

Connection to Research

Students are also motivated by hands-on application of technological tools. In the research process, we begin with inquiry and then search to find answers and solutions. We can teach students to be a part of this process via technological tools such as:

Hyper docs – ‘springboards’ for students to engage in their learning by accessing teacher-created docs or making their own
Research and resource lists in Google Sites, Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets
Research folders organized in Google Drive and/or Google Classroom
Share findings in presentation tools such as PowerPoint and Slides

The more students are involved in the inquiry process, the more they internalize the cyclical nature of autonomous learning wherein they wonder, search and repeat.

Evaluative Reflection

Reflection is an integral part of the learning cycle and fits in nicely towards the end of lessons or units as Evaluation (the final step of a 5E lesson). The evaluation phase encourages students to assess their own abilities and understanding; it also provides opportunities for teachers to evaluate students’ progress towards the achievement of the educational objectives.

Ideally, reflection is naturally inspired through the research process – often inquiries that arise evidence this! We can help facilitate students’ metacognitive awareness by prompting evaluative thinking.

Students can self-assess using checklists and rubrics. They can also demonstrate their reflective understanding in creative ways. Here are a few ideas:

Google Forms – students can use these for polls & surveys or teachers can utilize them for gathering assessment data, such as with exit tickets
Exit tickets can also be created and modified using creative tools such as Google Jamboard and Google Drawings

The most prevalent idea related to Inquiry-Based Learning is that there is no single way to create and implement these student-centered lessons; hence, there are infinite possibilities to infuse technology in them!

If you would like access to specific examples and templates related to these concepts, sign up for our free hour-long ‘Inquiry-Based Learning’ online course!

Explore and apply the novel tools that educators are using to integrate technology in the classroom with more free online courses, sponsored by ACER.

Quick Links:

4Cs of 21st Century Learning in a Connected Classroom

BSCS Science Learning’s 5E Instructional Model

Joyce, Weil & Calhoun’s Models of Teaching textbook

‘Teaching Style & Models of Teaching’ article – seminal work

Want to learn more about using Inquiry-Based Learning? – Join us for a FREE online course in partnership with ACER. Sign up at https://www.edtechteam.online/acer

Jessica is a Google Certified Innovator with more than 14 years’ experience educating students of all ages. She obtained a Master’s in Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology while working on a federal grant with her University of Southern California professors. Now she is an instructor for her alma mater, helping teaching candidates acquire their credentials and infuse technology in their classrooms. She has lived and worked in several schools worldwide as a teacher, coordinator and librarian. She’s conducted ICT, GATE and IB PYP professional development in the US, Italy, Germany and the UK. Meanwhile, Jessica has designed curriculum, presented at conferences and contributed to educational articles and textbooks published internationally. She believes teaching students literacy skills (of all types) is essential to promote lifelong learning.

6 Powerful Instructional Coaching Tools

December 11, 2019

In this post, I’m going to show you 6 powerful tools that will help you to be more productive, effective, and organized in your role as an instructional coach.

I probably don’t need to tell you that everyone needs a coach. Coaching is commonly thought about in terms of sports, but coaching in the education setting has become increasingly popular. Instructional coaches possess the ability to inspire teachers, affect change, support student growth, push thinking forward, and be the cheerleader everyone needs in this demanding, and often emotionally exhausting, career field. It can sometimes be difficult for teachers to recognize a personal need for an instructional coach, but the right person, with the right tools, can have a significant impact on helping teachers grow and develop their craft.

Every professional possesses a set of tools that help them perform their job duties at an optimal level – instructional coaching is no different. These tools, when implemented with fidelity over time, can help optimize your coaching potential and thusly have a greater impact on the teachers you are working with. Here are six powerful instructional coaching tools you will want to utilize on a daily basis:

Tool #1: Mobile Technology

The first, and arguably the most obvious, tool for instructional coaches is some sort of mobile technology. This can be a laptop computer, a chromebook, an iPad, or even just your cell phone (though something more conducive to complex work is encouraged). It is important for coaches to have technology that is mobile, because your role as an instructional coach is mobile. While you may have an office or a classroom that serves as your “home base,” there is a good chance you won’t be spending a ton of time there. Depending on how many teachers you are coaching, your days may be full of meetings and classroom visits which typically take place in a coachee’s classroom. It is not uncommon for instructional coaches to find the nearest bench, table or random hallway desk to complete 15-20 minutes of work on their way from one meeting or visit to the next. This also allows you to remain visible to your staff and illicit impromptu coaching via casual hallway encounters, something that cannot be done if you are stuck in an office or classroom away from the teachers. As an instructional coach, you will want to be able to take all of your notes and research with you wherever you go, a mobile device will allow you to do that.

Conversely, there are many coaches that may prefer an old-school pen and paper method. While this is not a bad way to begin your coaching journey, you will find that this becomes tedious to keep track of and does not allow for collaboration with the teachers you are coaching. If you are a pen and paper coach, consider a hybrid approach. Use your pen and paper during your coaching meetings, but then set aside some time in between to transfer that information to your device. My favorite way to keep track of everything and easily collaborate with teachers is through a Google Doc. This will help you keep better track of your notes, and makes your notes easier to share with the teachers you are coaching.

A word of caution about coaching mobility. While you, as a coach, want to be visible to your staff, that does not mean that you cannot spend time in your office or classroom. As an instructional coach, you also need time to debrief and plan for the next meeting or classroom visit, as well as perform research or other work on behalf of your teachers. Coaching requires a balance between these tasks, but having mobile technology allows for that balance. You are able to take your work with you wherever you go, whether that be a teacher meeting, a classroom visit, or you are just working in your own space.

Tool #2: A Calendar

The second most powerful coaching tool, behind having a mobile device, is going to be your calendar. As an instructional coach, you will have many meetings, classroom visits and other school duties to keep track of. Your calendar will be one of the most essential tools in keeping you, and your teachers, organized. It does not matter if you are using an Outlook calendar or a Google calendar, but it needs to be compatible with your mobile device so you have access to it at all times. Again, some coaches may prefer paper calendars, but there are several benefits to using a digital calendar that paper cannot provide.

One benefit to using a digital calendar is the ease at which meetings and classroom visits can be rescheduled. It is not uncommon to find that a teacher you are coaching is out sick, or forgot to tell you about a field trip, or had an unexpected meeting with the principal pop up. Every time you schedule a meeting or classroom visit with a teacher, you should send them a calendar invite so that both of you have it on your schedule. That way if one of you needs to reschedule, that information can be communicated immediately and you don’t show up to a classroom that has a substitute or wait outside their door for 15 minutes before you conclude they aren’t going to be at the meeting. This is a waste of your valuable time as a coach and can be easily avoided with digital calendars.

Another benefit to a digital calendar is event reminders. There are times you will be working on a project and lose track of time, before you know it you’re late for your next meeting. You can set up your digital calendar to send you meeting reminders, to ensure that you are always on time and never miss a meeting. Just as we want teachers to respect the coach’s time, the coach needs to respect the precious time teachers sacrifice to work with them. Being late and missing meetings is a sure-fire way to lose the trust of your teachers, which would be detrimental to your work as their coach. These meeting reminders come in handy for working within the constraints of crazy campus bell schedules. You will never remember that your meeting is supposed to start at 12:53, but your calendar can remind you.

As an instructional coach, your calendar will be your lifeline. You will want to schedule every meeting and classroom visit, but also use your calendar to schedule work time for yourself, or even your lunch. Often times instructional coaches are considered to be “on call” for the entirety of the school day which can get overwhelming. While it is important to consider what meeting times are convenient for our teachers, you must also make time for yourself. Your calendar will show you when you have to say no to ‘that extra thing’ or when you need to schedule some time for yourself.

Tool #3: Coaching Work-Plan Tools

Your mobile device and calendar are tools to set you up to work as an instructional coach, but you will also need some tools to help you through your meetings and classroom visits, these will be your work-plan tools. If you are coaching in conjunction with the Dynamic Learning Project, you know that many of these tools have been developed for you via the Coaching Dashboard. However, if you are not coaching as a partner of this program, these tools can be emulated using your favorite digital tools.

The Dynamic Learning Project Coaching Dashboard is a place for instructional coaches to keep a log of every teacher meeting and classroom visit completed. Coaches are able to note the date, time, and keep brief notes about the meeting or classroom visit. These notes can then be shared with the teacher via email to increase accountability and collaboration between the teacher and coach. Classroom visit tools are also included in the Dynamic Learning Project Coaching Dashboard. These tools are different forms that allow the coach to collect data on student engagement and teacher moves, as well as conduct student interviews or events and collect video evidence from a lesson. Again, each of these tools could be recreated using Google Forms or another digital tool, but the Dynamic Learning Project Dashboard houses all this information in one convenient place.

Another essential work plan tool for instructional coaches, also included in the Dynamic Learning Project Coaching Dashboard, is a collaborative Google Doc shared between you and each individual teacher you are coaching. This document becomes an essential collaboration and communication tool between you and the teacher. This document populates all the meeting and visit notes the coach takes, but it also allows the teacher and coach to communicate outside those meetings and visits. The collaborative nature of the document allows the teacher to ask questions about the meeting and visit notes, and the coach can send the teacher any work completed on the teacher’s behalf in preparation for their next meeting with the instructional coach. Because most coaches only get to meet with their teachers once a week, this collaborative document is essential for keeping in touch with your teacher in between meetings. This document is something you will want to set up during your first coaching meeting with a teacher, and you may even need to train them on how to collaborate in this space. Once a teacher understands how this tool can be used, it becomes a powerful space for collaborating and sharing resources.

Tool #4: Data and Feedback Tools

Coaching work-plan tools will help you prepare for and work through your coaching meetings and classroom visits, but instructional coaches also need to periodically collect data and feedback from their teachers. Again, the Dynamic Learning Project has already developed these tools for their coaches, but these tools can be recreated.

At the beginning and end of each coaching cycle, teachers receiving coaching should fill out a quick snapshot survey related to their current level of technology use and its impactfulness. This survey will provide the instructional coach with data about the teachers they are coaching to help inform their approach to working with each of them individually. This data can be used to help the coach and teacher set realistic and measurable goals, as well as keep the focus on growth and developing a growth mindset.

The most important of these surveys for the instructional coach, however, is the one at the end of the coaching cycle. This survey should include feedback for the coach themselves, provided directly by the teachers they have just worked with. This feedback can cover data about the coach as a professional as well as their approach to coaching their teachers. Just as a coach encourages their teachers to have a growth mindset and improve their craft, it is essential that instructional coaches also have a growth mindset. It is imperative that instructional coaches collect feedback from their teachers on their work and use that data to inform their coaching approaches in subsequent coaching cycles.

Tool #5: Quality Question Stems

While it may not be intuitive, quality question stems are one of the most powerful instructional coaching tools coaches can posses. As an instructional coach, you are constantly helping teachers set goals and reflect on their professional growth. Much of your meeting time will be spent listening to teachers process their own thinking and learning, as well as collaborating with the teacher to help deepen that thinking. These crucial conversations often require quality question stems in order to elicit the depth of thinking required for growth. If the instructional coach isn’t asking the right questions, the teacher may not be pushing their thinking as far as possible.

As an instructional coach, there is no shame in having question stems written down to reference during meetings, especially as you get started. Questioning becomes more intuitive and natural the longer you coach and the more you work with teachers, but you may consider developing a guide for yourself to have on hand. Elena Aguilar has developed a set of general coaching sentence stems that can help new coaches understand what types of questions to ask. The key is to remember that instructional coaches want to probe the teacher to think deeply, critically and reflectively without being judgmental of the teacher’s responses.

Tool #6: A Professional Learning Network

The last, and arguably most powerful, instructional coaching tool is a professional learning network. As an instructional coach, you need a vast and varied professional learning network. If you have not started developing your network, you need to ASAP! This network can be made up of teachers, other instructional coaches, peers, principals, content specialists, and even strangers. Twitter has been an essential tool for developing professional learning networks for educators, along with other social media platforms. These tools are so essential because they connect you with educators from around the world.

As an instructional coach, you will work with a variety of teachers with varying levels of experience and expertise. You will likely work with teachers in every department who teach every subject offered to students. You likely have a background as a classroom teacher, but may have only specialized in one subject area and it can be daunting for an English Language Arts experienced coach to work with a math teacher – this is where your Professional Learning Network can come to the rescue. As an instructional coach, you will constantly collaborate with content experts and other coaches looking for ideas or best practices to bring back to your teachers. If the teachers you are working with have a question you don’t know the answer to, or want to explore a tool you’re not familiar with, there is a high likelihood that someone in your network has the information or the expertise you need. You can search the depths of social media, reach out to contacts via email or text message, or even search various educational blogs to find the information you need.

Another reason a Professional Learning Network is so essential to an instructional coach is for support and cheerleading. It is the instructional coach’s job to be a cheerleader for their teacher, but who is cheering for the coach? Your Professional Learning Network is a great support system when you are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Your network will be there to cheer you on and remind you why you’re doing this powerful work as an instructional coach. Build your network with content experts, but fill it with empathizers as well. There is a strong likelihood you will be the sole instructional coach on your campus, or even within your district, so it is essential to connect with other coaches and supporters.

These six tools are the most powerful tools to keep on hand as an instructional coach. Each tool is designed for a specific purpose, but combined will help your work run smoothly as a coach. Though you may choose to use tools of different brands or varieties, each one of these was selected because of the frequency at which they are utilized, and the results they offer. As an instructional coach, you will be constantly adding more tools and strategies to your repertoire, but these six will lay a solid foundation upon which you may begin your coaching.

Heather Dowd is the Senior Director of the Dynamic Learning Project for EdTechTeam. She enjoys helping instructional coaches inspire their teachers to use technology in meaningful ways for student learning. Teaching English in Japan inspired her to become a teacher and the adventure hasn’t stopped. Heather is a Google for Education Certified Innovator and Trainer, Apple Distinguished Educator, and author of “Classroom Management in the Digital Age” where she encourages teachers to set the learning free with a solid classroom management plan. She is a former physics teacher, instructional designer, and education technology coach who loves talking about physics, digital citizenship, coaching, spreadsheets, and design. She believes that students should have access to current technology in order to connect to the world and be creative in ways that weren’t possible when she was in school.

5 Tips for Podcasting with Students in the Classroom

September 30, 2018

One of the most practical (and exciting!) applications of having technology in the classroom is the ability to empower students to take charge of their learning. One of the integral components of this is amplifying student voice. Multimedia presentations like creating movies, Green Screens or screencast tutorials are great ways to have students demonstrate their understanding of content or concepts creatively and individualized to their learning style. Another option is having students create Podcasts in any content area. A podcast is a virtual way students can use audio to tell a story or share an opinion. There are many benefits to using Podcasts with your students; cultivating listening and speaking skills, empowering student voice and sharing with a larger audience. No matter your device or ratio of technology to students, here are 5 Tips for using Podcasts in your classroom to amplify student voice.

5 Tips for Using Podcasts in your Classroom

Prior to the lesson, have students create a fun 1-minute Podcast, so they can explore the various tools they might use for a Podcast. Some tools that can be used are Garage Band (free), Voice Recorder Pro (free), Soundtrap, and Audacity (free) to name a few. Have students draft a script prior to recording.
Choose a topic and/or purpose or have students choose their own. Connect to current events and provide opportunities for students to participate in a constructive debate, social justice and solving problems.
Create a rubric with the class or beforehand to measure student success and help guide students throughout the task. Connect podcasting as storytelling and link the elements of a story to your rubric.
Find exemplar podcasts, such as This American Life, to showcase and/or showcase your own. Have students identify the elements of a podcast while listening. Point out to students the creativity and message in each podcast and encourage them to display their own personal style and voice.
Celebrate the Podcasts by sharing with a larger audience. Have students make connections, ask questions or reflect on the message of each podcast when done.

Additional Resources

The Best Podcasts to Use with K-12 Students

Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce their Own Podcasts

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