THE TOP 10 LIST

BELIEFS ON COACHING
Meghan George CURR 611 Spring 2014

10. Understand the schools Mission Statement and values

Every school is different. As a coach, you are working to better the teachers and creating systems that work in the classroom. In order to best meet the schools needs, it is important to first understand what its values are. A coach can tailor instruction based on what the school finds to be important. Many adults are skeptical when it comes to learning something they think they already know. Make it clear who you are, and what your role as a literacy coach is. Explain that you will be helping to develop and strengthen programs within the school, so that teachers trust you and are more willing to accept advice.

9. Clearly define roles

8. Be aware of standards

The field of education will never be something that is set in stone. Ideas and practices are constantly changing. As the literacy coach, it is important that you are aware of standards of education, and that you have an understanding. Your role encompasses many different areas, and it is important to have a knowledge of these areas.

7. Encourage and attend Professional Development Much like teaching standards, ideas and methods are constantly changing. Professional development helps teachers learn new ideas and strategies that they might never have thought of before. A coach should keep up to date with Professional Development so that they are implementing the most updated and innovative ideas, and should encourage teachers to attend seminars so they are also updated.

6. Communication with the principal

The principal is the forefront of the school. It is important for a coach to be in constant communication with the principal. They can inform you of what is going on at the school, which can assist you in coaching activities. The principal can also see that strategies are being implemented in the classroom, as they are in the school during the day and can help and monitor teacher progress.
Learning comes from interaction. A good coach should model strategies that they are instructing teachers to use. This allows teachers to see how things should be done, and makes it so they have a reference point to look back on when they bring the strategy into their own classroom.

5. Model strategies

4. Set a tentative schedule.

Just as teachers have schedules and timelines for completing tasks in the classroom, coaches should have schedules and timelines for their coaching activities. By setting a schedule, it will be easier to accomplish goals, as you will have an idea of the pace you should be keeping.
After modeling strategies, it is also important to assess progress. As teachers do in the classroom, you cant fully know how someone is comprehending an idea until youve seen them put that idea into practice. View teachers in action, see how they interact with students using strategies taught in coaching sessions. Then meet with the teachers to discuss how they are doing.

3. Assess progress

2. Make coaching a collaborative effort

Collaboration is such an important aspect of coaching. Although you are serving as a guide, teachers feel free to offer their own suggestions. If teachers feel they can be engaged in coaching sessions, their success will be that much more apparent. By creating a collaborative atmosphere in coaching, the teachers will learn from the coach and other teachers, bringing the best practices back to their classrooms. This is the most important strategy of all. As with students, teachers must feel proud of their work and feel that what they are doing is something they truly believe in. Coaching will be for nothing if a teacher is not 100% confident and comfortable with what they are bringing to the classroom. A teacher is proud of their work and the lessons they create. At the end of the day, it is vital that they feel this way about strategies learned from coaching. They will then be confident in what they bring to the students, which will in turn make the students that much more successful.

1. Leave teachers with a sense of ownership

REFERENCES
Beaty, A. (2009). Lessons Learned about coaching from reading first in Georgia. Literacy Coaching Clearninghouse. Taylor, R.T., Moxley, D.E., Chanter, C., Boulware, D.(2007). Three techniques for successful literacy coaching. Principal Leadership, 22-25. Walpole, S. & Blamey, K. L. (2008). Elementary literacy coaches: The reality of dual roles. The Reading Teacher, 62(3), 222-231.