TOP TEN LIST

OF COACHING
BELIEFS
COURTNEY OWEN
FALL 2015
CURR 611
DR. PECK

10. Be a Confident Leader

As a literacy coach, you are in a position to lead and teach others. Be
confident in your knowledge that you have and be willing to share any
strategies you believe would be useful for teachers and students. Literacy
coaches are teachers too, and have great advantage in building credibility and
positive relationships with classroom teachers (Beaty, 2009, pg. 2).

9. Practice What You Pr(T)each

As a coach, when you provide teachers and students with new strategies, be
sure to model those strategies! You know them best, and should always
provide ample instruction on them to ensure understanding and success all
around. Have the confidence to take ownership pf instructional practices
(Beaty, 2009, pg. 2).

10.Maintain Opportunities for Professional Development

In order to become an expert in literacy, and maintain that expertise, you
must set aside time and seek new ways to engage with other professionals,
attend workshops, and learn new strategies. (Taylor, 2007, pg. 24) Work with
administrators and the district to send you to workshops or provide
opportunities for you to grow as a literacy coach. Remember that a teacher is
a scholar and a life long learner- so keep learning (Smith, 2009, pg. 4)!

7. Have Shared Goals

As a literacy coach, you will constantly be working with classroom teachers. In
order to work together and be successful, it is ideal that whoever you collaborate
with, you share a set of goals for each other, the class, and specific students. By
setting goals, you can hold each other accountable. (Smith, 2009, pg. 3)

6. Establish Values
When working with any professional, collaboration begins with understanding one
anothers values. Studies show that conflict is often created when ones values or
principles are challenged. You can avoid conflict and future difficulties by having
each other state their opinions and values, so there is an understanding of each
other. Recognize and appreciate differences in teachers and recognize your own
beliefes about teaching and learning (Bean, pg. 3)

5. Build Trust & Rapport

Every working relationship requires both parties to trust one another. The teacher
should be able to trust that as a literacy coach, you will provide him or her with
new strategies and procedures, and you should be able to trust your colleague to
provide you feedback and work with those struggling readers. You should trust in
each other that both of you are competent in your positions. (Beaty, 2009, pg. 2)

4. Support Support Support!

Make sure you are supported by your district, school, administrators, and teacher- and
support them back! Make sure that you are constantly talking to administrators about
effective instruction, feedback, and supporting your teaching in the classroom (Beaty,
2009, pg. 3). Make sure the classroom teacher supports your choices and respects your
profession, as you should do the same for him or her. And ALWAYS support and
encourage your students you work with!

3. Establish Clear Expectations When working with classroom teachers, it would be beneficial to sit down before working
together to set clear expectations of one another and each others goals. This way you
can set guidelines for one another, especially in terms of dates and deadlines. When
working with students, expectations should also be established: define your role, the
students role, behavior and academic expectations, and goals. Let the students know
why they were selected to participate in the lesson (Casey, 2006, pg. 107). Be as
transparent and clear as possible! This establishes accountability for all parties!

2. Be Flexible!
Every teacher knows that at the drop of a hat, your entire well-planned lesson
plan can be tossed out the window in order to accommodate to the needs of your
students. This mentality should be reflected in the literacy coaching position
because you will also have to gear your teaching to the teachers and students
needs. (Beaty, 2009, pg. 4)

1. OPEN COMMUNICATION
The number one necessary skill for collaborating is the concept of open
communication. A literacy coach is constantly working with teachers,
faculty, staff, administrators and therefore should maintain a
collaborative dialogue with all (Shanklin, 2006, pg. 1). In order to be
successful in that role, you have to communicate with your staff. This
means understanding the best ways to contact one another, have
conversations, be honest and forthcoming, be genuine, and most
importantly, provide feedback. This should be a reciprocated
relationship in which you provide feedback to teachers, and teachers
provide feedback on your coaching and how best they learn and what
they need from you.

REFEERENCES
Bean, R. & DeFord, D. (2012). Dos and donts for literacy
coaches: advice from
Clearinghouse.

the field. Literacy Coaching

Beaty, A. (2009). Lesson learned about coaching from reading

first in Georgia. Literacy Coaching
Clearinghouse.
Casey, K. (2006). Literacy Coaching: The Essentials.
(Portsmouth, NY: Heinemann).
Smith, A. T.. (2009). Considering literacy coaching
responsibilities in terms of
teacher change. Literacy
Coaching Clearinghouse.
Shanklin, N. L. (2006). What are the characteristics of effective
literacy coaching? Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse.
Taylor, R. T., Moxley, D. E., Chanter, C., & Boulware, D. (2007).
Three techniques
for successful literacy coaching. Principle