Hello!

I’m Hannah Schuster, and I am a third grade reading, writing, and language arts teacher at
Sonoraville Elementary School in Calhoun, Georgia.

This semester, I was fortunate enough to coach one of my third grade teammates, Josie Thrasher,
who currently teaches math, science, and social studies. At the beginning of our coaching
experience, Mrs. Thrasher shared that the current reality of technology use within her math
classroom is pretty much non-existent. While she uses an ActivBoard to display information, very
rarely do her students interact with or produce material through technology. Therefore, her goal
was to begin implementing technology during her differentiated math small groups. Mrs. Thrasher
felt that starting in a smaller setting (groups of about three students) would be a good start for her
implementation. She had recently attended a math training where another teacher had
mentioned using www.brainingcamp.com. Curious about this technology tool, Mrs. Thrasher set a
goal to increase student engagement during math small groups by using www.brainingcamp.com.
- click on a journal entry to read a reflection of the coaching session -
 Coaching Journal Entry 1
This week as I prepared for my first coaching session, I will admit that I was a little nervous. I have always been the one
at my school who is known as the “go-to” for technology questions, but it has always been in an informal setting with
a quick modeling or Q&A. This was my first experience taking on the role of a coach and going through a coaching
cycle with one of my colleagues. Mr. Kraig Weikum, a fifth grade reading and writing teacher at Sonoraville
Elementary School agreed to participate in the coaching experience with me, as he is always one to stop by and ask
for assistance and suggestions when using technology in his classroom. Before our first coaching session, I wanted to
ensure that I took time to establish positive rapport and explain my role as a coach. According to Knight (2018), in
order to be a successful coach, one must take on the partnership philosophy. That is the idea that instructional
technology coaches and teachers are in a shared learning experience with shared power. There is not one who is
“above” the other, but rather both are working towards a common goal (Knight, 2018, p. 5). I wanted to ensure that
our coaching experience would be centered around open dialogue, reflection, equality, and choice.

Once I shared this vision with Mr. Weikum, he became more open to the idea of me coming into his classroom and
conducting a video observation to determine the current reality of technology use within the classroom. I assured him
that outside of my graduate school professor and peers, no one else would see the video. I reminded him that I was
not observing his teaching, but rather what the technology use within the classroom was like and how the students
were responding. This agreement helped us prepare for the first coaching session where we analyzed the
observational video and identified a goal to work toward.
 Coaching Journal Entry 2
This week, I held my first coaching session with Mr. Weikum. This “identify” session was centered around the ten identify
questions with a purpose of collaborating to determine a technology goal that would have a powerful, positive
impact on student learning (Knight, 2018, p. 85). Prior to our coaching session, Mr. Weikum and I watched the
observational video I had taken the week before and reviewed it on our own. We came together to discuss what we
noticed and possible changes that could be made to make the lesson more engaging or to increase student
learning. As we went through the identify questions, I could sense that Mr. Weikum was hesitant to accept any of the
technology tool suggestions I gave. For example, he was concerned that his students were not prepared for writing
and were not able to pull up and split screen multiple apps on their iPads. He stated that he “wished there was a way
to have everything in one place.” I made a suggestion that he use our Learning Management System, Schoology, as
a way to embed all of the material into one place, and students could type their essays and reference a paired
passage all on one screen. However, he was quick to turn this down because Schoology only offers a vertical view
and the GA Milestones uses a horizontal view. I wanted to be respectful of his wishes, therefore I did not push him to
do something he was not comfortable with. In the end, he identified his goal as wanting to increase student readiness
for writing by implementing a checklist of materials and apps needed during the lesson.

After observing and getting a clear picture of the current reality of technology use within Mr. Weikum’s classroom, I
was excited to offer him suggestions on how to increase the LOTI level with technology use. Currently, his students
were only using technology as a productivity tool, rather than a resource to provide real-world application or
experiences. But after the resistance to change and feedback I felt during our coaching session and the goal that he
 Coaching Journal Entry 2
Identified, it was clear that this was going to be a challenging coaching partnership. I found it difficult to steer him in
the direction of technology use, when he was only concerned about students being ready and prepared for writing.
After talking with Dr. Grove, we decided that the goal he had chosen for the coaching experience was more of a
classroom/behavior management goal rather than one centered on technology use. I agreed and was thankful for
her support and suggestion of finding another coachee to complete the assignment with. This is when I was able to
ask one of my third grade teammates, Mrs. Josie Thrasher to step into the coachee role. She was very excited and
eager to do so, since this is an area where she feels that she needs to grow professionally. Even though I had to
quickly start back over at square one, the partnership was much more productive, and Mrs. Thrasher was able to
identify a need for her third grade math students. She wanted to increase student engagement during math small
groups by incorporating www.brainingcamp.com.

I was very overwhelmed with the fact that I had to switch coachees right at the beginning of my coaching, however
after reflecting I realized that this is a reality that coaches face. Not everyone we work with will be willing to accept
our help, feedback, and/or suggestions. In some instances, teachers may be forced by administration to work with a
coach to improve their instructional practices. Regardless, it is important that we, as coaches, keep a positive attitude
and relationship with all of our colleagues.
 Coaching Journal Entry 3
This week, I held my second coaching session with Mrs. Thrasher, which was centered around learning about
www.brainingcamp.com and how we could use the technology tool to increase student engagement during her
math small groups. Mrs. Thrasher identified this as her learning goal, so it was time for me to bring resources to support
her. I began the session by reviewing her goal and presenting her with a student engagement checklist that could be
used to measure engagement during her small group lessons. I also brought another checklist for implementing
Braining Camp in a small group setting. Together, Mrs. Thrasher and I went through each of the checklists, and she
was able to modify and make changes along the way. Knight (2018) states that coaches should stop and ask
teachers for feedback on how they might want to adapt a strategy or checklist to better meet their students’ needs
(p. 108). Mrs. Thrasher did this as she eliminated criteria from the engagement checklist, and added time for her
students to “play” with the virtual manipulatives on Braining Camp before actually teaching. She knew that her
students needed time to freely manipulate and act on their curiosity with the new technology tool, rather than
expecting them to be on task with the first use. Towards the end of our coaching session, we watched a video of
another math teacher creating work mats in Braining Camp for her students to use, and I modeled how this could be
used during small groups. Through our discussion, I could see how Mrs. Thrasher’s plans for implementation were
enhancing her instructional practices, especially in terms of the TPACK instructional technology framework. Mrs.
Thrasher has strong content and pedagogical knowledge, but the technological component has been missing.
However, the changes she wants to make and the way she wants her students interacting with virtual manipulatives
to solve and discuss math problems, will help her integrate technology into her teaching. At the end of the coaching
session, Mrs. Thrasher set a time to implement the technology tool into her small groups.
 Coaching Journal Entry 3
During this session, I did not feel like I was faced with any challenges, but I do feel like I could have done a better job
modeling using Braining Camp during small groups if I was more familiar with the third grade math standards. Because
I only teach third grade reading and writing, it was hard for me to personalize the modeling to Mrs. Thrasher and what
she would be teaching. If I could go back, before the coaching session, I would have asked what content/standards
she would be working on during small groups for the next couple of weeks. By doing this, the modeling would have
been more beneficial. As a coach, I can see how this would be challenging when working with teachers of all grade
levels across content areas. In the future to be more prepared, I would develop my own version of Knight’s (2018)
Instructional Playbook, with suggestions, technology tools, and a quick reference to standards for multiple
grade-bands and subject areas.
 Coaching Journal Entry 4
This week, Mrs. Thrasher and I met for the “improve” stage in the coaching cycle. During this meeting, we discussed her
implementation of Braining Camp during math small groups, analyzed data of student progress using the technology tool,
talked about strengths and weaknesses during the implementation phase, and lastly ended with what she would want to
change or improve in future implementations. Throughout the coaching session, I referenced Knight’s (2018) confirm
direction, review progress, invent improvement, and plan next steps questions (p. 136, 140, 148, 153). In my opinion, this was
one of our best coaching sessions due to the excitement and progress Mrs. Thrasher shared after implementing the
technology tool. It was great to plan and help her identify a goal, but to see how the plan unfolded and gave her and her
students such positive rewards made all of the time put into this coaching experience worthwhile! Mrs. Thrasher shared that
she saw a big increase in student engagement while using Braining Camp during math small groups, and she really liked
having the student engagement checklist to track each student as they worked. She enjoyed the pre-made workmats in
Braining Camp and stated that she would be branching out and creating her own very soon. Overall, she was very happy
with her goal and wanted to continue to work towards it after Milestones testing. There were no changes she wanted to
make during this session, but we set up a time to meet after state testing to look forward into next year and how she can
begin utilizing Braining Camp at the beginning of the year. One of her goals looking forward is to move from small groups,
to whole group lessons.

As a coach, the most rewarding part for me is watching a teacher’s confidence grow as he/she becomes more familiar
and comfortable using technology to increase student learning and engagement. Outside of our coaching sessions, Mrs.
Thrasher has come to me for suggestions and feedback on math lessons and activities where she is starting to incorporate
more technology. Recently, she had students build in Tinker during an area and perimeter review. She is beginning to
increase her LOTI level and technological knowledge because she now has the confidence to try new technology tools in
her classroom.