Think of a time in your life when you had a coach, needed a coach, or even were a coach. Professional sports figures, Fortune 500 CEOs and professional writers all engage with coaches to help them perform at peak levels. So how can we empower teachers to perform at their peak levels?
Instructional coaches play a pivotal role in supporting the professional growth and development of teachers, which ultimately leads to improved student outcomes. Here are some key reasons why having an instructional coach is beneficial:
- Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness: An instructional coach works closely with teachers to help them refine their instructional practices. They provide personalized guidance, feedback and resources to help teachers become more effective in the classroom, leading to higher-quality instruction and improved student learning experiences.
- Professional Development: Instructional coaches help design and deliver targeted professional development opportunities. They can identify specific areas where teachers may need improvement and create workshops or training sessions to address those needs. This ensures that educators stay up to date with the latest teaching methods and educational research.
- Differentiated Support: Each teacher has unique strengths and weaknesses. Instructional coaches provide individualized support to address those differences. They can help struggling teachers improve their skills while challenging high-performing teachers to reach new levels of excellence.
- Mentoring and New Teacher Support: New teachers often face a steep learning curve. Instructional coaches can provide mentorship and guidance to help them adapt to the profession more quickly. This support is crucial in retaining new educators and ensuring they are well-prepared for the classroom.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Instructional coaches can help teachers analyze student data to inform their instruction. They assist in setting learning objectives, interpreting assessment results and adjusting teaching strategies, leading to more effective teaching and improved student performance.
- Creating a Culture of Collaboration: Coaches foster a culture of collaboration and reflective practice. They encourage teachers to work together, share ideas and learn from one another. This collaborative atmosphere is essential for professional growth and innovation.
- Student Achievement: Ultimately, the role of an instructional coach directly impacts student achievement. When teachers receive the support and guidance they need, students benefit from a higher quality of instruction which results in improved test scores and academic success.
- Adapting to Changing Educational Trends: Education is constantly evolving. Instructional coaches can help teachers stay current with best practices and emerging trends in education, ensuring that students are prepared for the future.
Having an instructional coach in a district is an investment in the professional development and effectiveness of teachers, positively impacting student achievement. They also foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. We know the impact that coaching offers, so how can we create an environment where our instructional coaches can excel?
Instructional Coaching Expert, Diane Sweeney, offers 3 key steps to successful implementation of instructional coaching in your district: excitement, implementation and support.
Build Excitement
So how do we build excitement for Instructional Coaching in our buildings? Diane Sweeney shares 5 Ways to Build Excitement through communication:
- Define why coaching matters. Articulate why teachers should care.
- Communicate how coaching aligns with other district initiatives. Make sure teachers understand that coaching isn't one more thing.
- Share the coach's role and how it folds into the plan for school improvement. Help teachers see the coach as inherent to the school's (and their) success.
- Describe the expectations for teacher participation in coaching. Identify what participation looks like and how much time it will take.
- Outline how teachers will be provided with choice and ownership in the coaching process. Make coaching about more than compliance.
Reflection: How do you communicate about the role of Instructional Coaches?
Implementation Starts at the Top
One relationship that is critical to the success of instructional coaches is with the coach and building administration. Principals are one of the key factors to the coach being set up for success to impact the lives of educators and, ultimately, students! Jim Knight takes three minutes to explain Why Principals Must Support Coaches.
Reflection: What successes have your instructional coaches had this year? Is there any spot where more clarity could support the coaching work to be done even better? Do all principals believe in the power of instructional coaching and share that message with staff?
How to Get Your Educator’s Support
Research conducted by Google determined that Psychological Safety is the number one factor to support team effectiveness. So how do we create professional environments where teachers feel safe enough to take risks and innovate to impact student learning? Elena Aguilar sat down with Jennifer Gonzalez of “Cult of Pedagogy” to discuss Elena’s newest book The PD Book and How to Build Psychological Safety. Gonzalez summarized Aguilar’s 5 Ways to Build Psychological Safety for Teachers in PD:
- Cultivate Your Emotional Intelligence. Everything starts and ends with you. As the facilitator, your adult learners feel and feed off your energy.
- Cultivate the Group’s Emotional Intelligence. Even taking a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting can help the group regulate their emotions to be able to get the most learning out of your time together.
- Explicitly Teach Communication Skills. An important aspect of communicating psychological safety is listening. Ask teachers to pay attention to how they are listening and consider how to adjust.
- Use Norms and Community Commitments because it helps to paint a picture of how teams agree to learn and show up for one another. They can be offered to the group, or the group can create the meaning to hold each other accountable.
- Address Conflict and Breaches of Psychological Safety. Sometimes adults can partake in behaviors that do not align with agreed-upon norms. When this happens, the facilitator must address this and help the group recommit to the norms to move the learning forward.
“Safe is the minimal required condition for learning,” Aguilar says. “I want to think about creating places where people feel calm and centered and connected and curious and engaged and absorbed and joyful and satisfied.”
Reflection: What resonates with you from this list? How do you typically plan for protecting psychological safety in your professional learning environments? Enjoy the article and listen to their conversation on the podcast.
Final Thoughts
Enabling instructional coaches to excel in their role is not only a commitment to the growth and success of educators but also a direct investment in students' futures. By providing them with the necessary resources, professional development opportunities and a supportive environment, we empower them to have a profound impact on student’s educational careers. The success of an instructional coach is intertwined with our teachers' and our students' success.
So, let us continue championing their role, recognizing that their guidance and expertise are pivotal in shaping the educational landscape of schools and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence. Together, we can inspire greatness in our educators and, by extension, our students.