Continuing Education

 

Welcome back to my Coach's Corner Blog.  It's been a few years since I have posted.  It is amazing how fast time flies.  I have now been in the role of an Instructional Coach for 9 years.  I have learned a lot in my time in that role, and I have grown as a leader in my school.  But despite all that, I still value the importance of continuing my education and learning and growing as an educator.  So with that, I started taking some online teacher leadership classes through my alma mater, Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  I have enjoyed the program, and I am now on my fourth course through the program.  This fourth course is about technology coaching and leadership, so as part of the requirements I will be posting again on the blog some of my learning and sharing about my journey as an Instructional Coach.  I hope this can help other educators gain some knowledge and learn something as well.   

Brain Workout

I have always enjoyed being active and try to exercise regularly.  It's important to keep my body fit and health.  Recently I have also discovered how important it is to get my brain some exercise too.  Here's what i mean.
As part of my professional learning this year I am involved in a book study on Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.  It is early in my learning, but it is becoming clear to me that I have to work on building a growth mindset.  I have to make a swift in the way I think and react to things.  And that all means that my brain is going to have to start working out if I want to reach a growth mindset.
The purpose of my training will be so that I can instill and develop a growth mindset in the students and teachers that I work with.  My first several workout are going to be about really understanding what it is to have a growth mindset.  I have discovered that I didn't have a clear picture of what it was exactly to have a growth mindset.  My first thought when I was hearing about developing a growth mindset in students was that it was about building relationships with students.  It was about taking the time to get to know the students, greeting them in the hallways, showing them respect in and out of the classroom and truly taking an interest in their lives.  While this is definitely and important part of education, I realize now that this is NOT what it means to develop a growth mindset.  Growth mindset is about changing the way I look at failure.  It's about taking the risk of writing a blog post that is out there on the line for the whole wide world to read.  It's about stretching both my body and mind to reach for more. To brush myself off and try again when I get knocked down.  It's not that I can't do it, it is that I can't do it yet!

Recently, I have been challenged even more to develop a growth mindset.  As I further my own learning by taking additional classes, I have been challenged in my current class to develop a personal learning network with the help of social media.  This is hard for me as I have always been a very private person, and to put myself out there on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest has been hard for me.  But I am learning and trying to take risks.  It is all about working my brain to become a better educator and coach.

Commitment

It's that time of year again, back to school.  All the training, preparing, and motivational speeches are done, the students are walking through the hallways and into our classrooms. There are going to be things that we didn't get training on, there are going to be things that we were not prepared for, and those motivational speeches are distance memories.
My goal and hope for this year, is that no matter what the day brings that I commit to a promise I made to always give each day my very best.  Yes, some days my best will be a little less than others, but if I commit to giving everything I can on that day, then I will know I have fulfilled my commitment.

Commitment, what is it?   According to the dictionary, commitment is defined as:
-a promise to do or give something
-a promise to be loyal to someone or something
-the attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something.

One of those motivational training's that we did for our teachers this year was about making commitments.  A renewed commitment to collaboration, a commitment to putting students first, a commitment to learning.  As I mention, when things get crazy it is hard to remember back to those big speeches, but my goal as an Instructional Coach will be to keep teachers focus on the commitments, the promises, they made.

You Bring the Talent

I have coached junior high girls track for the past 10 years, it's "funtastic"!  Honestly, I do enjoy it, especially when we have a season like this year.
We had 7 junior high meets, this year our girls team won 4 of those meets and finished 2nd in the other 3.  We also broke 5 different school relay records, some of which we broke several times with different girls running.   And maybe even more amazing, we didn't set any individual records, it was all done through a team effort!  Why am I telling you all this?  Well because of what the girls were willing to do to be successful.  We had a group of girls that were focused on what they could do to make the TEAM successful.  In typical junior high fashion, everyone wants to run the shortest race possible, for some a 100 yard dash is too long.  But this season we had girls that were willing to try any race, they would come and ask us coaches what race the team needed to try and get some points in: the 800, 1500, 400, shot put, etc.  They wanted to help the team in whatever event they could.  And because of their willingness to try different events, we discovered hidden talents that the girls themselves didn't know they had.
So how does this relate to instructional coaching and education.  Well, for me personally this year I have discovered my own hidden talents.  I have discovered that I do have a creative gene, THANKS MOM!  My mother was an art major and taught art for 20 years, but I never really thought of myself as being creative.  I am a math nerd, all about facts, numbers, and spreadsheets, which I do love, don't get me wrong.  But this year my creative gene was put into action, and I surprised myself with how creative I could be.  It all came about as our Instructional Coaching team was looking for ways to get staff more engaged and excited about attending PD. We have been working on making Professional Development more personal for staff by focusing it around a learning goal in 1 of 6 areas (The BIG 6) that staff feel will best help them implement high impact instruction.  We also wanted to get away from the same sit and get type of PD in which staff tune out and don't enjoy.  We tried our best to come up with clever engaging actives to help staff get more out of the professional learning.  We did a game show themed PD, The Praise is Right, when present info to staff on developing a growth mindset and praising the progress of the learning, not the outcome.  We did a Star Wars themed PD on May 4th, May the Fourth Be With You, when we introduced the idea of using video to set student focused goals.  We did a scavenger hunt using ipads and an app called Layar.  It was fun to see teachers racing each other through the hallways!  So I feel like our efforts to make PD more engaging for staff is working, we still have areas to improve in and work on, but who knows, I might discover even more hidden talents as we plan and create PD for next year.  It has been a great two year as an Instructional Coach, and I have learned more about education, teaching, and myself then I had ever learned in my classroom.  
So now the question comes to you.  What hidden talents do you have that you aren't using yet?  What can you bring to the "team" that will help us be more successful?

So get ready, the talent search is on, and YOU BRING THE TALENT!!!!

New idea:  TALENT SHOW themed PD coming Fall 2016?!?!  TBD....  The possibilities are endless!

Superhero Team Up

Avengers

Justice League

X-Men

Guardians of the Galaxy

In my last blog post I was reflecting on how we as educators need to work together as a team in order to become an expert.  This, along with the new superhero movie that is the beginnings of the justice league, got me thinking about superhero team ups could be a metaphor for teachers.  So hang on for a ride through my wacky brain.

Every superhero has their unique set of skills that are their strengths, aka powers.  But each hero also has their weakness, their kryptonite.  Therefore, the idea and creation of forming a superhero team.  The idea of having a team of uniquely skilled people working together, complementing each other, balancing each others strengths and weakness to form an unbreakable, unbeatable force that always conquer evil.

Most teachers are in education because they have a passion for working with the youth of the world in efforts to make a difference (#whyiteach).  Each individual teacher has their unique set of teaching powers that they used to reach students on a daily basis.  However, it is a long often unthankful task, which can cause even the strongest Superteacher to lose hope.  Each individual teacher also has some weakness in their teaching, whether it be working with the latest newest technology, creating differentiated lessons, attending professional development with a growth mindset, or sharing ideas with other colleagues.  

But what if, like the Avengers or the Justice League, teachers teamed up with each other.  Building off of each others strengths and weakness.  A teacher that struggles with using technology joins a team of new young teachers that grew up on tech.  A teacher that struggles with differentiating teams up with a special ed teacher who has to differentiate on a daily basis.  However, in order for the super team to happen, like the actual super team, each individual member must be willing to be vulnerable, open, honest, and trusting.  Because until they can do that, the is no team.  So while I am on the topic, here are some thoughts about teamwork.

1. It's all about teamwork.  Sometimes you are the superhero and sometimes you are the sidekick.
2. You have to work hard at being a great sidekick and teammate.  I tell this to my athletes that I coach all the time.  When we work hard to be a great team member we make everyone around us better.
3. It's not about who is the superstar.  It is about making sure that everyone on the team is valued and important.
4. Great teams have a great culture driven by great leadership.   Relationships are meaningful and teammates are connected.  The collective attitude is very positive and everyone on the team works hard to accomplish the mission.
5. One person can't make a team, but one person can break a team.  Make sure you don't let the "dark side" sabotage your team.  Stay positive.
6. Team beats talent when talent isn't a team.  The ideal behind creating a superhero team is that together they are stronger than any one individual superhero no matter how powerful they are.
7. Unity is the difference between a great team and an average team. 

You and your team will face challenges daily.  You can settle for average and choose the path of mediocrity and attempt it on your own or you can take on the evil as a team of superteachers and battle for a chance at greatness.  It's a choice you make, "With great power, comes great responsibility."  Which path will your superhero take?

NOT an EXPERT

Let me make this perfectly clear, I am NOT an expert!  I am not an expert teacher.  I am not an expert instructional coach.  I am not an expert brother, son, or man.
 
But my goal of this blog post is to show others that the biggest part of the instructional coaching program is about learning from our mistakes, and also maybe more importantly, letting others help us and learn with us through our mistakes.  So often teachers feel like they have to tackle this challenge on their own and that they can't let others know about areas they are working on or areas that they are struggling with.  This has been developed by years of teaching in isolation.  The goal of instructional coaching is to break down that isolation and to develop a team of teachers, that together as a team can become an expert.

I believe one of the best ways to do this is by allowing others to see our mistakes.  So that is why I have linked my teaching evaluation video.  This has been one of the biggest helps to my growth as an educator.  We don't get to "see" ourselves teach too often.  Yes, we can reflect on a lesson. I thought this lesson went really well...until I watched the recording!  In the lesson I was co-teaching with another math teacher, as the instructional coach I was going to model how to use Mental Modeling.  After the lesson, I thought I did a great job with my mental modeling, it wasn't until I watched the recording that I realized I made some grand mistakes.  I started off good, with using my "I statements" and explaining my thought process behind how I tackle new problems.  But as I went through the lesson, I stopped using the "I statements" and even at one point was asking questions that I was then answering myself.  It was confusing to the students, was I asking them a question or not.  At one point, a couple of hands even went up to answer the question I had asked, but I just kept on talking, answering the question myself and the hands slowly went back down.  Students were confused if I was instructing them, or if I was mental modeling my thinking because I had stopped using authentic "I statements".

What I am trying to get across is the idea that we are not alone in this journey.  Let others know we are not perfect, we have areas that we are strong in and areas that we are working on.  We should let each other know what are strengths and weakness are so that we can work together to support each other.

One of the great parts about my role as an instructional coach is that I have 3 other coaches to work with.  We each have our own set of skills and areas that we are strong in and areas that we are weak in.  But what has helped me grow is that I know I can trust them to help me with my weaknesses.

We should work together as a team, encourage others when they are struggling, celebrate successes together, and combine all our strengths and weakness in order to be an EXPERT TEAM of EDUCATORS.

Research Study

The pressure to provide high quality instruction that reaches all students may be greater today than ever before.  Teachers are challenged daily to deliver lessons that are engaging, thought-provoking, aligned to standards, differentiated, and will improve student test scores.  One word, WOW!

I recently just completed my master's research paper: What Impact does an Instructional Coach have on Teachers Incorporating Professional Development into their Teaching, in which I looked how my role as an instructional coach has helped the teachers I work with to better implement and incorporate teaching strategies into their classrooms.  If we are going to provide high quality instruction described above, Instructional Coaches are going to lead the way! Check the link to my presentation on some of my findings.

Research Presentation