Making My Vision a Reality Through Coaching
My vision is "Person-first learning for all students and teachers through innovation and training". I do this by being in classrooms and supporting teachers in incorporating the use of technology into all areas of instruction from lesson planning and delivery to student engagement, project-based learning, differentiation and assessment.
Accountability
Instructional coaching is sometimes a subtle act. Change takes time and can be visible over time. Meanwhile, we need to know if we are making gains toward increasing capacity among teachers. Being that this work is not easily measured quantitatively, I often use surveys to find out what teachers need as individuals, as grade levels or departments, then design learning plans to address the needs and evaluate the effectiveness of the learning plans with another survey.
Equitable Services
It is my goal to ensure that all students have access to academics and have multiple points of entry and no ceiling to their learning. When teachers incorporate choice in the form of choice boards, Padlet or playlists, high-engagement whole class, small group and individual learning strategies (such as quizzizz.com, gimkit.com, newsela.org or phet interactive simulations and access tools like text to speech or translation tools, we can certainly make it possible to make learning happen for every student.
Vertical Articulation
Well, it's easy to support vertical articulation on a single campus when you are always engaging with classrooms as a coach; you can see everything. The challenge is using what you know and can see form your balcony view to help teachers and students understand why what they are learning now will help them in the future and to make connections to what they have learned in previous grades.
I have found that starting and building on student and teacher portfolios is a great way to look back and forward at the same time while also highlighting achievements along the way.
Hopeful Quotes
​
I would hope my school administrators, teaching staff and instructional support personnel would say things similar to these statements I have received from others I have coached, trained and/or supported:
​
