How did this week’s coaching / observations go? Share stories / examples / wonders / questions / successes / challenges from the week.
How did this cycle go? What was successful? What would you want to do differently next cycle?
What are your goals for next cycle?
This was a very busy week.
I worked with so many teachers on meeting goals, and it was fabulous!
Chantel:
Chantel is an ELA teacher....she's been teaching English for her entire career of approximately 20 years. She is excellent. Her student state assessment scores are always high. Her students learn a great deal about using the English language. Technology is rarely part of her daily lesson plan. Why is this so? We do not always have Chromebooks available for use in the classrooms. She comes up with ideas, but doesn't seem to use them, because it frustrates that the students cannot simply "take out the Chromebooks" to use them in class.
I've been taking baby steps coaching her to believe in the use of technology enough to start using it as much as possible, even if it means we have to beg, borrow, or steal Chromebooks for students to use. I was observing one of her classes this week, and I noticed the lesson was inflection and the State Farm commercial "That's my car?!" The commercial has a young girl getting a car for a present and she's so excited....then, a man sees his car has been vandalized and is upset. I thought this was a great lesson. I asked her how she was having students demonstrate the inflection and tone. She said they were just pairing up and acting it out with one another in the hall. I suggested using IPads to record their inflection. I arranged for Chantel to get an I Pad for her class, and she let them try it. They were very shy at first, but then, they loved it! I was so happy she took a chance. (We have a set of 8, 6 year old I Pads that we use for STEM classes, at times, so I arranged for her to get one for the class) It was a simple way to get the students using technology in order to meet a learning goal.
Christine:
Christine's father passed away a week ago. I took care of helping her at school with using a Google sheet to monitor student behavior while she was out on bereavement days. The sheet was not set up with a date/time, so teachers started changing information on the form and were confused about how to complete and submit the data chart. I took the sheet and turned it into a form, adding the areas needed by each of the teachers completing it. I set up a reminder on Google Keep so teachers wouldn't forget to complete it. When Christine came back, I walked her through the steps of using the form, showed her how to make her own for other students, and walked her through using Google Keep reminders. I created Screen casts for using forms and for using Google Keep and shared them in our school's google classroom for DLP. resources. She cried and thanked me for helping her stay organized, even though she wasn't in school. I was so very happy to be her coach and to be able to help her personally and professionally.
This job is so rewarding. I am so very grateful to be the extra set of hands, the resource, the helper, the facilitator, the mentor, the coach. It's amazing how busy my days can be, but the reward from the hard work is priceless. The teachers in my building are so grateful. They thank me constantly for helping them find the tools they need to complete a task or to enhance a learning goal, and they thank me for pushing them to try new technologies to help them improve instruction and to help their students learn.
The teachers are starting to get nervous that heir support system (me) will vanish next year. Like so many newly introduced professional strategies and programs, we often times expect teachers to embrace change, get on board, try new things, then we pull the carpet out from under their feet and watch them fall because we remove the support. I hope the support remains in place, because this is a great program. I don't say that very often about new ideas....but, this? This is good! It's better than good. It's working, the teachers are loving it, they are on board, and they want it to continue. And, I truly hope it does. :)
I worked with so many teachers on meeting goals, and it was fabulous!
Chantel:
Chantel is an ELA teacher....she's been teaching English for her entire career of approximately 20 years. She is excellent. Her student state assessment scores are always high. Her students learn a great deal about using the English language. Technology is rarely part of her daily lesson plan. Why is this so? We do not always have Chromebooks available for use in the classrooms. She comes up with ideas, but doesn't seem to use them, because it frustrates that the students cannot simply "take out the Chromebooks" to use them in class.
I've been taking baby steps coaching her to believe in the use of technology enough to start using it as much as possible, even if it means we have to beg, borrow, or steal Chromebooks for students to use. I was observing one of her classes this week, and I noticed the lesson was inflection and the State Farm commercial "That's my car?!" The commercial has a young girl getting a car for a present and she's so excited....then, a man sees his car has been vandalized and is upset. I thought this was a great lesson. I asked her how she was having students demonstrate the inflection and tone. She said they were just pairing up and acting it out with one another in the hall. I suggested using IPads to record their inflection. I arranged for Chantel to get an I Pad for her class, and she let them try it. They were very shy at first, but then, they loved it! I was so happy she took a chance. (We have a set of 8, 6 year old I Pads that we use for STEM classes, at times, so I arranged for her to get one for the class) It was a simple way to get the students using technology in order to meet a learning goal.
Christine:
Christine's father passed away a week ago. I took care of helping her at school with using a Google sheet to monitor student behavior while she was out on bereavement days. The sheet was not set up with a date/time, so teachers started changing information on the form and were confused about how to complete and submit the data chart. I took the sheet and turned it into a form, adding the areas needed by each of the teachers completing it. I set up a reminder on Google Keep so teachers wouldn't forget to complete it. When Christine came back, I walked her through the steps of using the form, showed her how to make her own for other students, and walked her through using Google Keep reminders. I created Screen casts for using forms and for using Google Keep and shared them in our school's google classroom for DLP. resources. She cried and thanked me for helping her stay organized, even though she wasn't in school. I was so very happy to be her coach and to be able to help her personally and professionally.
This job is so rewarding. I am so very grateful to be the extra set of hands, the resource, the helper, the facilitator, the mentor, the coach. It's amazing how busy my days can be, but the reward from the hard work is priceless. The teachers in my building are so grateful. They thank me constantly for helping them find the tools they need to complete a task or to enhance a learning goal, and they thank me for pushing them to try new technologies to help them improve instruction and to help their students learn.
The teachers are starting to get nervous that heir support system (me) will vanish next year. Like so many newly introduced professional strategies and programs, we often times expect teachers to embrace change, get on board, try new things, then we pull the carpet out from under their feet and watch them fall because we remove the support. I hope the support remains in place, because this is a great program. I don't say that very often about new ideas....but, this? This is good! It's better than good. It's working, the teachers are loving it, they are on board, and they want it to continue. And, I truly hope it does. :)
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