Instructional

Coaching
Natalie Sonnier
Fall 2014
Part I:
My Vision
What is an Instructional Coach?
http://harmonyowls.com/CoachRequest.htm
Natalie as an Instructional Coach
https://sites.google.com/a/aesgators.org/instructional-strategist-digital-library-educational-technology-specialist/
Natalies Website
http:
//mssonniersspot.
weebly.com/
Relationships with Others
Working with new individuals, new teachers, a new staff
can be intimidating
Veteran teachers working with a younger instructional
coach can make it hard
Relationships should be truthful, kind, generous, and
always be a two way street
Next year, it will be my primarily focus to build relationships
with the whole school community even custodians, parents,
students, and administrators even though I am primarily
working with the teachers.
Remember RESPECT
http://safe.unc.edu/get-info/healthy-relationships/
How can I know if my relationship is
healthy?
Being in a healthy relationships means
1. Respecting individuality, embracing differences,
and allowing each person to be themselves
2. Discussing things, allowing for differences of
opinion, and compromising equally.
3. Expressing and listening to each others feelings,
needs, and desires.
4. Trusting and being honest with yourself and
each other.
5. Resolving conflicts in a rational, peaceful, and
mutually agreed upon way.
- This text is from Safe@UNC website
Collaboration is Key
Collaboration is a very important
component in the school setting. I
will encourage collaboration
between teachers, staff, students,
and between the instructional
coach and fellow teachers.
I will make collaboration fun and
engaging and make sure every
person feel valued and
incorporated.
Also, I will encourage teachers to
let students collaborate in his or
her classroom.
http://goo.gl/JXkw1G
The Partnering Cycle
http://thepartneringinitiative.
org/w/who-we-
are/philosophy-and-
approach/the-partnering-
cycle-and-partnering-
principles/
The Partnering Initiative
website had an awesome
diagram about the
relationships and partnering
with other individuals. I can
use this as a guide when
working with others and how to
plan according to their needs.
Jim Knights Partnership Philosophy
These icons with captions are a great way to remember Jim Knights Partnership Philosophy. I can
see how these images and captions can be beneficial to the coaching process. I can use these icons
to work with my teachers and administrators. The teachers will have a process to go through with the
instructional coach; therefore, I can see how this can be beneficial to get the main ideas and concepts
shown to the individuals. This might be a fabulous way to assess to make sure the teachers have
gone through the partnership philosophy with the instructional coach.
Jim Knights Partnership Learning Fieldbook http://instructionalcoach.
org/images/partnership/PartnershipLearningFieldbook.pdf
Hands On Approach
When working with other teachers, I will be very hands on and interactive in
the professional development process.
First, I will have a brief meeting or conference via various forms of
communication. I will learn about his or her lesson.
Next, I will observe the lesson/take place in the lesson and take down notes
from my personal experience. I will be engaged and act like a student when
I am in the teachers classroom so that they can be comfortable.
Then, I will debrief and have the teachers debrief his or her lesson/area.
Finally, I will meet with the teacher and provide my level of expertise and
what I would add on the lesson. We can make changes together and feel
like a team.
I will suggest if the teacher would like me to help plan for the next lesson or
if I can make enhancements to the lesson with the teacher that would show
him/her that is easy to make changes to improve instruction.
I will also make myself available before school, after school, and during
teachers planning time to help in any way possible.
Advocating for Teachers
1. As an instructional coach, I will be working closely
with the teachers and the administration.
2. I will need to advocate or to speak out when a
teacher needs help or assistance with something
in his or her classroom.
3. If a teacher needs something as a device or
instructional tool and can not get the
administration on board, I might come in with
supplemental things can enhance the instruction
or teaching.
4. I can make sure that I can find ways to reach all
teachers such as Webinars, conferences, or little
information via online. I can send out things
periodically about new aspects of the teaching
profession.
5. I can speak for teachers if they feel as if they do
not matter to the school community.
Learning Conversations
Learning conversations need to be
meaningful and have a purpose.
It can be in a more relaxed
environment such as via email.
They can involve the whole faculty or
just a department (such as English)
tailored to his or her needs.
It can be made individualized per
teacher or faculty member.
This can be an important part of
professional development.
These conversations can be used
with social media such as Twitter. (I
think of Twitter as a learning
professional development because of
the wealth of information that is
online.)
http://goo.gl/7pKtxu
Part II:
My Action Plan
Framework
I really enjoyed reading all three resources, but
I found one to be very simple and straight to the
point when working with data in a school
setting. From the website, Creating a
Framework to Make Data Driven Instruction a
Reality, the author discusses four main
components that will be effective in the school
community.
Step 1: Curriculum Alignment
At our school, the curriculum is not aligned to any
standards or baseline since we are a parochial
school. Some teachers use the Common Core
State Standards as a backbone, but really have
flexibility in creating their own curriculum to
prepare the students for college.
I am sure most of the veteran teachers have their
curriculum in place and the new teachers that are
new to the subject area or grade have a starting
place from the administration. If they need
assistance I can work with them to find the
standards or the content that he or she needs to
know for that grade and or subject area.
Step 2: Curriculum Mapping
Curriculum Mapping is sometimes
a process that can be daunting,
long, and tedious.
Last year, I mapped out my
curriculum and it wasnt before the
school year (even though our
administration wanted us to), but
after the school year has taken
place.
Basically, in curriculum mapping
you just want to mark out how
long and when you would like to
teach your subject area.
Picture from: http://mathequality.
wordpress.com/2013/08/06/careening-
towards-my-curriculum-maps/
Step 3: Curriculum Benchmarking
Sometimes teachers teach and the students do not
comprehend or make a decent grade on a test.
Schools need to implement the curriculum benchmarking
and teachers need to make goals for them as a teacher and
show them to students.
For example, by the end of the unit 80% of students will have
mastery (92-100%) in fact and opinion. The teacher needs to
hold the students accountable and make this known to them.
After the unit (teaching had differentiation and many different
activities) on that subject area, the teacher can assess and
see what she/he needs to do differently to make sure all
students master that content.
Each child may be different and learn differently; therefore,
individualized instruction may be needed.
Picture found at: http://stevebenjamin.net/page1/page1.html
Step 4: Differentiation
Children and adults learn in different ways.
Educators should not just target one type of
learner in our lessons.
Educators need to remember about the
Multiple learning pathways and the multiple
intelligences from Howard Gardner.
Teachers can differentiate via content,
process, and product.
You will need to remember the students
ability, how the best way the student
learns, and the interest of the student.
Differentiation does not mean more work
on the teacher!
http://mrslittledifferentiation.
blogspot.com/2014/01/shared-
responsibility-for-classroom-is.html
My Role
As an instructional coach, it is my goal to tailor professional
development to meet the individual teacher needs. I can
use these four steps to see what area is his or her strength
and which one is a weakness. I will make sure the teachers
understand our goal is for the students to do his or her
best. I can then collaborate and aid the teacher with
strategies and encourage the individual teachers
throughout the process. As a team, we can make changes
and adapt components as we need.