All
aspects of literacy coaching have the potential to impact the classroom and
student learning, but coaching in the classroom places the focus squarely on
the teachers and students. Virtual coaching places particular importance on
classroom instruction with a majority of interactions surrounding videotaped
classroom teaching. But we must not forget about the power of examining
artifacts of student learning as part of our virtual coaching cycles, just as
we would if coaching in person. Every interaction, observation and artifact of
learning is data we can use to inform our instruction and understanding of
student achievement, even virtually. Here is a list of artifacts that
could inform our virtual coaching:
- Classroom
conversations (student-student, teacher-student)
- Writing
Samples
- Running
records
- Literacy
stations artifacts
- Lesson
artifacts (graphic organizers, reading logs, worksheets, etc.)
- Informal
assessments (letter-sound inventories, sight word inventories, spelling
inventories)
- Formal
assessments (reading inventories, computerized measures)
As part
of your coaching conversations, teachers can choose a sampling of student work
to analyze. Together, you might evaluate writing pieces or review running
record data as part of your virtual sessions. Teachers can email you a few
pictures or even upload them into the private software you use to share videos.
By sharing your screens virtually during online meeting sessions, you can
analyze student work together and use the results to guide your next coaching
cycle. I follow three simple guidelines for my work with teachers:
- Operate
from a lens of strength: Teach teachers to notice what is going well in
their teaching and what students know and can do. Often, teachers want to
focus on what is wrong, or what is missing, but this does not move the
conversation forward in productive ways.
- Follow
an ‘I Notice, I Wonder’ protocol: Make observations about the data in
front of you and think carefully and critically about what it tells us.
What other information might be needed? What assumptions do we need to
unpack? What perspective are we taking? Whose perspective are we leaving
out?
- Link problems to solutions: It can be easy to focus on the things we cannot control, but we need to shift that mindset to one of action and train ourselves to immediately follow up negative thinking with positive possibilities. Our students deserve nothing less.
You might
consider capturing these artifacts into a portfolio to showcase learning
throughout the coaching cycle. You can compile them into a shared digital
folder or even paste them into a simple Google presentation to archive the
thinking and learning throughout your time together. What better way to
celebrate a coaching cycle by seeing the impact coaching has had firsthand on
student performance?
This was the second post in a blog series on virtual literacy coaching as part of an exciting partnership with Sibme. Head here to read all posts in the series and join the conversation!
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