June 4 2018 Virtual Conference Notes: Agents of Change: Instructional Coaches as Leaders of Learning (Crawford, Gibbs; Leitzell; Marsden)
June 4, 2018 at 10:36 AM
Visible to public
Raise up Texas – work with schools – 5 Instructional
Coaches in Texas that they worked with
Raise up Texas is a project that has been around
for 5 years aimed at changing practices at 16 middle schools (make or break
years) – random act of improvements
Multi-year whole-school transformation
integrating and aligning
systematic support for students, teachers and leaders
test scores drop from 6th to 9th
grade
discipline goes up in middle school
Agents of Change = how instructional coaches
play a critical role in whole-campus transformation through mindset, systems
that improve instruction and coaching
How does an instructional coach foster a change
mindset?
The 5 instructional coaches did a roundtable
Look at data in Dec and April
Consistent learning strategies – ask students
about what they know and are using
Modeling Mindset and Shaping Conversations
Book study – Jim Knights Instructional Coaching –
equality (not a direct order) (open ended questions) – partnership approach to
learning
Open dialogue and being heard –
“here’s what we know” – this, this, this works –
what are you doing?
Stay positive, put yourself in another’s shoes,
Flip the negative script into a positive one
PLC’s – creating norms huge for impact – always put
students first = best outcome
Systems that improve instruction
Professional Learning Community Systems
Structure and language has changed (not
arbitrary meetings, dedicated room <full of best practices examples>,
WHY, WHAT and HOW each meeting = this ensures time is not wasted for teachers
Systems to plan and facilitate learning
w/students: PLC’s that are structured
and student focused
Change from “meetings” to talk about students
(PLC) – how we can get them learning and in the right direction
As a coach – be present (no cell phones, focused
on participants)
Peer to peer PD – teachers model strategies out
of the Instructional Playbook
How can Instructional Coaches support the process
of reviewing data, responding to student struggle and reflecting on teaching
and learning?
Deep, raw conversations about what data is
telling us and move forward from there
Reflect evaluate outcomes
Non judgemental listening ear; sitting next to
them vs across from them
5-6 open ended questions ready to go and referenced
often
Overall – lots of modeling, reinforcement of
goals, constant conversation, open communication, supporting each other
Seems to use Jim Knight Instructional Coaching
Model and KU SIM CE strategies heavily
What things went into Instructional Playbook
were determined by Raise Up literacy leadership team – reps from department,
coaches – what works/doesn’t gets reviewed
