Literacy Coaching in the Middle School
Three years ago, when I was offered the position of Middle School Literacy coach, I was thrilled at the prospect of working with teachers to implement some of the research based literacy strategies that I have seen work in my own classes and in the classrooms of others. My experience teaching high school students in an inner-city, technology based high school, education through the Penn Literacy Network, experience teaching in a project-based middle school, and my own inquiry-based research gave me a solid base of knowledge to begin working with the teachers at MTMS. With some help from some literacy coaches in the elementary schools, conferences at IU-13, and professional books, I felt prepared to create a coaching program. I anticipated some push-back from teachers and some challenges along the way, and I did, indeed, face some challenges. More than anything, however, I feel that my work as a literacy coach has helped push the teachers at MTMS into building lessons and units that support the literacy needs of their students and has helped to develop a sense of community that was missing. My time spent as the middle school Literacy Coach has been a rewarding and educational experience, and I will miss this aspect of my job in the years to come.
Creating the coaching program at the Middle School, my biggest hurdle was building a sense of trust and community among the staff. In order to have "clients" to coach, I needed to establish a plan and build positive relationships with the teachers in the building. At the time, morale in the building was extremely low, and I felt a lot of resistance. There were teachers in the building willing to working with me, and by word of mouth, I became busier and busier. In the past three years, I have worked with almost everyone in the building on an individual level, or on a department level. As teachers got more used to my role, I noticed that there was very little collaboration among the teachers. There was very much the "secondary" closed door mentality. I decided to work on building more a learning community in the school.
One of the things I appreciated most about being a coach is the ability to see what others do in their classes. Seeing how other teachers approach different kinds of students or situations gave me much more of a personal toolbox to use in my own teacher. There is a lot of excellent teaching going on in the building that only administrators got to see. Learning Walks were established to help open doors and build that sense of community. On our walks teachers and staff were invited to walk into classrooms to see some of the great things that happen on a daily basis. After each stop, we would talk about all the positive things we saw. After each walk, I would send out a summary of what we saw. Over the 2 years that walks were possible, I received quite a bit of great feedback. This year, with scheduling and other responsibilities, I was unable to successfully find the time to continue those walks.
Newsletters were also created to reach more people and share information, strategies, and good news. Each month I focused on a new strategy and put the spotlight on someone doing something great in the building. Often, after a newsletter, I would be asked to help teachers include the new strategy into their lessons. This year I have been able to send out 2 newsletters with the same results.
Data analysis, professional development, and taking on the role of a teacher leader have also been aspects of the coaching side of my job. As students take assessments, I help individuals and teams to use the data to improve their teaching. I have created spreadsheets of data to share with the teams to help them better understand the needs of the students. Data analysis is not something that comes naturally to me, but I have learned so much about how to use data and read data effectively. Receiving and conducting professional development is also something that I have enjoyed over the years. I like to learn new strategies and see information on the latest research, and I have be lucky enough to be able to attend many conferences as a coach. Conducting professional development is also something that I have really enjoyed. While I don't see myself as an expert just yet, I do feel that my skills as a presenter have greatly improved over the past 3 years and for that I am grateful. This year, I was able to present at the National Middle School Association Conference and got excellent feedback about the quality of the presentation. Becoming a teacher leader in the building and feeling the trust and respect among my peers and the administration has helped me to better form my professional career goals. I am currently enrolled in classes to earn my Administration certificate.
I am deeply saddened that the current state of the budget has required that literacy coaching be cut. I feel that I have been successful as a coach and that the staff has made a huge effort in using me to help improve their teaching. I have worked hard in this position and will miss it next year.
The following will link to documents and presentations created while coaching:
Literacy Coaching in the Middle School
Three years ago, when I was offered the position of Middle School Literacy coach, I was thrilled at the prospect of working with teachers to implement some of the research based literacy strategies that I have seen work in my own classes and in the classrooms of others. My experience teaching high school students in an inner-city, technology based high school, education through the Penn Literacy Network, experience teaching in a project-based middle school, and my own inquiry-based research gave me a solid base of knowledge to begin working with the teachers at MTMS. With some help from some literacy coaches in the elementary schools, conferences at IU-13, and professional books, I felt prepared to create a coaching program. I anticipated some push-back from teachers and some challenges along the way, and I did, indeed, face some challenges. More than anything, however, I feel that my work as a literacy coach has helped push the teachers at MTMS into building lessons and units that support the literacy needs of their students and has helped to develop a sense of community that was missing. My time spent as the middle school Literacy Coach has been a rewarding and educational experience, and I will miss this aspect of my job in the years to come.
Creating the coaching program at the Middle School, my biggest hurdle was building a sense of trust and community among the staff. In order to have "clients" to coach, I needed to establish a plan and build positive relationships with the teachers in the building. At the time, morale in the building was extremely low, and I felt a lot of resistance. There were teachers in the building willing to working with me, and by word of mouth, I became busier and busier. In the past three years, I have worked with almost everyone in the building on an individual level, or on a department level. As teachers got more used to my role, I noticed that there was very little collaboration among the teachers. There was very much the "secondary" closed door mentality. I decided to work on building more a learning community in the school.
One of the things I appreciated most about being a coach is the ability to see what others do in their classes. Seeing how other teachers approach different kinds of students or situations gave me much more of a personal toolbox to use in my own teacher. There is a lot of excellent teaching going on in the building that only administrators got to see. Learning Walks were established to help open doors and build that sense of community. On our walks teachers and staff were invited to walk into classrooms to see some of the great things that happen on a daily basis. After each stop, we would talk about all the positive things we saw. After each walk, I would send out a summary of what we saw. Over the 2 years that walks were possible, I received quite a bit of great feedback. This year, with scheduling and other responsibilities, I was unable to successfully find the time to continue those walks.
Newsletters were also created to reach more people and share information, strategies, and good news. Each month I focused on a new strategy and put the spotlight on someone doing something great in the building. Often, after a newsletter, I would be asked to help teachers include the new strategy into their lessons. This year I have been able to send out 2 newsletters with the same results.
Data analysis, professional development, and taking on the role of a teacher leader have also been aspects of the coaching side of my job. As students take assessments, I help individuals and teams to use the data to improve their teaching. I have created spreadsheets of data to share with the teams to help them better understand the needs of the students. Data analysis is not something that comes naturally to me, but I have learned so much about how to use data and read data effectively. Receiving and conducting professional development is also something that I have enjoyed over the years. I like to learn new strategies and see information on the latest research, and I have be lucky enough to be able to attend many conferences as a coach. Conducting professional development is also something that I have really enjoyed. While I don't see myself as an expert just yet, I do feel that my skills as a presenter have greatly improved over the past 3 years and for that I am grateful. This year, I was able to present at the National Middle School Association Conference and got excellent feedback about the quality of the presentation. Becoming a teacher leader in the building and feeling the trust and respect among my peers and the administration has helped me to better form my professional career goals. I am currently enrolled in classes to earn my Administration certificate.
I am deeply saddened that the current state of the budget has required that literacy coaching be cut. I feel that I have been successful as a coach and that the staff has made a huge effort in using me to help improve their teaching. I have worked hard in this position and will miss it next year.
The following will link to documents and presentations created while coaching:
NMSA conference wiki