Coaching New Teachers

Coaching is truly one of the great joys in my life! It is an opportunity to learn and grow alongside talented educators each day and observe the benefits of this relationship through the work of the children in front of us.

Instructional Coaching is an opportunity to be a "thought-partner" in a challenging and rewarding profession. The majority of educators that I connect with on a daily basis understand my role and how I intend to work alongside them all year. However, this year we have taken on several new staff members and I've had to retool my approach in order for these interactions to be successful. So, after the first month of school, here's what I learned about myself as a coach and what may be necessary for a coaching relationship with new educators.

Getting the Story:
When starting any relationship, it's important to find out where they've been and what they've done. Regardless if the experience is in an after-school setting, student teaching, or years in another district, it is important to find out about their successes and challenges in these former settings. My questions are truly basic when it comes to finding out about prior experience; "tell me a little about your most successful experience in teaching...tell me about some of your challenges and how you've overcome those obstacles."

Listening Carefully:
Do more listening than talking when getting to know your new educators. There is a trap early on in a new teacher-coach relationship, the tendency to talk about yourself and all the successes and challenges you've encountered with your teachers. Before I ramble on about my work, I listen to the entire story the teacher is sharing listening for entry points into future work by focusing on successful experiences and successful responses to adverse experiences. Highlighting these experiences in the future can serve as a valuable catalyst for the work ahead.

Empathy:
Teaching and learning is challenging and as I've said before, we all need a "thought-partner." Being empathetic is a key ingredient for an effective teacher-coach relationship. There are times that I walk into a room and I can tell that the day is not going according to plan and yet there are other days where the teacher jumps right into sharing all that the students have done.  I need to first understand the situation before forging ahead with an agenda.  I've experienced the highs and lows of teaching and I use these experiences to guide the conversation. By understanding the challenges and successes of teaching, coaching can gain equal footing in a complex profession.

Shaping the Path:
This is an area that I strive to get better in and am currently working through this goal. The coach- teacher relationship is about reciprocity. There are times, especially when starting new work, that a teacher can't quite put their finger on what it is they want to work on or just what areas of their teaching to establish goals. The coach can support the acceleration of goal setting and reflecting on goals with careful observations in the room. Then, collaborate with the teacher to carve new territories for their practice and shape the path ahead.

Reflecting Often:
One of the  most critical elements in any coaching/mentorship relationship is the ability to push reflection. Not just reflection when things go awry, rather capturing those bright moments and reflecting as to why they are occurring. As a new teacher, it's easy to dwell on the moments that are NOT working, however, a coach/mentor should encourage reflection during the most successful moments in the classroom. It's always so gratifying to watch a teachers face as you pull them back from the action, highlight the bright spots, and get them to voice-over the action and encourage them to keep pushing to replicate what they've done to get here.

Teaching is challenging and rewarding, coaching is too! Operating with the above tenets for new teachers helps me to gain deeper insight into those challenges and rewards. As tactful observers in a teacher's room, our conversations need to focus on mentoring "people" in a complex profession.

Launching a 1:1 Environment Using the SAMR Model

I am embarking on a new role this year that includes my previous role as an instructional coach, but now includes responsibilities as a technology coach as well and mentor for the literacy and math coaches. This is a great opportunity for growth and development. However, in thinking about each of these roles separately, I realized that the need for frameworks is crucial. In thinking about the technology portion of my work, I canvased the web and Twitter for results. Everything pointed to the work of Dr. Ruben Puentedura and the SAMR Model. 

We were lucky enough to have Dr. Ruben Puentedura visit us in Buffalo, NY for a full day of professional development. Before the session, I felt as though I, along with a few staff members, had a pretty good understanding of the SAMR Model and how to intergrate technology in the classroom. However, there was much more learning and understanding that occurred in that short six-hour session.

One of the biggest lessons of the day was understanding that it is in fact okay to start at the substitution level instead of reaching for redefinition right away. Then, as you become more comfortable with the work, look ahead to augmentation and the possibilities at the next level.  For each progression you can consult the chart below and reflect on the implementation. The process seems to follow a plan, implement, reflect, and revise format. This work is always rewarding if you can link up with a colleague or a coach so that you have a thought partner alongside to think through and evaluate the work.

The SAMR Ladder: Questions and Transitions
• Substitution:
• What will I gain by replacing the older technology with the new technology?
• Substitution to Augmentation:
• Have I added an improvement to the task process that could not be accomplished with the older technology at a fundamental level?
• How does this feature contribute to my design?
• Augmentation to Modification:
• How is the original task being modified?
• Does this modification fundamentally depend upon the new technology? • How does this modification contribute to my design?
• Modification to Redefinition:
• What is the new task?
• Will any portion of the original task be retained?
• How is the new task uniquely made possible by the new technology? • How does it contribute to my design? 

In order to work through the SAMR Ladder, Dr. Puentedura also suggested trying to launch into a "ladder project." We tried a simulation of this in the actual session and it was beneficial to hear each group make decisions about the project and work at each of the levels. They used the questions and transitions above to work through the progressions. Most importantly, they used the "ladder project" options below to get the work started.

Choosing the First SAMR Ladder Project: Three Options
• Your Passion:
• If you had to pick one topic from your class that best exemplifies why you became fascinated with the subject you teach, what would it be?
• Barriers to Your Students’ Progress:
• Is there a topic in your class that a significant number of students get stuck on, and fail to progress beyond?
• What Students Will Do In the Future:
• Which topic from your class would, if deeply understood, best serve the interests of your students in future studies or in their lives outside school? 

Our staff has worked intensely over the last few weeks to begin designing instruction using the SAMR model. This growth will continue as we come together in future professional development settings and share the work from our classrooms. In these PDs, we will use the SAMR Model and the SAMR Questions and Transitions to reflect on our work. Finally, any teacher looking for a place to start will work through a "ladder project."

This is an exciting time for me as well, as I will have the unique opportunity to work side-by-side with so many great educators as they embark on the 1:1 experience. I will work with veteran teachers as well as new teachers to help facilitate teaching and learning with iPads. The work of Dr. Puentedura and his SAMR model has provided us with the necessary framework to launch the work and now it's up to us to climb the ladder of possibilities ahead.


Resources:
Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Putting SAMR and the EdTech Quintet to Work.(2013) Online at: http://hippasus.com