How can I become a helpful teacher coach?
I want to help students, and I think the best way to do that is to help teachers…… but what is the best way to do that?
How many times have you (I’m assuming you are a teacher if you are reading this) had a “coach” come in your classroom and make you so mad you could throw something at them? I have….a lot. I have had “coaches” make me angry enough to scream, defeated enough to question why I got into teaching in the first place, and one almost got me to quit teaching forever.
Just the thought of a teacher coach coming into my classroom makes me a little gassy…. could be the beans and salsa I had for dinner, but I’m pretty sure it’s the coach.
I don’t want to be a coach like that.
I want to become a helpful coach. I want teachers to smile when they see me coming down the hall….not the fake smile because they are afraid I’ll “tattle” on them, but a genuine “I’m glad you’re here” smile.
So, I have thought about all the horrible coaches I have had. I have had some experiences….
The one complaint that I had about all of them was they didn’t know what they were talking about. Am I right?
How many times has an “expert” walked into your room and made suggestions you knew had no chance of working?
I’m pretty open-minded, but even I had to question the coach that wanted my kindergarteners to be given the “responsibility” to walk down the hall without a teacher…..Oh by the way, I was basically teaching an Emotional-Behavioral classroom at the time…..Yeah no, I’ll supervise my kids, thanks.
Clearly, she didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t know the law (you know, supervise the kids). She didn’t know classroom management, and she certainly didn’t know strategies to help me teach my kids. I wanted to work with someone who had varied experiences in the classroom (like me), but who knew a lot about teaching and could think about new possibilities.
Isn’t that’s what coaches are about….possibilities?
Having varied experiences is key, I think to a quality coach, but also having a varied knowledge base so that they can pull from lots of different sources to help a teacher deal with a challenging situation. If a coach only has a few tricks up her sleeves, is she really a coach?
So, I have decided that if I want to be a helpful teacher coach, I need to drastically expand my knowledge about strategies, education in general, and especially special education law (since that applies to everyone no matter what they teach).
So, I am going to embark on a new adventure. I would love to have you join me!
Becoming a Helpful Teacher Coach
My goal is to read one book a week about education. I’m going to focus on reading disabilities and strategies to start out. Every other week I will drop a blog post reviewing the book, and sharing some insight I gained. I also plan to post a podcast on Reaching Struggling Learners that links what I learned from the book to how I would use the information in my own classroom.
Over the next year, I want to become knowledgeable about all things education so that I can truly be a helpful teacher coach, whether that eventually becomes my official job or not. I want to help students. I want to help teachers.
Several years ago my aunt told me no knowledge is wasted, but I think it is….if it is left unused. I am going to work on gaining the knowledge so that I can use it to help teachers.
Want to see where my journey takes me next? Check out the next installment in my journey: My Journey: Dyslexia is a Gift
Click the image below to join me in my Reaching Struggling Learners podcast.
