So... a year has gone by and I'm faced thinking about how much I've grown in this past year. But I'm so aware of where I need to grow as well. The job is so much harder than I ever expected. The job is so much more than it appears from your busy door of your classroom. I find it especially interesting to take a look at the job title as it is presented to all of my colleagues as they search for new coaches. Can you/we look at this job description with new eyes and reflect on what we did and didn't do together this year? Can we look at this job description and understand things more clearly NOW? More later on this... but just for the blog record... here is the June 2010 job description that I've now read 11 times.
ROLE OF THE INSTRUCTIONALCOACH:
Instructional Coaching is part of the professional development system in Albemarle County Public Schools. Overall, the job of the instructional coach is to work within a team of instructional coaches to build the capacity of school staffs to meet the needs of all students through implementation of the Division's three levers:
(1.) Framework for Quality Learning;
(2.) Professional Learning Community; and
(3.) Teacher Performance Appraisal.
The effective coach is seen as an equal partner with both novice and experienced teachers, spending the majority of the time collaborating around teaching practices (i.e., co-planning, modeling, observing, co-teaching, debriefing). Coaches facilitate job-embedded professional development and guidance for teachers to enhance their understanding of curriculum, assessment, and instruction as informed by the Framework for Quality Learning. Coaches provide support to principals as they plan formative professional development and to teacher leaders as they work with the Professional Learning Community model to analyze student work and data. The coach's support of a team's student learning data informs ongoing school-based professional development, meeting individual teachers' unique needs over time.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
• Engaging in reflective conversations in which coach and teacher think collaboratively;
• Building and maintaining meaningful and confidential relationships with teachers;
• Collaborating with teachers by listening and questioning to formulate next steps and solutions;
• Collaborating across school staffs to identify student learning needs and barriers as schools organize and implement
problem-solving actions;
• Facilitating school-based, high-quality job-embedded professional development, working with teachers (in teams or
individually) to enhance their knowledge and skills (Contexts for professional development may include thought provoking in-class coaching, inquiry-based observing, modeling of instructional strategies, guiding teachers as they
analyze student work, developing lesson plans with teachers based on student needs, supporting data analysis,
supporting the systemic integration of technology, etc.); and,
• Participating in required professional development (The coach is charged with acquiring contemporary global
learning knowledge and skills necessary to effectively impact the instructional practices of teachers. Research-based
knowledge will inform the coaching role.). The instructional coach is non-supervisory and non-evaluative. The coach advocates for, facilitates, and co-constructs formative feedback exchanges among teachers, but never supervises. The instructional coach is assigned to a team that supports a cluster of schools and is evaluated and supervised by a centrally-based Lead Coach.
