Group items tagged

NEW! Radical Learners Blog by Jim Knight! Read the Blog: Instructional Coaching Institute, Level 1 August 8-10, 2011 October 3-5, 2011More info... Instructional Coaching Institute, Level 2 August 11-13, 2011 October 6-8, 2011More info... Instructional Coaching Conference October 10-12, 2011More info...

Change is complicated... Instructional coaches can help alleviate some of the burden of change. Instructional coaches are on-site professional developers who teach educators how to use proven teaching methods.

Instructional Coach ~ Instructional Coach Rubric ~ Instructional Coach Performance Documentation Form ~ Instructional Coach Evaluation Form

"District Leaders who are leading and supporting Instructional Coaches, District Leaders considering initiating an Instructional Coaching Program ABOUT THIS LEARNING OPPORTUNITY Jim Knight has supported numerous districts in initiating and implementing an instructional coaching program. In this learning opportunity Jim will share stories about other districts coaching initiatives - what has worked and why, what has not been as successful and why."

Instructional coaching works, or rather, it can work when conditions are right. Perhaps because some principals and district leaders have seen the impact that an effective coach can have, a handful of coaching positions still exist in this era of extreme budget cuts.

Recently I spent a day with a district wide group of instructional coaches working on the school improvement plans for their buildings. We used a backwards plan beginning with the identification of specific student growth that they wanted as a goal. Then they identified what student actions/work would be needed to produce that learning.

Two days ago, The New Yorker Magazine published a lengthy and important article on "coaching" and featured the instructional coaching program at the Albemarle County School District in Virgina. Since that time, I've written two related posts (Now, This Is What I Call Professional Development!

"Atul Gawande's feature article The New Yorker this week, Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?, has sure sparked a lot of discussion this week on instructional coaches. I thought I'd bring together a few of what I consider the best resources on the topic."

Instructional coaches are on-site professional developers who teach educators how to use proven instructional methods. To be successful in this role, coaches must be skilled in a variety of roles, including public relations guru, communicator extraordinaire, master organizer and, of course, expert educator.

The Big Four is a set of tools that instructional coaches can use as they work with teachers. The tools fall into four main categories: classroom management, content planning, instruction, and assessment for learning. CRL Workout is an opportunity for researchers to share new projects and for audience members to share their own suggestions for those projects. Researchers have 20 minutes to present their ideas, and audience members have 40 minutes to provide praise, suggestions, and other insights.

"Applies the concept of medical rounds to solving instructional problems and outlines the process of planning, organizing, facilitating, and implementing this innovative way to improve teaching and learning by having groups of teachers and administrators"