A Day in the Life

What does an Instructional Coach really do all day? Curious people want to know. To help answer this question, Autumn Seiler, Instructional Coach at Sawyer Elementary, graciously documented in photos one day of her life as an Instructional Coach.   

Even though Autumn’s calendar shows a variety of things scheduled for the day, an Instructional Coach’s job is fluid as he or she is responsive to a variety of needs.  Many of the things a coach does during the course of a day will not show up on the calendar.  There are multiple unplanned interactions with students, teachers, principals and other coaches in addition to the scheduled agenda.

Ready.  Set.  Here we go!  A photo depiction of day in the life of Autumn Seiler.

7:45 AM

(Intensive Plan meeting for a student moving from supplemental to intensive instruction.)

8:15 AM

(Planning for a newly formed PLC to assist in finding commonalities in their work and clarifying the PLC process.)

8:30 AM

(Meeting with guidance counselor to create videos of students doing the right thing in order to support teachers in helping students make good choices.)

8:45 AM

(Meeting with Principal, Sue Lawler, to plan professional development around student engagement strategies for all teachers.)

9:30 AM

(Observing in Alissa Beisner's classroom and collecting data requested by the teacher around her feedback to students, evidence of classroom culture and scripting her directions to students.)

10:15 AM

(One on one time with Nicole Coronado to discuss data she would like collected on higher order questions from both her and her students during the literacy block.)

10:30 AM

(Follow up with earlier observation with Alissa Beisner during her prep period  in which the data collected was discussed followed by a reflective conversation.)

11:00 AM

(Prep for an afternoon intensive plan meeting, analyzing some student data, finishing up professional development prep for the next day, uploading behavior videos to the Sawyer website and reading up on the Every Student Succeeds Act in order to respond to a teacher’s questions around it.)

1:00 PM

(Coordinating support for a student in order to meet the standards and outcomes for his grade level.)

1:30 PM

(Team intensive plan meeting to identify appropriate instructional routines to match the goal area as well as how to monitor instruction. This resulted in an opportunity for Autumn to model an instructional strategy in the classroom.)

2:00 PM

(An impromptu drop in from a teacher who wanted to share some common formative assessment results that she was surprised by and talked through planning potential next steps in the classroom.)

2:30 PM

(Two teachers made unplanned stop to celebrate successes in the classroom. One celebration was around instruction that the teacher  changed at her teacher table that brought success in a student being able to share their thinking in how they solved math problems.)

3:45 PM

(Co-facilitated a book study with another Instructional Coach around Making Sense of phonics by Isabel and Mark Beck.)

AT HOME IN THE EVENING

(Found assessment resources needed for an intensive plan, set up model teacher visits via email, brainstormed with a teacher via phone around a struggling student, read some professional materials and logged daily interactions.)

As you can see, Autumn's day is filled with a variety of opportunities to support teachers ensure that all of their students are successful. She moves through the day with passion and energy, always willing to go the extra mile for a teacher who needs it. Thanks, Autumn, for sharing your day with us!

If you are interested in sharing a day in your life, please contact Lisa Clayberg.

Teachers Learn Twitter with Student Help

As part of our afternoon of professional development for our Ames Teacher Leaders on Tuesday, March 1st, we had a session on using Twitter as a professional learning tool.  By allowing educators to reach out to others around the world, share ideas, and ask questions, Twitter is a very powerful tool for continued professional growth.  Although we have a fair number of teachers already using Twitter for this purpose, we wanted to ensure that this became another tool in all teacher leader’s tool boxes. #AmesCSDchat - Teacher Leader Edition was born.

As we were planning the day, we knew that there were going to be a wide spectrum of skill sets, so we decided to bring in some extra help. High school students volunteered to help our teacher leaders Twitter newbies. Using students in professional development also allowed us to keep the afternoon student-centered while simultaneously reminding teachers to use all of their resources, including current students, for support when implementing new technology in the classroom.

In education, there are Twitter “chats” - or groups of people who log-on at a specific time to discuss a shared interest (see a list of chats here).  In Ames, we have our own monthly education chat using the hashtag #AmesCSDchat where we discuss topics that our own teachers picked. These chats are ways that we can carry conversations beyond the school and involve many other voices as well as to improve our own understanding and awareness of the various topics we face as educators.  

This Twitter chat served as both an introduction to the format and an opportunity for teacher leaders to synthesize their learning from previous sessions. The questions included an opportunity for teachers to share the positives from their classrooms (#eduwins), to discuss the PLC flowchart, and to share goals for continued learning around the gradual release of responsibility. By the end of the chat, both experienced and new Twitter users were engaging in great conversations that they continued outside of the session.

The next #AmesCSDchat will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 8pm. Join us to discuss topics submitted by Ames elementary teachers. If you have an idea for a future session, please contact @donovanscience or email patrick.donovan@ames.k12.ia.us.

No matter the chat topic, Twitter is a great place that teacher leaders can go for continued professional growth. We can ask questions, get feedback, and discover resources.  We can share out great examples of student learning and allow parents or community members to understand what we are doing in our schools.  We can take the lead by telling our own story rather than letting the media tell it for us - with one #AmesCSD voice.