The Effects of Cognitive Coaching on Education and in Supporting Teacher Leadership
“Creating a profession of teaching in which teachers have the opportunity for continual learning is the likeliest way to inspire greater achievement for children, especially those for whom education is the only pathway to survival and success” (Sumner, 2011, p. 10). Educators today are required to have a different set of skills to effectively prepare students to be global competitors in the workplace. Educators cannot make these alterations in teaching methodology and instructional delivery without support. Coaches support and encourage teachers, improve teacher strategies, promote teacher reflection, and focus on desired outcomes (Sumner, 2011). A key
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Cognitive Coaching Supporting Teacher Leadership
Cognitive coaching allows teachers to take ownership of their professional development by encouraging them to be accountable of their cognitive learning process. The self-reflection that is involved in cognitive coaching coupled with professional vision enables teachers to become a catalyst of change both in the classroom and beyond.
Patti & Holzer (2012) stated:
The coaching relationship provides a safe haven for mindful attention to self-change in the areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. It is through this individual process that the teacher and administrative leader positively impact the culture and climate of the classroom and school (p. 270).
Every teacher has the capabilities to improve their knowledge and skill and cognitive coaching affords the opportunity of exploration into one’s self, challenging old beliefs and habits, emerging a better, stronger leader. Leadership is not mobilizing others to solve problems we already know how to solve, but to help them confront problems that have never yet been successfully addressed (Fullan, 2007). The reflection learned through cognitive coaching helps develop problem-solving skills as teachers examine their experience, generate alternatives, and evaluate actions. Educators need to model risk
In everything we do, even if it is our best performance, there is always room for improvement. It could not be different in a career such as teaching. Teachers are always self-reflecting to analyze and evaluate their own teaching methods in order to find out what works and what needs to improve. With this information in hand, teachers can come up with strategies to improve certain areas of their teaching. There are many tools teachers can use to self-reflect. As a teacher, I will continually evaluate the effects of my professional decisions and actions on students through self-reflective journals, video recordings, students’ formal and informal assessments, peer support, student and parent evaluation, and suggestion box.
The differences were connected with a teacher’s original preparation for the teaching profession, licensing in the particular subject area to be taught, strength of the educational experience, and the degree of experience in teaching along with the demonstration of abilities through the National Board Certification, in which all of these facets can be addressed through policy (Darling-Hammond, 2010).America has not produced a national method containing supports and reasons to guarantee that teachers’ are adequately prepared and equipped to teach all children effectively when they first enter into the career of teaching. America also does not have a vast collection of methods available that will maintain the evaluation and continuing development of a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, or support decisions about entry into the field of teaching and the continuance in the profession of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2010). n order to reach the belief that all students will be taught and learn to high standards calls for a makeover in the methods our system of education in order to be a magnet for, train, support or uphold, and cultivate effective teachers in more efficient ways. A makeover that is contingent in a certain degree of how the abilities or skills are comprehended (Darling-Hammond, 2010).In the last few years there has been increasing
Teaching is an extremely important profession as we are responsible for training up the future generations of our community, country and in effect, the world. In order to be a successful and effective teacher there are some basic skills and competencies that one must possess. The experiences that students have inside (and outside) our classrooms, schools and various other institutes will shape and mould their approach to our subjects and to life in general. Therefore, it requires a certain level of skill and training to be deemed professionally fit to enter into this career path and even then, continuous
Backinsell, D., & Garner, C. (2008, Nov 15). All about coaching: Building relationships to achieve goals. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/266685669?accountid=12085
When I was gaining my Bachelor’s Degree, the key statement throughout my journey through the education program was “I will continue to be a lifelong learner.” As I finalized this program I have reached this goal, and this will continue throughout my journey as a teacher as I become involved with more and more school and district based county activities through which I can use the theories, methods, and strategies I have learned throughout this program. In general, it is best, as Goldhammer (69) stresses, to avoid critical dissection of teaching. Too much criticism and
Cognitive Coaching provides a potential end to teacher isolation and strives to improve teacher efficacy by “helping teachers expand their repertoire of teaching styles by exploring untapped resources within themselves” (Dildy, 2001). However, most school districts have New Teaching Programs seldom use the cognitive coaching method. Most school districts assign a mentor and require new teachers to attend monthly
The proposed workshop must take in consideration training supervisors in peer coaching. Peer coaching is beneficial for both supervisory and teaching practices. It enables supervisors to provide directed assistance to every teacher and helps teachers improve their instructional skills and address their immediate instructional issues. Glickman (2010) views peer coaching as a supervisory approach that helps teachers “confide in, improve and move with each other towards collective actions.” In particular, peer coaching provides a strong system of support as teachers seek to implement new strategies, examine practices, transfer skills and put in-service learning in action. According to Zepeda (2010), peer coaching promotes teacher’s growth and development. Moreover, it leverages face-to-face interaction, thus, promoting relationship building and strong collegiality towards collective improvement and institution effectiveness. Supervisors using peer coaching as a clinical and differentiated form of supervision break the isolation found in most k-12 and empower teachers by placing them at the center of their own leaning (Zepeda, 2012). Teachers who participate in peer coaching are more secure and better connected, and certainly, in a better position to solve their own instructional issues and problems, as well as, find innovative ways to teach, thus benefiting themselves, their colleagues and their institutions (Hooker, 2013).
Smith (2012) explains that the purpose of this research study was to add to the research already conducted on middle school literacy coaches’ perspectives on coaching roles, teacher change, and student learning. This information was clearly stated in the
The use of coaching by individuals and organizations has increased rapidly in last decade. As role of coaching is growing over the time, so has the need to find ways of assuring quality of the coaching services being provided. Coaching supervision is an essential part for continuous professional development of coaches. It’s the essential link between theory and coaching practice, the main source of assuring quality, to mitigate the risks may inherent in coaching. It can also help to increase the return on an investment in coaching and to provide evidence of that return.
When I first began teaching over twenty years ago, I do not believe I had a clear idea of what my vision of education was. I was hungry for knowledge myself and took every opportunity I could to attend professional development and implement new curriculum and instructional strategies. During the early part of my career as a teacher, I developed a
Coaching, what a great topic to read about in Chapter 13, considering I am a Literacy Coach, being trained at The Ohio State University using the Professional and Renewal Models of Teacher Development. As a literacy coach, I am able to work alongside my teachers in their classrooms, at the same time they are teaching. I observe, model, collaborate and critique lessons with my teachers. My goal as a coach is to foster a positive working community with my colleagues and develop an effective learning environment for the students.
As I strived to be a transformational coach who then influences CMs to be transformational teacher, I reflected constantly. In my independent and often painful self-reflections, I had to be true to what was happening and act upon what was happening to influence teacher and student level change. Part of acting was seeking out knowledge and opportunities to build skill. Specific examples include the learning opportunities provided in my overall story. Whenever there was an opportunity to learn, I would definitely seize it.
Instructional Coaches equip others to become their best professional selves, but studies show that teacher buy-in is one of the most crucial factors for their success. I understand what it’s like, not just in the trenches, but in the Weston trenches. I would bring to the role of Instructional Coach a wealth of institutional knowledge and long-standing, warm relationships with faculty and staff. At the same time, I bring to the table my technological proficiency, leadership experience, and exemplary teaching practices. My coursework in statistics and experience working with data further qualifies me to succeed in this
There is a usual but important cliché for a teacher´s career: a teacher has to be a life-long learner to be an effective teacher. Research on effective teaching over the past two decades has proved that effective practice is related to questioning, reflection and continuous professional development. Reflective practice can be a satisfying experience for a teacher evolution. It covers self-analysis, questioning one owns methods, assumptions about learning, theories as well as one´s attitudes and behaviour as a facilitator and communicator, in short making a deep analysis of the actions. Reflecting on teaching includes the teacher´s thoughts on the successfulness of the lesson planning and the implementation used to teach. Within the time progression the teacher´s reflection should be more precise and he or she could
Workplace coaching is a term that refers to the process of equipping people in the working environment with necessary tools, opportunities, and knowledge for total development in order to enhance their effectiveness from an individual, organizational, and work perspective. Workplace coaching has emerged as a major concept in modern organizations since leaders, researchers, and organizations have identified it as a crucial competency in leadership and management (Cacioppe, n.d.). The increase in this practice has also been attributed to the fact that employees continue to request for coaching. As an important competency in leadership and management, workplace coaching has assumed different perspectives and approaches because of the existence of various coaching models such as Systemic Psychodynamic Coaching model.