Reflection: Coaching and Building Teams
Succinct Summary: Boren (2017) Reviews a good, better and the best approach to coaching teachers. He describes the capacity of building teams and having team leaders as the best approach, but he cautious to not become limited in our approach. By the same token, the chapters in Grogan (2003) all focused on the development of teacher expertise through coaching, building up teacher leaders and leadership teams.
Explanation and Supporting Facts:
In Grogan (2013), Fink and Mrkholt discuss teacher expertise through perspectives. My favorite quote from this chapter reads that “ Teaching is a complex and sophisticated endeavor, ” (Grogan, 2013, p.318). This quote supports the reasoning of why we need strong leaders and the critical role we play in cultivating the expertise through devoted practice. In Grogan (2013), Lieberman and Miller describe teacher leaders. What was interesting about this chapter was that these teachers learned to go public and in turn were role models to their peers. Supporting teachers’ inquiry is the underlining message from this chapter. The more we support teachers the more they grow, lead, and transform.
In Grogan (2013) Bambrick-Santoyo set reality straight because it is quite evident that the principals cannot “serve as instructional leader for more than fifteen teachers,” (Grogan, 2013, p337). Therefore, a principal must know how to “lever” leadership within a school.
Boren (2017) touched on
As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they
In Leverage Leadership, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo presents seven principles or levers that great principles and other school leaders take to effectively transform their schools into greatness. These seven principles, or levers, enables continuous, about-face, and duplicable growth for schools and their leaders. More than half of a principle time is spent on things that does not transfer into student achievement and/or success. However, with purposeful emphasis on these seven levers, the exact time investment leverages more learning. School leaders plus the seven levers equal more student achieve, thus setting the school on the path for greatness.
In this chapter, Fullan begins by maintaining that principals who are effective lead learners are necessarily also good managers, because they understand that having clear routines is essential for school improvement.” (57) He quotes from Viviane Robinson’s Student-Centered Leadership to both underscore the previous point and emphasize that successful principals take an active learning stance: “The principal who makes the biggest impact on learning is the one who attends to other matters as well, but, most important, ‘participates as a learner’ with teachers in helping move the school forward.” (58) Fullan also borrows from Helen Timperley’s work in responding to the question, Who is in a principal’s class? The principal’s class consists of “team leaders who in turn can leverage the learning of other teachers in their group”
The Kentucky Leadership Framework defines teacher leaders as those who “transform their classrooms, schools, and profession, activating teacher growth and achieving equity and excellence for students” (Kentucky Teacher Leadership Work Team, 2015, p. 4). Therefore, the definition of what it means to be a teacher leader can be found in a review of relevant literature; yet, their roles can be unclear within the schools (Angelle and Schmid, 2007). Jacobs, Gordon, and Solis (2016) point out that when “teacher-leaders’ roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, misunderstanding, conflict, and resentment can result” (p. 399). In addition, a study of 672 participants revealed that teacher perceptions regarding teacher leadership can vary based on school grade configurations—elementary, middle, and high (Angelle and DeHart, 2011). According to Angelle and Schmidt (2007), “As we work to provide precision to the term teacher leadership, we look to widen the level of understanding of this critical component of school reform at all levels” (p.
According to former Indiana state superintendent of schools Dr. Suellen Reed, “We know from our research that there’s no turnaround school without a turnaround principal” (as cited in Gammil, 2007, para. 2), further supporting the fact that “school leaders have an essential role in cultivating a positive school culture in public schools” (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p.30). However, it is imperative to improve our understanding as to how principal leadership impacts the school culture in high poverty schools to ensure that all children receive a quality education, regardless of zip code, in an environment conducive to learning. The six measured factors are as follows:
In this paper, I will reflect on my new knowledge and skills that I have acquired regarding teacher leadership, supportive communication and collaboration. I will also reflect on practical application of these skills, such as assessing the needs, problems or issues, and creating the action plan to address the issues. In the end, I will define how teacher leadership can positively affect student learning and achievement.
The chapter opens with a case—Robert F. Kennedy High School—depicting the many problems facing David King, the new principal of a deeply troubled urban high school. A school that opened with high hopes only a few years ago now finds itself mired in conflict and dissatisfaction. King’s first meeting with his new administrative staff produces a blow-up in which a male housemaster physically threatens the chair of the English department. By the end of the case, the situation feels overwhelming. Is there hope? The authors follow
Leadership and coaching go hand in hand in many ways because to coach is to lead, and to lead is to coach others. Indeed, leaders and coaches, whatever the title are really mentors within the context of a particular organization or activity. For centuries, scholars and philosophers alike have been trying to find a specific and complete definition for coaching and leadership, but have not had much success. True, leadership is, in part, decision making at the nth level; while coaching takes that decision making and often compartmentalizes it into split-second action (Rhodes, J., et al. 2000). In the era of gloablization, this has become even more critical now that there are so many divergent cultural opportunities that require new skills, approaches, and even that allow coaching to occur not just in the physical environment, but in the virtual as well, with no regard for geographic or political boundaries (Drucker, P.F., et al. 2001).
Coaching is paramount to helping teachers improve their craft. There are a variety of different coaching models that a coach can consider. A coach will consider many factors when making the decision on what model to use. Some schools or districts may have a model in place that they want all of their coaches to use. When a coach needs to decide on the coaching model, he or she will use, will consider a variety of elements. The two coaching models I will discuss are the instructional coaching method and the content coaching model. The information I gather about my colleague will determine the best coaching model to use when we collaborate with one another.
Collaboration dramatically affects tiered accomplishments. A powerful group can enable an association to accomplish mind-boggling results. A group that isn't working can cause pointless interruption, dissolved conveyance, and key disappointment. These days it is relatively difficult to abstain from being an individual from the group. In case you're not on an official group at work, odds are you work inside some in one way. So it's imperative for your own and professional advancement to know your teamworking qualities and shortcomings.
According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).
I am the second team member. On my part, I am a senior instructor analyst with
Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers
Little to no empirical data exist on the impact of life coaching and achieving goals (Grant, A. M.). Goals are critical factor when it comes to building long term success in life. This paper will address explaining the questioning strategy used to determine the goals of clients, describe challenges faced in the application of the skills learned and overcoming those challenges, describing client’s reaction to roadmap for success, and recommended resources and continuation of services for the client.
When I think about teachers that I have had in the past, several different ones come to my mind. Each of these educators stands out in my mind for a variety of diverse reasons. Whether it is their sense of humor, their tactfulness, their love of the subject matter, their fanatical and sporadic behavior, or their yearning to be childish themselves, I can still remember at least one quality of every teacher I have ever encountered. Every one of these teachers conveyed subject material to their students just as they were educated and employed to do. However, I trust that every professional in the world has an abundance of opportunity for improvement; teachers could discover and improve themselves merely by having