LAIRD LEARNING
  • Connect
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Publications
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Blog
  • Connect
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Publications
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Blog
LAIRD LEARNING

Looking Back Over the Year

5/8/2015

0 Comments

 
This afternoon our district's curriculum team and Instructional Coaches gathered at our district office for our monthly Instructional Leadership Team meeting. Since this is the final meeting of the school year, we began by celebrating the accomplishments we've made as first year Instructional Coaches. A few highlights on my list included:
  • Learning the curriculum of grade levels and subjects that I was not familiar with
  • Facilitating professional development sessions at the building and district level
  • Collaborating/Co-Teaching/Modeling Lessons in every classroom
  • Coaching Cycles
  • Supporting all teachers in my building
  • Mentoring first year teachers
  • Leveraging our building's social media accounts to increase community/parent outreach
  • Connecting with fellow Instructional Coaches in the district, state, and online
  • Implementing STEM and PBL in Kindergarten
  • Growing as a learner, leader, and educator

Once we finished our list, we had to choose our top three to share out. It was difficult to narrow down my list, but it was neat to share successes. Too often I focus on what's left to work on, so it was great to focus on the positive impact I've had in my first year as an Instructional Coach. 

There's still lots to do, and I have a list of hopes and ideas for next year, but for now, I'm happy to look back at the impact I've had and know that I've not wavered from my goal of positively impacting teaching and learning in my building.
0 Comments

May Coach's Corner

5/1/2015

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

April Coach's Corner

4/1/2015

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

Coach's Corner

3/2/2015

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

Instructional Coach = Teacher with a Different Audience

12/19/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
As I began reading Chapter 2 of Instructional Coaching, I was immediately struck by the quote at the top of the chapter and included to the right of this post. Just last week a member of the community asked me a question I've heard a lot: "Why aren't you a teacher anymore?" Since accepting this position last spring, this question has come up in a variety of forms, all of which stem from people not understanding what an Instructional Coach does. I think Devona Dunekack's response is the best answer I've seen, and plan on using the next time someone asks me what an Instructional Coach is and what Instructional Coaching looks like. I am still a teacher, I just have a different audience. My goal and purpose of impacting students has not wavered, and during the past four months I have become more reflective and have grown as an educator.

0 Comments

More than a resource finder?

12/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Full disclosure: I've had this post sitting in my drafts for over a month, not feeling ready to hit "publish." After seeing a call for #educoach topics earlier this evening, and typing this topic there, I decided to go ahead and hit post.


I'll admit it, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas, activities, and resources to use in my own teaching and learning. While that has worked wonders for the past six years, in my new position it's starting to seem like a barrier.  I never keep these "ah ha" moments to myself, I'm always tweeting, emailing, and sharing with colleagues. Now that I'm four months into my new Instructional Coaching position, I feel like I am having a hard time shaking the title of "resource finder" that I inadvertently gave myself.  It's not that I don't want teachers to come to me, it's that I want to go deeper and work alongside teachers to locate these resources based on goals they set. In other words, I want to begin transitioning from the enrollment phase toward coaching cycles. I recognize this will not be an easy change, and am hoping my PLN will have ideas and suggestions as to how I can begin to move away from being viewed as someone to go to when you're putting together your weekly lesson plans and need an activity to teach _________ (insert any elementary level topic).

So, what suggestions do you have? 
Have you experienced the same barrier? If so, what did you do?  
0 Comments

Instructional Coaching Menu

8/12/2014

1 Comment

 

Mix and Match, Let's Collaborate!

As I begin my new position as an Instructional Coach this week, I wanted a way for staff to visualize what my new role and responsibilities entail. You see, I'm moving from a Title I position where I co-taught math and ELA every day for the past three years. Co-teaching and collaboration was, and still is, one of my favorite parts of my job, but my new position requires a shift in thinking as I'll no longer be teaching students and instead focusing on teachers. This shift has to happen not only on my part, but also my colleagues, all of whom have seen my work as a teacher, and now are experiencing my change from teacher to coach. Over the summer I searched for Instructional Coaching resources, and found several menus that were in line what I hoped to convey to our staff. In the end, I found two that I really liked, took parts of those, and added some of my own information as well. Ultimately, I am pleased with the menu, and look forward to sharing it with staff over the next few days.
1 Comment

Instructional Coaching/PLC Website

8/11/2014

0 Comments

 

Introducing MVPLC

One of my main goals this summer was to develop a website I can use in my new position as an Instructional Coach. I still plan to use this website for my lesson resources, blog, and presentations, and hope to tweak the organization of it later this year. The MVPLC website was to be a place for my building staff and district colleagues to locate curriculum information, Instructional Coaching resources, as well as our professional development topics and documents. MVPLC is a fluid website, and will be added to throughout the year. I look forward to sharing this website with staff later this week.
Picture
0 Comments
Forward>>

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All
    App
    Augmented Reality
    BeeBots
    Bloxels
    Book Creator
    Book Recommendation
    Book Review
    Book Talks
    Breakout Edu
    Close Reading
    Coach's Corner
    Code
    Coding
    Conference
    Course Work
    Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
    Dash Robot
    EBook
    ELA
    Elementary
    Fifth Grade
    First Grade
    FlipSnack
    Formative Assessment
    Fourth Grade
    Functional Writing
    Google Classroom
    Google Expeditions
    Google Hangouts
    Google Lit Trip
    Graduate Coursework
    Grant Funding
    Grants
    Grip Robot
    Growth Mindset
    Holidays
    Hour Of Code
    IBooks Author
    Instructional Coach
    International Literacy Association
    International Reading Association
    IPad
    ITEC
    Kindergarten
    Kindness
    Leadership
    Learning Hunt
    Literacy
    Literacy Breakout Edu
    LucidPress
    Math
    Merge Cube
    Mindset
    MiP Robot
    Model Lessons
    MTSS
    Multicultural
    Multicultural Children's Book Day
    Mystery Skype
    Nearpod
    Number Sense
    Number Talks
    Ollie Robot
    Olympics
    Ozobot
    Padlet
    PBIS
    Personalized PD
    PhD Program
    Picture Book
    PixelPress
    PLC
    PLCs
    Popplet
    PowToons
    Professional Development
    Professional Learning
    Professional Learning Communities
    Publications
    Reading
    ReadingToday Online
    ReadWriteThink
    Reciprocal Teaching
    Reflecting
    RL.1
    R.L. 1.2
    RL.2
    RL.3
    Robots
    Science
    Similes And Metaphors
    Skype
    Skype In The Classroom
    Social Justice
    Social Studies
    Special Education
    Speech To Text
    STEM
    Story Retell
    Student Writing
    Teaching
    Teaching Standards
    Tech In Focus
    Technology
    Tech Tidbit
    ThingLink
    Third Grade
    Timeline Generator
    TLAP
    Video Game Creation
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Lucas Hayas, Brett Jordan