Supporting Literacy Coaches

A couple weeks before school started, I wrote a post about the latest version of my conferring notebook. I received an encouraging comment from a first year literacy coach named Beth. Her comment reminded me of how challenging my first few years were as a literacy coach. Let’s just say, I remember crying a lot and wondering why I thought I could do this insane job. I learned quickly that coaches often lived under a microscope. Teachers watched what I did and didn’t do both in and out of the classroom. Teachers watched if I showed up for bus duty on time. Teachers wondered if I had more planning time than they did. They noticed if I arrived for appointments on time and how well prepared I was. And teachers talked about their noticings with one another. That’s the way it was and that’s the way it still is. You cannot be a wimp and be a literacy coach.

Literacy coaching is kind of a strange job. And effective coaches need a lot of support. I’m not sure I’ve ever talked to another coach outside of my own district that had job duties identical to mine. Even among coaches in my own district, there is variation based on the needs of the students and teachers of the school we may be working in. But after eleven years of working with adult learners, the two things I know for sure is that coaching is about building relationships and coaches should never be evaluators. Coaches cannot build relationships with co-professionals if they are viewed as evaluators. I try to focus my conversations with teachers, at least initially, on their students. And it makes sense. The concept of coaching came from the idea that teachers and classroom practice have a significant impact on student achievement. If I can assist a teacher to find joy and success in their teaching, children benefit. 

A sampling of stuff currently
piled on my desk at home.

But if coaches are there to support teachers and kids, who props up the coach? Professional development and collaboration with other literacy coaches helps. But sometimes you just need someone to talk to, have coffee with, or cry with.  So, to Beth and any other first year literacy coaches out there, since I can't meet you at Starbucks or Panera and talk, here is my short list of things for you to think about as you dive over the cliff into coaching  :

·        Follow through and show up on time.

·        It is more important to present yourself as a learner than trying to act like the “expert.”

·        Spend as much time as possible living in classrooms and working with kids rather than sitting at your computer.

·        When you feel discouraged or beaten down, focus on helping children know how brilliant they are. Kids are the best medicine for an ailing literacy coach.

·        Teachers have reasons for EVERYTHING they do. Don’t make assumptions and don’t pass judgment.

·        Keep growing your own knowledge. There is ALWAYS more to learn!