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| Symon Sanborn and Beth Hayes collaborate at a recent teacher leader PLC meeting. |
When I
was approached with the idea of being an Instructional Coach, I was a bit
caught off guard. I’d been a behavior specialist and teacher for 8 years at
Echo Hill Elementary School and truly loved my job. The thought of not working
one on one with students in the behavior program and the amazing teachers there
saddened me, but my principal put it in these words, “As an Instructional
Coach, you’re going to be able to share all of your knowledge about behaviors with
other teachers and make a larger impact.” With those words of encouragement,
that led me to apply and thankfully become an Instructional Coach for the 2016
school year. What I’ve learned is that teachers have the best ideas and
approaches to the success of their students, coaching allows us to work
together to pull those ideas to the surface.
Special
Education is a very different area of education and at the same time it isn’t.
For anyone in the teaching arena, student achievement is our focus. Whether
you’re a general education teacher or a special education teacher the goal is
always the same, making sure students have everything they need to be
successful. Having worked with students who have Level 2-3 behaviors, you’re
adding another level of support, while still driving for their success and
achievement. The philosophy I’ve always approached these students with has been
to have them be with their peers in a general education classroom, while we
give them a leg up or two with how to deal with stresses of daily life. Their
ability to understand and recognize when times are hard and know how to cope
and deal with these stresses can reflect directly on their success.
Having
had the opportunity to observe almost every teacher in special education at
Linn-Mar, I’m amazed at the level of expertise, passion, and drive these
teachers have. To manage student’s academics, manage their behaviors, manage
associates in their programs, and still communicate with general education
teaches can be quite a handful. They all do this with smiles on their faces and
it’s inspiring to know we have people like this in our district. One of the awesome things that my role as an
Instructional Coach has allowed me is being able to step back and see the small
gaps between programs, between levels in buildings, and between teachers. This
is where our cognitive coaching has really opened my eyes to how we can help as
coaches, tapping into a teachers knowledge and how finding solutions really is
just us going on a journey of discovery together.
I’ve also
spent a good amount of time in general education classrooms in our district to
see how teachers are using their classroom management to help support, not only
the behavior focused students in their classrooms, but their general education
students. These management tools can reach across all areas of education and
have an impact in other classrooms. Opportunities have also presented
themselves where I get to go back into a teaching role and model social skills
and academic lessons for students in the behavior programs. I revel in the
chance to get back in front of students and model these lessons for teachers. I
think helping students learn to cope with the world we find ourselves in is
very important.
We’ve all
heard it before that teaching is a passion. We don’t go into it for a big
paycheck or notoriety. Having looked at things from, “this side of the desk,” I
feel like I’ve been given a gift to have had a chance to observe amazing
teachers, understand all that goes into helping all students, and be able to
coach teachers in finding the best ways to support students. The teachers of
our district have that passion and enjoy the big “paycheck” of the success of
their students.
To contact Symon click here or call 319-892-4871
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