Better Together

Teachers know there is strength in numbers.  Collectively, we bring more to the table than we do independently.  Today I had the spectacular opportunity to witness a team of first grade teachers, reading teachers, an instructional coach, building administrator, AEA staff, and an MTSS program leader collaborate unlike any team I've seen before.  

MTSS program leader, Lisa Drinkall(center) works with teachers at a recent meeting.

The room was filled with intention, expertise, and sincerity as these educators worked on reviewing screeners and diagnostic assessments.  The second layer of their work was to organize the data from the diagnostics to make instructional decisions for intervention groups at Wilkins Elementary. 

Teachers in this meeting now have specific phonemic awareness skills instruction planned to meet the needs of students during Pride Time.

A New Twist to Model Teaching

Linn-Mar has 35 model teachers for staff to visit, observe, and discuss teaching, instructional strategies, and classroom management.  Most teachers go into a model teacher’s room for an observation.  This year we’ve had some model teachers offer a new twist to the term “model.”

Jen Canby, 5^th grade teacher at Westfield Elementary, has had the opportunity to go out into other classrooms in the district and model writing and the use of on-line spelling.

Jen has welcomed several folks into her classroom this fall.  When the question came, “Can you come to my room and model so I can see how it works with my students?”  Jen didn’t hesitate.  She found some classroom coverage, packed her teacher suitcase, and traveled to other Linn-Mar buildings.

“Sometimes beginning a new task needs extra hands,” said Jen.   “For example, not only have I helped teachers set up an online spelling program, but I have attended the launch to ensure that the kinks have been worked out with students.  I’m willing to travel.”

Jen is also trained on the Mixtures Science Kit.  Some teachers have already visited Jen to see her teach the new curriculum.  As other fifth grade teachers get those kits in, they may consider having Jen come model a lesson from the curriculum with their students.  

As teachers make plans to complete their model teacher visits this year, it’s nice to have several options for them to consider.  Don’t feel like traveling buildings?  Consider visiting a model teacher within your own building, or have a model teacher within your own school come to your classroom and model a teaching strategy or something specific to your needs.  The possibilities for us to learn from our colleagues are endless.

In addition to these ideas and other resources on the Model Teacher Website, we will be adding videos of our model teachers in the upcoming weeks and months.

Teaching Teachers and Students to be Successful with Technology

Technology Integration Coach, Karla Koenen, confers with Betsy Bushlack, about the
lesson they are teaching to fifth grade students.

Trying technology can be risky for classroom teachers.  One obstacle is the time to research new, different, or current trends.  Other obstacles range from having access to the right device, enough numbers of devices for class size, and a back up plan in case Internet connections fail.

Having five technology coaches across the district is one measure to lower the risks of implementing technology into classrooms at Linn-Mar Schools. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to observe a lesson modeled by Karla Koenen, elementary technology coach.  She modeled in Betsy Bushlack’s fifth grade classroom at Indian Creek Elementary.   The lesson centered on students exploring the app Shadow Puppet Edu and how to pair their work in this app with their use of Seesaw in the classroom.

Students were given instruction on how to take the best kind of photos to document work and what kinds of things they should be posting for parents, students, and teachers to view and comment on.  Students learned about "WOW" work.  

Wow! This is my best work!

Wow! I figured something out!

Wow! I did something for the first time!

Wow! I need to teach you this!

___________________

Students were able to navigate their devices, and the apps independently.  It was evident the classroom teacher and the technology coach provided extensive learning, and development of these skills with the students in advance of this lesson.  Students were competent with the technology hardware and software in their hands.

After some exploration time, students then compared the use of this app with their Seesaw accounts.  The discussion was rich.  Students discovered that Shadow Puppet Edu would allow them to post multiple pages to their Seesaw accounts.  This would allow them to document work and learning with ease for teacher and parent viewing.

Karla Koenen explains the goals of the technology lesson.

This lesson was productive and successful.  Yet, I want to share one very important observation, having the technology integration coach in the room did not ensure that technology would work perfectly.  There were a couple minutes where technology would not connect for the coach.  She remained calmed, troubleshooted and discussed with the kids what was happening. Everyone remained calm and things progressed nicely.  There was evidence that students had learned some procedures and protocols of what to do when things were not working.  Again the teacher and coach prepared them with the skillset prior to this lesson so students had competent skills to be successful

Teachers, students, coaches, and all staff can use technology with students. The benefits outweigh the risks, and success is possible.  

The Power of a Coaching Cycle: What’s the Impact on Teachers and Students?

As Linn-Mar Schools work to refine our coaching skills during year three of our TLC Program, there is one looming question on everyone’s mind:  What’s the impact?

Finding a test score to give us the exact number or data to answer this question is nearly impossible.  Instead we’ve hit the pavement and gathered our information the old fashioned way:  We talked to people and asked them directly how coaching is impacting the work they do in the classroom as teachers, and how the changes they are implementing from coaching conversations are impacting students.

Here's what teachers, coaches, and students say about Coaching Cycles:

“After I looked at my data I wanted to dismiss some of my students who performed low and never exhibited effort or initiative.  After reflecting with my instructional coach, I began to think differently about the needs of those students.  Data collection and cognitive coaching questions created a shift in my thinking about my teaching practice to better meet the needs of my students."

                                                                                               ~Teacher

"When the Technology Integration Coach visits my classroom, they show my teacher new ways to learn about subjects.  They watch my teacher and show her how to use technology to make school fun."

                                                                                                               ~ Elementary Student

“Coaching conversations have helped shift my thinking to see that what I might have considered the best plan of action before, wasn’t meeting the needs of all my students.  Success for most does not mean success for all.  I’m learning to differentiate and dig deeper than I ever have before as a teacher.”

                                                                                              ~Teacher

“Recently, I went into a reflective coaching conversation after a classroom observation. I went into the situation assuming that we'd reflect on the lesson, how the co-teachers thought it went, and what to celebrate or do differently, etc.  None of that happened. They discovered that their ability to be vulnerable, do something different, and still hit content made for a rich learning environment and real connections with their students. It also opened up doors they didn't even know were closed with many students. There was engagement, thoughtful discussion, and an openness that surprised both teachers. This has become my favorite part of coaching, and to me, it's most wonderful aspect. You can plan to go down a certain path, but often it goes to places you never thought it could.”

                                                                                             ~Instructional Coach

"Coaching cycles are some of the best professional development available to teachers.  The process allows the teacher time to reflect with a purpose and enables the teacher to deeply connect to their craft.  Often the result of a coaching cycle is not only a profound understanding of students and their thinking but also the desire to set up another coaching cycle!"

~Teacher

“I can see a difference in my teacher.  She tells us what she is learning from the coaches.  I like knowing that my teacher is a life long learner who values reflection.”

~Secondary Student

As we continue to build capacity at Linn-Mar with our teacher leadership program, we celebrate the changes our teachers are making to teaching practice and instruction to impact and influence student outcomes.  By focusing on helping individuals be self-directed, we increase their capability to think differently and problem solve.  The only way to increase this capability is through coaching, not telling.  

The University of Georgia research says that when we don’t coach, but rather only offer up consulting or suggestions to our colleagues, three things can happen:

            1.  57% will do NOTHING to change practice

            2.  25% will take the suggestions

            3.  18 % will do the OPPOSITE of what was suggested

Building capacity takes time.  It's the beginning of our third year, and we attribute much of our success to Cognitive Coaching training. 

The mission of Cognitive Coaching^SM:

“…is to produce self-directed persons with the cognitive capacity for excellence both independently and as members of a community.”

Cognitive Coaching doesn't add one more thing to the plate for teachers to do. Instead CC organizes things so teachers can arrange their plate to make instruction more appetizing in order to effectively meet students' needs. Cognitive Coaching has become the base of our work.  We can utilize coaching to implement and work on all other initiatives in our district. 

Check back for more stories on how our coaching is helping teachers think differently to affect student learning.  For more information on Cognitive Coaching click here.

Taking Stock: Year 3 of Teacher Leadership

At Linn-Mar we are about to embark on our third year of implementation of Teacher Leadership.  The process of  has been never ending.  Each week, focusing on training coaches, each month reviewing what works well, or what needs tweaking.  Also, meeting quarterly with our larger stakeholder’s group and gathering input and various opinions, views, and ideas.  We’ve conducted surveys, we’ve asked the people in the roles, how to make things better.  We’ve studied the successful pieces of implementation, and learned from the bumps in the road.  We’ve increased positions such as model teachers, PLC facilitators, and PBIS, and MTSS leaders to meet the needs of our growing district and expanding programs.

Thanks to our study, reflection, and refinement we are off and running in an organized, thoughtful, and impactful direction.  It’s hard to believe we are finally standing here at the gates of year three. 

As we look back at how far we have come and how fast we had to rise to the challenge, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  I’m in awe of all the school districts that shared and collaborated with us.  I’m in awe of the support staff that the state of Iowa provided us to help us work on our grant application.  Without our AEA staff, Department of Education webinars, and state sponsored meetings, we might not have survived the grant writing process.  I am in awe of the teachers who willingly applied for jobs they had no idea what they might look like yet.  I’m in awe of the staff members who said they would coach and work with us first. 

It is a credit to the coaches, classroom teacher leaders, teaching staff, and administrators for work with us and along side of us to build the structure of teacher leadership from the ground up.  We are always looking back at the grant application, ever mindful of adhering to the goals, training, learning, implementation, and assessments that we said we would do. And We. Have.

Linn-Mar’s TLC Goals:

1.  We will attract and retain new teachers by providing ongoing professional development, classroom support and a comprehensive mentoring program for first and second year teachers.

2.  We will provide increased opportunities for collaboration between teachers.

3.  We will increase professional development and leadership opportunities for staff.

4.  We will measure the impact of student achievement and the effectiveness of the TLC plan by using district and state assessment data, stakeholder surveys, PBIS data, and feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators.

      

      

       After two years, we can breath without oxygen tanks, and we can sleep a full night. The plane is built, it is fully fueled and we no longer worry about losing an engine.  Might there still be storms ahead?  Of course, but we are better equipped as a teacher leadership team to confront stormy weather. 

   

       At Linn-Mar we have taken a bold step into the coaching realm year three of TLC.  We are requiring all teachers to complete one full coaching cycle with a coach, and to visit a one of our thirty-four model teachers.  Erin Watts, one of Linn-Mar's program coordinators, has created a Model Teacher Website for staff to access information about model teacher visits. With over 200 model teacher visits last year, we are extremely pumped for the 500+ visits we'll have this year and the impact it will have on teaching practice and teacher collaboration.  

      Check back in to see our updates and progress on 500+ coaching cycles and model teacher visits.  We can’t wait to share how it is going.