Coaching Beliefs

After being hired I read a lot about coaching and came away with a few tenants of what I believe coaching is about (and I am looking forward to changing this list in the future):

- Coaching is about relationships. 
You aren't going to want to work with someone you don't like. You won't learn from someone you don't trust. I have the great fortune to work with and teach great people.

- Coaches should make learning and teaching visible.
Since am in and out of classrooms more than anyone else in the school, I have an opportunity to highlight what is happening in the school. I am looking forward to developing this further.

- Coaches need to be visible. 
In my short time on the job so far, I have found it very beneficial to walk around in the mornings so teachers can see me. They don't always have the time to make a call or send an email to get me, but if they see me, they are more likely to grab me in the hall. Maybe the title of this section should have been "Teachers are busy - go to where they are".

- Meet teachers where they are.
Teacher A has been flipping class for years. Teacher B is having difficulty navigating Google Drive. Both need different kinds of support.

Safety Net

I sit down with a teacher to help with a digital tool, and the teacher doesn't need my help. They just needed someone to be there as a safety net.

I understand that people feel this way sometimes, and I am glad I am able to be there to help.

I wonder though how I can create a safety net for when I am not available.

---

Today was another great day where I found myself very busy and very helpful. Another question that came up for me today was: how can I better schedule appointments with teachers? I am finding it hard to cut meeting times short when we are on a roll. I need to get better at that.

First Two Weeks As a Technology Coach

The biggest regret I have from the last two weeks,  the first two weeks at a new school in a new country, was downplaying how much I like my new job.

I shouldn't say that I like it -- I love it.

Being at a new school in a new country has its own challenges. My last school was in Japan, and I completely misjudged how different the cultures were. Fortunately, I came a month before school started so I get to know the city a little bit which has made things easier.

There is a lot to learn moving to a new school. There is the faculty, which is considerably larger than my last, the school, the school culture, and general procedures.

KAS has a lot more technology in it than I have seen. It is so exciting to be at a school like this. And that is my role right there. The bridge between the technology and the teachers.

I have done some really fun things so far: being a resource collector, teaching an MYP IT class, deploy Chromebooks in the third grade, and do tech support. I believe the last one is essential to building relationships [trust] with the other teachers.

BUT, I don't want it want to fall into the role of tech support guy.

When I was hired I was asked for my general vision and a rough plan of action. The plan at the time was to start with the admin vision, move down to the departments, down to the teachers, and then cycle back to the admin.

I don't think it was a bad plan, but it is not very student centered. Not at all.

Now that I am here, I my plan is looking something like:

- build relationships
Most of my time is spent with relationship building. Just like students, teachers won't learn from someone they don't like or trust. And I get the added benefit of making friends.

- be visible and approachable
I have a strategy I call the walk, where I walk the school in the morning so any teachers having problems while setting up can grab me. I've been hitting my daily goal of 5,000 steps quite a lot recently.

- seek out early adopters
I am looking for early adopters; teachers who are not afraid to try new things and who have an ability to laugh even when lessons don't go the way the were planned.

- begin to push for more tech integration
I am not ready to start talking about tech integration yet, but I can't let this one sit for too long.

Getting Started

When I first started thinking of how I would begin with my new position as a Technology Coach, I had no idea where to begin. So I started reading whatever I could find.

The common theme that ran through all the blog posts, Tweets, videos, and articles was how being a coach was all about the relationships coaches develop with coachees. This made and makes sense.

Most people don't listen to those they don't have a good relationship with.

This goes for the student-teacher relationship, teacher-mentor relationship, teacher-administrator relationship ... all the relationships I can think of. Relationships will act as the foundation on which trust will be built.

Then I started thinking, and before relationships can be started, one must be grounded with themselves.