Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Acting as an Instructional Coach

This August marked the beginning of year 2 for me acting as Oakridge's Learn21 Specialist. AKA- Educational Technology Coach; Instructional Coach. My role includes partnering with teachers, co-teaching, researching innovative ideas, and so in, in order to incorporate more 21st century teaching at our school. Luckily, I work with an amazing group of teachers who are welcoming, inviting, and encouraging of my role.

This year on top of observing in order to fully get a read on their classroom and topics each teacher is teaching, I have begun leading "Tech Talks." Within a five-day week I choose three different times to discuss the same topic. Usually I offer a time before school, during lunch, and after school in order to hopefully accommodate each teacher's schedule. During the "Tech Talk" I spend about 15-20 minutes sharing a topic, discussing the topic with the teachers, and putting the topic into real use. For example, last during "Tech Talk" we discussed Mac Basics and shortcuts. (You can read about the shortcuts I shared with the teachers here.) The goal of the "Tech Talks" is to spend a few minutes with teachers differentiated the learning at their appropriate level. I have enjoyed these talks thus far because it gives me a chance to share ideas in a smaller setting, practice the ideas with the teachers in real time, and most importantly, bond and create a relationship with my coworkers. Acting as a coach is all about having a relationship first.

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