As a teacher I loved the hot days in late July when I'd return to duty to set up my classroom. The book bins would be just so. The desks set up in groups. The daily schedule carefully penned next to the board.
Then I became a literacy coach. Instead of setting up my own classroom, I started wandering aimlessly around the school offering my services, "Would you like help moving desks?" "Need help organizing book bins?"
The hardest part was the first day of school. I observed as the teachers carried their class lists out to the blacktop to meet their new charges. Children with their new school clothes and backpacks were lined up and ready to love their new teacher. Hugs were shared, welcomes given, they marched into their classrooms; and there I stood. It was too early to start “coaching” and I didn’t really know what that meant anyway. I couldn’t hang out in the front office or everybody would know that I didn’t have anything to do. What should I do?
Since coaching depends on relationships, what might you do in the first days of school to get coaching off on the right foot? Please share some things you have tried or ideas that you might try? What has worked? What questions do you have?
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I have felt that same way on the first day of school. I usually spend at least part of the day visiting each classroom I will be working with. During these visits I introduce myself and let students know that I will be part of their class and will help them become better readers. I also try to find time to read with at least a few of the students that are flagged as needing extra reading help and take notes on what I notice. The other part of the day I spend working with data and testing new students.
I buy lots of school supplies - 1 cent crayon boxes, 5 cent writing notebooks, etc. I get tons to supplement what my teachers already get. I even bought 50 of the $1.00 pocket charts. As the year progresses I pass these out to kids who need them, give them out as prizes, and make sure that the teachers who attend meetings get stuff they need for their rooms. If I train writing journals, I give away a class set. If I suggest a writing center, I give one away as a prize. It works. What helps is collecting all the stuff during summer back to school sales.
These are great ideas!
I've found that early in the school year is a time to be very attentive to building relationships with teachers, students, and parents.
When it comes to building relationships with teachers, the first weeks of the school year are what I think of as the "era of opportunity". If I'm lucky, I haven't said the wrong thing, come on too strong, or offended anyone. At the same time, I have let teachers know my role as a coach and have inspired their confidence to collaborate with me.
Some things I like to do in the first weeks of schools are:
1- Create and hand out personalized journals for teachers. This sends the message that reflection is something we do on a regular basis.
2- Introduce myself to students and explain my role as a coach as the teacher listens in. This reinforces why I'm there makes my role more public by bringing students into the conversation.
3- Draft and share a letter with teachers that includes my beliefs about literacy and coaching as well as information about several ways teachers can participate.
Some things I avoid in the first weeks of school are:
1- Spending time creating resource binders for teachers. It’s easy to get sucked into a binder mentality for teachers. Rather than doing the work for teachers, I like to carefully plan a process for teachers to create their own knowledge over the course of the year. This includes resources, readings, and discussion of best practice and we do it together through study, discussion, and shared decision-making.
2- Expecting to teach many lessons. Other than introducing myself or maybe doing a read aloud, I recognize that at this point in the year, teachers are focused on building community in their classrooms. If they need help with ideas and strategies, I’m there, but I don’t want to come on too strong and impact the community since I won’t be there everyday.
3- Doing widespread observations. I don’t start the year by observing teachers unless I have been invited to do so. Again, this can be a tentative time for teachers and coaching and I’d rather focus on building trust than holding teachers accountable this soon.
One thing that I try to do often is to provide little goodies to the teachers that I work with to let them know how much I appreciate their hard work and dedication. This year during the first few TWDs when teachers are feeling stressed and overloaded with preparations and meetings I am going to use the following idea that I found while surfing the web called M&M Pills for Teachers.
***** M&M Pills for Teachers******
Eat a brown M&M to temporarily calm your craving for chocolate.
Eat a red M&M at the first sign of meeting overload.
Eat an Orange M&M to minimize mental block during long range planning.
Eat a Green M&M to calm your frustrations while arranging your classroom.
Eat a yellow M&M if you feel a headache coming on while doing lesson plans.
Eat a Blue M&M to reduce bulletin board fatigue.
Directions: Take as needed. If all symptoms occur at the same time eat the whole bag.
Warning: May cause weight gain.
I plan on typing up the directions and attaching them to a bag of M&Ms. I will make an effort to hand deliver each bag to the teachers as they are working in their rooms in order to have face-to-face contact and to check to see if I can be of assistance in anyway as they prepare for the fist few days of school.
How cute! Those little kindnesses really do matter.
I love the M&M idea as well as the give away stuff to pass out as prizes.
For a beginning of the year gift, I'm making note cards for my teachers. I have some cute clip art, and I'm planning on putting each teacher's name at the top. At the bottom, they'll have a reading or writing quote. They'll be printed 4 to a page on cardstock and then cut so they fit inside invitation envelopes. I decided any teacher can use note cards, so it will be cute and practical.
Our coaches attended a workshop today, and the presenter shared a book called "Write On! A Guide for Babies of All Ages" that several of us are planning to use as a read-aloud to our staff members. It's a perfect analogy to being a new coach . . . crawling, pulling up, trying to walk, falling, and finally running.
I'm going to be in the same district but different building. The "worry" that is rattling around in my head is how to balance my love for what we do with meeting people where they are and moving forward at a pace they are comfortable with. I absolutely love the units of study, and I know I have to not let my passion turn off people who might not be as enthusiastic.
As a first-year coach, I've been asking myself that very same question! Thank you for some very helpful ideas. As our school will have several brand new teachers, I plan to be available to help calm their first-day jitters. Building relationships without coming on too strong will be a goal.
As a first-year coach, I am very eager to join this blog and learn from everyone. Now that it is August, I am asking myself that question, "What should I be doing?" I've spent the summer re-reading Diane's book, and reviewing the notes from her workshop.
I know that I'll be feeling very out of place during that first day of school when teachers are picking up students, but I thought I would try to be available to some of the very new teachers and calm their first day jitters. Building relationships without coming on too strong will be a goal.
Well, it's been two weeks. I've gone from sitting alone in my classroom, listening to the kids in the rooms surrounding me and wondering what I was thinking last May when I moved over to the dark side. Then in walks the principal, and, being the professional I am, I burst into tears! Now, I barely have time to breathe, and I know why I made the move! But, I still don't really know what I'm doing!
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