Two of my colleagues presented articles on Instructional Leaders. The question of "Would you be comfortable with an instructional coach in your building as a first year principal?" was posed and not met with a solid answer. If our goal is to be a sound "instructional leader" then we need to put those under our watch in the best situation to succeed instructionally. A horrible example of a building leader is someone who claims to have all the answers and does not accept any answers from anywhere else. It is well documented that it is impossible for a building leader to be an expert in all content areas, nor should we be expected to with all the job entails. However, it is our duty to empower our staff to grow as individual instructors to continually raise student achievement. I feel enlisting instructional coaches to do the dirty work that we may either not be an expert in nor have the time to do as well as a coach could do. I do not hope to be a good leader by having all of the answers, but more so knowing when and how to make a decision that will lead me to the right answers. That may be hiring somebody to make me look good- i.e. a kickass instructional coach. A key aspect of an instructional coach that I see tremendous value in is that a coach is viewed as a peer to the teachers under their watch. Staff are less inclined to feel threatened or feel that a critique is evaluatory and not about growth as an individual. That also raises the question that all administrators should strive to make any formal observation feel less like an exercise in nitpicking whether somebody has a clean desk, I can statements posted, or can write a 25 page lesson plan and more so is what they are doing in the classroom effective and engaging and if not, how can we come up with a plan to better help this individual improve their practice? I remember being a first year teacher and being terrified of the evaluation process. Meaningful growth is not going to occur if a teacher is terrified of the process. Finding ways to allow teachers to take ownership of their evaluations and having it become a process more about growth as opposed to an exercise in scaring the crap out of your staff and putting undue duress on them is a goal of mine as a future instructional leader. A lot of that can stem from the types of relationships you build with your staff and the amount of meaningful feedback a teacher receives. An honest, but meaningful critique goes a long way. Take the following 2 scenarios and decide which one is more beneficial for all involved: Teacher A receives a follow up
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AuthorRyan Huels is a 1st Grade teacher in Northern Illinois. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Ryan places an emphasis on being a connected educator eager to put the needs of all students first! Archives
October 2015
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