February 16, 2016: Chapter 3

Summary and Thoughts / Connections for Chapter 3:  

- A reading coach can take on various roles. With all teachers I work with, try to check in with them monthly to see how things are going: keep open communication.
  * Facilitator: If things are going well this will be the likely role.
  * Collaborative Problem Solver: This role will be used if a teacher identifies a concern about a student or group of students. 
  * Teacher/Learner: I would use this role if I found a lot of teachers seem to share the same concern. I would probably need to think about professional development here. Discussing with principals about these needs and student performance data will help steer the potential for needed professional development. 

Entry 
- What is my definition of a Reading Coach?
- Outline the tasks that I CAN do and tasks that I CANNOT do. (This will make it clear for teachers to know what I can help with.) Without ever being a reading coach, how will I know what I can/cannot do? I would hate to only list things I can do and then have something pop up that is out of my realm - only to put that on my list of "can nots" and have a teacher/student feel I'm just tossing them to the side. 

- Be sure to communicate with administration a clear description of the role of a reading coach and hold ongoing discussions about the role and expectations for performance. Ask him/her what sorts of tasks they envision me doing, if they've had previous experience working with a reading coach, etc. 

Confidentiality and Professional Ethics
- Understand the difference between coaching and supervision. Supervision is about making evaluative decisions on staff. Coaching has a focus on students; it has nothing to do with judging or evaluating teachers. (I think if teachers understood this, they would be more inclined to have a coach in their classrooms. Maybe.)
- Coaches must be invited by the teacher to observe the class. Principals can come by unannounced to observe as needed. If a teacher does not want a coach in his/her classroom, then the coach cannot go -it's that easy. 
- If I experience a teacher who is consistently providing poor or no instruction, making hurtful/derogatory statements about a student, or showing physically inappropriate behavior toward students, am I allowed to say anything to administration? I understand that there is a confidentiality piece with coaching, but if I must keep the students' best interests in mind, and I feel what is happening isn't what is best for them, how would I handle that situation?

Building a Caseload
- Begin with novice teachers. They're more likely willing to have others in their classrooms to assist, offer suggestions and feedback, model, etc. 
- Difficult to work with teachers. These teachers may feel that a classroom problem isn't their fault - but a student(s) fault. I KNOW there is at least one teacher in my building who is like this. She is more than willing to accept help, but it has to be on her terms, and she treats the help like a consulting friend. If a coach were to be in her classroom, how would one go about offering suggestions to her, about what she could do differently for the student -when all she has done in the past is complain about the kid because her usual 'tricks' and 'tools' didn't work? (This is one of my bigger fears as a future coach. Working with a teacher who just wants to pass a student on to someone else.)

Drum up Business
- Advertise: Don't just announce at a staff meeting about what you're doing, and able to do. Post signs around school (staff lounge, office, email, etc.). Provide a list of tasks and services I can do in addition to a schedule (when, where, and how a teacher can reach me). 
- Start small: Working with a willing colleague will not only be a nice way to start the coaching experience, it will also be a safe place to start before dealing with difficult teachers or situations. 
- Give credit to others. Coaching is a collaborative effort between the coach and teacher. Coaches aren't filled with a magic bag of tricks, it is the knowledge of the coach and teacher working together to make progress with students happen. 
- Don't separate roles: Engage in tasks and responsibilities that teachers do - as a way for them to see me as 'one of them'. If they start to see me as someone with an administrator role, they will probably be less likely to have me in their classroom, considering they already having principals observing them, etc. 

** Open and honest dialogue among all participants greatly facilitates the development of this new professional role. 

Choice Article: 

Promises and Cautions Regarding Using Response to Intervention With English Language Learners

ARTICLE in LEARNING DISABILITY QUARTERLY 30(3):213-218 · JULY 2007 with 12 READS

Impact Factor: 0.77 · DOI: 10.2307/30035565

Brief Highlights of the Article and connections/thoughts:

- This article references the IDEA. With new ELL laws set in place in the past couple of years, I wonder if this has changed much.

- Regardless of the native language ELLs have, they are mostly instructed in English-only classrooms. This itself may cause students to struggle more than their non-ELL peers. This doesn't meant that ELLs don't know the content, but they certainly aren't understanding what is being taught to them, because they do not know the language. 

- Explicit teaching, whether it's phonological awareness, decoding, or letter-sound relationships, can be taught to both ELLs and non-ELLs. 

- When ELLs are in the early primary grades (PreK-2), they often do okay with their peers -as teachers are doing explicit teaching for everyone. The later, in age, ELLs start school, the harder it will be for them to make up the 'lost time' of explicit instruction. It seems that in middle school, teachers spend less time teaching explicitly -compared to their elementary counterparts. Perhaps this is why we see more ELL Classes offered at secondary schools, where in elementary schools, ELLs are simply pulled for 30-45 minutes every couple of days a week. 

- Even if a school is familiar with RTI, is this something a reading coach could assist a teacher with? Could the coach provide suggestions that follow the RTI model for a teacher, even if the school didn't have training or expectations on RTI?