As we gear up to watch the hottest part of the basketball season, contemplating sending a stellar basketball team to a tournament without their coach is unheard of, jaw-dropping, and simply inconceivable.  

In education, every day, we send our most valued players into the arena with thick playbooks, a house full of fans, and many half-time shows.  We value the fact that the greatest players in our favorite sport have someone walking alongside them – someone in their corner every step of the way – a coach.  Yet, we have long underestimated the partnership of coaching in our local classrooms.

It’s time to show educators some love…by connecting them with a literacy coach!  A literacy coach is someone to cheer you on, chat about the tried-and-true plays, walk with you through the next moves, and analyze the processes along the way. 

The Early Literacy Coaching Collaborative

In 2015, the Michigan Department of Education approved an Early Literacy Coaching Grant to empower each intermediate school district or regional education service center to provide literacy coaching services to local school districts.  In 2020, the Early Literacy Coaching Grant was expanded, and locally, that means that each district within Kent ISD is able to access a Kindergarten through 3rd grade early literacy coach.  We’re fortunate in Kent County to have so many local district literacy coaches growing their practice through statewide professional development provided by internationally recognized researchers and professors.  Locally, this group is networking to share best practices and support literacy initiatives through the Early Literacy Coaching Collaborative. 

Literacy Coaching Roles and Responsibilities

“We know that the most important changes we make in life are ones we choose for ourselves, and that we respond best to people who treat us like equals. We know that growth requires a clear picture of reality and a goal–and happens day-to-day. Most important, we know that when teachers learn more students learn more. That’s why we need instructional coaches–and a deep understanding of what coaches do,” says coaching expert, Jim Knight.¹

Working with a literacy coach requires a balanced relationship. So what are the roles of a teacher, coach and administrator?

The Teacher Role²

In any relationship, each person has a role to play. Understanding one’s role is key to creating balance and strength. According to the Institute of Educational Sciences infographic “Improving Teacher Performance through Instructional Coaching,” a teacher’s role is to:

• Identify learning goals
• Provide data
• Willingness to implement and try new practices
• Invite feedback
• Meet with the coach to reflect
• Ask questions

While literacy coaching conversations can feel like a pat on the back with one of the biggest supporters in your corner, literacy coaching, at its core, is goal-oriented. “If there’s no goal, it’s just a nice conversation,” says Jim Knight.²  What are you curious about in your classroom?  What do you wish would look different?  How might you go about changing that?  A literacy coach poses questions to prompt your thinking.  They are not there to be the expert, rather they can serve as a partner and guide thinking.  

The Coach Role²

First and foremost, a literacy coach is a colleague, someone who will connect teacher-to-teacher.   Think of it as a partnership between two people who want to further the learning of the students in the classroom – a thought partner, perhaps.  The literacy coach role is to empower the classroom teacher to be reflective in their own classroom.  Other roles a literacy coach plays include:

• Listen and ask questions
• Gather and analyze data with teachers to create goals
• Find resources
• Provide feedback
• Walk alongside teachers
• Serve as a thought-partner

Having someone to walk alongside a teacher in the classroom is an unprecedented opportunity to see what is happening in the classroom through a new lens.  Many educators have never had the opportunity to see their teaching in action – as an observer of their own actions. 

The teacher-coach partnership in action

Many educators were asked to record a demonstration lesson in college.  Sports players watch hundreds of videos of their practice and game plays.  Could your practice benefit from the same exercise?

A literacy coach can be a mirror or a window.  You can start by asking your literacy coach for an observation with a specific focus – “I’m interested in learning more about my use of questions during my literacy block.  Will you record all the questions I pose during this twenty minute time so that I can reflect on them?”  In this way, the literacy coach is there to capture and reflect all that is happening related to your request in a non-judgmental way – mirroring back reality.  Perhaps the lens a teacher wants this week is a window into writing instruction, vocabulary, or student engagement.

The Administrator Role²

While the partnership is very important between the teacher and the coach, we would be remiss not to mention another integral part of this team. The role of the administrator is another key to a successful partnership between the teacher and the coach. The administrator will provide leadership, climate, and support to improve instruction. The role of the administrator includes:

• Creating a coaching culture for the school or district
• Ensuring that policies and systems are in place to support data-driven conversations
• Finding ways to build interpersonal relationships of trust between teachers, leaders, and coaches to improve instruction

It is very important that administrators honor the coaching relationship. Coaches need to be provided time and space to facilitate the learning. The tone that the administrator sets should make the coach feel valued and encourage teachers to reach out.

On the Job Professional Learning

A literacy coach can provide the on-the-job professional learning we’ve always craved in education!   While day-long professional development conferences can be enlightening, we recognize the transfer of learning into classroom settings in the days, weeks, and months that follow is minimal – research says the rate is about 10%.  The professional learning rate of transfer from a coaching cycle to classroom instruction is 95%.³  When we take action, through the implementation of best practices, our classrooms thrive! Real learning happens in real life.

Want to learn more about the Early Literacy Coaching Collaborative? Connect with Sarah Shoemaker.

1. Knight, Jim. “The Learning Zone _ Hey Instructional Coach, What Do You do_ – Ascd.pdf.” Google Drive, Google, 8 Oct. 2021, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oie79naPmyZWGyLjt8bJgD73PTnUJi9E/view.
2. Improving Teacher Performance Through Instructional Coaching- Infographic. Institute of Educational Sciences, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/infographics/pdf/REL_PA_Improving_Teacher_Performance_Through_Instructional_Coaching.pdf.
3. Cornett, Jake, and Jim Knight. “Research on Coaching.” Resources, Corwin, 15 July 2008.

#Literacy #Coaching #WeLeadLearning #KentISDpd

This blog post was written by Sarah Shoemaker, Early Literacy Consultant for Kent ISD and edited by Amanda Walma, Professional Learning Coordinator and Sara Sefcik, PD Hub Intern at Kent ISD.