Last week, the Cabell County Instructional Coaches were busy doing beginning of the year staff development, which was a great opportunity to meet a lot of nice people employed in the school system. While many people were familiar with the concept, I was asked more than once, “…exactly what IS an Instructional Coach?”
Let me begin my answer with a quote from another educator: “Quick fixes never last, and teachers resent them. They resent going to inservices where someone is going to tell them what to do but not help them follow up. Teachers want someone who’s going to be there, who’s going to help them for the duration, not a fly-by-night program that’s here today, gone tomorrow.” – Lynne Barnes, Pathways to Success instructional coach
I don’t think that any teacher would disagree with that statement. I certainly don’t. That is why I was so pleased to discover that Cabell County was following the example of other successful school districts by instituting ICs. This is not a new program, but a tried and true initiative designed to provide support to classroom teachers who are interested in using particular strategies that they were introduced to in staff development.
A problem with workshops in general is that they are usually short, information-packed, and there is not time for a lot of Q and A. Instructional Coaches are trained in numerous strategies, and then are able to act as resource people for classroom teachers, at the teacher’s discretion. This helps to alleviate the problem of “hit-or-miss” follow-up to professional development, and ensures that a greater number of students will benefit from best practice teaching. ICs are particularly helpful to new teachers, or teachers who are new to a county mandated initiative.
Instructional Coaches meet with departments or teams, and/or meet with individual teachers, to work on real content. They may actually design lessons or units, provide resource materials, and may also model or co-teach the use of particular strategies right in the classroom. Instructional Coaches can also provide school-wide or individual professional development on strategies which the school wishes to emphasize.
The idea is to give teachers some breathing room, because they know that there is a partner there to support them in implementing state and county initiatives. This makes for more efficient use of the classroom teacher’s time, and ensures that students get the very best in research-supported instructional strategies.
Cabell County has ICs dedicated to both elementary and secondary schools, each with particular areas of expertise, and all who are excited at the prospect of working with the talented teachers in our schools.
If you would like more information, or would like to talk one-on-one with an Instructional Coach, leave a comment on this blog, and I will make sure that you will be contacted.