Hello! What do you believe is the role of a curriculum coach and reading interventionist? How can they best serve you as a classroom teacher? How can they best build relationships with fellow teachers? I am starting this new position in the fall and want to hear from classroom teachers, not just administration, as to how I can assist them. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I'm a little nervous about this change in position, especially considering my young age. ( middle twenties) Thanks!!
In my curriculum coach I am always looking for new ideas. I also want feedback about my classroom (positive and negative). I am always looking to improve myself in my classroom. I also would like my curriculum coach to take a specific amount of time on specific day(s) to work with my students.
At my school, we had a great example and a horrible example. Our wonderful coach was very helpful. She did demo lessons, observations, feedback, resources, and an ear when we needed it. She was amazing!!! Good luck
Thanks for all of your feedback and the valuable website. I was planning on creating a weekly sign up sheet for teachers to optionally use. During their "time" I could assist them by working one on one or in small groups with students, team teaching, and so forth. Do you think that would work? I was also hoping to assist them with Dibels testing too.
When assisting with testing, I have found teachers I work with still want to administer the assessment themselves and are grateful for me to cover their classroom while they do that. I also found that this allowed me a way to work with teachers who are a little more reluctant to reach out to an instructional coach. I would talk with them afterwards and say something about noticing students were struggling with x and had they noticed the same thing. I would then ask if they would be willing to work with me to help me improve my instruction on that topic. I have never had a teacher turn me down. A sign-up list is a nice place to start, but I always felt that part of my role as an instructional specialist was to find a way to get everyone to work together, and that starts with all teachers learning to trust me. Some teachers are going to be really excited to work with you, and others more reluctant.
Building trust is really hard especially when you are dealing with teachers who don't want to do what's expected of them. It can sometimes put you in an awkward position because you may have to report what they are/aren't doing when administration asks.
Are you a part time interventionist and part time coach. Does your job responsibility include observing teachers and providing feedback? At my schools where I coached, it was a requirement that I worked with all teachers, not just the ones that wanted it. I would set up a weekly meeting time with your P so you can go over this stuff. How your Principal supports you can make or break your job. Best of luck to you!
