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Teaching is demanding, and questions arise throughout the day, every day. Improving teaching practice is best with a thinking partner—which might be you—but you can’t be in every teacher’s class all the time. So, how can you offer instructional coaching when your teachers need it (without overworking yourself)? One strategy is to set up an asynchronous coaching option.
Why? A meta-analysis found that instructional coaching had a greater impact on instruction than many interventions including teacher pre-service training, merit-based pay, general professional development, and extended learning time. They found instructional coaching has a greater impact on student achievement than “the degree to which teachers improve their ability to raise student achievement during the first five to ten years of their careers.” While resources can be a constraint to providing teachers with an instructional coach, the authors suggest virtual coaching as an option, given the “lack of any statistically significant differences in effect sizes between in-person and virtual coaching,” (Kraft, Blazar, & Hogan, 2018). How might I set this up? Step 1: Pick a platform. Slack is the one my co-coach Kara and I like and chose for our EduBoost coaching service, but teachers may be more familiar with a platform your school uses such as Microsoft Teams or Google Chat/Google Classroom. Consider accessibility and modality features such as the ability to type a message or leave a voice note. You may also consider whether the ability for teachers to access the platform via an app on their phone is important or relevant for your community. Step 2: Establish expectations. What can teachers expect from you with regard to response time? (e.g., You will get a response within 24 hours or by the end of the school day.) What types of questions are best for asynchronous coaching? Perhaps feedback on a worksheet they developed or a suggestion for a “text” to use in an upcoming lesson are great for this platform, but you would rather do a live class visit for a teacher working on improving their student-led discussions. Step 3: Build an FAQ space. You might create a simple Google Doc with common questions or categories of questions and your response(s) to those questions. If teachers look at the FAQ first, this will save you time answering the same questions and give the teacher an answer faster. If the teacher asks you a question that’s on the FAQ doc, you save time by copy and pasting your response. Step 4: Decide if you want to offer “leveled up” options. I love creating Loom videos for teachers to give in-depth feedback. Is this something you’d want to offer to teachers? Consider whether it would be fun for you and how much time it would take you (versus hopping on a Zoom call or visiting the teacher in person). Hopping on a quick Zoom call (e.g., 5-10 minutes) may also be an option you want to offer. Perhaps you only offer this during pre-determined “office hours.” Or you may want to stick to the messaging format. Step 5: Do a small pilot. Invite a handful of teachers who are really excited about this idea. Test what works and doesn’t, getting feedback from teacher participants. Also evaluate your capacity and adjust any boundaries or promises for response time that may not be feasible. Final Tip If you have a district-wide coach traveling to multiple schools, in addition to setting up an asynchronous coaching option, you may also consider recommending the coach meet with teachers virtually to reduce travel time and the associated stresses of travel as well as increase professional learning time for teachers. To help you implement effective coaching structures in your community, I’m sharing my Coaching Call Template with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 156 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
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Time for Teachership is now a proud member of the...AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
January 2024
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