Focus On ONE Skill At A Time And Become A Highly Effective Teacher

Once a coach breaks down all of the skills; selecting which skill teachers will need first to improve their practice can be a challenge. Instructional coaches have to select one skill that their teacher needs and break it down to its simplest form. Once this is done, then we can think about how to model this skill for our teachers, script directions, and have them apply it in their next lesson. This can be a challenge for some coaches; because many teachers have multiple skills they need to work on. By isolating each skill and focusing on improving that single skill, the teacher will be able to improve their overall teaching methods in record time.

 Everyone Needs a Coach to Practice and Perfect their Skills

Coaches are valuable because they can identify areas of growth. If a teacher were to practice all of their skills at once, they would see improvement in their skills, but they wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly where they are improving, what they are not improving, and why they are or are not improving (Canfield, 2022). Consistency and repetition are the keys when it comes to selecting one skill and practicing it in different contexts. Once the practice is written, explained, demonstrated, and modeled teachers can practice the skill over a 6-hour day and a 2-week period. Once the coach and the teacher understand how the skill is demonstrated over time having a coach observe their lessons the teacher will build a habit.

Coaching is so Important!

It Doesn’t Take 10 Years to be a Highly Effective Teacher

There is a widely believed rule in the teaching world and it says that teachers cannot improve without 10 years of consistent teaching practice. However, this has been proven to be inaccurate. It should not take anyone 10 years to improve upon a skill. At Educational Innovation 360; with ongoing professional development we are able to move a teacher from novice to highly effective in 18-months with skill practice, role-play, and specific modeling of the teacher’s next step.

 The Four-Step Practice Process

The best way for a teacher to practice any of the skills that they are isolating is to follow a four-step process.

 1. First we like to Begin with the End in Mind: What is our goal; how are we going to assess the skill and what rubric are we going to use to make sure important things are included.

2. Coaches and teachers must have a picture in their mind of what their skill should look like when they are finally finished practicing it.

3. The next step is to formulate a plan of practice and how they plan to practice that skill. This may involve a written script of procedures; a model of the lesson using a rubric, or a role-play of the lesson.

4. The fourth step is to practice. They can also have a coach watch them live or they can record it and give the recording to their coach; who is proficient in the skill they are trying to learn.

 5. Revisit, improve, and revise: If there is some area that still needs support we continue on these skills and practice it until we have developed a habit.

The Most Crucial Stage is…

We must “revisit their improved still sit and see where they still need to improve” (Bambrick & Paul, 2016). According to many coaches, educators, and several books, the planning stage is the most important. If a proper plan is not laid out before practicing, then the teacher is much more likely to not practice in full, forget what they are practicing, and completely stop working on it altogether. Once the plan is designed and it is time to practice in real life, there must be a way for the teacher to review their live practice. That is why many teachers set up video cameras in the classroom. Videotaping themselves practicing in the classroom can help them review what they did and did not do. They will also be able to catch things that they could not have seen while they were practicing.

References

Canfield, J. 2022. The Coaching Spirit: 8 Principles for Coaching Success. Jack Canfield. https://www.jackcanfield.com/blog/the-coaching-spirit-8-principles-for-coaching-success/

Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul. 2016. Get Better Faster : A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. ProQuest Ebook
Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/iupui-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4575633