First things first: I ran into a teacher from the district I am working in as an instructional coach (IC) the other day and she told me she has been reading my blog!!! It's so exciting to know I have a reader. But, in all my excitement, I now forget this wonderful and wise woman's name (was it Rhonda? I'm just not sure), but here's a shout-out anyway to my faithful reader!
For this one lovely reader and for anyone else who may be tuning in, a little recap as context for this week's blog. As I ran around town in my new district, presenting at each of the schools an introduction of what instructional coaching is all about, I spoke about a metaphor I happen to like for the collaboration between a teacher and an IC. Here's the recap:
I've been long-distance running since I was 14. In high school, I ran cross country and track and had some good and not-so-good coaches along the way. Now, many, many years beyond high school, I know how to be a long-distance runner. If I go out for a 10K, I know how to approach it. But recently I decided to train for a marathon -- something totally new to me. So, even though I'd been running since the age of 14, I decided to partner up with a new friend of mine who had some marathon experience so that we could train together. He didn't need to teach me how to run -- I already knew how to do that. But, trying something new like a marathon is just simpler and more effective when you're doing it alongside a partner, coach, friend.
This is a great metaphor for how ICs and teachers should work together. As an IC, I know I am not here to teach established teachers how to teach -- they're already doing it. But they may want to try something new in their classrooms, and it just might be simpler and more effective to have someone by their side while they're doing it.
Here's the update on this metaphor, extending it, if you will. I moved a couple weeks ago, so I now live about an hour or so from my running buddy. This past weekend, my training plan dictated that I go for an 18-mile run. Not being able to hook up with my now long-distance pal, I decided to go it alone. In case you've never tried, let me tell you that 18 miles is a long time to run by yourself. Three hours with nothing but my own thoughts. It became a mental game. I had a hard time keeping myself motivated, I was grumpy and distracted. So distracted that I ended up making silly running mistakes I thought I was beyond making, like starting off too fast and running too many hills within the first half of my run. In the end, I only made it to 16 miles before I gave up (I know, in retrospect, 16 miles is nothing to sneeze at).
The moral of the story -- and of the metaphor -- is this: Even though I have been training with my running partner for a couple months now, doing one long run together each weekend, I wasn't completely ready to go it alone. I regressed a bit to some of my older, solo running habits. I lost my motivation.
I've been doing a lot of research on how to be an effective instructional coach. And much of it has told me that as a support for the teacher, you shouldn't remove yourself too quickly. Just because the teacher has tried out a new teaching strategy and it went well once doesn't necessarily mean the relationship is over. Often, teachers need the IC to continue to stick it out until the new strategy becomes second-nature. Adopting a new practice can be challenging!
So, this weekend I am making the one-hour trek down to my old stomping grounds to run with my friend. We have a couple more really long runs before we get to start tapering (shortening our distances before the big race day). I know I can do those shorter distances (anything under 14 miles or so) alone. But for now, I realize I do still need support during those long, long runs.
For teachers who are or will be working with me as an IC: I know each of you will work with me for different lengths of time. Some of you will need my support for much longer than others, depending on what it is we're working on in your classroom. I hope that we can reflect together to know when to start "tapering" our work together, and not to do it too soon!
In closing, I'll say to you, reader(s?!?!), something I used to say to my former high school English students which was often followed by understandable groans at my cheesiness:
~Metaphors be with you.~
(If you don't get it, try saying it in the voice of Yoda or Obe Wan Kanobe.)
No comments:
Post a Comment