Common Core for Literacy Coaches

I'm SO excited!  Tomorrow, I am going to the National Conference on College & Career Readiness and Common Core Standards along with my principal, or Curriculum Support Specialist, and 5 teachers.  The conference will be held in Orlando.  You can find more information here:  http://www.collegecareer.org/Agenda.aspx   The main goal of the conference is to, "...provide high quality, in-depth, professional development opportunities which focus on demands of preparing students to be college and career ready."  My personal goal is to learn as much as possible and then share it all with my teachers.

I've been studying everything I can online for the last 2 years, but I still feel like I have a lot to learn.  Last year was my first year actually implementing the standards in K-2nd grades.  And, after our state testing, we began teaching with the new standards in grades 3-5.  I have to admit.  I made a few mistakes along the way.  But, after reflecting on them, I have been able to correct and move on.

Here are some things every literacy coach must do in order to help their teachers adjust to the new standards and a whole new way of teaching:

• Be willing to change.  Yes, Common Core is totally different.  Yes, the analytic close read will be difficult to teach young children.  Yes, we have to teach foundational skills all at the same time to make sure our kids can read.  And, yes, there is a lot of new stuff to learn.  There.  I've said it.  So, now let's move on.  The Common Core Standards will not go away just because we are overwhelmed or because we were doing just fine without them.  If our minds are open, we will be able to fill them with new information.  
• Be self-motivated.  Don't wait for someone to come and teach you what the new standards are all about.  You are a leader in your school.  Your teachers count on you to provide them with information and resources.  Start at the source:  http://www.corestandards.org/.  Read and understand the standards.  Go to the library and start reading the exemplars.  Search online for item stem resources from the PARCC.  A good place to find some item and task prototypes is here:  http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes.  
• Go through the motions.  After studying up on the standards and the types of tasks our students will be required to complete, and reading some exemplars, use one of the exemplars to actually plan an entire unit.  I suggest using a shorter piece of poetry or nonfiction for your first try.  Then you will be able to plan a close analytic read.  Find a lesson planner that will walk you through the process.  I modified one I was given.  You can find it on find it in my TPT store:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-TLC-For-your-TLC-534067 

This planner will guide you through the entire process.  While planning, go back to the actual standard to make sure your lesson teaches what the standard is asking.  Don't just rely on what you think it said.  Check each part of the standard.  One of the first mistakes I made was to try to fit Common Core into the standards I was familiar with, like Main Idea or Author's Purpose.  The new standards are "packed."  They have more than one skill to address.  The only way I was able to figure this out was to plan several lessons on my own.  I also pretend like I am the teacher of one particular class while I'm planning.  This helps me focus on the needs of the students and not only on the material.  I build in scaffolds and/or enrichment activities.

• Walk the walk.  Teach your lesson.  Model how to teach the close analytic read process using the scaffolds and enrichment.  While you teach, have the teacher complete a note-taking sheet about what he observes.  You may use a lesson study protocol, a model lesson observation sheet, or just a simple T-chart (what I see, how it helps me).  This does several things.  First, it helps you see if what you planned actually works for all students.  Second, it will show you if need clarification with any part of the process.  Next, it will build confidence in your teachers that this can actually be done.  
• Debrief and discuss.  Meet with the teacher.  Discuss his notes, and don't take it personally.  If we are able to listen to their observations and suggestions it will only build your own teaching and their confidence in you as their leader.  
• Reflect. Go back to your lesson and reflect on the process.  Clarify any areas you know you need to work on.  Make adjustments.  Don't skip this step.  It is crucial to your own understanding and therefore, will help you guide your teachers through the same process.  If you think you need to, start all over again until you thoroughly understand the standards and how they should be taught.
• Professional Development.  Now is the time to provide professional development.  Be careful.  Make sure you teach a little bit at a time.  Don't throw an unwrapping the benchmarks, with resources, and lesson planning.  Separate each of the components of Common Core.  You don't have to teach each aspect in the "workshop" format.  You can embed it in common lesson planning time or conduct a lesson study.  

The key is to be prepared.  Your teachers count on you, and so do your students.

Coaching Brand New Teachers

As a reading coach in an inner city school, I am faced by a unique situation.  Each year, we have an average of 4-5 inexperienced teachers join our school.  Most of the them are in the Teach for America (TFA) program, without any background in education.  The program provides some training before the teachers begin at a school via their institute.  The institute is a month long and participants teach in small groups for one hour and lead the class for one hour each day.  It is a foundation, but it is also very brief.  The TFA corp members are bright, enthusiastic, and have their hearts in the right place.  They are great people to work with and a great blessing to our school.  However, they still do not have any formal training in education.  And then we have 1 or 2 brand new, but also inexperienced teachers join us as well.  

Over the last few years, I've come up with a few ways to make sure our inexperienced teachers get off to a great start.  The first is exchange information.  Soon after the introductions, I walk the new teacher to his room, ask him if he needs a cart, and then exchange phone numbers.  Right after I leave the teacher's room, I text the teacher a brief message like, "Hi.  This is Cookie.  I'm really glad you're at our school."  I do this just to make sure he has my number saved.  The teacher also has a person to reach out to immediately in case he needs anything like where the bulletin board paper is to what is a code red.  It also builds rapport very quickly.

After, I ask the new teachers if they would be willing to come in a week early to get their rooms started.  Of course, this is not a requirement, and none of us get paid for this time, but It sure helps the new teacher get everything done.  The TFA corps members have MANY meetings they must attend the first few days we are officially back and we all know how many opening of school meetings there are.

Next, I sit down with the teacher and go over our school's "Must Haves."  This list is not required, but they are a wonderful way of ensuring each of the components of an effective classroom are in place before the students arrive.

This is an extremely comprehensive list and should never be handed over to the new teacher without discussing. I always sit with the teacher and walk him step-by-step through the list.  This is a great way to gauge just how inexperienced the teacher is.  For example, when I go over the first item on the list, class rules, if the teacher is able to quickly state the rules they already have in mind for their class, then they are more prepared than the teacher who asks, "Well, what would a good rule be?"  I have pictures of previous year's examples on my computer to show and Pinterest also has many examples.  If the teacher is able to talk me through most of the items on the list, then I make sure they have the supplies they need and allow them to start.  I check in through texts, phone calls, and walk-throughs.  If the teacher has no clue where to get started, I will show him several examples, allow him to pick out his favorite, and then sit down and start helping him put the items together.  If I have several teachers in the same predicament, we have a "Make and Take" party in my office.  It's fun and the teachers get to know each other better.  

After, I hold our first common lesson planning session.  I emphasize the importance of going over the rules and procedures all week.  I have seen too many teachers go over the rules once and move on.  Experienced teachers know the rules must be stated, explained, modeled, and practiced ALL WEEK long (at least).  I walk the new teachers through each day of the week and if I've noted that the teacher really does seem a little lost, I will go through each minute of each day.  Gently but strongly suggest that the new teacher take diligent notes.  Then, go through the "Must Haves" as a checklist to see what progress has been made as well as clarify any additional questions.  I have a simple first week of school lesson plan (I will post it on another day) I provide to any teacher who appears a little overwhelmed by all of the tasks that need to be done. 

And finally, I schedule myself to be in each of my teacher's classrooms on the first three days of school.  It is important to write down what times you will visit each class.  This will help you plan out what your next steps need to be to support your new teachers.   

At the beginning of the year, is is important to provide extensive support to each of your new teachers. A skilled coach will know just how much time will be needed by each of her teachers and exactly what type of support.  

What is your number one way of supporting new teachers in your building?  

Get the "Must Haves" freebie in my TPT store:  

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opening-of-School-Must-Haves-737547 

End of the Year Data Chats

Each year, we conduct our annual end of the year assessments.  Usually, we use this data to group our students for the last time, before they move on to the next grade level.  And, in talking to other literacy coaches, I've found that most of us use this data solely for this purpose.  However, this year, I tried something different.  We are actually going to use our data to compare how much impact we were able to have on student achievement and reflect on those practices that led to the most achievement.

The first thing I did was go through the entire process by myself.  I did this because I wanted to know what questions to ask and how to guide my teachers into using the data to not only reflect but inspect their own practices this year.  After I completed the entire process with each of my teacher's data, I reflected on my own.  According to our data, our sight word initiatives were very effective in the primary grades.  Also, in the intermediate grades, our phonics intervention really made a difference for our most struggling readers. And, I was able to clearly see what our focus will be for next year:  fluency. One other area of note for our school was vocabulary.  Students made huge gains in vocabulary.  I also learned that our intermediate grades need to hone in on specific comprehension strategies next year.  Going through this process myself opened my eyes as to what I needed to zoom in on for next year and where I needed to tweak my own practices as a coach.

The next step was to conduct the data chats with my teachers.  I made a conscious effort to talk as little as possible at each data chat.  I wanted the data to do the talking for me.  My job was to guide the teachers into completing each of the tasks.  The first thing I asked the teachers to do is to write down what each of their students scored on our state's (FAIR) assessment.  You can use any baseline test that you use in your school.  Once you have listed each student's score, then we write down the scores for our last assessment period (AP3).  After, we write a + or a - to indicate whether each student made progress or regressed.  I used 10 percentage points as a gauge.  If the student did not score at least 10 percentage points difference, then I considered it no change.  And finally, on this sheet we write down exactly what the percentage difference was.

Teachers completed one chart for each period taught.  After, teachers are given a chart I call, Student Achievement Pie Chart.  It's a very simple chart.  Teachers are asked to look very closely at their data and analyze the various parts.  We looked at proficiency levels, reading comprehension percentile levels, and amount of progress vs. regressions.  

This step is very revealing and helps the teachers see exactly just how much progress their students made during the year.  It also opens up some great discussions.  Notice what an amazing job this teacher did with her Reading Comprehension Percentiles!

After, we worked on the Best Practices Chart.  Teachers scored their own effectiveness using each of the best practices listed.  They did not turn any of this in.  It was solely used for their ownOnce they wrote down their own scores, we discussed and ranked each of the best practices by how much impact we believed they had on student achievement.  This ranking changed with each group.  The rankings also helped us discuss where our major emphasis was and whether we should change this for next year.  This was a great vision casting session.  Then, we brainstormed different ways we could improve on those areas we felt we were not performing our best in. 

It really was a reflective process.  You may get the entire data chat protocol on my TPT store:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reflective-Data-Chat-Protocols-for-Literacy-Coaches-734514

Or, just leave me a comment, your email address, and I'll email you a copy.