Differentiating as a Coach Bev Freedman August 22, 2006

1. Differentiating as a Coach Bev Freedman August 22, 2006

2. The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Differentiating as a Coach August 2006

4. Leading the pack used to be an image of leadership As a coach image would you select now?

5. Before Isolated events Boards determined focus and priorities Isolated ad hoc professional development Multiple Initiatives Limited reliance on research and data Getting people’s attention Sharpening the Focus Now Goal-oriented and strategic Alignment with Ministry goals Team focussed and job embedded Selected high yield strategies Research-based and data driven Focusing on results Building motivation and commitment

6. Schools as Harbours of Hope From Teaching Teacher isolation Pass/fail mindset Compliance Curriculum overload General goals Static assessment Over-the-wall grade promotions Planning to plan Time and staff fixed Learning for most To Learning Collaboration Elimination of failure Commitment Guaranteed curriculum Specific goals Dynamic assessment Flexible structures Planning to improve Learning fixed Learning for all Hulley & Dier (2005, p. 108)

7. What is the target that coaching is the solution?

8. Large-scale improvement of student achievement is an adaptive challenge All of the necessary knowledge to solve the problem doesn’t exist and we are creating the knowledge and tools as we are working on the problem Change Leadership, 2006

9. As a job-embedded coach, What do you see as the 3 most important issues in terms of working with teachers? Discuss with your elbow partner.

10. Coaching can Improve the efficiency and productivity of the organization, increase metacognition, supports collaboration Schon; Osterman; Gates Foundation, 2005

11. What are you? What are you not? Complete at your table As a literacy or numeracy coach

12. Coaching is a collegial relationship

13. Coaching for teachers is a series of intentional strategies designed to: • Improve teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom • Focus on improvement achievement for all • Support resiliency • Enhance self and collective efficacy • Help teachers reflect on their craft and change practice to better teach all students • Help them manage and balance • Through observation, feedback and modeling

14. Improve performance But its based on situational needs Its contextual

15. Coaching enhances the intellectual capacity of teachers; Which in turn produces greater intellectual achievement in students Costa & Gamston

16. ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF INTERACTION THE REFLECTIVE TEACHER ON-GOING SELF-ANALYSIS PROFESSIONAL GROWTH TARGETS FOR IMPROVING PRACTICE SEARCH FOR RESEARCHED PRACTICES Collaborative Interactions And Learning Together

17. What works – As a coach you need to probe • Pay attention to teachers’ belief systems – allow time for them to articulate their beliefs and express their concerns • Make time for self-reflection, self-analysis and growth • Have teachers articulate, paraphrase and communicate their beliefs with others • Collaborative dialogue, problem-solving exercises and shared teaching experiences

18. Factors to Consider • Interaction existed between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences, • Collaborative conversations lead to reciprocal learning, • Use open-ended, high-end Blooms taxonomy.

19. Efficacy • Perceived self and collective efficacy – beliefs about their own and others capabilities to produce designated levels of performance • Determines how people feel, think, behave and motivate themselves • Bandura, 1994

20. What influences a willingness to change? There are moderating factors that influence beliefs and values – gender, experience, panel

21. Instructional or Directive External Specific expertise Specific experiences and abilities Address a specific problem or impart a specific skill Peer or Non-Directive Internal – part of the team Broad background Climate for change, learning environment Facilitate meetings Knight, 2004; Fouts and Associates, 2005 Coaching – it’s a formalized relationship

22. Leadership …persuading other people to set aside for a period of time their individual concerns and to pursue a common goal that is important for the responsibilities and welfare of the group. [Avolio and Lock, 2002]

23. Change Leadership’s Blueprint of Improved Achievement • Urgency for improvement through the use of data • Shared vision of good teaching • Shared understanding of student data and its implications for teaching and learning • Collaboration • Effective supervision • Professional development • Diagnostic data with accountable collaboration

24. Categories of Core Leadership Practices • Setting Directions (motivation) • Developing People (capacity) • Designing the Organization (situation) • Managing the Instructional Program (keeping it all together) (Leithwood, Riehl, 2004; Leithwood, Jantzi, 2005)

25. Towards Sustainability: Michael Fullan’s Eight Elements • Public service with moral purpose • Commitment to changing context at all levels • Lateral capacity building through networks • Intelligent accountability and vertical relationships • Deep learning • Dual commitment to short and long term goals • Cyclical energizing • The long lever of leadership Michael Fullan “ Leadership and Sustainability” 2004

26. Linking Leadership to Student Learning:The “Student Engagement” Link Moderators Student Learning Leadership Teacher Emotions Student Engagement

27. High Arousal Flow C H A L L E N G E S Anxiety Worry Control Apathy Relaxation Boredom Low High SKILLS Csikszentmihalyi (1990)

28. Key Issues for Today’s Teachers • Asked to teach in new ways • Require more extensive knowledge of literacy and numeracy • Need a deep pedagogical knowledge to deal effectively with a range of students • Need to manage time effectively • Which have you experienced in your work? • The Secretariat p. 1

29. The Effects of Individual Teacher Efficacy on Students • Higher levels of student efficacy • Higher levels of student achievement, particularly in math and reading in the elementary grades and across diverse student populations • More positive attitudes toward school, subject matter and teachers • Lower rates of suspension and dropouts (e.g., Tschannen-Moran, Wolfolk Hoy and Hoy,1998)

30. Conditions Which Foster Individual Teacher Efficacy Examples of School-level Conditions • Positive school atmosphere • Academic press among staff • Sense of community • Teacher participation indecisions affecting their work • Lack of barriers to effective instruction • High expectations for students • Collaboration among teachers

31. Conditions Which Foster Individual Teacher Efficacy(continued) Examples of District Conditions • Well designed district in-service experiences - Differentiated for individual teachers - Distributed throughout the implementation period - Lead to the establishment of in-school networks and provide support for instructionalunderstanding

32. Conditions Which Foster Individual Teacher Efficacy(continued) Examples of Leadership Practices • Being influential with district/provincial superordinates •Providing resources for teachers •Buffering teachers from disruptions •Allowing teachers discretion over classroom decisions

33. Effects of Burnout on Teachers • Increased absenteeism • Decline in instructional performance • Poor interpersonal relationships with colleagues and students • Less sympathetic toward students • Less committed to their jobs

34. Effects of Burnout on Teachers (continued) • Lower tolerance for classroom disruption • Less likely to be prepared • Chilling effect on other staff • More dogmatic about their practices • More likely to blame students for poor performance

35. Effects of Teacher Burnout on Students Slower progress with their learning Higher rates of dropping out

36. Linking Leadership to Student Learning:Unraveling the Chain Moderators Student Learning Leadership Mediators

37. Differentiation It is a classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning. Carol Ann Tomlinson 1999

38. Effective teaching is a set of complex, context decisions about teaching Carl Glickman (2003) Holding Sacred Ground

39. Implementing Differentiation • Content • Process • Product • Time • Environment • Assessment and evaluation

40. Moderating Factors

41. Why gender matters. Gender is the central organizing category of our psyches. It is the axis around which people organize their personalities, and around which distinct egos develop. (Kaufman, 1999p.77)

43. Elementary teaching as a feminized profession • Over 80% of elementary teachers are female • Dominated by perceptions of female norms – nurturing, non-confrontational, focus is children not data, not competitive • Male teachers may feel alienated and isolated

45. Schwalbe & Wolkomir, 2002 noted that men may see interactions within a framework of control and that “the threat may be heightened, if it seems the leader is interested in gender” (p. 207) Need to be business-like and refer the facts and research

46. Reinhartz & Chase (2002) Women are less formal, more connected and need to share personal experiences and stories

47. Panel Differences . Siskin (1994) mentioned that “workplaces are socially constructed” and that teachers working within each panel possess distinct knowledge about students and the relevant content taught (p.39). Teachers immersed in one particular panel may perceive differences in how another panel understands education. “Their differences are discursively magnified and dichotomized and this dichotomization takes on a life of its own.” (Bascia & Imants, 2006, p.4)

48. Elementary Panel The elementary teacher’s world is profoundly polychronic in character. This increases as one moves from the higher to the lower age ranges,” (p. 104) Tasks and demands are immediate as teachers strive to meet children’s developmental and academic needs. • Bascia & Imants, 2006;Hargreaves, 1994

49. LIFE CYCLE OF THE CAREER TEACHER (Betty Steffy) Still Contributing to Field (Retired) EMERITUS DISTINGUISHED Creating New Knowledge EXPERT National Certific. Level of Expertise PROFESSIONAL Mature Teacher APPRENTICE Beginning Teacher NOVICE Pre-service Time in the Field