Today's post is brought to you by Heather Zimmerman.
What is the role of the literacy coach? (Or… reading specialist, reading coach, reading instructional coach, or literacy resource teacher.) This seems to be a question from not only teachers but administrators. This position looks different not only in different districts, but sometimes within the district.
For a graduate class we had to look for the job description of a literacy coach in the district we work in. It was amazing what a task that was for some of the people in the class. Every job description, if they were found, looked different. Some descriptions even had wording along the lines of “...and any other tasks…” My class began to notice that literacy coaches become the “Jack of all trades.”
I emailed teachers at the beginning of the year an email that explained how we can work together, I received a few emails thanking me, because they were not sure how literacy coaches could be of assistance.
Since educators are confused by the role, it is understandable why students or parents might be confused by the role. I received an email at the beginning of the year from a former student. She was confused because she heard that I left the classroom and took a role as an assistant. She seemed a bit relieved when I told her what a literacy coach does.
I do think that literacy coaches, however you define the role, have to be willing to drive literacy forward in schools to increase student achievement. Literacy coaches are apart of teams. They help administrators establish the literacy goal and plan professional development. They are apart of the teacher team and work together with teachers to discover how literacy plays a role in all classroom. And they are apart of the student team and help students find success in all parts of literacy. (The student piece looks varies for literacy coaches. This might be working with small groups in the classroom, modeling a lesson, working with an individual student, etc.) The key to the literacy coaches role though is to build relationships and work as a team.
There is a YouTube video where a speaker, Simon Sinek talks about relationships in the business world. What he talks about can easily be applied to education. The video is worth watching if you if you ever have an extra 15 minutes.
I emailed teachers at the beginning of the year an email that explained how we can work together, I received a few emails thanking me, because they were not sure how literacy coaches could be of assistance.
Since educators are confused by the role, it is understandable why students or parents might be confused by the role. I received an email at the beginning of the year from a former student. She was confused because she heard that I left the classroom and took a role as an assistant. She seemed a bit relieved when I told her what a literacy coach does.
I do think that literacy coaches, however you define the role, have to be willing to drive literacy forward in schools to increase student achievement. Literacy coaches are apart of teams. They help administrators establish the literacy goal and plan professional development. They are apart of the teacher team and work together with teachers to discover how literacy plays a role in all classroom. And they are apart of the student team and help students find success in all parts of literacy. (The student piece looks varies for literacy coaches. This might be working with small groups in the classroom, modeling a lesson, working with an individual student, etc.) The key to the literacy coaches role though is to build relationships and work as a team.
There is a YouTube video where a speaker, Simon Sinek talks about relationships in the business world. What he talks about can easily be applied to education. The video is worth watching if you if you ever have an extra 15 minutes.
Direct link to Simon Sinek's Vistage Presentation on YouTube.
One quote I really liked he cited from an African proverb. “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together." This applies to not only the literacy coach role but all roles in school. Working together will make the most impact for students.
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