Defining Your Coaching Role

Carrie Sand contributed today's post.

Many literacy coaches land into a coaching position and find themselves answering various versions of the same question: “What exactly does a literacy coach do?” While coaches expect this question from people outside of the school system, I think we can be caught off guard when we encounter that question within the walls of our own buildings. Therefore, it is no wonder we, ourselves, can wonder, throughout different points in a school year, where our responsibilities as a coach begin and end.

In my experience, September is always a good time for a coach to address uncertainties and lay out a foundation for job responsibilities, even if the coach is in a returning role or building. Many coaches have a job description that is flexible in its written rules and requirements. The undeniable benefit to this flexibility is a coach’s ability to shape the role to best address the needs of the teachers and students in our school district or building. In addition, this flexibility implies an understanding and respect for us as a professional. I believe, however, different problems, including taking on extra duties, feelings of resentment or frustration from peers and colleagues, and not meeting the expectations of our administrator, may arise if we don’t work to build an understanding about our role as a coach from year to year.

Some of the guiding principles I use to shape my work as a literacy coach come from Cathy Toll’s book The Literacy Coach’s Survival Guide: Essential Questions and Practical Answers. Three of my own person philosophical beliefs regarding coaching come from the ideas Cathy Toll presents in this book. These include:

• Coaching is a partnership between the teacher and the coach. Coaching only works in an environment of collaboration between peers and equals. Toll stresses the importance of keeping this relationship with teachers in the forefront of the coach’s role. While we all want to see student achievement raised, coaches work for and with teachers first. If an environment or situation threatens this balance of equals, a true coaching partnership can not occur.
• Literacy coaching is different than being an interventionist, teacher, or Reading Specialist. While many coaches may hold one or more of these duties in conjunction with their coaching title, it is important to honor each job as a separate identity with different roles and responsibilities. Toll suggests that if 25 teachers is a full time coaching load, a coach who is only a certain percentage should only service a certain percentage of those teachers for a specified amount of time per day. A way to check your time as a coach is asking the following prompts: Am I in the correct % of my role? Am I getting to everyone on my coaching cycle equally? and Am I doing what I want to be doing to best serve both parties involved?
• Coaching conversations are the most effective for creating change. Toll suggests that 50% of our time as coaches needs to be centered around the coaching conversation. She also says that the conversation is the secret to collaboration, as the teacher’s needs are the focus and all other aspects of coaching (demonstration lessons and professional development options) can grow from those conversations. Finally, Toll is firm in her belief that classroom observations have limited role in a coach’s job and should only be done for specific purposes.

Early in the year is the perfect time for a coach to be specific about their role in the building or district. Each year, I find my own duties to encompass new goals, changes, and expectations; I believe by being open and honest about the values I hold regarding what a literacy coach is and does, leaves less opportunity for misunderstandings and frustrations throughout the course of a school year.