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Becoming a teacher again made me a better coach

By Ashly Skiffington
Categories: Coaching, Implementation, Teacher leadership
April 2022
At the start of the 2020-21 school year, six months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic changed all our lives, I and the other instructional coaches in my district were temporarily reassigned to virtual teaching positions. Because families could choose to enroll their child in either distance learning or in-person learning, we needed more staff to fill teaching roles or step in for teachers who chose not to return to the classroom. I found myself teaching again, but in a way I had never envisioned — through a computer screen. Learning how to teach using a virtual format stretched my capacity and challenged some of my beliefs about curriculum and instruction. It also taught me a lot about the kinds of support teachers need

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References

Boaler, J. (2019). Limitless mind: Learn, lead, and live without barriers. HarperCollins.

Costa, A.L., Garmston, R.J., Hayes, C., & Ellison, J. (2016). Cognitive coaching: Developing self-directed leaders and learners. Rowman & Littlefield.

Gino, F. (2020). Rebel talent: Why it pays to break the rules at work and in life. William Morrow.

Nordgren, L. (2021, November 16). Work 2.0: The obstacles you don’t see. Hidden Brain Media. hiddenbrain.org/podcast/work-2-0-the-obstacles-you-dont-see/.


Ashly Skiffington
+ posts

Ashly Skiffington (askiffington@ wallingfordschools.org) is an elementary mathematics instructional coach in Wallingford Public Schools in Connecticut.


Categories: Coaching, Implementation, Teacher leadership

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