• Subscribe

    Sign up here for our monthly newsletter.

  • Menu

    The Shift From 'Me' To 'We'

    Schools with a coaching culture build individual and collective capacity

    By Learning Forward
    Categories: Coaching, Implementation
    April 2015
    The athletic coach’s focus is to develop individual skills as well as the collective capacity of the team to perform at the highest level. A coaching culture applies the same concept to schools. What might this dual approach to coaching — the individual and the collective — mean and look like in schools? How is it different than having a few specialized building-based coaches? How might a focus on individual and collective development affect a school’s culture to impact student and adult learning? Coaching in schools is not new. What is fundamentally different in a culture of coaching is that all members of the school community see themselves as coaches. While there may be formally appointed coaches and teacher leaders to lead the work, developing

    Read the remaining content with membership access. Join or log in below to continue.

    Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.

    Log In
       

    Authors

    Holli Hanson and Christine Hoyos

    Holli Hanson (holli@abeoschoolchange.org) is executive director and Christine Hoyos (chris@abeoschoolchange.org) is a school and leadership coach at Abeo School Change in Seattle, Washington.

    Using Collaboration, Inquiry, and Reflection

    Collaboration: Opportunities for adults to come together to discuss teaching and learning is critical in transformative work, and meaningful collaboration must focus on the relationship of the learner (or learners in a collaborative task) and the teacher (or designer of the learning experience) in the presence of content that needs to be learned. Often called the instructional core (City, Elmore, Fiarman, & Teitel, 2009), this is what matters most in affecting learning.

    • What do we notice about the learning that’s taking place?
    • What’s our evidence?
    • And then, what do we see that needs attention in the instructional core?

    Inquiry: Curiosity about teaching and learning is key to engaging learners in the work. Inquiry begins with information that sparks a question or dilemma. Analyzing information in order to make sense of a situation is key to being strategic in decision making. The next step is to make design decisions that can be put into practice for an improved learner experience.

    • What do I know about the learner?
    • What am I wondering? How will this inform my practice?

    Reflection: For learning to be meaningful, learners need time to reflect. Reflective questions cause introspection — an impetus to describe or define what we do and why we do what we do. Considering what we know and do against the information we’ve gathered and examined gives the learner pause to reconsider practice.

    • What shifts, if any, will I need to make in my instructional practice?
    • How will I know that what I’ve done is effective?

    References

    Abelman, C. & Elmore, R. (with Even, J., Kenyon, S., & Marshall, J.). (1999). When accountability knocks, will anyone answer? Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

    City, E., Elmore, R.J., Fiarman, S., & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional rounds in education: A network approach to improving teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

    Rasmussen, H.T. (n.d.). Professional development as organizational learning. Available at www.abeoschoolchange.org/blog/professional-development-as-organizational-learning.


    + posts

    Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.


    Categories: Coaching, Implementation

    Search
    The Learning Professional


    Published Date

    CURRENT ISSUE



  • Subscribe

  • Recent Issues

    LEARNING TO PIVOT
    August 2024

    Sometimes new information and situations call for major change. This issue...

    GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
    June 2024

    What does professional learning look like around the world? This issue...

    WHERE TECHNOLOGY CAN TAKE US
    April 2024

    Technology is both a topic and a tool for professional learning. This...

    EVALUATING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
    February 2024

    How do you know your professional learning is working? This issue digs...

    Skip to content