Kaptivo

Over the weekend, I was introduced to Kaptivo.  This product, in my opinion, has changed the way I will ever look at a whiteboard either in a classroom or workshop.  Often times teachers, (Myself included) write things down in class, at a meeting, and then erase them as the lesson progresses.  Unless you wrote everything down or took a picture, this information is gone.  The Kaptivo product records all of this information which can be shared out in real time.  Also, this allows for students, teachers, administrators, and virtually anyone to access content even when they are not present for the presentation.  Even better, they can rewind the content.  I guess you can see where I am going with this, (This is another alternative to the flipped classroom).  Check out a demo video below.

I think one of my favorite things about this product from what I have seen is how sleek and its affordability.  Also, the Kaptivo can be installed in minutes which is another plus.  I am not a salesperson for this company but just someone who sees an overall value to their product.  Overall, I am looking forward to this product being released in July as I believe it will change the way content at a meeting, school day, and other avenues are shared.

Traveling Together!

As an instructional coach, I make it my number one priority to check with teachers and see what they need to progress on their learning continuum.  I always start our conversations with, "What do you need from me?  How can I help you?"  Most of the time I get responses that require assistance with the little things such as, technology issues, talk with a student, resources, or sometimes just listening. I make it a priority to do each of these things that are asked of me and get back to the teacher as soon as possible.

  What I have found as I have continued to grow as a coach is that most of the time the teachers in my building are answering other teachers questions while having conversations with me.  Each teacher has a skill-set that brings a uniqueness about them to our collective school community.  As I have gathered resources, I am the first one to give credit to where I have found it.  Most of the time, the resource is from a teacher in our school.  When I do not have an answer, I turn to my social media PLN who always pulls through when I need them.  Either way, I want teachers to know that they are not alone and that they can always count on me.  When sharing where I found their answer, I believe this allows for teachers to see that some of the best resources are already in our school.  If not, I want them to see how I learn using social media.  Most importantly, I model that we are not supposed to have all of the answers.  Education is not a field of perfection but rather an improvement.  (Todd Whitaker)

    Over the past month, I have observed the teaching process in every classroom and have truly been amazed at what I have seen.  These opportunities have helped me grow in my own thinking as well as share with others what I have seen.  The downside to this is that for the most part, I am the only one who experiences these lessons.  To promote these observations, I write about them in our school blog for others to read.  Also, I share them with the other educators in our school.  By sharing these tools, I have seen several teachers taking on strategies and activities that they may not have tried before.  

     We all have PLC's that we are apart of but rarely do they involve the entire school.  Due to scheduling, time constraints, and other issues.  As a coach, I am constantly looking to find ways to assist others as well as grow myself.  One of my next goals is to implement instructional rounds with the staff.  So far, I have developed a survey and to no surprise, staff involvement was extremely high.  As a group, we will move forward with how WE want this to look and work in our school.  Most importantly, this will allow for the entire staff to see the amazing things that are going on in our school.  I am excited about the possibilities of this process and look forward to working with the entire staff as we take our lessons one step further with the help of everyone.  Below is a video of what instructional rounds are and look like.  Stay Tuned for our version!  If you have done or are doing instructional rounds, I would love to connect to gain further feedback to help move this process forward even better for my school.

Removing Hurdles

As a coach, I often get asked, "What exactly do you do?"  My response is usually, "I try and remove the hurdles that teachers are facing, regardless of how hard they are."

  I have been in education for 11 years, most of which have been in a classroom.  I know some of the struggles I had and my mission is to make teachers able to do their job to the best of their ability.  By allowing teachers to do this, it is only going to make the whole teaching/learning process much smoother.  As a coach, I constantly ask, "What do you need? What can I do?  Where do you need me?"  I believe building these relationships with teachers and showing them that I am here to support them, allows for us all to grow.  I have found that since taking over this role as a coach a month ago, that the teachers are sharing with me their needs.  While sharing these needs, I make in my personal goal to fix it regardless of whether it's technology, modeling, coverage, resources, etc.  It has taught me to balance many things at one time, but if I can alleviate something from the staff, then it is well worth it.  

  I look at this as whatever I can do to help, allows for all teachers to focus on something else that will impact their instruction, and make it more meaningful for students.  To me, that is why we are all in this profession together.  Moving forward, these are some of my personal goals to cover. 

-Provide non-evaluative feedback

-Start instructional rounds where teachers can observe other teachers and have a conversation

-Continue to remove hurdles that are interfering with daily instruction

  

Becoming a Players Coach

We all know in every sport that you need a good coach to be successful.  Some of the best coaches though do more than the traditional X's and O's.  By establishing a core relationship with each of their players, coaches often get better results than expected.  Of course, there is a need to teach the fundamentals of how to play a sport but more importantly, you need to build relationships to move your players forward.

Look at some of the best coaches in the sports world: Gregg Popovich, Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Belichick, and the list could go on.  The one thing these coaches have in common is, of course, they know their sport but more importantly, they know their players.  These coaches take the time to build the relationships with their players, the trust and study their strengths/weaknesses.  This, in turn, helps when trying to move players forward.  I am sure it is not easy to coach some of the greatest athletes and personalities in the game but these coaches have had success as well as made their players better.  When meeting with their players, I wonder if the questions are that we ask in education.  What can I do to make you better?  What obstacles are you facing now?  What do you need to grow?  What could you have done differently?  

   As a new instructional coach, this is the framework that I am using to better serve the teachers in my building.  I not only want to talk X's and O's of their teaching but also build those relationships that are needed to be successful.  When working with teachers, I try to highlight the greatness that they bring day in and day out, but also want to find ways to help them grow.  This being myself modeling, finding resources, assisting in technology integration, or whatever the case may be.  I believe my sole purpose is to serve as a support so that on game day, they are performing at a high level.  The only difference is that their game day is every day.