Outcome: Participants use various support functions including collaboration, consulting, and coaching to support teachers during classroom visits.
Portfolio Entry Narrative: During my tenure as an Instructional Transformation Specialist, I have spent many hours working with teachers on how to integrate technology into their lessons. To be honest, this was a new experience for me, having only collaborated with the teachers on my grade level team.
With this position, I am now working with multiple grade levels, where things don't quite work like they did in my middle school classroom. Therefore, to begin with, I started working with teachers by being a consultant. My position was to offer my help and if you need it, you'll ask for it. For the people I knew on a personal level, this worked great. They felt comfortable talking to me and seeking me out. However, there were those who did not know me and were hesitant to ask questions.
As my confidence grew, I was able to move away from being just a consultant to include more collaboration in my class visits. Teachers had truly started to see me as a resource to help them in their daily lessons. We worked together to create technology-rich lessons that included good teaching strategies around their content. Their faith in educational technology was increasing, as was their faith in me. More and more teachers started to use me in both the consultant and collaborative aspects. This really helped me to be able to move to another realm in my position: being a technology coach.
Consulting put me in the driver's seat and collaborating allowed me to be a co-pilot. Being a coach is like being a back-seat driver. I offer suggestions, direction, and constructive criticism but I am not the decision maker. This is, to me, the perfect place to be. The teacher is learning to control everything about their classroom. If needed, I can step out of the "backseat", so to speak, and take the wheel or be the co-pilot s/he needs. I love getting emails, being stopped in the hallway, or asked to come watch a lesson that was designed by the teacher. They are learning to spread their wings and it's an awesome process to watch.
Below is a journal I've kept on my class visits to one teacher over the course of two years. It not only shows her struggles with becoming an eMINTS teacher, but also shows my journey through coaching and mentoring.
With this position, I am now working with multiple grade levels, where things don't quite work like they did in my middle school classroom. Therefore, to begin with, I started working with teachers by being a consultant. My position was to offer my help and if you need it, you'll ask for it. For the people I knew on a personal level, this worked great. They felt comfortable talking to me and seeking me out. However, there were those who did not know me and were hesitant to ask questions.
As my confidence grew, I was able to move away from being just a consultant to include more collaboration in my class visits. Teachers had truly started to see me as a resource to help them in their daily lessons. We worked together to create technology-rich lessons that included good teaching strategies around their content. Their faith in educational technology was increasing, as was their faith in me. More and more teachers started to use me in both the consultant and collaborative aspects. This really helped me to be able to move to another realm in my position: being a technology coach.
Consulting put me in the driver's seat and collaborating allowed me to be a co-pilot. Being a coach is like being a back-seat driver. I offer suggestions, direction, and constructive criticism but I am not the decision maker. This is, to me, the perfect place to be. The teacher is learning to control everything about their classroom. If needed, I can step out of the "backseat", so to speak, and take the wheel or be the co-pilot s/he needs. I love getting emails, being stopped in the hallway, or asked to come watch a lesson that was designed by the teacher. They are learning to spread their wings and it's an awesome process to watch.
Below is a journal I've kept on my class visits to one teacher over the course of two years. It not only shows her struggles with becoming an eMINTS teacher, but also shows my journey through coaching and mentoring.