For those of you who work with EFFECTIVE literacy coaches (not looking for vents here), what exactly do they do? How often do they actually come into your classroom, or do they act more as a resource for you to go to? What kind of duties do they do? I'm asking because I am considering applying for such a position and I have specific ideas about my role if I were to get the position, but they differ quite a lot from what I have seen. The coaches I know spend most of their time working with the books (levelling, organizing, ordering, cataloguing, etc.), very little time working with teachers in classrooms, and even less time working with the kids.
Also, what kind of PLCs do you have? How long are they, what is their purpose, how are they structured, when are they held? I don't feel ours have been a productive use of time this year and I am looking for ways to improve them, rather than just complain.
We've had 2 different ones and they both were similar in that they served mostly as a resource for the teacher. They were more than happy to help you find materials, get literature we needed for a lesson or come into the classroom to teach particular topics that a teacher was having difficulty with. I used each of them as sounding boards to bounce ideas off of and they both were very helpful and helped me think of things that I either hadn't considered or had forgotten about. Our new one this year also started a book study to start some discussion, but that went over like a lead balloon. It wasn't for my grade level, so I didn't attend either, but I really felt bad for her. She also implemented team meeting once a month to discuss what we are working on in reading in our classrooms and whether we are having difficulties or successes to share. These became b**** session about the assessments that everyone hates.
The problem is, no teacher wants to ask for help! I think many feel that they know what they are doing and don't need someone telling them how to do it and asking for help is a sign of weakness. Her job is not well defined, and if it's up to the teachers to come to her versus her having lessons or activities to share at specific times, I don't think that will change.
I think it probably depends what Board you are working for as to what the role involves. As with all things there is a learning curve. I believe the role is fairly new in Ontario. This is the second year my Board has had staffing for each school. I know some other Boards have a group of schools that they work with. In my Board the staffing allotment is based on enrollment so some schools have .1 FTE while other schools have .7 FTE. There is a lot of paperwork and data tracking, researching and maintaining resources etc. That takes a lot of time for anyone, so those with only 10% of their time as coach must really struggle to stay on top of things. There is also a large percentage of time spent working with at-risk kids as well as working with classroom teachers/demo lessons etc. The job also involves a lot of planning and preparing for inservices and presentations. Above all else being a literacy coach is not an evaluative role. Evaluation is the job of admin --- support and collaboration is what the literacy coach does.
As for PLC's that also depends on the school and the budget for release time. Turn Around schools, CODE schools and OFIP schools have money for release time. Again that also varies with the label -- OFIP 1 vs OFIP 3 etc. I don't know how school that don't have a "label" generate the release time for PLC's. How the PLC's are structured seems to vary with the school. All include some sort of discussion about our School Improvement Plan and (now) our School Effectiveness Framework. We also look at the strategies that are working with our struggling kids. We usually do a book study of some sort --- Debbie Miller, Debbie Diller, Sue Brown, Miriam Trehearne. I know of other schools that seem to have much more freedom with the agenda. We have also included visits to other schools as part of our PLC's. We have developed lesson plans, literacy centres and organized our resources during PLC's. (Not always sure that what we do as PLC's meets the definition of true PLC's but that is a discussion for another time.)
There are several good books out there. Cathy Toll has two books for Literacy Coaches. Rita Bean also has a book. Your Board resource centre may have them or you can borrow them from the Margaret Wilson Library at the Ontario College of Teachers. (free shipping and handling).
I think there might be a couple podcasts on the ministry LNS website.
Sorry this has ended up so long. Not sure if any of it is helpful to you. There is lots more I can share with you. I think it is important to go into the position with your eyes open as to the realities of the role. It is a great opportunity to learn so much.
Now I have a couple questions for you. In your Board are these positions that you apply for with in your school or are the positions attached to group of schools? How long has your Board had the positions? What is the turn over rate of people who have held the position?
Thanks so much for all the useful information! I mean it - this really helps.
Our Board has had these positions for about 3 years now - the first 2 years we only had a few coaches who were assigned to numerous school. This year, most schools had their own coach, but only on a part time basis (based on the size of the school). As far as I know, principals in the schools hand picked who they wanted as coach. The original coaches were also hand picked by upper admin.
As for turnover rate, all the original coaches are still in place and provided their is funding, I don't think anyone is planning to leave the position - I do want to make it known that I am interested in it at my school.
the LC is both a resource for teachers and she co-teaches some. She goes into classrooms in the lower grades some and does pull out interventions in the afternoons. She coordinates all of the DIBELS testing, she also seems to attend a lot of trainings and bring the info back to our teachers. I think she is also the Reading First Coordinator. She is pretty busy overall.
For the last couple of years, I have been a LC. I try to provide all the resources that teachers may need to be successful in their classrooms. I also help teachers look at their benchmark assessments and decide what objectives were strong/weak. I provide their lessons for the first round of tutoring. I teach small groups of struggling readers. I go into planning sessions with each grade level and make sure the state objectives are being taught, and provide ideas to teach particular skills. I do my best to assist the students, teachers and administration. Hope this helps!
Our literacy coach at our school is just awesome. She does what most of the pp said. She holds team meetings once a week for each grade level, goes into classrooms to help out teachers, works with the lower kids in grades k-3 among many, many, many other duties. I don't know what our school would do without her.
I am a literacy coach at a high school. The main goal of the job is to increase student achievement by working with teachers. Coaches should be in classrooms modeling, co-teaching and observing. Planning with teachers to incorporate new strategies for current curriculum is the way to go, so that teachers aren't overwhelmed. At every level coaching is about student improvement and that means coaches should be in classrooms. We don't have any PLCs as of yet that are focused on literacy, but that is coming. Hope this helps.
05-28-2008, 05:20 PM
. It wasn't for my grade level, so I didn't attend either, but I really felt bad for her. She also implemented team meeting once a month to discuss what we are working on in reading in our classrooms and whether we are having difficulties or successes to share. These became b**** session about the assessments that everyone hates.
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