Friday, April 25, 2014

Learning Log: Article on Literacy Coaches

L'Allier, Elish-Piper, and Bean (2010)'s article discussed the important traits and qualifications of effective literacy coaches.  I found it interesting how much more effective literacy coaches are if they have a reading teachers endorsement, certification, or master's degree.  Of course, that makes sense that someone who has taken many classes specifically in reading to be more effective that someone who has not.  I know that it's not necessarily a requirement for schools to hire someone with these qualifications.  I would imagine that would be because there aren't enough teachers with those qualifications, but I'm not entirely sure.  Next, L'Allier et al., (2010) defined teacher-oriented coaches as those who spent between 41% and 52% of their time interacting with teachers.  L'Allier et al., (2010) look at the results of several studies whose results indicated that students benefited the most when coaches' time is spent working directly with teachers to help them improve their teaching.  More gains in reading were seen when coaches could be considered teacher-orientated coaches.  All the coaches I have known have expressed at one time or another how numerous their obligations were.  The 7 guiding principles are as follows:
  1. coaching requires specialized knowledge
  2. time working with teachers is the focus of coaching
  3. collaborative relationships are essential for coaching
  4. coaching that supports student reading achievement focuses on a set of core activities
  5. coaching must be both intentional and opportunistic
  6. coaches must be literacy leaders 
  7. coaching evolves over time

References:

L'Allier,  S., Elish-Piper, L., & Bean, R. M. (2010). What matters for elementary literacy coaching?
        Guiding principles for instructional improvement and student achievement. The 
        Reading Teacher, 63(7), pp. 544-554.

No comments:

Post a Comment