3 Quick Points for Ending the Year as an Instructional Coach
By Nicole S. Turner
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This crazy mixed-up year is finally coming to a close! As educators, we have been thrown into a whole new world of technology, hybrid teaching, and other unmentionable avenues we’ve had to learn to navigate. Guess what? You did it, and it is almost time to celebrate! Almost. Even though it’s the end of the year, we need to make sure we are wrapping the end of the year up the right way. Ending the year for instructional coaches might look different than it normally does. Here are some things you need to keep in mind as you leave your teachers for the summer.
Wrap Up Goals!
Ending the year for instructional coaching doesn’t mean you are just checking out with doing some checking up on teachers and their goals. So, the first thing you need to do is set up a final meeting time with each teacher. Now, when you’re scheduling this, take into account what you know about the teacher and schedule in your planner accordingly so no one is “wasting” too much time. If you just need to run through the basics, that’s great. However, if you have more to talk about, make sure you schedule enough time for that too. If you don’t know where to start, you can use the same form to go through the end of the year goals for every teacher.
What’s Next?
It’s not enough just to talk about your goals and reflect on the year. As we all know, if we get into something and then take three months “off” from it, we are going to see some major regression. Therefore, ending the year for instructional coaches doesn’t stop right when you get done with reviewing goals. You have to discuss with teachers what they plan on doing during the summer to continue to grow and become better. On the instructional coach’s end, you might want to make sure you have a few resources like book studies or professional developments that teachers can attend during the summer to stay on top of things. You can also create a simple plan for teachers to get organized right away before school starts. Not everything you suggest has to be something a teacher has to physically go to. Try to get create with fun things your teachers can work on that won’t feel so much like work during their well-deserved break. Don’t forget, this is a great time to say thank you to teachers for their hard work this year.
End the Year as an Instructional Coach with a PLC
While you are finishing up your personal goals with your teachers, you want to make sure you end the year with a final PLC meeting. This PLC meeting should focus on fun activities that you and your colleagues can do together instead of focusing so hard on the more serious business. You can do this by having the PLC focus on reflection. What went well this year? What was the best moment of the year? If you had to choose a theme song for the year, what would it be and why? The best part about this fun PLC is that it you can have teachers work on it individually, in small groups, or as a whole group. You can also make it interactive with a gallery walk. However you choose to do your last PLC, make it simple, light, and reflective. These activities will help your weary teachers leave with a little bounce in their step.
Ending the year for instructional coaches is never an easy task. You want to make sure you are getting the work done but not overwhelming already overwhelmed teachers. Therefore, it’s important for you to make sure you add a bit of fun right along with it. You can do this by planning meaningful last meetings with your teachers and planning a fun PLC to end the instructional coaching year strong.
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Thank you!
This info is super helpful for the end of the year. I wish I had this a couple weeks ago so I could do some planning ahead. I realize many schools go later into the summer than my district does, but we are in our second to last week. Next year I will work in time for all these things. #newcoach