We LOVE Our Classified Staff

Our classified and paraprofessional staff members are just as important as our faculty members. I often feel that at times our classified staff can be over-looked for some of the great ideas and contributions they can provide to our campus. It is important to include these staff members in the overall school wide community and culture. You also want to make sure that you provide your classified staff members with adequate and purposeful training periodically. We love our classified staff. They ensure the operations of our day to day operations in our school buildings.

Ways to Make Your Classified Staff Members Feel Appreciated:

Acknowledgement

Give your classified and paraprofessional staff members the acknowledgement they deserve! It is hard work tending to duties and assisting multiple classrooms all day. Our classified staff members help our schools to operate and function. A nice catered lunch just for them can express how much you truly appreciate the hard work they provide. You could also have a classified staff member spotlight each month to showcase staff contributions to the rest of the campus. Even a sweet thank you note from time to time goes a long way.

Feedback

Since our classified staff members see so much of day to day operations, they can provide purposeful feedback to administrators and teachers in various procedures. Getting feedback from your classified staff shows that you value their opinions and trust their judgement.

Decision Making

Involve your classified staff in the decision making process whenever possible. Allow them to participate in faculty meetings and share in the common vision/mission of the school. Staff members will become invested when given the opportunity to contribute to the school wide decision making.

Best Advice for Instructional Coaches

There is nothing I love more about my job, than coaching teachers. Although I am now a current administrator I still get to facilitate adult learning in my building and coach teachers along the way. It's important that as we coach our teachers through the best practices for student learning, we as coaches must follow our same advice. Teach to the learner and let the data guide the instruction.

1. Building relationships with our teachers is number one priority. We cannot expect a collaborative working relationship to just happen on it's own. We have to put in the time to get to know our teachers personally and professionally. Find out what they like and don't like. Administer professional development surveys to gain knowledge of their different learning styles. You will want to cater your professional development for them in that way.

2. Side by side, as a team, assess student data at the campus level, grade level and by individual teachers. Together you and the teacher can find what skills or standards students may be missing. This creates a more student centered coaching cycle and takes the judgmental lens off of the teacher.

3. While you and the teacher are assessing students, you want to assess the staff. Look for trends across grade levels and possible gaps in the curriculum. This information can be used to facilitate professional development needs for your campus.

4. Make the time to collaborate and plan instruction with your teachers. Attend planning meetings and PLCs so that you can be apart of the conversations that take place about instruction. This is also a great opportunity into forming individual or team coaching cycles as you give expert guidance and direction.

5. Based on information gathered through data talks and planning meetings, facilitate instruction and professional development. Be apart of the co-teaching process with your teachers as they begin to present information to students. Teachers learn better by doing, so it's best to have a coach present in the moment as instruction is taking place. When planning professional development, be mindful of the diverse platforms you could use. Take a more blended PD approach with modeling, technology, and lecturing. Professional development should be ongoing, not a 1 hour sit & get. Make time for follow-up and hold check in sessions so that teachers can ask questions and get clarification.

6. Always evaluate results from professional development and coaching cycles. Student pre/post assessment data is extremely beneficial in determining the effectiveness of instruction. This is also a good time for reflection for the teacher and you as the coach.

Coaching teachers is an art. It is something that gets better and better over time and can be so rewarding. Good luck to all you coaches out there and keep making teachers shine!

:-)

Christina

#professionaldevelopment #InstructionalCoaching

Guess What??

It has been an amazing summer! School has started and I've taken off in a new role this year. I absolutely loved being a literacy coach at Sugar Creek, but for the 2017-18 school year I am the new Assistant Principal for Sugar Creek Elementary for Bentonville Schools. I've been on the job for an entire month now and I have to say I'm loving it. I interviewed for the position this past May. While I was nervous, I felt extremely prepared to take on the challenge. I've always had a passion for working with teachers and providing relevant professional development. This new position has brought on so many other aspects to education that I have never had the opportunity to explore in the instructional coaching role. I'm learning so much and cannot wait for more to come.

I've decided to continue providing awesome products and goodies to educators around the world through my TpT and other online market centers. I'm planning to launch a line of educational products for literacy, instructional coaching and administrators. Thanks so much for your patience while I take on this new position.

:-) Christina Hamilton