Curriculum Integration

Successful Curriculum Integration

An instructional coach does not teach teachers a new tool and disappear. Instructional coaches have a bird's-eye understanding of their teachers' curriculum and know when and how to be of service.

When collaborating with teachers to incorporate technology into the activities students will be completing, consider these tips:

Find resources or tools for what you need and then get to know them inside and out. Less is more. Use a few tools really well and in innovative ways instead of using multiple tools that could potentially accomplish the same outcome on their own.
Do not ditch a great lesson for technology. If it works, is hands-on, and students love it, don't feel like it needs to be replaced with a tech tool.
Start with what teachers want students to know. Do not build lessons around using technology.

Technology Integration

Watch this video and read the Edutopia article to dig into successful technology integration.

Co-Teaching

Educators are more willing and able to enhance their practice when they collaborate with colleagues in their classrooms. An important component of coaching includes job-embedded professional learning that engages teachers in cycles of coaching in order to provide opportunities to practice skills with immediate feedback to inform growth and development. Co-teaching and modeling are two methods that leverage the context of the teacher’s classroom to enhance this learning cycle for teachers.

6 Approaches to Co-Teaching from SERC
How to Choose a Co-Teaching Model - Edutopia
The Power of Clear Explanations, Blog post with video by Jim Knight via Instructional Coaching Group
Setting Intentions: A Powerful Tool to Help us Learn, blog post by Elena Aguilar via Edutopia

Guiding Reflective Questions

Drawing with two hands. One is holding a lit light bulb. The other is holding a question mark.

From Jen Jonson: What is blended learning? How does it differ from classroom technology instruction? What are the hallmarks of a blended learning environment?
What’s the difference between co-teaching and modeling a lesson? What are the roles and expectations of the teacher and coach in each setting? How do I ensure teachers always play an active role in co-teaching and model lessons?
How can I help teachers shift their focus from copying or replicating instructional practices to using them to adjust to student learning needs?
Co-Teaching is a term adopted from inclusion classrooms that have multiple teachers. How are the formats described in the resources similar to working with your teachers? Which formats lead to deeper reflective conversations and teacher growth? Why?

Putting It Into Practice

Build Plans Based on the Curriculum. Before meeting with a teacher, learn about their curriculum. Look at publicly available sources for their grade(s) and subject(s) and ask the teacher to share a curriculum map.
Create an Effective Technology Integration Statement. If a teacher asks you what effective technology integration looks like, what would you tell them?
Plan to co-teach. Collaborate with a teacher interested in leveraging co-teaching to support their personal growth goals. Consider different approaches to co-teaching and select the format that will yield the best results for the teacher. (Note: this may be a less comfortable approach for you.) Spend time planning for the instruction, specifying what each teacher does during the lesson. Afterward, reflect, refine, and repeat.

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