I was able to involve four educators in the reflective coaching model through use of video. My goal with the capstone was to create Video Leadership Teams that engage in dialogue and meaningful communication via Microsoft teams and in monthly or quarterly meetings. This did not come to fruition during the 2018-2019 school year. I will continue the work as long as I am in the instructional coaching position, beginning next year with a small group of educators. Ideally, I would like to see the idea of VLT become district wide, with educators meeting via Skype to analyze videos. Could you imagine the power in that? The educators would be the leaders, leading a movement in reflective practices, not having to rely on outside sources! Open-door education could be a reality!
There is no evidence of impacted stakeholders yet. We are still building common assessments and working on instructional practices. This will not be evident for a few years, but I am confident stakeholders will be able to clearly see that instruction and curriculum are more meaningful, educators are more involved, and student success is visible via data and attitude regarding school.
The plan was somewhat successful this year. I saw cross-school collaboration happening during our monthly PLC meetings. An educator who was so anxious about having a coach and observers in the classroom was teaching a group of educators how to use a Frayer model. An educator who disliked anything that did not have to do with relationships in the classroom sought me out to ask advice on how to go about helping students write a creative narrative. These are small wins, but they are wins. Our educators are seeing the importance of instructional collaboration and I believe I can get them to invest more in the collaborative process.
I created and sent out another form to the educators after the completion of our first year. There were different sections of the form that branched depending on where they were at in their instructional coaching journey. This input was to better help me understand how they viewed my work and if they would be interested in becoming involved in the coaching/mentoring process.
Link to the summary: https://forms.office.com/Pages/AnalysisPage.aspx?id=zfm09BfEZU6BQxDQ_niQU_6_ct9ufO9Kp7whI6ehOQpUQ0paNERVV0ZHNVdCVFNTWFFTN0tGQVpIVC4u&AnalyzerToken=4JrNqiPLXskyJbsK2QmIuQY2hI6ejpoRTechnology
Reflective Practice
Collaborate Purposefully
Coaching and Mentoring
I do not have any changes for the project plan of action. There were no real obstacles aside from the structuring of relationships and trust. I met those with persistence and understanding because our educators need time to see that they can become reflective practitioners without being told to. I engaged through demonstration and positive interactions.
Because I am still in the beginning stages of the plan, I continue to see the importance of relationships and building trust with the educators. This process will be a long-term project, but one that will benefit educators for years to come.