I have been very fortunate lately to be learning lots of new things about teaching and coaching. In November, I was able to attend the VASCD (Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) conference in Williamsburg, VA for three days. While there I had the opportunity to attend Jim Knight's session on Instructional Coaching. I learned so much about learning, teaching and coaching during his session and I feel like his session prepared me to support teachers and get into a more active coaching role.
The question that Jim Knight posed was "How do we create schools in which every student receives excellent instruction in every class, every day?" This is a goal that we all have. We want to provide excellent instruction for ALL of our students. There is no other motive for teachers. We know it is not the salary we receive, the extra benefits or bonuses we receive, or the long lunches and relaxing days we spend in our classrooms. Our motive is to provide learning opportunities for our students.
With the common goal of providing excellent instruction in mind, we must reflect on our practice, or the how of our instruction. Jim Knight provided us with a 20-minute target survey based on "The Big Four" areas of instruction. These four key areas are classroom management, content planning, instruction, and assessment for learning. I encourage every teacher to reflect on these areas of their practice, to ensure that they are providing excellent instruction by intentionally focusing on "The Big Four". http://www.instructionalcoach.org/big4/
