"In coaching, the goal belongs to you, the teacher." - Nina Morel
I was on Twitter this morning and saw this quotation. It made me think back to when I was taking Cognitive Coaching classes two years ago. I still use some of what I learned in the course. There were some really great ideas in the training, which was a year-long operation, many of which I couldn't appreciate at the time. I struggled with my role as an EdTech specialist and how that fit with this specific coaching model, and I think this quote is what can put coaching in perspective for me. Obviously there will be some times when teachers are not going to want/need/allow coaching...their projector bulb just blew, their computer needs reimaging, they locked their network password...in those instances I'm tech support, which I enjoy. But other times, during weekly technology planning or during team meetings- those are the times that I should keep this thought in mind. I am definitely an expert (at some things) when it comes to technology, but my goal is to cultivate and facilitate more experts at my site. Develop that talent and give teachers more opportunities to try things, make mistakes, try again and succeed. Isn't that what they want their students to do? They know I'm here to support them, but I want them to know that I don't always have to. One of my favorite things to tell teachers when they ask if they can download something is "go for it...there's nothing you can do that I can't undo". That may not be 100% true, but it's close enough. I want them to take risks and see themselves as a valuable resource when it comes to instructional technology. So as I #plan4next (which is actually now, because today is my first official day back), I'm going to put this quotation where my teachers can see it when they are tech planning with me each week, but really, this quote is for me. Comments are closed.
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Kendra MurphyI'm a Technology Coach and IT Support for a school. I'm passionate about 1:1 classrooms technology in instruction. Archives
September 2015
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