Well, I’ve been doing this coaching gig (4th and 5th grade math) for five months now. And I’m still not sure that I like it. I certainly miss the daily contact and relationships with kids. I like the 4th and 5th teachers, and I enjoy their students. Call me crazy, but I miss my middle schoolers.
And this job is hard. Not impossible but very difficult. I understand, it is hard to change the way people teach. And that is the thing about CCSSM, the math didn’t change (it is really old, older than I) but the way we teach it and the way kids should learn it has changed. No doubt, this is a good change.
But I’ve found my position in this whole coaching role. I won’t give out lessons, activities, assessments, or daily curriculum. (Well, I might but not enough to teach for a year.) I think the key to success is content knowledge! The elementary teachers I deal with are great teachers. I have so much respect for what they do and how they do it. I see my job as strengthening their content knowledge, not just at their grade level but beyond.
So I am adopting the Chinese proverb as an Action Plan. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. I’m handing out the equipment, they will do with it as they will.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
As always; questions, comments, suggestions are appreciated 🙂
Coaching - It's teaching and learning from a different angle 