In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of coaching teachers in order to increase the quality of their instruction for improved student academic success. You will learn about the roles of coaches, with particular emphasis on developing the essential skills of relationships, communication, and observation. With those skills as the backbone, you will learn a coaching cycle for planning, implementation, and debriefing in the context of three different instructional supports—modeling/demonstration, coteaching/collaboration, and observation. Once you’ve discovered how to plan and implement, you will learn to assess coaching as you consider its outcomes and those who are accountable for them. Finally, you will explore how to begin to foster a coaching culture at your school or in your district.
- Practical guidance from an expert on instructional coaching
- Convenient, flexible online format
- 45 PD hours or 3 graduate credits
Skills You'll Learn
In this course, you'll learn the three types of support an instructional supporter provides (demonstration lessons; collaborative teaching; and observation and feedback), the coaching skill of developing relationships with teachers and school leaders, and how to assess coaching to determine its effectiveness as well as determine accountability within the coaching process.
Course Overview
About the Instructor
Joellen Killion is senior advisor for Learning Forward and formerly its deputy executive director. As senior advisor she leads, facilitates, and contributes to initiatives related to the link between professional learning and student learning. She has over 30 years’ experience in planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of professional learning at the school, system, state, and international level. Killion is a frequent contributor to education publications and the author of 12 books. Her most recent books, published in 2017, are Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teacher Leaders and School-based Coaches, 2nd edition (with Cindy Harrison) and The Feedback Process: Transforming Feedback for Professional Learning. Her other books include Coaching Matters (with Cindy Harrison, Chris Bryan, and Heather Clifton), Assessing Impact: Evaluating Staff Development, The Learning Educator: A New Era in Professional Learning (with Stephanie Hirsh), Becoming a Learning School (with Patricia Roy), and others.
