Seven Online Coaching Hacks to Upgrade Remote Teaching and Learning

By Scott B. Freiberger

Even though our educational world may have been rocked by the pandemic, we can still ensure our students rock out triumphantly in unfiltered academic fashion via remote classrooms.  Three quintessential questions persist:  What does effective online coaching look like?  How can we best support administrators, teachers, students, and parents during this taxing time?  And finally, what can we do to adapt, inspire, and educate? 

1. SEL Yourself

Students need to feel safe and supported to take academic risks, and social-emotional learning (SEL) is particularly pressing given our current circumstances.  As a coach, teachers rely on our subject expertise and value our trust. Reach out via e-mail and reestablish professional lifelines.  Help teachers first regain confidence and focus, and then offer resources and academic support.  Consider timely material dealing with de-stressing.  As explained by Christopher Holley, a respected children’s book author and successful reading coach supporting multiple schools via the Mayor's and Chancellor's Universal Literacy Initiative, prior to discussing academic concerns, a crack initial question to ask administrators and teachers is simply, “How are you?” According to Holley, remaining calm, visible, and willing to help however possible reestablishes workplace connections that may lead to better online coaching.

2. Rack Up Resources

Train alongside teachers to spark students’ creativity, inspire innovation, fine-tune healthy habits, and add zest to classroom élan vital.  Suggest from a smorgasbord of enticing online options, such as those found on WideOpenSchool.  Students can partake in virtual field trips, listen to children’s stories, visit libraries boasting bountiful children’s books, or delve into salient social issues.  Or, establish assignments on EdPuzzle based on student interest.  The New York Times sparks creativity and sharpens writing skills, and for Fountas& Pinnell assessments, teachers can render Raz-Kids online Running Records.  Scholastic also delivers great daily projects. 

Beginning Reads boasts 12 four-page books, and directions for parents accompany lessons.  Finally, yet certainly not the terminus of online learning resources, NYC Mayor DeBlasio and Chancellor Carranza recently announced, “Let's Learn NYC!,” a new television program featuring talented Universal Literacy initiative coaches.

While you may have quickly collated more resources than Jerry Seinfeld has witticisms, the intention is to support, not overwhelm.  Establish your own coach website, Google Classroom, or store your sources on a spreadsheet for later use; you never know when you may need to peruse a pertinent blog post, fetch a fantastic forum, mention a mindfulness website, or post an educational podcast.  Along with improving high-tech know-how, consider integrating music and other fine arts activities, physical fitness and mindfulness exercises, as well as pencil, paper, and other low-tech assignments to help develop the whole child.  Provide opportunities for students to form healthy habits, rest their eyes, and relax their minds, away from the constant glare of computer and iPad screens.

3. Celebrate Success

Offer praise whenever possible as educators navigate myriad new technologies and unriddle novel curriculum conundrums.  Remember learning walks to identify areas of strength and posit possible spaces for improvement?  Consider virtual learning walks through remote classrooms, and infuse new applications to enhance student learning.  Fantastic feedback should be well-received by teachers through the current clamor of continual conundrums.      

4. Meet Me at Bourbon Street!

Playful pedagogues at a school I had supported once frolicked Friday evenings with the cute catchphrase, “Meet me at Bourbon Street!”  To me, the expression meant meet teachers where they were—if not physically at the recreational restaurant for a few libations, then both physically and mentally at the workplace in a competency context. 

Where were the teachers physically (i.e., the classrooms)?  What were their comfort zones?  How did they organize their workspaces?  Finally, what were their competency levels?  I utilized surveys, collated data, analyzed teacher needs, aligned teacher needs with school and district goals, and finally fathomed:  How could I help enhance their skills to make teaching and learning a more seamless process?  Contemplate current needs.  Meet colleagues where they are in terms of subject skill, online instructional approaches, and technological prowess.      

5. Upgrade Yourself

According to Shimmering Careers, now is an opportune time to upgrade skills, and Udemy and LinkedIn boast online courses.  Delve into research to improve best practices and identify better subject-specific knowledge.  Unravel new strategies or determine how to better support sub-groups, such as students with special needs or Multilingual Learners (MLLs) and English Language Learners (ELLs).  With our current school system in a state of digital flux, now is the time to plan for success—for administrators, for teachers, and for yourself.

6. Think: Elastigirl

While Elastigirl is cautious and collected, she becomes conspicuously courageous in the face of adversity.  She sees strengths, fathoms limits, and admits fault when wrong.  In essence, she is a reflective superhero who quickly assesses each situation and becomes even more magnificent as a result of both her superhero successes and minor misadventures.  In this trying time, we must think more like Elastigirl.

Schools are systems, and changing one part of the systemalters the balance and the status quo, so that the entire system can shift.  In a recent interview, New York City Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza pointed to the need for flexibility.  Indeed, the “new normal” requires flexibility and adaptability on the part of students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

At the building level, P.S. 165Q Edith K. Bergtraum Principal Davis-Nealy, a former K-8 literacy coach and later Teachers College staff developer, is a school leader acutely aware of how improving teachers’ knowledge and skills enhances instructional quality.  At her weekly staff meetings, Principal Davis-Nealy imparts a beautiful blend of hope, humor, and enthusiasm, and remains very much committed to effective literacy instruction: “Literacy plays a vital role in ensuring all of our students can improve our communities and become citizens of the world.” 

7. Refresh, Reboot, and Recharge

Remain optimistic.  Refresh, reboot, recharge, sharpen skills, and laser-beam focus on what matters: our families, our careers, and most notably, our students.  Brenda Thomas, an Instructional Specialist with the Division of Early Childhood Education (DECE) at the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE), inspires coaches to remain focused, intentional, relevant, and responsive to significantly impact student achievement.  According to Andrew Fletcher, Senior Executive Director, Early Literacy at the NYC DOE, coaches are being recognized in support of literacy instruction within the new remote learning ecosystem by prominent staff members.  For example, he was informed at a recent meeting, “ULit coaches have been providing space for teachers to practice and test out synchronous teaching and lessons,” a positive and complementary statement from senior staff, he noted, for certain.  

In sum, coaches should remain collaborative thought partners with the aim of improving programs and progressive initiatives that enable schools and communities to stay connected, and never lose sight of the fact that all students have intrinsic value.  Now more than ever, students deserve our empathy, respect, and support.  Empower them in this new learning environment, where they can still feel a sense of connectedness, determination, and purpose.  Together we will not only enhance capacity, but also delve into courage, talent, and strength to raise one another up.  

 

This article also appears here.

BIO

Scott Freiberger, a passionate literacy coach with school building/district leader certification, is honored to be the 2018 TESOL International Teacher of the Year.  Twitter: @scottfreiberger