grade level or department model

Teaching + Technology Coaching Initiative
T2CI index

Grade Level or Departmental Model

Resources and Funding	Possible Roles and Responsibilities
T2CI provides:	Provides one-on-one coaching with teachers informally or during common planning times.
Eight Academy training sessions Coaching Tools and Academy Web sites Guidance in creating a coaching portfolio Coaching discussion board Training and use of online support resources Access to database of Web lessons created by coaches Membership in the coaching learning community	Provides examples of standards based, technology rich projects that are relevant to participating teachers and/or departments. Plans technology rich lessons or activities with collaborating teachers. Models/team teaches lessons that integrate technology. Identifies and shares useful learning resources or teaching strategies with participating teachers. Provides feedback on lessons or learning activities. Supports collaborating teachers’ development of technology skills.
Sample ideas for school/district match:	Provides opportunities for staff to develop their skills in integrating technology into the curriculum.
Funding for one period daily release to coach. Provide funds for release time annually for each collaborating teacher. Stipend or release time funded by department. Rearrange schedules to permit common planning times for coach and collaborating teachers. District provides mentoring for district coaches. Equipment for coach and/or collaborating teachers. District/school takes the lead in organizing and leading opportunities for coaches to meet and network. Provide opportunities for school visitations for coaches and collaborating teachers. Funding for extra professional development/training. Fund registration and/or travel for conferences. Support evaluation efforts of coaching programs.	Assesses participants’ skills and knowledge of technology integration. Offers teachers just in time assistance with technology skills needed to implement classroom projects. Plans and leads workshops to help participants gain skills and knowledge to integrate technology. Plans and leads small group training sessions. Provides staff with information on conferences and out-of-district professional development opportunities. Provides information on self-paced training materials. Participates in technology planning at the building level.

Grade Level or Departmental Scenario:

Linda and Manuel worked in a school that had received a lot of technology, but noticed few teachers using these tools on a regular basis. The school had earlier adopted a model where much of the school’s professional development was focused on teachers meeting regularly in grade level teams to compare student work samples and plan a more integrated curriculum. This model was at the heart of the professional development strategy written into their schools’ improvement plan. As the school looked for a way to use this model to meet the needs of teachers who wanted to use technology they read about several schools that used coaches or mentors to lead professional development for their teacher teams. The school felt that coaching would add value to their team-based professional development approach and asked Linda and Manuel to be their coaches.

The departmental teams already had common planning times, but other pieces needed to be added. The school decided to use the technology stipend provided by the district for two coaches. They also used the building budget to provide some release time for teachers the coach was working with. Finally, they used federal funds from Title IIa of the No Child Left Behind legislation to fund additional release time for their coaches to work with other teachers. Linda and Manuel found that teaching with technology brought instructional resources to their classrooms that would not have been possible just a few short years ago. Their students were eager to use technology for researching, writing, and publishing their work. Their colleagues agreed to use Linda and Manuel as coaches so they could use technology to enrich their classroom activities in a similar manner.

Coaching became an effective way for the teachers on Linda’s and Manuel’s teams to learn new technology skills and instructional strategies for integrating technology in their classrooms. Each coach had a common planning time with a team of teachers involved in the coaching project. Once a week they met to plan activities, share resources, compare student work samples, or learn a new technology skill. At one of their first meetings the teachers all agreed on a common focus, student writing. Next they talked about how to organize their classrooms so that each team of students could gather around one computer. Then the coaches helped the teachers get started with small projects they could use with their students the next day. Eventually they started planning out longer projects and ongoing activities related to their writing focus.

While these weekly planning meetings were important for laying out goals and charting progress, Manuel and Linda found that most of their coaching activities happened during informal meetings with teachers throughout the school day. Often they bumped into teachers in the halls or the teacher lounge and checked on their progress. During these informal meetings collaborating teachers often discussed teaching strategies, received tips for valuable online resources, or answers to immediate software questions that kept their lessons on track and their confidence high. Linda’s and Manuel’s coaching duties went far beyond planning and just-in-time support. Several times a year they scheduled substitutes for teams of teachers so they could observe students using technology in a coach’s classroom. At other times they team taught a lesson with their colleagues. Coaching had increased the sense of collaboration among the teachers on these teams. The teachers knew there was someone to turn to if they had a question or wanted to share ideas about a new lesson or project. By working together teachers had been more successful at using technology to enrich student learning.