3 Ways Innovation Coaches Make Your Job Easier
Research and examples on the impact of this increasingly popular educational profession.
Leveraging a wide variety of skills beyond simple tech support (though we often help with that, too), teachers in roles like innovation coaches are becoming increasingly common in American schools. But what exactly do these individuals do and how can they make your teaching job easier and more effective? In this two article series, we’ll explore the role of innovation coaches and how they can help any teacher.
Let me begin by saying this: innovation coaches are not here to tell you what to do. We trust your decision-making capability and respect your autonomy. There are many ways we can support your teaching to boost student outcomes and achievement. What works for you may not work for another member of your department. I’m going to share some examples of how innovation coaches have made a difference in White Bear Lake Area Schools and some explorations into the research and philosophy behind the coaching relationship.
Innovation coaches are thought partners.
The tension between creating a curriculum from scratch and purchasing ready-made lessons can be tough to navigate. But the process of conferring with a trusted colleague while lesson planning can unlock so much potential and help ensure equitable, inclusive instruction. You are the content or grade-level expert, so invite someone with a different knowledge base like an innovation coach into your curriculum design process. It’s an excellent way to generate new, novel ideas and approaches into your routine — and there is a growing body of evidence pointing to the power of novelty in classrooms.
How does this make your job easier?
On the surface, it looks like more work — finding time to meet, taking away from your prep to ask the opinion of another professional — but it can be a simple process that eventually becomes a routine. You could work with your innovation coach to develop a streamlined process for sharing lesson plans via Google Docs, granting them comment rights so no one makes changes to your curriculum without your permission. You can ask for specific feedback on topics like culturally responsive teaching; simple formative assessment through tools like Google Forms, Pear Deck, and Illuminate; or building more student agency into your instruction.
It’s especially rewarding the less you and your innovation coach have in common. Despite gender, age, and content expertise, your passion for student achievement leads the way to uncovering new possibilities from someone who sees the world differently than you do.
Shannon Treichel is an innovation coach at WBLAHS North and South Campus. She has helped many teachers incorporate effective technology into their assessments:
“Shannon has helped me work through using sites like Quizlet Live. My students love using this as a review for test. Even the students who can be a real challenge to get engaged love this and participate.”
“Shannon helped me set up Flipgrid for my three sections of 9th/10th grade choir! Flipgrid is a tool that allows students to record a video of themselves and send it to their teacher. I’ve already been able to listen to my students singing a folk song on Flipgrid, and I’m looking forward to doing part checks and sight-reading assessments with this new tool throughout the year. Thanks, Shannon!”
“She showed me how to get more of the features of Google Forms and I was able to use that to do quicker check-ins of students levels of understanding and if I need to reteach or move on.”
Innovation coaches are co-teachers.
“[He] has demonstrated that I don’t need to be an expert on a digital tool before I introduce it to my classroom, leaving opportunities for me to learn alongside my students.”
Co-teaching can be difficult, but it can be incredibly rewarding — and effective. Finding your groove with another teacher is often a challenge, but many innovation coaches are trained in co-teaching models that are proven to improve educational outcomes in classes with students of varying ability — in other words, every classroom.
How does this make your job easier?
Consider running an inquiry-based lesson through the use of stations. It takes so much work, mental focus on all of your students, and meticulous planning with down-to-the-minute directions to ensure effective instruction. When you invite an innovation coach into your classroom, you can trust that a licensed teacher is present to help deliver instruction and monitor learning throughout the lesson. You can also provide remediation and enrichment through the use of a co-teacher, allowing students to self-select where they’d like to learn for the day.
Consider inviting an innovation coach into your classroom on during a lesson that incorporates the 4 Cs: creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. You’ll be amazed at the level of engagement and self-directed learning that happens with an co-teaching innovation coach.
Nick Marty is an innovation coach at many elementary schools in WBLAS. He has helped students (and teachers!) learn how to feel confident in their technology use and even introduce them to coding:
“Nick and I have worked on many fun things in the classroom bringing technology to the fingertips of my students. He has helped me get the students logged onto their Chromebooks, talked about digital citizenship and safe passwords.”
“Last year, my greatest technology advancement was coding. Nick came in several times, first to teach my students about coding, as simple as code.org and how to code songs, their name and a character, then he used this to teach them how to do pixel art. Finally, the coding lessons ended with the kids coding a robot to follow a tape line in the classroom. It was amazing the see the students use the technology within steps to create something bigger.”
“Nick has truly been an inspiration for me to integrate technology into my classroom. Nick piloted a modified flipped classroom by creating differentiated math lessons on videos for each math unit, and then encouraged me to make a unit of lessons of my own to add to the files. Observations of his lessons have enabled me to understand the value of teaching to the digital native by facilitating learning and allowing students to take the driver’s seat. Aside from formative lessons, Nick has encouraged me to introduce a makerspace, genius hour, and many digital tools to my class. More importantly, he has demonstrated that I don’t need to be an expert on a digital tool before I introduce it to my classroom, leaving opportunities for me to learn alongside my students.”
Innovation coaches are coaches.
Right? It’s even in the name. But it is easy to lose sight of the fact that innovation coaches undergo extensive training in effective coaching strategies. Not only do we want to see you succeed, but there is mounting evidence that coaching has a positive impact on educational outcomes. In our school district, we are working to ensure all coaches receive training in the Cognitive Coaching model, the goal of which is to produce self-directed teachers with the resourcefulness to achieve their educational goals.
How does this make your job easier?
It means that you have highly trained teachers at your disposal who can problem solve, consult and collaborate with you in ways that maximize your self-efficacy. We have practiced the skills of listening with intention, noticing patterns in behavior and speech that can help you define your values and seek opportunities to improve the way you teach. Your coach won’t simply listen to you vent or tell you to try a new website — we’ll partner with you, forming a relationship of trust and respect that helps you uncover the possibilities in your own classroom and practice.
When you build a trusting relationship with an innovation coach, you know there is someone on your side who is working tirelessly to help you best reach your students.
Next week in Innovate 624, we’ll explore three additional ways your innovation coach can help you. In the meantime, check out our latest infographic: 20 Ways Your Innovation Coach Can Help You!
And don’t forget to like and share using #innovate624!
