Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Written by: Stephanie Feldner, CESA 8 Director of Curriculum Instruction & Assessment/RPIC Coach
Each month, as part of the Research to Practice Inclusive Communities (RPIC) coaching cohort, I’m challenged to reflect on one or more of my coaching sessions as aligned to Wisconsin's Coaching Competency Practice Profile (CCPP). Once you’ve been engaged in this reflective process for multiple years, it’s hard not to see it reflected in the projects and work of others around you. For this article, I’d like to take a moment to honor the work that some of my CESA 8 and 9 colleagues are doing to create sustainable change in the world of literacy.
One of the non-negotiables for the CESA 8 and 9 literacy leaders in this process was building local capacity. The goal was to build the systems and structures to continue the work locally, long after this one-time funding has ended. Through a partnership with the Transformative Reading Teacher Group, literacy leadership teams from participating districts came together in June 2023 to begin this year-long journey of building literacy leadership capacity, systems, knowledge and coaching structures to support literacy transformation in their schools and districts.
Throughout this collaborative partnership, I couldn’t help but see, hear and feel the coaching competencies come to life in the work. As I reflected on this experience, I began to see it through the lens of each competency in the CCPP and realized the deep connection coaching has to all my work.
Literacy leadership teams from participating districts came together in June 2023 to begin this year-long journey of building literacy leadership capacity, systems, knowledge and coaching structures to support literacy transformation in their schools and districts. This collaboration has me reflecting once again on the connections to coaching and the competencies of a coach.
Equity Mindset
On the first day of learning, we were presented with this nugget of truth from Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science, 2020:
“It is possible to teach most students [~95%] how to read if we start early and follow the significant body of research showing which practices are most effective. Students living in poverty, students of color, and students who are eligible for remedial services can become competent readers—at any age. Persistent ‘gaps’ between more advantaged and less advantaged students can be narrowed and even closed. Fundamentally, these gaps are the result of differences in students’ opportunities to learn—not their learning abilities.”
No one is doubting that transformational change, like that of dismantling systems of how we’ve always done things and paradigms about who is and is not capable of reading proficiently is going to be hard, but coaches are in a unique position to bring teams (and individuals) back to the knowledge that it CAN be done. As Dr. Nell Thompson and Dr. Terrie Noland from the Transformative Reading Teacher Group reminded us,
“It’s time to be a possibilist about what you can do to lead literacy change in your world.” (Possibilist - a person who does not deny reality but who believes there is always a way)
Relationship Development
Between each of the days of professional learning over the course of the year, CESA literacy coaches engage in “Mastermind” coaching sessions with the literacy leadership team in each district. Examining systems and having conversations about barriers that teams are experiencing requires a foundation of vulnerability and trust. When asked how districts were paired with their CESA 8 coaches, Jamee Belland explained that “for the most part, we were paired with districts where we’ve done work, so we knew many of the team members and their districts already…it gave us a foundation to work from at the very beginning.”
Communication Skills
Bi-directional communication loops were built into the plan from the earliest stages. Even before the first meeting, information was gathered for the trainers to get a sense of the districts, their unique leadership needs and what they hoped to gain from participation. Planning for each session was based on feedback from the one before and analysis of themes and patterns that emerge from the “Mastermind” coaching sessions along with barriers and successes at the school and classroom level. All these things were clearly communicated so that both the trainers and the project coaches were able to adapt and adjust to meet the needs of the participating teams.
Knowledge Base Development
Although the CESA coaches have expertise in the Science of Reading and working with school teams, the partnership with the Transformative Reading Teacher Group provided a unique opportunity to learn alongside the teams they are coaching.
Knowing what they are learning, the activities they are engaged in, the language of the frameworks and even the conversations that are going on in the space allows them to bring this insight into the coaching session. Coaches learning alongside their clients positions them as a co-learner and not the expert. This allows for the coach to lean on the expertise of their clients and work to draw upon the expertise of the client through dialogue and questions.
Coaching Conversation Facilitation
The “Mastermind” coaching sessions have a running notes document that allows teams to co-create the focus of the conversation for the day. Common topics align with the pillars of literacy leadership, systems, knowledge or coaching; connections to district plans, EE or the learning that happens locally between sessions.
The running notes document also allows coaches to keep the team’s goals front and center, circle back to action steps they committed to during the last session, reflect on barriers and successes and have teams commit to next steps that will occur between sessions. This aids the coach in using a cyclical model for structuring conversations and moves the client to generate a commitment to action that is aligned to goals
Change Facilitation
According to coach Jamee Belland, “our [district] teams are in very different places, so it’s important to meet them where they are.” As we coach against the tendency to define success by what the district next door is doing or try to do everything all at once, a quote from the Literacy Leadership Thinkbook (2023) stands out in relation to change facilitation,
“John Maxwell reminds us that, “Where your focus goes, your energy flows”, so shaking the burden of things outside of our control serves to keep our focus on what we can control, what we can prioritize and what we can do each day to transform literacy for children.”
As coaches, we must work to assist the client to identify and act upon their spheres of influence and control within their system.
Reflective Practice
CESA coaches, like their district counterparts, often wear many hats, so taking the time to prioritize reflecting on their own practice all too often falls by the wayside. As we head into the midway point of the year, I’d challenge all coaches to reflect on their own practice as it connects to the CCPP, solicit client feedback or ask a colleague to observe your practice. It requires vulnerability, but also provides a great opportunity to grow in our profession.
As for the Mastermind coaching clients, I had the opportunity to catch up with just one of the district leaders at CESA recently and asked about their team’s experience working with a coach this year. They replied,
“It’s nice to have that external accountability (in the CESA coach) …knowing that someone is there to support us, challenge us and keep us focused on why we’re doing the work - even when it gets hard.”