Share your coaching victories.

Great question! I think my coaching wins come from informal situation and not in formal coaching situations (as there is less time for this at the moment). My focus has been on improving teacher attitudes to iPad in the classroom and the belief that all students have the capacity to learn with iPad.

Thank you JJ! I appreciate you calling out those small moments of joy that can showcase the meaningful connection between a coach and an educator.

In my work with student teachers and novice teachers who are new to the classroom, my goal is always to empower them to think creatively about how they design instruction. Sometimes, there's an inclination to stay in a teacher-directed instruction "comfort zone" because it feels less risky, even if it's at the cost of higher student engagement and creativity. I always count it as a coaching "win" when a teacher I'm working chooses a more student-directed instructional strategy where their students are taking the lead in learning and creating something authentic to show what they're learning. Traditional pedagogies are hard habits to move beyond, so I love to see teacher candidates and early career teachers challenging themselves to try more student-centered approaches to learning.

Recently one of our teachers was upset about her behavior management. We used an iPad to film her lesson, and watched it separately using one of Jim Knights engagement questionnaires.

When we got together to do a film review, SHE identified some issues she wanted to address. One of them was the students continually invading each others personal space.

She used Keynote to create a quick slideshow of the behaviors she wanted to stop and presented it to the class with good humor. They laughed and agreed that the constant touching / grabbing was not OK. They reset the expectations as a class with student input

I have since observed the class 2 more times and behavior interventions are down over 80%. This change occurred in a fortnight.

This teacher is so pleased with the pedagogical coaching success she has recommended other staff get involved. In reality, she fixed her classroom herself! Happy days.