It wasn’t that long ago that the term "coach" was only used for sports and in conjunction with an activity on an athletic field or in a gymnasium. Yet in today’s classrooms, a new form of coaching is taking place every day, that of instructional and literacy coaching.
During the 2001-2002 school year, the Blue Springs School District began a concerted effort to strengthen reading and writing skills at the elementary level. Beginning with the implementation of the "Pathways to Reading" instructional approach in K-2 classrooms (phonemic awareness/phonics) and the addition of half-day Reading Interventionists at targeted sites, the focus of the district’s balanced literacy project has since been expanded exponentially.
Classrooms have now become reading and writing laboratories where teachers practice the latest and most current literacy strategies. The timeless activity of reading aloud and asking simple recall questions has evolved into flexible groups in which students chart details about cause and effect, probe critically for the meaning of a selected passage, and demonstrate the six traits of effective writing (ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, conventions).
Key elements of today’s literacy initiative include direct consultation with noted authorities in the field such as Ruth Culham (6 + 1 Trait Writing) and Ellin Keene (reading comprehension); Instructional Coaches who are responsible for building teacher skills through direct engagement and collaboration, modeling, feedback, and professional development; and full-time Literacy Coaches at the district’s 13 elementary schools.
Even though annual Missouri Assessment Program test scores in the district are highly competitive, there are still students who struggle to keep pace with the rigors of the curriculum, read and understand assigned stories, or make sense of their textbooks. Through the assistance of Literacy Coaches, these students are being challenged to dissect details, compare and contrast main ideas, summarize their thoughts, find evidence for their views, go more deeply into the text, and practice skills they’ll use throughout their reading lives.
The district is committed to tapping the full academic potential of all students. To be successful at the middle and high school levels, students must be capable readers, writers, and communicators. Given the high stakes for today’s student, equipping schools with trained Instructional and Literacy Coaches is a purposeful way to enhance teaching and learning. School-based coaching helps teachers establish classroom environments where showing, not telling, is the norm; reading and writing are thoughtful and reflective; and growth and improvement are daily expectations. The district’s Instructional and Literacy Coaches serve as liaisons between research and practice and are bringing the latest teaching strategies to where they are needed the most – the classroom.
