My One Little Word for 2017 is walk. I have pretty much failed so far at the physical act of putting 10,000 steps on the FitBit each day and measuring miles per week. However, part of my choice of the word walk was for its other meanings. I’m thinking of the meaning of walk as a noun:

WALK (Noun: a discipline): the way to go, the course to follow, the line, the terrain, the path.

Leaders in the field of reading and in my district tell me that the way to go, the course to follow to build my school’s capacity to reach all learners is for me, as Reading Teacher, to become a coach of teachers and work side-by-side with them. Much has been written on the value of a coach in a teacher’s learning. Student achievement grows as teachers grow through the coaching process.

Truthfully, I am much more comfortable working with children than with adults.  I love Reading Recovery and the challenge of providing instruction that can help young students construct their own reading process. Supporting struggling readers is what I have done for many years. The idea of “coaching” has been a challenge for me to embrace. I just haven’t been able to see myself as a coach.

In a serendipitous set of circumstances earlier this year, I started co-teaching with teachers on our first grade team. This is a team of teachers I have known for six or seven years. I have met with their team weekly, and we have become friends. I have also provided intervention for many of their struggling first graders. But I have always seen myself more as an interventionist than a coach. Surprisingly for me, co-teaching is bringing about a shift in how I see myself as an educator.

I’m starting to walk the walk of a coach through the experience of co-teaching. The path to follow has taken me across plains (taught me curriculum), through forests (required my reflection), and beside running water (challenged me to solve problems). For each unit of study, I have planned weekly with one teacher and stayed in her class. Together, we shared the teaching, conferring, sharing, celebration, and assessment of first grade writers. It has been the most fun I’ve had in teaching in a long time.

Just as the old saying goes about a journey of a 1000 miles beginning with a single step, “coaching” began for me with my answer to a young teacher’s request, “Sure, I’d love to teach writing with you.” Just working alongside these teachers has taught me so much and allayed my fears about taking on the role of coach. Beginning the coaching walk was scary, but has turned out to be a very happy experience. I’m learning to be a better listener, a better asker of questions, and a better teammate. I might become a coach yet.