New Roles & Fresh Perspectives

This fall has brought the biggest profession "leap of faith" taken in quite some time. After 22 years spent as a classroom teacher, I have taken on a new role as a Peer Coach in our district. In other districts this might be known as Instructional Coach, Q Comp Coach, or some other variation. Essentially, school districts that create and maintain a teacher evaluation program will have these positions to help carry out the work.

A common (mis)understanding can be that the Peer Coach is someone who maybe shares their wisdom and experience with fellow teachers they observe and work with during the year. What I've discovered - so far - is what is quickly becoming one of my favorite aspects of the work: I am actually blessed to learn a ton from my colleagues and all the amazing work they're doing every day in their classrooms. My goal is to consistently share reflections, realizations, and moments of new learning throughout this year as I observe professionals at work. As a couple of former Peer Coaches told me before I started: "this job is some of the best professional development a person can have."

A little over a month into this new role, here are some other highlights and takeaways:

-Having deep, reflective conversations with people on a daily basis is incredibly rewarding and beneficial.

-Cognitive Coaching is not only a skillful thing but such a great way to think and interact. Purposeful planning to action to thoughtful reflection can be a powerful cycle.

-I'm surrounded by talented, committed, and passionate colleagues in my district. While this is something we all know deep down, it's such a perk to be able to get out and meet and talk with people...when we're in the daily grind of our classroom teaching it can be really tough to appreciate.

-Being able to experience - in a single day - a Kindergarten classroom, then an 8th-grade science classroom, and a high school business classroom is pretty crazy! Seeing "big-picture" concepts and district initiatives play out at various levels really helps to wrap my head around the important stuff we're trying to do.