Do They Know How Good I've Got It?

Have you ever felt guilty having a career as an instructional coach? Not slightly guilty, but absolutely gut wrenchingly guilty? Like you hit the jackpot and have this well kept secret that those around you can’t see? I can honestly say, I feel this way on so many occassions.

You see, it is my job to keep a collective pulse of the school’s curriculum and instruction, and the best way to do that is to meander in and out of every classroom in the building. Watching quality instruction from cutting edge teachers, collaborating collectively, and building goals to take us further in our learning journey! Can you believe they allow me to collect a pay check?

To give you entry into my world, this blog post hosts one of the fourteen lessons I observed last week. The fourth grade lesson taped during Writers' Workshop perfectly displays the four part architecture of a mini-lesson, allows you to observe students during work period, and highlights a closing session where writing and ideas are shared. These two extremely talented co-teachers are not putting on a show. This is in fact what they do every single day. When I observe in their classroom this is evident in their teaching charts that hang from their walls,in the student writing journals that are packed with writing ideas and drafts from a multitude of genres, and from the student work displayed in portfolios. This is most evident, too, because when you talk to kids you understand how deeply they think.

Honestly, most days when I get in my car to make my journey home I wonder, "Do they know how good I've got it?"