Teaching can be a lonely job. When you shut your classroom door, you are usually the only adult in the classroom. A room full of students is counting on you and it can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. It can feel like you are living on your own island.
When I started teaching at Dutch Fork High School (many moons ago), I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be at a school that valued the power of collaboration and gave us the time and resources we needed. We were never left on our own (in a good way!).
At that time our English and social studies classes were paired at each grade level into Humanities courses. I always had partners in my fellow social studies teachers. We shared the same students and planned collaboratively. I appreciated my partners’ perspectives and appreciated having others to help me as we supported our students.
Our teachers also regularly participated in the Critical Friends Group protocol. We would take turns bringing “problems of practice” to the group and give each other feedback. As a young teacher with so much to learn, I soaked up the feedback. At the time, I didn’t realize that this wasn’t something teachers everywhere did. I didn’t realize the vulnerability it took from everyone involved, especially the veteran teachers.
Moving ahead a few years, I started teaching courses that connected me with different educators in the building. I taught a class called Best Sellers where I collaborated with the school librarians. I taught SAT and ACT prep classes where I planned with a math teacher (we shared the same students). Each of these collaborations gave me important opportunities to see how others approached teaching and get feedback on what I was doing.
When I moved into a high school instructional coaching role, my thought partners grew even more. I worked with administrators and teachers. I co-planned and co-taught with teachers whose subjects I wasn’t familiar with. I had to be vulnerable with my lack of subject knowledge, but also open to sharing my experience with planning effective instruction. Each interaction helped widen my perspective and hone my craft.
When our district started using data teams, we had more opportunities to connect with our colleagues. We’ve now shifted our data teams to PLCs (Professional Learning Communities). Teachers throughout our district have these structures in place to provide them with thought partners and collaborators so that no teacher is an island.
Now as a district instructional leader, I am constantly collaborating with district leaders, school leaders, teachers, etc. I have the privilege of coaching the instructional coaches in our buildings. And while I am there to be a thought partner to them, I also learn and grow each time we meet.
Currently, my primary thought partner is our district Coordinator of Instructional Technology, Carol Lunsford. We work side by side to support instructional technology and instruction in general throughout our district. While sometimes others joke that we “share a brain,” we each bring different experiences and strengths to our collaboration. We have found that by being open and willing to listen, we bring out the best in each other which allows us to be the best for those we support.
I have been lucky to “grow up” as a teacher in a place that provides me with thought partners and encourages vulnerability. But what if you’re a teacher who doesn’t have a place like this?
Educators, if a structure for connection and support isn’t already in place at your school, I encourage you to create your own. Reach out to other “islands” in your school or beyond. You might just find you are actually part of an incredible archipelago.
Reflections of an Instructional Coach 