Mary Catherine Moran, author of the new ASCD bookDifferentiated Literacy Coaching: Scaffolding for Student and Teacher Success, has more than 30 years' experience as an educator. In her current position as senior literacy specialist at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, she has helped state and local education agencies with the training and support of literacy coaches. In this user-friendly book, Moran provides information for administrators seeking to build a literacy coaching program and shares modules, charts, and practical tips for both new and experienced literacy coaches.
Q: Why do you think it is so crucial for administrators to establish the purpose of a literacy coaching program and the roles and responsibilities of the coach before hiring a literacy coach?
A: A literacy coach really shouldn't be an afterthought but should be seen as someone who is essential to carrying out a comprehensive literacy action plan. The administrator [not only] provides the initial guidance but also … the support that's required to maintain the momentum of the program.
Q: While there are many roles a literacy coach can play, what would you identify as some of the important services that a coach can provide to a school?
A: The coach can help foster a culture that recognizes collaboration as an asset. In the book, I use the Literacy Coaching Continuum to show that the coach can develop individual and group capacity to engage in problem solving and reflection that will build a school culture of collaboration. By providing a range of options through the continuum, the coach can enable people to take responsibility for their own professional learning. It's not always the coach who is making the decisions. It's not always the coach who is driving the various forms of professional learning. But the coach is instrumental in providing the support and the direction that will help teachers assume responsibility for their own learning.
Q: What are some tips you would give to a discouraged literacy coach who finds that people aren't ready for a collaborative environment?
A: What I have found over the years is that you cannot force anyone to work with you. So, I believe that you start with people who are interested in collaborating. Coaching is one of the available options for professional learning, but it isn't a forced offering.
When the teachers you work with find support through coaching, you're not really going to have to go out and recruit people—word-of-mouth is going to bring people to your door.
Q: So, then, that would also be a word of caution to administrators—to not make it a punitive thing?
A: Coaching should not be reserved for people who are having trouble. It should not be viewed as punitive or only for those folks who are struggling.
Teaching is a really challenging vocation. We need all the support that we can get, I think. As a teacher, whether I am teaching adults or children, I benefit from the collaborative fuel of my colleagues, and their ideas inspire my ideas.
Q: Why do you say that communication is so important to the process?
A: In talking to coaches, working with coaches, and having coached, I have found that it's really the adult relationship that can make or break a coaching program. For some reason, in education, we're not geared toward continual collaboration. That is definitely changing, but it's only been in the last 10 years or so that we have been realizing that the only way to work toward the benefit of the students is to collaborate. Therefore, communication is essential to discussions with your peers.
If, as a coach, I go in already knowing what I think teachers should do, then I am really closing the door to communication. How I communicate as a coach is essential because it will either open the door to collaboration or it will close the door. It's also really important because anytime you bring together people who have different ideas, different strengths, and different challenges, communication is going to be a factor. So, the more you are able to communicate effectively the more productive the coaching interaction is going to be.
Q: Why do you think that coaching is important even for veteran teachers?
A: To really do the best we can for the students we work with, we need to all be working toward the same goal: academic achievement for the students. I don't think that we can do that alone. With as many challenges as there are today for teachers, with as many mandates as there are, we really deprive ourselves of amazing resources when we cut ourselves off from our colleagues.
