Teacher Development Overview 2020-2021

This MoDUle PROVIDES:

Goals for teacher development touchpoints.

Suggested roles for leaders/coaches.

How each of the tools in Jounce’s Teacher Development for Virtual Instruction Resource work together in a teacher development system for virtual instruction.

Some links below will prompt you to make a copy so that you can edit the tools without changing the shared document.

Click here to return to the Teacher Development for Virtual Instruction Resource home page and explore other tools.

Teacher Development Touchpoints

Minimum touchpoint targets will remain the same as they have been in the past, though leaders/coaches may opt for more small group coaching rather than individual to accommodate leader schedules.  Those targets are:

• Highest need teachers: 13 touchpoints/2 weeks

• Moderate need teachers: 10 touchpoints/2 weeks

• Lowest need teachers: 8 touchpoints/2 weeks 

Note that leaders are likely to have more time available for coaching than in an in-person scenario and could adjust these targets upward. 

In the Sample Coach Schedule, a coach’s week is broken down to significantly exceed the touchpoints listed above (on average, double the number of touchpoints).  In other words, even if a coach did not do several of the blocks on this sample schedule, they would still be well positioned to meet biweekly minimum targets.

In the Coaching Moves for Virtual Instruction document, coaching techniques for out-of-class coaching (PD, extended coaching meetings, individual coaching meetings) and in-class coaching (RTC) are listed and described, with adjustments for the virtual context.

Coaches set a biweekly “Big Bite” goal for each teacher - a goal that the teacher could achieve if and only if the coach hit the target number of development touchpoints. Though having goals is very helpful in both driving coaching forward and determining the success of coaching, it is likely that early on, coaches will frequently find themselves coaching on the same things across groups of teachers.  For this reason, we will not focus on setting individualized Big Bite goals until at least mid-October, and will reevaluate at that time whether it makes sense to move back to setting individualized biweekly coaching goals.  The Teacher Development Phases of the Year will guide selection of focus skills for all or almost all teachers for the first part of the year, and can be matched with a walkthrough tool for each phase.

In 2019-2020, coaches used a Google Sheet with an accompanying Google Form to keep track of coaching touchpoints and progress on goals.  This Sheet was used in weekly ILT meetings to center discussions around coaching.  In order to keep coaching a priority in what will no doubt be a challenging time for coaches and leaders, we will continue to use the coaching tracker this year. 

Phases of the Year and Focus Areas for Coaching

In past years, some schools have operated with a Phases of the Year (called Scope of the Year or Arc of the Year in some cases) to provide broad focus for coaching, with room for individual differentiation of support.  The Phases broadly begin the year with a focus on vision-setting, routines & procedures, and starting intellectual prep to understand curriculum with an emphasis on lesson structure and pacing.  Phases then moved towards engaging all learners, gathering and responding to data, and making strategic choices based on student work.  

This updated Teacher Development Phases of the Year document is a resource for schools to use when determining focus areas for teachers, with particular attention to beginning of the year areas that look different within virtual instruction.  

To ensure teachers are consistently receiving effective support, schools use variations of these Instructional Leadership Structures.  These structures are built around a tool that tracks teacher development touch points - both in-class and out-of-class - and a process for reviewing touchpoints and ensuring that the touchpoints are leading to teacher skill growth and student learning. Individual leaders can also use this Coaching Guide for Virtual Instruction to organize the before, during, and after action steps for supporting teachers in the virtual context.