Chapter 7: Schoolwide Coaching

Regie tells us we learn through demonstration, practice, and/or coaching. Then she says that she has rarely seen coaching in a school that actually impacts student achievement school wide. She even says that without this achievement being evident, coaching is a waste of time. Wow.... this is surprising, since so much of what she does is actually coaching. She goes on to tell us that we need to rethink, as she did, the way we train coaches. We need to go back to the way we teach kids, keeping in mind the 'we can do it' step and it's importance in learning. The principal should also be a coach, and dedicate time daily to be in classrooms in that role. Even teachers should be trained to 'coach' each other, but this requires that they trust each other and value input from their peers. And as with all education, the end result must be student progress and achievement. What an effort it would take to accomplish this whole-school plan for coaching and supporting each other. Yes, it would be awesome for our children if we could achieve this goal.