Teaching is a hard job, even in the best of circumstances. But when I started teaching last school year, I had a new principal and a new curriculum ,and I hadn’t yet graduated from college. Fortunately, I had what is common in sports but rarer in education: a coach. Receiving regular feedback from an experienced educator made a world of difference for me and my students, and I hope all new teachers in Missouri can get similar assistance. I teach kindergarten in Newburg, a small town near Rolla in Phelps County, where lots of our students come from a wide range of backgrounds. At the beginning of the school year, most of my students do not know their letters or the sounds each letter makes. This presents a challenge for any teacher. For me, the situation was particularly fraught. I had my associate’s degree in education, and I had previously worked as a student aide in an early childhood special education classroom. However, leading my own class was a different experience — but I am very thankful for this amazing opportunity. I was also being asked to use a curriculum that I had heard of, but was also unfamiliar with. Fortunately, I had Kelly. My school is part of the Rural Schools Early Literacy Collaborative in Phelps County, which means kindergarten and first-grade teachers like me have access to experts in teaching reading through TNTP, a national education 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every month, I talked to Kelly once virtually and once in person, when she came to visit my classroom. Even though I did not know about my new curriculum, Kelly did, and she offered to teach a lesson with it so I could observe. Being able to watch and learn was a unique perspective for me to have as a classroom teacher. It was also invaluable. Seeing the curriculum in action helped me deepen my understanding of it and even gain lots of confidence. These days, I lead the lessons and Kelly comes and observes them once a month. Over time, she has grown familiar with my students and me, so she is able to reference individual students’ learning styles, and I am able to bounce ideas off of her. She always shares feedback that includes both positive comments and specific instances. I use it to grow. Speaking of growth, our students are making so much progress. Last school year, 100% of the kindergarten and first-grade students at our school showed growth on reading tests. On average, these students made gains that more than doubled typical annual growth. In first grade, only 30% of our students were reading at or above grade level in the fall of last school year — but by that spring, 78% of students had reached that benchmark. These results are very much a team achievement. Being a young new teacher can be overwhelming. Being one with a new school leader and an unfamiliar curriculum can be really overwhelming. But having a great coach — someone who had experience with my grade level and my lessons and who was willing to be in my classroom and really work alongside me — made a huge difference. Missouri has seen the progress in Phelps County and is trying to build on it. Instead of just five schools in my community, there are now 60 schools statewide getting this type of coaching, including some in Kansas City. That’s great — and only a start. There are lots more schools and lots more new teachers in the state, and this type of intensive support makes a transformational difference for both students and teachers. I believe that if we really want to set teachers up for success, we should offer them what we offer many other individuals whom we expect to perform at a high level: a coach. Ashley Wood is a kindergarten teacher in Phelps County, Missouri.
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article314773714.html#storylink=cpy
