TILS Standard C

3: Provides and engages in data-informed, differentiated professional learning

opportunities for educators, aligned with the Tennessee Standards for Professional
Learning

Dalewood Middle School Literacy Coach Job Shadow

In April of 2015, I went to Dalewood Middle School to shadow the literacy coach and
administration. I spent half of the day with the literacy coach and the other half of the day with
the principal and assistant principal. I selected Dalewood because it is an inner city school that is
currently on the iZone list, but is making a lot of progress in math and literacy. It is my hope to
return to the urban school setting when I make the transition into a leadership position.
What Went Well?
During the time I spent with the literacy coach I received a lot of information on how
they use data to drive instruction and all of the different technology they have implemented into
their daily instructional practices. While in the literacy coachs office, we reviewed TCAP and
Benchmark data for the past 3 years. We also looked at this years MAAP assessment data. In
every grade there was an increase in bother literacy and math and each year the 6th graders made
the most progress. We discussed how she uses the data to plan for individual meetings with
teachers. After she meets with teachers, she takes the information back to her administrator and
he selects teachers that he wants her to complete a residency assignment with. Dalewood is a
fairly small school and they only have one teacher per subject per grade level. She said that the
small numbers makes it hard on teachers because they dont have anyone to collaborate with
unless she is assisting them. She showed me the lesson plan program that they have implemented
for writing and literacy. The program had all of the standards and all teachers have to do is click
and drag the standard and it gives them a list of suggested activities, assessments, read alouds,
and assignments. I thought the program was amazing. She agreed but said that they are running
into the problem of teachers quickly creating lesson plans in order to turn them in, but they are
not actually doing the activities they planned for. We visited the literacy classroom for each grade
level and spent time observing their instruction. All of them were doing some type of TCAP
review. After classroom observations, we attended a grade level planning session in which the
teachers and assistant principal discussed TCAP procedures and then they bubbled in information
on TCAP scantrons. I received an extra reward while at Dalewood because I saw many of my
former students. My last year at Woodmore I taught 3rdgrade and that group of students are 7th
graders and many of them attend Dalewood. While walking through the halls or visiting
classrooms, I saw a lot of familiar faces and got a lot of hugs! It was a great feeling.
What Did Not?

I really wanted to observe the literacy coach working one on one with a teacher. I was
unable to do so because all teachers were in TCAP mode. Even during planning sessions,
teachers were working on TCAP procedures and preparing documents for the test day. I have
been a math teacher for the past 2 years and I miss the literacy side of teaching. I was very
excited to discuss literacy skills and data and I wanted to see what it was like to plan when you
are the only person in your content area and when you teach all students in a grade level. The
literacy coach said that at this time of the school year, she spends most of her time working with
small groups of bubble students on skills they were not proficient in on the last Benchmark
assessment. I hope to go back at a different time in the school year so I can see her interactions
with teachers.
Given the chance to do it again, what would you do differently?
I would schedule my visit for earlier in the year. I set myself up to see only a portion of a
literacy coachs job by visiting in April. Everyone is in TCAP mode from teachers,
administrators, to students. It was hard to schedule my visit because of all of the testing windows
(MAAP and Benchmark) that are already on our calendar, breaks, snow days, and because I am
the numeracy support person at my school I already spend one whole day a month in
professional development, so it was hard to find another day to take off. Ive already asked can I
come back this school year and she said yes. I am looking forward to spending another day with
her during the fall semester and seeing her work with teachers.