4.3a

Coaches establish productive relationships with educators in order to improve instructional practice and learning outcomes. Coaches:

A. Establish trusting and respectful coaching relationships that encourage educators to explore new instructional strategies.

The third Coach standard is The Collaborator. One of my favorite aspects of working in the educational setting was the collaboration opportunities with my teammates and fellow educators. This standard specifically hones in on the coaching relationship and how through collaboration you can walk through the process of establishing trusting and respectful coaching relationship, leading to partnering with your mentee in identifying and then analyzing digital learning content and tools, and finishing up by tailoring support for your mentee based on their specific needs. Indicator a starts us off on this coaching journey by working to “establish trusting and respectful coaching relationships” that will in turn inspire new teaching and learning methods and strategies to be used in the classroom. Being the first step of the collaboration process, it is vital to establish a strong foundation with your peer/mentee that you will be able to build upon in the future. 

1. While researching this standard, I learned so much about the difference between the previous teacher-student relationship that I was used to prior to participating in the DEL program, and the coach-educator relationship that I was stepping into. Due to collaboration being one of my most prized experiences in teaching, I was very interested in learning more about collaboration in the coach role. In my post Creating Positive Coaching Relationships Based on Collaborating and Communicating, I write about the correlations I found between Robert Fulghams “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” and how we can create positive coaching relationships. Some key points you’ll find are; share everything, say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody, and when you go out into the world… watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. 
   
   
2. On a more practical and implementable side, I also found some interesting parallels between the implementation of 21st century skills and collaborative strategies to utilize when working in the coaching relationship. Read more about them here: Partnerships to Incorporate 21st Century Learning Skills into the Classroom