This two-part APEX course is focused on both outlining foundation principles of instructional coaching while also dedicating time to the practical work of conducting the observation and feedback process. During the first eight weeks (six sessions), we will ground the learning in several key texts and do a guided practice of the coaching cycle. For this course we will read the complete texts of Never Underestimate Your Teacher and The Coaching Habit. We will also read Plutarch’s essay “How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend” and excerpts from The Art of Coaching and Leverage Leadership 2.0. The second part, lasting eight weeks, will shift gears into a mentorship model- with the facilitators meeting individually with participants to be a thought partner as they do the work of coaching on their campus.
At Great Hearts, we value the short cycle observations as outlined in Leveraged Leadership and utilize the Great Hearts Pedagogy - The Teaching Playbook: The Role and Practice of Our Best Great Hearts Teachers and its references to Teach Like A Champion in order to calibrate excellent teaching throughout the network. We also consider rubrics deployed in each region to help guide us toward excellence.
Required Texts: Please purchase these texts prior to the start of the course.
- Jackson, Robyn Renee. Never Underestimate Your Teachers: Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom. ASCD, 2013.
- Bungay Stanier, Michael. The Coaching Habit. Box of Crayons Press, 2016.
GH employees: use voucher code ghemployee (case sensitive) at checkout.
Synchronous meetings last 75 minutes, with the exception of the first (90 min) and last (60 min). The dates for the live sessions are January 14, January 21, February 4, February 11, February 25, March 4, and April 29.
