ITEC 7460 Coaching Journal

Chris Carlisle

As I mentioned in my Teacher Technology Assessment, I will be coaching a teacher in my same

content/grade level. She has been teaching for 22 years. Im in my 5th year. (Not counting my one year
teaching high school almost 20 years ago before computers) Four years ago, Mrs. Regan was my
mentor. We have become close friends over the years and have engaged extensively in content area
pedagogy. Recently, Mrs. Regan has taken a new leadership position in our school. Through our
conversations she has indicated that she needs help with technology. We a have shared history of
collaboration and dialogue in our content area. When shes needed help with anything technology related
shes turned to me. While Im not an expert, Im most definitely among the top teachers in computer
stuff on our hallway. As such, Mrs. Regan feels comfortable with me in expressing her weak technology
skills, and is not shy in sharing her beliefs on the efficacy of technology in the classroom. To put it
succinctly, shes quick to identify when technology might be considered frivolous. To ensure that our
time together was effective I had to remain mindful of her vast teaching experience compared to my own.

Session One
Strategies:
The first strategy I incorporated was the review of our agreements outlined in the Teacher Technology
Assessment essentially an advance organizer that I emailed Mrs. Reagan on the morning or our
scheduled meeting. Hi Kathy. During our meeting today at 12:30pm Im going to help you with the
calendar feature of Microsoft Outlook to set up meetings with colleagues and track important dates and
deadlines. Next, Ill teach you how to create and manage folders to keep track of emails and to set up
reservation folders so that teachers will be able to reserve school laptop carts, white board clickers,
Kindles, computer lab time, and media center access. Last, I will show you how I use the tools in the text
editor to make emails more effective, including how to change your signature and how to import images

and shapes into the body of an email. If you know anyone else who might like help with these activities
feel free to invite them to the meeting. In your room correct? Seated beside her with matching laptop
computers, I modeled each of these tasks using the I Do It, We Do It, You Do It approach. (Knight,
2007, p. 163)
Skill and Affective Changes:
Mrs. Regan acquired each of the three skills we set out to accomplish during our session. In her leadership
position as the grade level and content area chairperson, she now has the ability to create a process for
teachers to check out materials and reserve lab time. She was most excited to learn how to import
pictures, images and shapes into emails.
Reflection on Challenges and Solutions:
My challenge in this session was my lack of knowledge of how to edit signatures. Before I could teach it,
I had to spend some preparation time relearning the steps involved in this process which requires more
steps than one might expect and is surprisingly complicated.

Session Two
Strategies:
As I did in session one I preceded this session with a reminder email that also served as an advanced
organizer to ensure that our session would be productive and increase the likelihood that Mrs. Regan
would acquire the skill she desires. Hey Kathy. Are we still meeting this afternoon? I was planning to
show you how to use some features of Microsoft Excel including how to create, format and edit
spreadsheets. Ill also show you how using formulas and conditional formatting can make data analysis
easy. Ill also show you how to create charts and graphs, and how they can be imported into PowerPoint.
I started the session showing Kathy some spreadsheets weve used at our school, and the different ways
they are used. For her purposes she needed to be able to create spreadsheets on which teachers could enter

data that would be used later by administration and other school leaders. I modeled the process, making
sure to emphasize how cells can be resized and how values are different than formulas. Other areas of
focus included selecting and copying cell ranges and distinguishing between workbooks and sheets, all
very simple stuff, but new to her. The I Do It, We Do It, You Do It approach was an effective strategy
for this task.
Skill and Affective Changes:
Mrs. Regan acquired the skills needed to preform basic spreadsheet function that will enable her to
perform her new job more effectively. In a follow up conversation she indicated that she looked forward
to teaching her students how to use Excel to create charts and graphs. She also was excited to learn how
to hide rows and columns to make viewing large amounts of data easier. She recalled the difficulty she
experienced when looking at her students state test scores over the last couple of years. Now, knowing
how to hide rows and columns will make it much easier to find her individual students among the 1200
kids in our school when next years test scores are released.
Reflection on Challenges and Solutions:
There was no challenge in this coaching session. Mrs. Regan had a specific skill deficit and she remedied
it. I would suggest that Excel is a versatile tool that has wide ranging applications from teaching to
executive functions within schools, but is mostly underutilized. Mrs. Regan got a glimpse of its potential.
I wonder if she will dig deeper into the functionality of Excel and begin incorporating it more.

Session Three
Strategies:
This session was about using our new district wide LMS. Before I describe my strategy some background
information is needed to help the reader understand the issues involved. My district has recently switched
to a new LMS, and they district leaders have mandated that teachers use it in specific ways and to certain

degrees. This mandate requires a lot of addition work for the teachers. As a consequence, some teachers
are not following the mandate. To generalize, the older teachers who have more classroom experience are
less likely to implement the LMS accurately and consistently, as compared to younger and less
experienced teachers. To complicate matters, our school administrators are not consistently enforcing the
mandate. They have stated the requirements, but have not issued any negative consequences for teachers
who are not following through. As a result, there is an undercurrent of resentment between those teachers
who devote the time and energy into consistently managing and updating their LMS and those who dont.
My colleague falls into the latter category.
I was apprehensive about this coaching session because I suspected the topic could devolve into good/bad
educational practice related to traditional verses blended learning. I kept my advance organizer email
vague and short. Hey Kathy. Are we meeting today to discuss Its Learning? My intention and strategy
during this session was to simply listen to Mrs. Regans needs, answer any questions she had about
implementation, and model for her how to use the features of the LMS she needed help with.

Skill and Affective Changes:

The meeting was smooth. When we opened up her page I suppressed my urge to comment on her lack of
implementation. Most of the tasks she needed help with were simple. She needed help importing files
from the school share drive and help in changing the settings in her LMS email so that emails sent
through the LMS are defaulted into her main school email. I showed her a few other simple tools that
she seemed interested in and ended the session. Mrs. Regan was appreciative of my assistance and her
efficacy regarding the LMS use improved.
Reflection on Challenges and Solutions:
In this area, Im an early adopter and my colleague is a laggard not the best combination for a coaching
relationship. Wanting to avoid any negativity, I entered the meeting hoping to avoid showing Mrs. Regan
my page on our school LMS. Since my class is probably more blended than most teachers, I felt that

nothing good would come of Mrs. Reagan seeing how much stuff Ive put into my LMS. Given Mrs.
Regans new position of leadership in my building, and our administrators non-action in enforcing the
mandate, I felt it wise to coast through this session lightly. The implementation of our LMS is an issue
that needs to be addressed by other people in another context.

Session Four
Strategies:
In this session, Mrs. Regan and I had decided to work on our new Georgia Department of Education
TKES platform. The Teacher Keys Effectiveness System is Georgias new accountability measure. As
part of the accountability process, Georgia school teachers must log into a website and interact by taking a
self-assessment, viewing feedback from administrator walkthroughs and observations, and providing
multiple artifacts and reflections for ten pedagogical standards.
Of all of our sessions, this was the area where I was the weakest. Its a system new to me this year, so Im
learning it as I go. Unlink my last session, I felt no apprehension headed into this coaching session. My
advance organizer email read Kathy, You will need your six digit school ID. Its the employee number
on your paystub. We will use that number to create your password and set up your profile page. Ill see
you this afternoon.
This session was essentially me showing Mrs. Regan how to access and navigate around the website.
Since my skillset was only slightly ahead of hers, much of our time together was collaborative learning
benefiting us both.
Skill and Affective Changes:
The technical aspects of site navigation and file management came easy for me. I was able to model the
process for Mrs. Regan and her skills improved. She, in turn, assisted me in selecting artifacts and how
they might be used to demonstrate mastery of certain standards. After this session, Mrs. Regan and I left

with a positive feeling about the new TKES process. It will be manageable. We will meet again to
collaborate on this project.
Reflection on Challenges and Solutions:
During this process, Mrs. Regan expressed her personal feelings about top down integration of education
initiatives and her 22 years of experience related to teacher accountability measures. This session felt less
like coaching and more like a give and take of information and dialogue toward a shared goal. I got more
out of this session than my mentee.

Session Five
Strategies:
This session was about Google and how it could be used in the classroom and as a productivity tool. Mrs.
Regan had expressed a desire to learn about cloud computing and had heard the buzz about Google, but
she only knew about it as a search engine. My strategy for this session was completely different than our
other four sessions. My advance organizer email read Kathy, Im looking forward to our meeting this
afternoon. I cant wait to show you some of the ways Im using Google.
This coaching session was essentially a showcase for cloud computing and how this technology creates
opportunities for file sharing and collaboration, enhances communication, and offers shortcuts to some
current technology uses in our building. This was a broad topic to condense into one coaching session.
So, I decided to start small and let the possibilities expand at their own pace. I had Mrs. Regan attach a
PowerPoint presentation to an email and send it to me. We were seated side by side with our computer
screens visible to each of us. After receiving her email attachment I uploaded it to my Google Drive. I
then did two things: I shared the slideshow with anyone who had the link. I shortened the link and wrote it
on the dry erase board in my classroom. I told Mrs. Regan to type this link into her smart phone browser
so she could view the slideshow on her smart phone. She was impressed at how quickly this process
seemed to be. But, seemingly to dismiss the utility of this process, she said I could have just emailed it to

myself to view it. Yes. I replied. But, what if you didnt have an email account? Then the realization hit
her. As a follow up. I showed her how Google Drive can convert documents, slide shows and other types
of content into html code, which then makes it possible to embed as media on a website or a teacher LMS
page. I then modeled for her how to do this on her LMS page.
Skill and Affective Changes:
Through this simple demonstration, Mrs. Regan now seems to have a basic understanding of cloud
computing and is wrapping her head around the implications for education. Shes set up with her own
Gmail address and has downloaded Google Drive on her machine. Shes still a novice, as I am in many
ways, but she now has a conceptual understanding of whats possible. Shes no longer feeling like a
laggard.

Reflection on Challenges and Solutions:

This session was fun! I remember going through a similar transformation a couple of years ago when I
learned about cloud computing and file sharing. Since this last session, Ive also showed Mrs. Regan how
to create and share Google Forms as a way to collect information (from teachers and students). The
ongoing challenge for me, as an instructional coach, will be to keep up with the rapidly changing
landscape in instructional technology and maintaining an awareness of the steady stream of new
educational applications, programs, and technologies.