No Help From the Economy

By the 4th year, many of our coaches became K-12 coaches. The economy plummeted. Funding dropped off for our first cohort, but over 80% of the districts sustained the position. We were beginning to wonder how long the Mentors would be funded, so a new program was designed that would pass the torch to regional Technology Integration Mentors (TIMs). The concept of regional meetings became systemic. Teacher Collaboration Days, started by a core group of Cohort 1 Coaches and their Intermediate Unit TIM, began being held across the state.

During our final year, the state funded our third cohort of coaches, Mentors, and TIMs. We began to celebrate our accomplishments; the future is now, we cheered. But we also began to wonder, "Where are we headed?"

The Team Grows

Enter 250 new coaches and 3 more Mentors, when the grant was extended another year. The dynamics changed. The focus stayed the same. Our second cohort of coaches had a built-in support network of coaches waiting to welcome them. Rather than the Mentors facilitating discussions in webinars, the coaches began to take the reins.

In the third year, we added another 200 coaches and 4 more Mentors. Three Mentors had retired from their Coach positions to become Mentors! Nearly all of the districts in the state had become part of the initiative. The support network widened. The experts rose to the top. It was clear who our stars were - in each of our cohorts.

Cool Tools Not Enough

The sharing of cool tools began. Our listserv sometimes had a hundred emails or more a day, as coaches began to explore the possibilities and web 2.0 tools came into their own. My colleague and I set forth on the task of addressing the "why?" Why should you use these cool tools? How do you keep the focus on curriculum? What should drive the integration of technology? We found the coaches who had a following and brought them together for a virtual pow-wow. We beseeched them to share cool tools carefully - and always in the context of curriculum. It worked. The conversation in the state began to change.

As we focused our coaches on the (then) 9 Roles of Coaching (Killion) and the Coaching Levels of Intensity (Bean), we began to think about how they overlap. And our summer vacation was spent developing the Elements of CFF Coaching. These elements eventually became the structure for our Coach Log on www.k12ware.com.

Moving forward; looking back

Look how far we have come! Where are we going?

The past 5 years have been a blessing. It has been such a marvelous opportunity to work with 700 Instructional Technology Coaches across PA. They are a most devoted group of educators.

I want to begin by commending our first cohort of coaches during our initial year. There were about 90 of them. We kidded that we were building a plane in the air, but, in a real sense, it was true. We really had no idea what it was going to take to get a laptop on every child's desk in the 4 core four subject areas, nor what they were going to do with them once they got there! In addition, we didn't know if the grant would be a one-shot deal or last for years. So, if they received 4 carts in the first year, was that all they'd get? And, what on earth, was a coach to do?

It was baptism by fire! The rollout began with formal professional development for every teacher in the grant. The coach would facilitate the PD in most cases. This would lay the groundwork for what CFF was all about. I remember the number of emails we received on our listserv 24/7, as we figured it all out. This part-time job had me working nights and weekends, and I loved it!

As we began to see the pictures of stacks of boxes arriving on loading docks, the resource management piece unfolded. Should a coach be spending time unpacking and setting up equipment? In many cases, we knew that if the coach didn't step in, it would be weeks before they could do any coaching! In other cases, a tremendous support staff moved into action, and the coach began coaching even before equipment arrived. They visited classrooms to get a sense of teacher style. They talked about curriculum with teachers. And they co-planned. By the time the equipment arrived, they were ready to go into action!

More to come...this is only the beginning.

Today is the day!

Today is the day! To dream, to ponder, to look forward. Join me. Today is the day!