Nov. 12, 2024 -- Learners want and need clarity: What are you learning? Why are you learning it? And how will you know when you’ve learned it?

These three questions guide a new clarity-based approach adopted by the district that is designed to make both teaching and learning more effective.

Clarity principles are being combined with Student-Centered Coaching, an evidence-based model that “shifts the focus from ‘fixing’ teachers to collaborating with them to design instruction that targets student outcomes,” according to the Core Collaborative.

Under the guidance of Chief Academic Officer Dr. Michael Jenkins, the district now has student-centered coaches in every building, including Melissa Garcar who is both the International Baccalaureate Coordinator at Rox El, Rox Middle and Canterbury and the student-centered coach at Canterbury and Oxford.  

“Coaching can help bring clarity to the students,” said Ms. Garcar who recently participated in a six-week long student-centered coaching collaboration with Oxford 2nd grade teacher Amy Robinson. “This is an opportunity for two professionals to co-plan and co-teach,” said Ms. Garcar, “while focusing on standards.”

The first step of the coaching process was identifying the standard-based goal and breaking it down into learning targets. Ms. Garcar and Ms. Robinson decided to focus on a writing lesson since it’s notoriously hard for one teacher to provide individualized guidance and instruction to an entire classroom of young students working on writing. 

They then conducted a pre-assessment where they recorded video interviews with every student asking them what they were learning, why they were learning it, and how they’d know when they mastered it. “It was clarifying for us as teachers to see what the kids thought,” said Ms. Robinson.

The two then spent 30 to 60 minutes twice each week co-teaching the opinion writing lesson, using a lot of modeling and guidance as students worked to organize and express their ideas. “Having another adult was so helpful,” said Ms. Robinson, who appreciated having the opportunity for students to meet in small groups or even one-on-one with a teacher.

“We were really able to dig deeper into the standard,” she said. She also feels like the coaching experience – from planning and pre-assessing to the natural steps of re-assessing and revising -- helped her with how to pace her lessons: starting at the end goal and working backwards in measurable steps. 

Ms. Garcar was excited to have the opportunity to practice her first student-centered coaching collaboration with, in her words, “such a stellar teacher. This initiative is not about fixing teachers. It’s about making effective teaching even more effective.”