ECN – Big Hollow Builds Success with Student-Centered Coaching
Instructional Coach Marielle Brown of Big Hollow School District 38 attended our ECN student-centered coaching training with Diane Sweeney two years ago. Since then, the district has added three additional coaches, and teachers’ desire for coaching is off the charts.
ECN’s Alison Gordon asked Marielle why she recommends student-centered coaching and how to get the most out of Diane’s training sessions. Here are some of Marielle’s tips.
- Attend with colleagues: Marielle attended the training with her partner coach, Sarah, their principal, and the district’s director of curriculum and instruction. She says their collaboration and discussion during the training resulted in a program that is stronger than any one of them could’ve created alone.
- Get staff on board: For coaching to be effective, teachers have to want to be coached! Marielle says that’s why Big Hollow chose student-centered coaching for their model. A shared dedication to student success helps teachers and coaches work together as partners.
- Start small, then expand to more levels: Marielle and Sarah started the district’s student-centered coaching at the middle school level. Now, they’ve brought in two additional coaches at the elementary level and one at the primary level. Word of mouth has clearly been effective, as each year more teachers at all three levels are requesting coaching.
- Learn from other coaches: The Big Hollow coaches love to learn from one another, and they’re also happy to speak to you! If you’d like to talk to Marielle about their experience, reach out to Alison at agordon2@niu.edu. We’re happy to put you in touch with the team!
If you have questions about student-centered coaching, our workshops, or how you can get your colleagues and staff on board, we can help. Email Alison at agordon2@niu.edu.
This year’s series includes six workshops divided into three levels. Participants can choose to attend as few or as many individual workshops as they want. The paired workshop dates are designed to promote the attendance of administrators and coaches together on the first day and just coaches on the second day. Of course, coaches are welcome and encouraged to attend without administrators, and administrators are welcome to attend both days of each level!
