Coaching on Borrowed Time: Balancing the Roles of the Literacy Professional

Abstract

Four reading professionals share strategies for balancing the many roles, specifically those of literacy coach and reading interventionist, that fall under the title of specialized literacy professional in a school.

A Fresh Look at Literacy Coaching: Employing a Clinical Literacy Coaching Framework to Improve Literacy Instruction and Student Achievement

“…In the first component of the CLCF, the literacy coach built a coalition of the willing (Pletcher et al, 2018) to support Saturn Elementary's literacy initiatives. At Saturn, this included fostering literacy leaders at each grade level by establishing a lab‐site classroom.…”

Elementary Literacy Coaching in 2021: What We Know and What We Wonder

“…You only have to talk to a few different coaches for a few minutes each to quickly grasp the ever-changing and complex nature of their work. A recent article paints a vivid picture of how coaches constantly balance numerous roles and responsibilities across their days and weeks (Pletcher et al, 2019).…”

“…As Bean & Ippolito (2016) note, many different professionals, including reading specialists, teacher mentors, teacher leaders, assistant principals, and more have taken on coaching responsibilities in schools. In fact, Bean et al, (2015), Galloway &Lesaux (2014), andPletcher et al, (2019) all describe the ways in which reading specialists assume a coaching role. Moreover, in some districts, given the lack of funding, there is no dedicated coaching position; rather, others are responsible for providing support for teachers new to their position, or for those who are implementing a new program or learning a new strategy.…”

Curriculum and Coaching: Maximizing our Investments in Teaching

“…Some coaches prioritized direction of the overall design of the curriculum over work with teachers (Walpole & Blamey, 2008). Others juggled attention to teachers as coach with attention to students as literacy specialist, a challenging hybrid job model that continued after the funding (Pletcher et al, 2019).…”