Monday, April 17, 2023
Woodland holds Family Fun Nights, like this one at the middle school held on Thursday, April 13, to get families involved in student learning
Woodland Public Schools’ learning coaches use collaboration, data analysis, and innovative teaching techniques to help teachers improve student learning lost due to remote learning during the pandemic.
Reviewing data to determine what would best benefit teachers and provide the necessary time and resources to improve remains crucial to how Woodland’s learning coaches help improve student learning. “We are constantly analyzing data and refining what we’re doing to focus on weaknesses where we can improve student learning,” said Ashley Kleinschmidt, learning coach at Columbia Elementary School. “We rework our student groups to make sure kids are making progress, sometimes switching up entire grade levels to make sure we provide the right supports for students.”
Improving student learning involves not just a student’s time in school but also benefits from close family involvement. Tara Eilts, learning coach at Woodland Middle School, coordinates all student interventions at the school, ensuring struggling students receive the help they need to succeed. This includes setting up contracts with families to ensure that the students are managing the elements of their intervention at home while receiving progress updates regularly. “Having students sign contracts ensures they’re completing the elements of their intervention and getting the help they need,” said Eilts. “Close communication with families provides parents and guardians progress updates, but also keeps families in the loop so they can help their students achieve improved learning during non-school hours; studies show when families are involved in student learning, the kids will outperform.”
In addition to meeting with their student's teachers, Family Fun Nights provide activities for involvement from the entire family
One of the primary challenges facing teachers can involve effectively teaching new curricula while paying attention to each student's individual needs. Learning coaches play a crucial role in helping teachers become more effective in the classroom. “When teachers use new curricula, they may find it challenging to both learn the curriculum and pay attention to the students,” said Eilts. “As coaches, we work with our teachers to help plan their lessons so they can become more effective at both teaching new material while addressing student needs.”
Providing teachers with professional development and ongoing support leads to substantially improved student learning and growth. “We’re able to provide coteaching where a coach will teach a teacher’s class using the new techniques so the teacher can see how these techniques work in the real world with their own students,” said Malinda Huddleston, a teaching coach at North Fork Elementary School. “If a teacher struggles in an area, coaches jump in and show the alternative strategies teachers can use to improve classroom learning as a whole.”
During Learning Walks groups of teachers will visit their colleagues’ classrooms, observe techniques and strategies in action, then meet afterward to discuss what approaches bring the best results and where improvement could help. “Learning Walks offer teachers the opportunity to receive feedback on their own strategies while also learning from others,” said Huddleston. “The provide incredibly powerful tools for entire teaching cohorts to improve student learning.”
Fishbowl Coaching, a variation of a Learning Walk, involves a group of 3-4 teachers observe as a learning coach model a new teaching technique or strategy to a class of students. Following the demonstration, the group meets and discusses what was observed. Afterward, each teacher takes turns teaching the lesson with the rest of the group observing so all participating teachers can receive valuable feedback on how to further hone their skills. “The more we can help our teachers, the better our students will learn.,” said Huddleston. “Professional development provides critical time for coaches to bring new techniques to our teachers and to improve student learning district wide.”
Learning coaches monitor students' progress to gauge their response to interventions, provide coteaching and reflective conversations, and honor teachers' individuality and style. “Not all techniques work for all teachers, and we honor our teachers’ individual styles,” explained Huddleston. “We work one-on-one with teachers to help them develop methods to incorporate new techniques that suit the way they approach teaching in their classrooms.”
Teamwork and collaboration provide instrumental elements for the success of teachers throughout Woodland Public Schools. Thanks to dedicated development time every Monday and significant support from the administrative team, teachers collaborate with their colleagues, discuss how different grades or subjects present curricula, and refine their practices as a team. However, development and collaboration techniques only work if the teachers dedicate themselves to self-improvement, and this is an area where Woodland Public Schools truly shines. “We’re really lucky that in addition to providing professional development opportunities, Woodland’s administrative team dedicates the time to hiring excellent teachers who want to learn and do what’s best for kids,” said Kleinschmidt. “Our staff is so open and willing to learn and grow and refine; it’s pretty amazing.”