Agents of Change: How Content Coaching Transforms Teaching and Learning - Softcover

Cameron, Antonia; West, Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0325013837 ISBN 13: 9780325013831

Publisher: HEINEMANN, 2013

Synopsis

"If education is to be the learning profession, then we must walk the walk of learners. The bottom line is not perfection, constant success, and high test scores. The bottom line is creating a culture in which learning, innovation, and collaboration are the norms-a learning culture. When adults in schools create such environments, children will thrive."
-Lucy West and Antonia Cameron

How can teacher leaders cultivate an adult learning environment that will upgrade teaching capacity system-wide, and ultimately improve student learning in every classroom? Lucy West and Toni Cameron turn decades of experience designing and implementing coaching initiatives into a practical resource for transforming school culture and inspiring true learning at every level.

Agents of Change provides coaches, administrators, and teacher leaders with specific techniques, tools, and strategies for working with individual classroom teachers to plan and co-teach lessons, reflect on them afterwards, and find evidence of student learning. Lucy and Toni argue that when we infuse rich learning conversations into the professional discourse via coaching, study lessons, and regular meeting times for professionals to work collaboratively, we're able to examine what it takes on a day to day basis to reach every student in our classrooms. The transformative potential of content coaching to improve both teacher and student learning on a school-wide level has never been more clear.

Purchase includes free access to an online video case study.
Read a sample chapter!

About this title

About the Author:

Lucy West is the founder and Director of Metamorphosis Teaching Learning Communities. Formerly the Director of Mathematics Instruction in New York City's Community School District 2, Lucy also served as Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Grades K-12, for nearly 200 schools in New York City's Region 9. She is a nationally known speaker on professional development practices and a master mathematics coach.

Antonia Cameron is a Master Coach for K-6 Mathematics at Metamorphosis. Former co-director of Mathematics in the City, a national center for professional development at The City College of New York, Toni is coauthor of numerous facilitator guides and Contexts for Learning unit books. She is a nationally known mathematics "coaching coach" and speaker on professional development practices.

Review:

West and Cameron achieve a homerun record with this book. In a time of rapid change in education driven by more rigorous content standards that require new ways of teaching and learning, especially in mathematics, and higher standards for teacher performance, effective coaching is even more essential. Coaching, as West and Cameron portray it, is a powerful vehicle for the continuous development of teachers and elevating teaching to the status of a profession. --Joellen Killion, Senior Advisor, Learning Forward and co-author of Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-Based Coaches and Coaching Matters

This is a state-of-the-art book on coaching skills by two of the most experienced and accomplished coaches in the country. But Agents of Change is far more than that. The book reflects the authors understanding of how, properly constructed and implemented, the position of instructional coach can be a potent lever for system-wide improvement of teaching and learning. Coaches can be change agents to the adult professional culture as well as resources to individual teachers. The authors lived this message in the 1990 s in District 2 in NYC. That district became the top performer in the whole city over that decade, in large part by implementing the model they describe. This is not just theory. Yes, readers focused on the texture of coaching excellence will find a treasury of subtle insights into planning, points of intervention, and communication skills. But this book is an important addition to the literature on systemic change and should not be missed by policymakers, school board members, and educational leaders at all levels. --Dr. Jon Saphier, Founder of Research for Better Teaching, Inc. and author of The Skillful Teacher

In an article on coaching in The New Yorker (October 3, 2011), Atul Gawande extolled the sort of coaching that fosters effective innovation and judgment, not merely the replication of technique. The book by West and Cameron builds a forward-looking framework for just such coaching, 21st century coaching consistent with schools of the future, replacing the factory-model schools of past and present. The framework values learning on a par with performance, for both students and teachers. Most importantly, perhaps, the framework portrays the coach not as a luxury for schools and districts in times of plenty, but as a pivotal component of effective educational systems. Further, the book is very practical and helpful in describing the framework. As they lay out its components, the authors offer many clear strategies for coaches to follow, along with describing potential traps, those roles and behaviors coaches should not assume. --Mark Driscoll

About this edition

• Publisher: HEINEMANN
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0325013837
• ISBN 13: 9780325013831
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232