A literacy coach is a well-versed tutor of classroom teachers who gives quality support and provides a great deal of mentoring for them. This is usually in a bid to make them well equipped with evidence-based knowledge, so they can impart this knowledge to students at the highest proficiency level. Sometimes, the literary coach is assigned to screen students for possible reading incapacities, determine how literate the child is, or carry out interventions on specific children with reading challenges.
It’s not possible for everyone to be a literacy coach. Literacy coaches have to be well-versed in the theories, research, and practices involved in literacy instruction. Additionally, they must have a solid knowledge of teaching, learning, as well as child development. They also need mastery of adult learning, especially teacher professional training. On top of these qualities, literacy coaches have to be trustworthy so that teachers can collaborate with them comfortably even when the teachers have failed or are struggling.
Literacy coaches become particularly effective in bolstering teachers’ learning that improves student learning due to the following characteristics:
·Adult learners wish to have a say in their learning and to have the process directly respond to their needs. The literacy coaching process honors how adults learn by responding to the needs of the teachers and supporting them as they acquire knowledge on issues and topics that they’ve selected. Additionally, literacy coaching lets teachers apply and test what they’re learning in the daily work that they carry out in the classrooms.
·Literacy coaching supports collaboration, and a savvy literacy coach provides the expertise to make the most of collaborative endeavors.
·Literacy coaches help to promote decision-making and reflection, which help teachers perform at their best.
There’re many reasons why teachers might want to call upon their literacy coaches. For instance, if a teacher is observing a trend in the scores of the students, the literacy coach can analyze the data with them, help understand the results and advise the appropriate instructional path. Even great techniques sometimes fail to work for specific groups of students. In that case, the literacy coach can help by sharing things they have seen and help a teacher to network with others to get them out of the rut. Teachers typically don’t have sufficient time to plan and prepare. Literacy coaches usually know the focus of the school or district, and hence, they can provide teachers with the resources required for professional growth.
