Teacher vs Learning Coach

I've been thinking lately about the difference between a teacher and a learning coach.  Reflecting on my experiences in education I wonder if it's that a teacher teaches content while a learning coach coaches learning.  Thinking about how our day is split up in LH3 I feel like I'm a learning coach during iExplore and iExperience and a teacher during iDevelop.

During reading, maths and writing (maybe a bit less so in writing) I feel like I'm just going through the motions of teaching content to the kids.  In reading I focus on comprehension skills like summarising and making connections and in maths we focus on teaching specific strategies and knowledge.

So, I've been wondering how to change from being a teacher during iDevelop to being a learning coach.  I think the easiest place for me to start figuring this out is in reading.  I'm not really sure where to begin but I need to figure out what my groups really need to learn about reading and how I can provide that learning opportunity for them.

I have two reading groups, both reading at around 8-9.5 years old which is a bit concerning.  The year 5s and 6s should be reading between 10-12 and the year 7s should be between 12-14.  So my question to myself is - how do I help my learners achieve increased reading comprehension while coaching their learning rather than just teaching them content?  (So far literature circles is the only idea I have but I'm not sure how to run these in a way that achieves my goal).  I have some research to do!

Mini Olympics iExperience

This week we have held a mini olympics iExperience for three afternoons.  We have crossed it with measurement because we were finding it really hard to fit strand into our maths sessions so this seemed like a good idea!  Each afternoon the learners were broken into three groups which rotated around three different activities, participating in each for around 25 minutes.  The activities covered area, distance, calendars, time, capacity and mass.  The learners have really loved these short, sharp, hands on activities and have enjoyed experimenting with different 'olympic sports'.  

I found the design process interesting. When we were asked to collaboratively plan I found planning on the spot with no prior thinking time difficult.  I didn't actually get much written in that ELT session, going away to finish writing up my design later in the week after some thinking time. Because I found it so difficult I did appreciate having Lisa and Adele sharing their ideas on my design document, it helped me get started. I think we all found it tricky though as none of us got far in the ELT session!

Teaching all of the sessions with one group had two sides to it for me.  On one side it was great because I got to do a variety of different activities but on the other side it would have been nice to do the same activity three times and have the opportunity to make improvements after each one. I'm not sure if I prefer to work with just one group for three sessions or if I would have liked to have worked with all of the groups over the week. Even though we get to work with most of the learners during iDevelop and iExplore some learners really shine in 'topic' type curriculum areas so it might have been nice to be able to see that. 

iExperience Collaboration Extravaganza

* I've enjoyed having short sessions, 1hr from start to finish.  It keeps things moving and has been motivating for the learners.

* We have found that the key to successful iExperience in LH3 is to keep things interactive and with plenty of moving and group work so we have kept our activities as active as possible.  The learners are a lot more interested when there's moving involved.

* Our learners have enjoyed the artsy/creative aspect of the activities and it's been nice to watch them buzzing and engaged in what they're doing.  Great to see some independence and leadership coming through in some learners.

* I found the planning difficult at the start, possibly because the activity didn't stem from my own idea so I didn't have my head around how it should look.  Collaborating with Lisa and Adele really helped because they gave me some direction and ideas to begin the design process

* Great narrative opportunity!!  We have taken photos of the learners doing the different activities and will organise them so that we can each write some narratives for our groups.  Easy way to get them done!  There's so much to say about their learning!  Having smaller groups for three afternoons has made it really manageable.