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!
