A Conversation

In my last years in the classroom, I was asked to be an instructional coach.  I jumped!  I wanted to do this!  Here's my exploration of why and of what my expectations included. Writing this piece helped me clarify why I 'jumped' at the opportunity to coach.   (But the challenge was that no relief of school responsibilities was offered and no additional money.  It proved to be difficult for me to increase my job responsibilities to add instructional coach. I thought of Virginia Wulff -- she needed "a room of one's own." )  1. Do I want to be an instructional  coach? why or why not? Women who don't feel attractive often will look at their friends and offer positive commentary in the hopes that the friends will reciprocate.   People insecure with how they parent their child will sometimes turn to a friend and complement their parenting, hoping, again, that there will be reciprocity. A discovery I made is that even when not reciprocated, I ...

I’ve also noticed something about myself.    When one lesson said, “Here’s 15 ways to xxxx”    I clicked and went on ahead with abandon, looking at everything.    When the lesson said, “Here’s 72 links to xxxx”    I could feel the curtain fall over my face.    72!    SeVEnTY-TwO! I still have not clicked there. So, this led me to wonder what my personal numeric limit is.    And, of course, what the student numeric limit is.    Cognitive load is the current buzz-phrase, but I didn’t even want to click there because of * anticipating * cognitive over-load!    I will start my courses with a    minimum of tech tools and a minimum of “clicks” so students do not have the same curtain falling over their faces. Right now, the market/internet/etc is simply flooded with many, many apps, programs and opportunities.    It’s chaotic.    Several apps or links will rise to the top in...