Dr. Gwenanne Salkind Fairfax County Public Schools April 1, 2017 Mason Coaching Institute for Math and Literacy Defining the Mathematics Specialist’s Role Dr. Gwenanne Salkind Fairfax County Public Schools April 1, 2017

Goals and Outcomes Gain an understanding of the possible roles and responsibilities of a Mathematics Specialist Identify roles and responsibilities that make the greatest impact in student learning Practice advocating for those roles

What the Research Says: Improving Student Achievement Mathematics coaching increases student achievement Positive impacts in 1st and 2nd years of program Even stronger results after 4 years of program To significantly increase student achievement, coaches need both experience and sufficient time to interact with teachers http://www.nctm.org/Research-and-Advocacy/Research-Brief-and-Clips/Impact-of-Mathematics-Coaching-on-Teachers-and-Students/

What the Research Says: Improving Teacher Instructional Practice Mathematics coaching improves teacher instructional practice including increases in Teacher questioning Student engagement Teaching for understanding Cooperative learning Classroom discourse Technology http://www.nctm.org/Research-and-Advocacy/Research-Brief-and-Clips/Impact-of-Mathematics-Coaching-on-Teachers-and-Students/

Definitions Mathematics Specialist – has specialized knowledge of mathematics content and pedagogy (endorsement) Classroom Teacher – students assigned to their class Mathematics Resource Teacher – no students assigned to them, no assigned classroom duties

Who are you? Mathematics Resource Teacher Classroom Teacher Administrator University Faculty Other

Jot Thoughts What do Math Resource Teachers do? Jot down everything you can think of (exclude non-math related things such as bus duty, recess duty, lunch, etc.) One idea per post-it note

Table Group Share Share your ideas Put like ideas together

Popcorn Share Out Pop up to share an idea Keep sharing until time run outs or all ideas have been shared

Roles and Responsibilities Mathematics Coach Mathematics Teacher Works with Teachers Observing Lessons Modeling Lessons Co-Teaching CLTs Facilitating PD Preparing resources Teaches Students Pull-out Groups Intervention Groups Advanced Mathematics Regular Math Instruction

Doctoral Dissertation Gwenanne Salkind George Mason University 2010 Coaches’ and Principals’ Conceptualizations of the Roles of Elementary Mathematics Coaches Doctoral Dissertation Gwenanne Salkind George Mason University 2010

Participants 125 mathematics coaches 59 principals 5 school districts in Virginia Suburban From very small (2000 students) to very large (160,000 students) Ethnically diverse populations 4 schools from Region IV, northern part of Virginia 1 school from region II, Tidewater area of VA There are 279 elementary schools in the 5 districts

Math Specialist Models Coaches’ Activity F S R N Specialized-Teacher or Pull-Out Model Teach children with no other teacher present 33.6 20.8 35.2 10.4 Provide remediation to individual children 33.1 30.6 26.6 9.7 Provide remediation to small groups of children 46.8 17.7 4.8 Coach Model Work with teachers individually 60.0 29.6 8.8 1.6 Work with teachers in teams 65.6 25.6 6.4 2.4 Assist teachers in planning 61.6 30.4 5.6 Model Instruction 46.0 41.1 8.9 4.0 Co-teach lessons with teachers 47.2 32.0 17.6 3.2 Observe teachers teaching 20.3 42.3 31.7 5.7 Note. F = Frequently. S = Sometimes. R = Rarely. N = Never. By percent. More coaches engaged in activities related to coach model than other two models. 90% Work with teachers individually 91% work with teachers in teams 92% plan with teachers 87% modeled lessons 79% co-taught 54% taught children with no other teacher present – all of these also provide small group remediation 64% provided remediation to individual children 77% provided remediation to small groups Seems to be an overlap of coach model and pull-out model Further analysis revealed that 20% of coaches rarely or never did any of the three teaching activities (exclusively coaching), 3% rarely or never did any of the 4 coaching activities, and 77% did both coaching and teaching.

The Roles of Math Coaches Joellen Killion (2009) – 10 roles of coaches Role I threw out – mentor new teachers, I think it’s part of deciding who to coach Classroom supporter – coach works with teachers in classroom. Other roles overlap this role. Coach has to decide who to support and how to support them Next slide

Turn and Talk Where should a mathematics resource teacher spend most of his/her time? Consider Teaching Roles as well as Coaching Roles.

Conventional Wisdom Coaching teachers has more impact school-wide than teaching students Co-planning and co-teaching is better than modeling Coach-Teacher dialogue and reflection is very important

Consider this… “Coaches are frequently responsive to the needs of individual teachers. If this support is primarily marked by shared teaching or provision of instructional materials, it may not transform either instruction or teacher knowledge.” ~Campbell & Griffin (2017) Campbell, P. F., & Griffin, M.J. Reflections on the promise and complexity of mathematics coaching. Journal of Mathematical Behavior (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2016.12.007

Model for Thinking about Teachers with whom Math Coaches Work Willingness to Work with Coach Unwilling Willing Mathematics Teaching Needs assistance 1 2 Competent 3 4 Who to support? Novice teachers generally fit in category 2 Confer (2006) and Smith (2006) believe that working with teachers in category 4 builds momentum in a school’s culture of change. Builds capacity – model classroom that other teachers can observe Builds excitement and energy as they talk to their colleagues about the things they are doing with the math coach Next slide

Consider this… “If coaches work exclusively with new and/or struggling teachers in year one, the message sent is clear: Coaches are for those who don’t know or can’t do. This is exactly the opposite message we would want to send.” (West & Cameron, 2013, p. 32) West, L. & Cameron A. (2013). Agents of change: How content focused coaching transforms teaching & learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Consider this… “Coaches need to engage teachers in fundamental dialogue about mathematical content, mathematical learning, and student understanding. It may be that this dialogue and the effectiveness of a coach’s work with individual teachers would benefit from a coach’s concurrent work with grade-level teams. When a coach leads a grade-level team through discussion of targeted goals and approaches, the coach may facilitate individual teacher learning while building collective learning.” ~Campbell & Griffin (2017) Campbell, P. F., & Griffin, M.J. Reflections on the promise and complexity of mathematics coaching. Journal of Mathematical Behavior (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2016.12.007

Turn and Talk Who should a mathematics resource teacher coach? Why? Every teacher in the school? Novice teachers? Teachers who need help with mathematics? Competent and willing teachers? The worst teachers? The best teachers? Teams or Individuals?

Scenarios Read each scenario Decide what you would do Draft the main points you would make in a discussion with your principal

Thank You! Thanks for spending time with me today! We had some awesome discussions! Gwenanne Salkind gmsalkind@fcps.edu