A Principal's Perspective: Wearing the Hat of an Instructional Coach

When the OLi4 program (a PD program for Ohio principals) asked me to start observing in classrooms to learn about effective teaching practices, I realized that teachers enjoyed having me visit their classrooms. I wasn’t doing a “walk-through;” I wasn’t doing an evaluation—I was just watching them and asking a few questions. This made me think that, for the long term, I could be the school’s instructional coach. We’re such a small district that hiring instructional coaches isn’t going to happen. But as long as everyone is clear about why I’m in the classrooms, I think this new approach is going to work out.