WEBVTT

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[Music]

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My name is Marie Parker.

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I'm the instructional coach here
at Graham Road Elementary School

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in Fairfax County, Virginia.

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My role as an instructional
coach is to work with teams

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of teachers, especially
in kindergarten

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and first grade this year.

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I do this in different ways.

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One way I do it is

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in professional learning
community meetings

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that we have weekly, in
which we unpack a standard,

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we look at some research,
we look at videos,

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and we come up with
specific reading strategies

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that our students
need to acquire

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so they can become
lifelong readers.

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One thing that our
kindergarteners struggle

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with throughout the year
is making a connection

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with the book.

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We actually start here at
Graham Road in kindergarten,

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at the beginning of the year,

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where the teacher's constantly
modeling that connection,

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constantly getting
that vocabulary in,

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and getting the students to
realize that connections have

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to be made when they're reading
for them to enjoy the book,

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number one, but also for them
to understand the meaning

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of the story and
to comprehend it.

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Then, after the first
quarter, then we will move

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in to doing more of "Oh, I
wonder what you're thinking?"

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and just giving them the
responsibility to realize,

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"It's my job now to be
thinking, 'How is this book

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that my teacher is
reading right now connected

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to another book?'" We actually
start having the children

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express themselves orally
and talking with partners

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and whole group on "What
is the connection for you?"

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because everybody has
a different connection.

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During our instruction at
the beginning of the year,

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a lot of our first-grade
teachers

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and our kindergarten teachers
are being very explicit

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in picking a topic or a theme
in which they are focusing

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on understanding the words
and the vocabulary of that.

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If the students

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in our population don't have
these experiences when we try

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to teach the comprehension
strategy of understanding,

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there is nothing for
them to hook it upon;

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we have to provide these
hooks, these experiences.

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We have so many students
at Graham Road

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with different languages
and different cultures.

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When a student doesn't have
the background knowledge

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for a particular
book, we then reflect

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on what experiences
the child has had.

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We go to the book room; we
have an extensive book room

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at our school, in which
there are different books

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from different publishers,

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so they have different
background experiences.

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We've also had a wonderful
opportunity in Fairfax County

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to actually create some
books, where our teachers

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in our own schools have
created books with pictures

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of our students in environments
around Falls Church, Virginia.

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Having those books, the teacher
can then choose those books

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instead of a book that the
child has no experiences with.

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When a teacher is struggling
with getting students to learn,

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that's where my job
steps up a little level.

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My first approach is through
our professional learning

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communities, in which
we talk, and we discuss,

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and we talk about strategies
to develop their toolkit.

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So, one thing that I do
first is actually model it

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for the teacher.

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But when I model I have
a pre-conference before,

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and I am specific about what I
want the teacher to look for:

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I want her to look, what
did I say and how did two

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or three students react to
it (not the whole class).

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I want this opportunity
for her or him to look

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at how the student is reacting

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to my prompts or
to my directions.

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Then the teacher can
try again the next day,

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after we have a post-conference
about what did she reflect

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and what are her next
steps going to be

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when it's her turn
to be teaching.

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Another thing that I do with the
teachers is I use a Flip camera,

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in which they actually
videotape themselves.

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And then, before we have our
conference of the video of it--

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we both look at it-- but
I ask her to reflect:

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What do you think went well?

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What do you think
you need to work on?

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And, most importantly,
what did the student learn?

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What did the students learn?

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Because if we just focus on
what our prompts are and not

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if it's supporting the students'
learning, then it's for naught.

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When we have our post-conference
of the video, we actually look

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at it together, and we
analyze it together,

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and then we have an action plan:

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What are our next
steps going to be?

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And-- important for me--

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how am I going to support
you in these next steps.

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Is it coming in to
watch you again?

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Is it another video camera?

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Or do you think, based upon
the learning of the students,

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that we need to work on
something else at this time?

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[Music]