Building Learner-Centered Environments through Coaching
Guest Post by Patrick Riley, Cognitive Coach, Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, kid⋅FRIENDLy, Race to the Top-District Grant (patrick.riley@grrec.org @priles3000 )
Flowers are blooming in Kentucky. And, while I can no more indicate the exact moment when the roots started to take hold than I can tell you the minute and second of when the petals began to blossom, I can now see and see with great detail the vibrant colors, ever so brightly, here and there, in and around Kentucky…
“Celebrate learners when they soar and catch them when they fall.”
Starting with One Seed
Ms. Jessica Morris’s Burns Middle School science classroom was not for the pedagogical faint of heart... Learners hustled with collaborative intent as they created prototypes for energy efficient model homes. Project partners huddled around mini iPads while experimenting with the thermodynamic properties of insulated cardboard houses. And, learners hummed with the collective, captivating buzz of curiosity in the self-paced pursuit of scientific insight. Alas, Ms. Morris’s class possessed an electric alchemy that radiated a “culture of learning.”
To be certain, this personalized culture of learning was not the traditional, typical environment marked by forerunners twenty years ago. The personalized learning strategies used in this classroom were not the methods taught to pre-service teachers ten years ago. In fact, it was not even the learning style that Ms. Morris herself employed as recently as two years ago. For Ms. Morris and her learners, the learning taking place in this seventh grade classroom was an amalgamation of learner-centered, curiosity-provoking activities, galvanized in the fires of learner passions, that transcended even the most stubborn traces of teenage apathy. In essence, this Learner-Centered Environment was the maturation, the development of one tiny seed planted in the fall of 2014. The seed of personalized learning…
Planting the Seeds of Personalization
Organically Growing a Safety Net of Support
Undoubtedly, my most important role as a Cognitive Coach in promoting a Learner-Centered Environment is listening to the needs of my Teacher Leaders. An extremely perspicacious Cognitive Coach colleague, Ms. Shanan Mills, once quipped, “When your job as a coach revolves only around completing items on a checklist, you are not doing your job.” Daily, I endeavor to truly listen to my Teacher Leaders--to what is said, and what is not said--in an effort to anticipate barriers to learning, while gently coaching my Teacher Leaders to plan and produce solutions to overcome these classroom challenges.
As the kF-RTTD Grant has evolved to meet the needs of our representative schools and school districts, one thing has remained the same… To challenge each learner at a high level through the creation of Learner-Centered Environments, emphasizing a “Culture of Learning” with trust, risk-taking, and effective communication.
Patrick Kagan-Moore, Centre College professor and Kentucky dramatist, once said, “each step in your journey prepares you for what comes next.” Over the course of his professional tenure, Patrick Riley has assumed a variety of roles, some with a non-linear progression, but each connecting and interconnecting with their respective responsibilities: actor, director, learner, teacher, speaker, writer, and program administrator. Currently, all of the aforementioned roles and responsibilities intersect at this nexus called “Cognitive Coach.”
As a Cognitive Coach for the kF-RTTD Grant, Patrick Riley works closely with more than 30 Kentucky Teacher Leaders (working in ten schools and three school districts) to embed personalized learning strategies in the classroom, helping them to further inspire, challenge, empower, and engage learners through the constructive process of learning.
For further communication regarding this post, please contact Patrick Riley (GRREC Cognitive Coach) at patrick.riley@grrec.org or @priles3000 (Twitter). Also, for further details about the kid⋅FRIENDLy, Race to the Top-District (kF-RTTD) Grant (http://kidfriendlyky.com/), please contact Dr. Karen Barron (Program Manager) at karen.barron@grrec.org.
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For further communication regarding this post, please contact Patrick Riley (GRREC Cognitive Coach) at patrick.riley@grrec.org or @priles3000 (Twitter). Also, for further details about the kid⋅FRIENDLy, Race to the Top-District (kF-RTTD) Grant (http://kidfriendlyky.com/), please contact Dr. Karen Barron (Program Manager) at karen.barron@grrec.org.
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