Notes
Beth Pope and I met for the first coaching session on Wednesday, January 28, at 4:00 PM.We are in the Verify Perspective section of the Vector model and so the primary purpose of the meeting was to build relationships and to begin thinking about a goal for this course. To build relationships we used the central focus and potential strategic questions listed on the Verify Perspective document of the Vector Model.
Professionally, I learned that Beth is in her 28th year of teaching and that she has always taught in the Olathe district. This is her first year in 5th grade and she is enjoying it, but does have concerns about some of her struggling readers. Beth reviewed her daily schedule with me and I was surprised to learn that the school day doesn’t start until 8:55 and does not end until 3:55. The literacy block begins at 2:00.
Personally, I learned that Beth is from Lewisburg Kansas, and we had a wonderful conversation about the Lewisburg Cider Mill, a favorite spot of my grandchildren! I learned that Beth is a twin and that she and her sister, who is an engineer, live together now.
Beth’s main concerns with her struggling readers centers around comprehension. In her district, fluency, especially words per minute, is emphasized. She indicated that as she works to improve fluency, she notices that comprehension suffers. Although not formalized yet, we believe that her goal will center around that issue.
One of the “to-do”s for the next meeting was for her to send me a video of her classroom. She did that immediately after our Zoom call ended. Her classroom is very inviting with student desks arranged in clusters with an open space in the middle for conducting morning meetings. The walls are filled with anchor charts and charts emphasizing the 7 Habits (Her school is a Lighthouse Leader in Me school.) There is a kidney table in the room which she says she uses for intervention and small group instruction. The room is very “homey” and inviting.