Cultivate a supportive coaching culture that encourages educators and leaders to achieve a shared vision and individual goals.

ISTE STANDARDS for Coaches

Creating a Supportive Culture

I believe that one of the hallmarks of a strong leader is that they use their influence to inspire others to lead. This is one of the central tenants of ISTE standard for coaches 4.1 By cultivating a culture in which educators and leaders feel supported to create a shared vision and work toward it, coaches act as the best type of leaders.

In January 2022, I wrote a post about increasing teacher adoption of technology after a training. Although it may seem more practical than ideological, this emphasis on retention and use rather than sit-and-get is an important aspect of developing other teacher leaders. When teachers see trainings as useful and as spaces where they gather information they will continue to use in the classroom, they become stronger educators and empowered to use make creative decisions about technology use in their classrooms more effectively. This in turn ensures that teachers are more likely to share their ideas and techniques with confidence, which is a step toward building a network of leaders in technology usage that spans grade level, building, and district.

One important aspect of increasing adoption is ensuring that teachers are involved from the initial planning stages of the training. This subtly, but radically shifts the role of teachers from participant in training to partner in training. By shifting the role of shaping the training from presenter to attendee, coaches can nurture other teachers in leadership — as they begin to make decisions about their own training, teachers expand their self-concept to include making decisions about their role in technology usage, and in turn see the ways in which their roles are not passively accepting new information but actively gathering and shaping understanding. In short, this aspect of technology adoption after training encourages teachers to see themselves as leaders in their training and as important members of the overall district team.