The scene is set for any time that I have had a conversation with someone trying to make small talk over the past three months.
Person: “So what do you do for work?”
Me: “I’m a teacher.”
Person: “Oh, that’s great! What do you teach?”
Me: “Well, I’m not in the classroom anymore. I am a Student Achievement Specialist and I work with teachers to analyze data, try out new instructional strategies, help new teachers get the year started, and really I support teachers throughout the year on whatever they need at the time.”
Person: “So… you’re not a teacher.”
Me: “I AM A TEACHER!”
[End scene]
I am not a classroom teacher this year, but I will always consider myself a teacher. Being a teacher is not a job or a title to me, it is who I am at my core. It started when I was a child and would play school with my stuffed animals for hours on end, teaching them different things and grading their “papers”. Fast forward to the present day, I have been an educator for 11 years, with nine of those years working as a classroom teacher teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, one year working as an academic interventionist, and this year will be my first year primarily working with teachers instead of students.
While my title is Student Achievement Specialist, my job is closely aligned to that of an instructional coach. Every day looks different, and flexibility is the name of the game. I collaborate with teachers on their instructional practices, analyze data and assist with groupings, serve as the testing coordinator, and try to assist teachers with students behavioral needs. My schedule can, and does, change in the blink of an eye when an emergent situation arises at school.
Coaching teachers is my favorite part of this new position, while simultaneously being the most challenging. It makes me feel like I am connected to the students and classrooms more than serving as the testing coordinator and running test sessions or looking at spreadsheets of numbers to figure out instructional groupings, even though I know that it is important (read: a necessary evil). However, this is not a glamorous position; the stakes are much higher. One mistake on my end could result in an entire classroom or grade level being let down, or even worse the entire school. While that may sound dramatic, and knowing that I overexaggerate at times, this time I am not. Allocation of rooms, resources, and duty coverage are all things that one may not consider when looking at this job, but as I learned the hard way last year: one mistake at the first lunch duty can and will mess up the rest of the day for every grade that follows.
Once the beginning of the year assessments are completed and I temporarily can take off my testing coordinator hat, I will be spending a lot of time in classrooms. Honestly, I cannot wait. Leaving the classroom last year was bittersweet, and being back in classrooms around kids is the highlight of my day. I love seeing the students make connections and be successful in their learning, and even more when it is because of something the classroom teacher and I collaborated on together.
I have come a long way from grading make believe assignments and gladly marking all of my stuffed animals answers wrong, which is something that would make me cringe and cry now. The most important thing I learned these first weeks of school is that no matter what my title is on paper I will always be a teacher.
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Caitlin Gawlowski
Caitlin was born to be a teacher, although she did not realize that teaching was her calling until she went to college. She has always loved to write, and began college with the mindset of becoming a journalist. Before beginning her freshman year of college, she changed my major to Elementary Education on a whim and has never looked back. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University, and won the Outstanding Student Teacher Award during her student teaching experience in the Cave Creek Unified School District. Caitlin spent 9 years in the classroom teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. She became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2018, and holds a certificate in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading/Language Arts. The 2021-2022 school year marks the beginning of her 10th year teaching, where she will be working as an Academic Interventionist, and supporting other National Board candidates on their journey toward National Board certification. If she is lucky enough to have free time, you can find her traveling Arizona with her husband and son, spending time with her friends and family, taking group fitness classes, or enjoying a good book.
Comments 4
This blog spoke to my heart. This is my 10th year as an instructional coach and it’s truly the best job in the world. It allows me to remain closely connected to students. I still get to teach (modeling, field testing, etc.). But, I also get to work with the adults on campus which allows me to have a greater impact on our school’s overall achievement. The most important things you can do as a coach is to build trust and credibility. Once you do that, the teachers on your campus will be open to trying almost anything!
Thank you for starting this year’s blogging season with a classroom with no classroom perspective. I appreciate the fact that you are still a teacher at core. I think that will keep drawing you back to the reality that the real job of any administrator is still to teach…somehow, some way. This will be a great benefit to your inner self, the teachers you support, and the classrooms you influence. Thank you, again, for staying real and relevant.
Teaching teachers totally makes you a teacher still! I find teaching adults far more challenging than teaching students- we’ve got such high expectations for those who teach us how to be better teachers.
This is exactly how I feel! I am an instructional coach for the first time and I am feeling connected to your article. I will have to tune in to all of your blogs this year. There aren’t other instructional coaches on my campus, so it is difficult to find someone who is going through the same things at the same time. I look forward to your future blogs!