Experiencing the Transition from Classroom Teacher Leader to the Designated Leadership Role of Instructional Coach
Open Access
- Author:
- Peters, Brian Keith
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- December 04, 2015
- Committee Members:
- James F Nolan Jr., Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Bernard Joel Badiali, Committee Member
Stephanie L Knight, Committee Member
Jacqueline Edmondson, Committee Member - Keywords:
- teacher leadership
instructional coaching - Abstract:
- This is a multiple case study, with phenomenological underpinnings, of a group of teachers moving from their role as classroom teachers to the designated teacher leadership role of instructional coach. The setting is within multiple elementary schools within the same school district. The primary sources of data collection included journal reflections and semi-structured interviews with this group of instructional coaches. Using a framework adopted from the literature on teacher leadership, this study illuminates the conditions and factors that impacted the development of the instructional coaches as they began to function as teacher leaders in new schools and in the classrooms of other teachers. Previous studies examined coaching relationships with student achievement and professional development, but few studies have looked at the growth and change that takes place in the instructional coaches themselves. Several claims were made through this study. One claim shown is that classroom teachers moving into a designated teacher leader role experienced many feelings and thoughts that were similar to those they had experienced as novice teachers, including an initially strong focus on self-concerns. This claim is justified through the dialogue from logs and interviews shared by the participants in the study. A second claim centered upon the context in which transitioning teacher leaders were placed. It was highlighted in this study that navigating school cultures and building productive relationships with principals and other supervisors who had different leadership styles were some of the most challenging aspects for the participants in learning a new professional position. Another claim made is that teacher leaders moving from the classroom experience challenges to their initial assumptions about teachers. This initial assumption held by those experiencing this type of transition is that all teachers are reflective, inquiry oriented and agents of change.