Build a culture of coaching that creates partnerships that result in student success. This book offers a roadmap you can follow. With engaging quotes and easy to read prose, Dr. Alaniz grabs your attention from the get-go. She blends technology into the quintessential human experience. Work is that experience, a community of educators focused on one goal - student success.
— Miguel Guhlin, author and director of technology operations, Texas, recipient of the ISTE "Making IT Happen" Award, president of Technology Education Coordinators
I have spent the last 40 years in public education with 34 of them in a leadership role. In that time, I have seen numerous attempts to reform and improve instructional performance in schools. Some have been successful, but very few of them have been successfully implemented on a nationwide basis. Unfortunately, high schools, especially today, operate in a very similar manner to those of 75 years ago. In her work Collegial Coaching: Mentoring for Knowledge and Skills That Transfer to Real-World Applications, Dr. Katie Alaniz identifies and suggests solutions to this problem by recognizing that failed implementations are most often not the result of flawed methodology, but a failure of leadership. The most common operating practice of many leaders is simply to introduce the change and demand compliance. This approach fails to inspire or build capacity in teachers. The proposed change is then blamed for the failure instead of the method of implementation and, therefore, educational practice remains mired in outdated traditions of the past. Dr. Alaniz’s work proposes a better plan; one that builds teacher capacity in a secure environment and increases the likelihood of success. She shows us how to learn from our past mistakes. The key is the translation of proposed practiced into consistent, regular, real-world application that teachers can access on a daily basis. Building capacity requires incremental and regular practice for growth. It is an excellent read and timely work.
— James McSwain, Consultant, International Baccalaureate; Adjunct Faculty Member, Houston Baptist University; Retired Area Superintendent, Houston ISD; Former High School Principal, Texarkana ISD
Coaching is one of the best tools educators can use to improve instruction and positively impact student learning outcomes. This book serves as a guide to instructional coaching and mentoring that supports the growth of not only teachers but more importantly their students.
— Justin Burris, Clinical Assistant Professor, Mathematics Education, University of Houston
Collegial Coaching offers coaches invaluable guidance in their efforts to help teachers to integrate technology meaningfully. This work provides coaches with a variety of valuable resources to guide the journey from using technology to support traditional instruction to the goal of offering students authentic, engaging, technology rich learning. Alaniz also offers unique insights into how successful coaches build trust, learn with and from the peers, keep change reasonable, offer positive feedback, encourage reflection, and celebrate success. Collegial Coaching insists that the foundation all these coaching strategies rest on is the coach’s understanding that the collaboration between them and their learning partner must be driven by the needs of their partner.
— Dr. Les Foltos, author of "Peer Coaching: Unlocking the Power of Collaboration; architect of the Peer Coaching Program"; previous director of Instructional Technology for Seattle public schools