Analysis of an Instructional Coach's Role as Elementary School Language Teachers' Professional Developer

Abstract

Coaches can provide teachers with quality professional development experiences by mentoring, providing workshops, modeling, or encouraging professional growth (York-Barr & Duke, 2004). This study focuses on the instructional coachs role in the professional development of teachers of English language learners (ELLs). The study has the following findings. First, the coach, acted as a professional developer for teachers of ELLs in the workshop, because she designed and delivered the workshop, mentored teachers, modeled and scaffolded lessons in the lesson-planning process, modeled teaching, and led them to do self-reflection. Second, from the participating teachers perspective, the instructional coachs knowledge and understanding of academic language made the workshop well-organized. The teachers of ELLs surveyed and interviewed found the instructional coach they worked with to be helpful, organized, and well-informed. Third, less follow-up coaching support and district policy on coaching made the workshop less effective. Two suggestions for coaches to be effective professional developers for language teachers are provided.