Creating a New Literacies Coaching Ethos

What Does It Mean to Say Coaching Is Relational?

“…Nine studies examined coaches who were external to the coaching context (e.g., researchers, graduate students). In these studies, coaching related to particular approaches to literacy teaching: Standards for Effective Pedagogy (Haneda et al, 2019; Teemant, 2014; Teemant et al, 2011), Collaborative Strategic Reading (Jacobs et al, 2018), new literacies (Skinner et al, 2014), Targeted Reading Intervention (e.g., Varghese et al, 2016), and Questioning the Author (Kim & Silver, 2016). Fifteen studies examined coaches who were school- or district-based employees.…”

“…Horizontal flow was especially evident in studies in which the coach had specialized literacy knowledge and the teachers were content-area specialists (DiDomenico et al, 2018; Skinner et al, 2014; Wilder, 2014; Wilder & Herro, 2016). In these contexts, it seemed, coach and teacher perceived each other to have unique knowledge, necessitating reciprocity of knowledge sharing and skill exchange.…”

“…Distributed expertise enactments tended to necessitate dispositions toward negotiation by coaches and teachers around decision making. Skinner et al (2014), Wilder (2014), Wilder and Herro (2016), and DiDomenico et al (2018) each documented the sometimes tense, but ultimately successful, co-constructions of knowledge and skills between literacy and English language arts (ELA) coaches and disciplinary teachers of science, social studies, and mathematics wherein new literacy practices were brought to small-group or one-on-one coaching interactions and content-specific teachers negotiated how to take these practices up. The productive—but sometimes uncomfortable—context of distributive expertise is well described by Skinner et al (2014):The tension that bubbled to the surface in combination with Margaret [the coach and co-researcher] and the school-based literacy coach’s explicit sharing of expectations around developing and sharing new literacies instruction in the professional learning community allowed participants to grow in their understanding of new literacies content and in their identities as teachers who integrate new literacies in their teaching.…”

“…In contrast to reports of having “space” in coaching interactions, other studies examined coaching initiatives in which emphasis was placed on the coaches’ role in monitoring the implementation of a specific curriculum or predetermined “best practices” (Haneda et al, 2019; Jacobs et al, 2018; Jones & Rainville, 2014; Kim & Silver, 2016; Salas et al, 2015; Skinner et al, 2014; Teemant, 2014; Teemant et al, 2011; Varghese et al, 2016; Vernon-Feagans et al, 2013, 2015). In these cases, the coach’s purpose was to act as the expert, impart knowledge of these approaches to teachers, and then monitor teachers’ implementation.…”

new literacies, New Literacies

“…Lowercase new literacies encompass research that addresses specific areas of new literacies or new and emerging technology, such as examining new literacies and social implications of Twitter use (Greenhow and Gleason 2012) or Internet search and comprehension strategies (Leu et al 2015). Lowercase new literacies also includes research and scholarship focused on specific disciplinary foundations such as the semiotics of multimodality in online media (Kress 2003), the formation of identities and youth cultures (e.g., Moje 2015), the ethos and materiality of new literacies pedagogy (e.g., Vasudevan 2014;Skinner et al 2014), conceptual approaches to new literacy studies (Street 2003), or studies that explore specific populations or underrepresented groups (Black 2005;Warschauer and Matuchniak 2010). Lowercase new literacies thus allows the inclusion of many perspectives, methods, and contexts within which new literacies are studied and applied and allows an inclusionary perspective to bear on the field.…”