The Coach's Guide
As we planned The Coach's Guide to The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool: A Step-by-Step Resource for Individualizing Professional Development, we had in mind the people who coach and mentor teachers and help them implement The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool. We recognize that coaches often take on their important role with very little formal training. The Coach's Guide provides this training. It can help all coaches provide high-quality, targeted classroom support.
What is The Coach's Guide?
The Coach's Guide is a comprehensive resource that will help you individualize your coaching in small, manageable steps. The Guide is organized by topic to help you easily find the information you need, when you need it. The chapters related to each topic present coaching tools and directions for their use.
View an excerpt from Chapter 1.
View an excerpt from Chapter 2.
Is The Coach's Guide for Me?
If you provide direct classroom support to teachers as an administrator, supervisor, staff developer, mentor teacher, or coach, then The Coach's Guide is for you.
What Will I Find Inside The Coach's Guide?
The Coach's Guide is about 325 pages long, comes in a three-ring binder, and contains eight booklets along with a CD-ROM.
Each booklet addresses one of these topics:
- The Practice of Coaching
- Coaching Child-Teacher Interactions
- Coaching Teachers as They Manage the Day
- Coaching Teachers About What Children Learn
- Coaching Teachers to Integrate Content Through Studies
- Coaching Teachers About Assessment
- Coaching Teachers to Partner With Families
- Coaching Teachers for Improvement on CLASSTM Dimensions
The CD-ROM contains these supporting materials:
- Ready-to-use e-mail messages to send to teachers in preparation for coaching visits
- Classroom visitation feedback form
- Suggested materials and equipment list for a class of 20 children
- Beginning of the year coaching tasks checklist
- Sample weekly plans for the first 2 weeks of school
The Guide also contains an appendix with these tools:
- Planning for Professional Development
- Helping Teachers at the Beginning of the Year
- The Overall Physical Environment
- Setting Up a Classroom for 20 Preschool Children
- Getting to Know Our Room (sample plans for the first 2 weeks of school)
- Discussion Starters
- Observation Feedback Form
Descriptions about how to use each of these tools appear throughout the Guide.
How Do I Use The Coach's Guide?
The Coach's Guide has two sections to help you get started: "How to Use This Guide" and "Getting Started."
What Resources Supplement The Coach's Guide?
You might find these resources helpful when using the The Coach's Guide:
The Coach's Recording Tool: a form with checklists that collects a coach's observations and notes to form the basis of targeted action plans. View an excerpt.
Classroom Assessment Scoring SystemTM (CLASSTM) Manual, Pre-K: an observational tool for assessing classroom quality in pre-kindergarten based on teacher-student interactions in the classroom.
What Else Can You Tell Me About The Coach's Guide?
Remember that learning about and using all of the components of The Creative Curriculum® requires time, practice, and, most important, support. Just as children need time and a risk-free environment to be successful learners, so do teachers. As a coach, you play a vital role by providing direction, encouragement, and guidance to teachers as they learn to implement The Creative Curriculum for Preschool.
The Coach's Guide is a dynamic document. We encourage you to add ideas and new information as you discover the particular combination of coaching strategies that works well for you.
Where Can I Purchase The Coach's Guide?
To purchase The Coach's Guide to The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool: A Step-by-Step Resource for Individualizing Professional Development, please visit our product page.
Do you have questions about The Coach's Guide? Our Customer Solutions Team is here to help you from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday. You can reach them at 800-637-3652.