Staying Aligned: Essential Strategies Toolkit for Math Coordinators and Coaches

In our fast-paced educational environment, staying focused and aligned with our initial goals can be a challenging yet vital aspect of our roles as math coordinators, coaches, or administrators. In this post, I want to share some insights and tools that have been instrumental in maintaining this focus throughout the school year.

The Challenge of Maintaining Focus

We’ve all experienced how new initiatives and unexpected changes can shift our focus and add to our already full plates. These shifts can sometimes sideline our original goals and objectives. This is not unusual, and it’s certainly not a failure on our part. It’s simply the nature of our job, where new priorities emerge, and existing ones evolve.

Setting Clear, Achievable Goals

At the start of the year, it’s crucial to establish clear objectives. I advocate for setting three primary goals to ensure that we don’t lose sight of what’s essential. These goals should align with effective pedagogy, and building capacity in the area of conceptual understanding for your educators. Keeping these focused goals will translate into student results overtime.

Introducing Two Key Tools

1. Action Plan Progress Tracking Sheet

This tool helps us map out our priorities and track our progress. Once you’ve decided on your top three goals, we break them down into key results and specific action items. This sheet becomes a visual representation of your roadmap for the year, helping you to stay on course and measure your achievements.

2. Touchpoint Schedule

This tool is about aligning your support levels with your goals. It involves planning how you’ll interact with and support your educators throughout the year, whether it’s through emails, PD sessions, PLCs, or direct coaching. This schedule ensures you’re consistently providing the necessary support to achieve our goals.

You can receive both of these tools by registering for our free training on the 4-Stages of Effective PD Planning in Mathematics.

Staying True to Our Vision

It’s not just about setting goals but also about constantly revisiting and reassessing them. This approach keeps us aligned with our original vision, even when new tasks or initiatives arise. We evaluate whether these new items support our key results and if they don’t, we consider postponing them or adding them to a secondary list. This prioritization ensures that our main objectives always receive the attention they deserve.

The Impact of Consistency (Why your teachers avoid PD)

Consistency in our focus is critical for teacher buy-in. When teachers see a consistent focus, they’re more likely to adapt and engage with new initiatives. Conversely, constantly shifting focuses can lead to skepticism and a lack of trust in the process.

Inviting Your Strategies

I’m always eager to learn about the different ways you might be tracking your goals and staying aligned with your vision. If you have any strategies or tools that have worked for you, please feel free to share them.

Together, let’s ensure we stay focused on what truly matters in math education, driving towards our goals with clarity and purpose.