I am happy to say that the week is calming down a bit, and though I still have a lot on my plate, the world is starting to make sense again after what was the worst September of my life. This week, we gave me an experience I had never had before. I had my contract signed to become a coachee. What is a coachee? I found out the answer to that question when we sat down for the meeting to review the paperwork.
In the Pyramid Model, partnerships are created with people who work as inclusion coaches and educators. This partnership begins with a conversation in which we take time to get to know one another. You need to want to be coached to take any further steps. You then fill out a readiness questionnaire. I followed those steps, still unsure of what I was signing up for, but I knew people who had been through the process and could speak nothing but good things about it.
When I sat down with my coach this week, we went over the basics again: what is the pyramid model, how is it beneficial to the children, how do we explain it to families, and then we got to what it means to be coached. I was surprised by the answer because a typical coach relationship is one in which they directly teach you how to do things, and you follow through and do them. That is different from what being coached in the Pyramid Model is, however, in the Pyramid Model, being coached is like having a cheerleader in your corner as you learn to put the practices into place in your classroom. This kind of coaching is a relationship in which you have an inclusion coach who meets with you bi-weekly or monthly and begins by seeing how the room you work in is currently functioning. For me, as a preschool educator, this is called TPOT; if I were an infant or toddler educator, this is called TPTOES—such cute names. What then takes place from there is that we create goals with step-by-step pathways to help me meet those goals, and we then review them after observations and see if we have achieved them. If not, we look at why through constructive feedback and conversational manner, and then we may work together to make resources, or my coach may help me find resources. When I achieve a goal, we celebrate and move on to another goal until I reach Fidelity. This means I am consistently implementing the Pyramid Model throughout my day.
Now that my journey has begun, I have gained more knowledge of the Pyramid model. This was so wonderful because I can now add this knowledge to the literature review I am working on for this website.
I have my first TPOT next week... Wish me luck!
