Recently I was reading a Choice Literacy article by Cathy Mere. In it she writes:

“If you are coming out of the classroom, you’ll want to begin to rethink community. Let’s face it, the first day of school is different. The relationships with children and their families doesn’t seem quite the same. It has helped me to learn to rethink my community, which has grown significantly.”

–Cathy Mere

Cathy’s advice is wise to those who are not in the role of a classroom teacher. This is one of the things I miss the most from my days in the classroom — I miss the close knit community of students and their families.

Many coaches move from classroom teacher to instructional coach and are blindsided by the way community changes. Many, like me, grieve the loss of the classroom community. Cathy helps shine a new light.

Community remains the heart of what we do as educators, no matter our role. It’s important that we define our communities. This is easy to do as classroom teachers — the primary community is students and their families.

I’ve been learning to draw a wider circle of community in my life. I like the image of drawing a wider circle to include more people. It’s not a new circle, just a wider one.

Coaches get to learn how to draw a wider circle. We’d love to hear more about your process in the comments. Consider letting us know —

• Who is among the community you will serve and impact in your role of the coach?
• How will you take the things you know about building a classroom community and build a wider community?
• What are some challenges you face in drawing a wider circle?