Is the coach ready for the game? A self-study of literacy coaching in a secondary school

Content area teachers at the secondary level often complain that the students are unwilling or unable to read and comprehend the textbooks. Yet these teachers have seldom had instruction in the teaching of reading. They state that teaching of reading is someone else\u27s job. They state that they need to progress through the entire textbook, and that teaching reading strategies in addition to the content would impede that progress. Many elementary schools have hired reading coaches to help teachers learn and practice effective reading strategies. Only a few secondary schools have hired coaches. The purpose of this qualitative self-study was to examine how a high school literacy coach worked with secondary content area teachers as they learned and taught reading strategies. The researcher analyzed the coaching process from her perspective as the coach. Results of this study provided insight into perceptions of a coach and the participating content-area teachers about the coaching practice and instructional-decision making. The results have the potential to impact future coaching in secondary content-area classes. This in turn has the potential to impact teachers\u27 strategies for reading instruction and students\u27 strategies for comprehending content-area textbooks