Story Seeking: An Approach for Literacy Coaching

The concept of coaching has invaded American society. One cannot advance very far in learning any skill without encountering an advertisement promoting the use of a coach to attain one’s goals. The education sector has embraced the concept as well. The athletic coach is no longer the solitary coach in a school.This paper examines the role of the literacy coach, the most recent personnel addition to numerous school districts. A critical and essential skill for the literacy coach is to develop positive, trusting relationships with the teacher being coached.The author proposes that the literacy coach could establish positive, trusting relationships with teachers through the strategy of story seeking. While storytelling has been proven to be a useful strategy in many corporate and professional realms, the concept of story seeking is a way to learn the unique professional and personal characteristics and experiences of the teacher being coached. It is in discovering one’s story that the coach is able to gain insight and build essential coaching relationships.The paper concludes with a story grammar template for coaches that could guide the story seeking process.