coaches collaboration

I feel so much less pressure to get it all right myself when I can rely on the support of my co-coaches.

I didn't really enjoy coaching cross country much last year.  As the only returning coach, I felt a lot of pressure to carry it all forward.  This year, I have my co-coach from last year and a new coach with a lot of experience in running and personal fitness.  I feel so much less pressure and enjoy it a lot more this year because I can count on the many strengths of my co-coaches in cross country.

I'm looking forward to the same thing in the science department.  I have a co-chair with a fresh perspective on the school, and the experience of my colleagues who have been here longer than I have.  It really feels like a situation in which we can succeed.

I've always thought of co-teaching or team teaching as really hard.  In the past it's felt like I have to prepare twice as many lesson plans to give my "helper" something to do (this was the case when I had volunteers in the classroom), or there was no true collaboration and we just went our own ways.  My recent experience in coaching has given me a new view of how great a good teacher team could be, when you allow each teacher's strengths to support the team members.