Does Your Instructional Coaching Program Have a Logo?
If Your Instructional Coaching Program had a Logo … What would it look like?
In this blog post, we will break down the reasons why your Instructional Coaching department should create a unified logo that is not only agreed upon by your district administration but shared with your school community as a symbol for why it is important to create an individualized professional learning system for not just teachers but all staff members.
Take a moment and think of your favorite sports team. How about your favorite sports drink? Think about the last time you drove down the road. Did anything catch your eye from your favorite fast-food restaurant?
What do your favorite sports team, sports drink, and restaurant all have in common? They all have eye-catching and clearly definable logos that quickly identify who they are, capture your attention, and spark your enthusiasm for their brand.
Today, I’d like to ask you the question … does your Instructional Coaching Department have a logo?
What is a Logo? What does it Represent?
A logo, to put it succinctly, is a symbol that represents an idea or a group of people. Logos can be colorful or monochromatic. What all logos have in common is that they represent something. They represent an idea that a group or entity stands for.
Think of one of the most iconic logos on the planet, the NIKE Swoosh. Anytime you see that you probably say to yourself “Just Do It.”
But …
If Logos are designed to be simple, does this mean that their meanings must also be simple?
Below, we have an image of several popular logos, many of which you are familiar with.
Each of these has a hidden meaning behind them.
On the surface, these images might look simple, but when you take a second look you just might find something hidden.
- Do you see a hidden arrow inside of the FedEx logo?
- Do you see a bicycle rider in the Tour de France logo?
- Did you notice that the number 31 is hidden inside the Baskin-Robbins logo?
So, what does this have to do with your Instructional Coaching Department?
How to Create a Logo for Instructional Coaching
When discussing the creation of your Instructional Coaching Department Mission Statement, we learned that the position of the Instructional Coach should be a hybrid of what is happening in both the Technology AND Curriculum departments. We also learned that professional learning when it’s supported by curricular activities (rather than applications) can be the catalyst for raising student achievement. Because of this, it’s important to create a logo that represented all these components of your school district plan.
For these reasons, when the planning and creation of your Instructional Coaching Department logo should include all these concepts when creating your department image.
Let’s look at one example.
What Does an Instructional Coaching Department Logo Look Like?
Here is an example of a logo recently used in a school district to not only support but provide meaning to their Instructional Coaching Department. The logo has been created from both the official colors of the district and while on the surface is easy to identify, when you look at the meaning behind it, you will learn exactly how the school district feels and supports their Instructional Coaching Department.
Let’s break down the example above. Here we see a simple logo of a Cardinal logo overlapping a puzzle composed of four pieces. Each piece of the puzzle is a distinct color. This might seem simple, but there was a great deal of work that went into creating it and crafting the meaning behind each of these unique sections.
The Cardinal
At the center of this logo is the school’s mascot, the Cardinal. In this school district, every school has the same Cardinal mascot as its building emblem and because of this the Instructional Coaching logo was designed to represent the entire school district both in graphic representation and in its color scheme.
The Four Puzzle Pieces
Each of the four pieces of this puzzle is designed to represent different aspects of the school district’s instructional plan and is placed strategically on the logo to represent what their function is in the school district.
The Curriculum
The Curriculum Department is located on the bottom of the logo to represent strength and to signify that it is the Curriculum that grounds the entire school district. Everything that a student learns and that a teacher instructs is designed by an agreed-upon curriculum. It is the Curriculum that both holds up a school district and supports the most fragile component of this logo.
Student Achievement
At the very top of the logo is Student Achievement. The goal for everyone and every program in the school should be to raise student achievement. For this reason, the logo has been designed to show that the Curriculum is the main aspect of the school district that supports Students and Student Achievement.
Technology
Placed on the left side of the logo is Technology. It is the Technology Department and the devices in the hands of both teachers and students that connect the students to the Curriculum. This part of the logo is also designed to show that it is the Technology Department that propels both the Curriculum and Student Achievement forward throughout the year.
Professional Learning / Instructional Coaching
Placed on the right side of the logo and serving as the glue between Curriculum and Student Achievement is the Professional Learning Department, otherwise known as your Instructional Coaches. If the Technology Department is what is propelling the district forward, it is the Instructional Coaches that are providing guidance and direction in a process that is grounded by Curriculum.
The Importance of District Buy-in
The creation of an Instructional Coaching Logo is something that should be on the list of every department, but as we can see in the example above, should not be created in a silo. Just as we discussed in our post about an Instructional Coaching Mission & Vision Statement, the Instructional Coaching Department is the glue that propels a district forward by supporting the goals of all educational departments.
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