In Zinc, teachers and administrators have different roles. These roles are set up by Zinc or by your rostering system. For teachers who perform certain admin duties or work with students outside of their own class, we offer a special Instructional Coach role.
This role is often suited for positions like reading interventionists, reading specialists, coordinators, and special educators. If you have your own class but need to create assignments for students outside that class, the Instructional Coach role may be for you.
Below, learn what an Instructional Coach can do in Zinc and how to become an Instructional Coach. You can also learn about the school reports available to Instructional Coaches.
Instructional Coach Abilities
Instructional Coaches have the abilities of both a teacher and a school administrator.
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Have Their Own Classes |
View Student and Class Reports |
View School Reports |
Create and View Assignments School-Wide |
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Teachers |
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School Administrators |
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✅ |
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Instructional Coaches |
✅ |
✅ |
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Like teachers, Instructional Coaches may have their own classes and students. If your school or district uses another rostering system to create Zinc classes, Instructional Coaches will maintain their teacher role in those rosters.
Along with the ability to create assignments for their own classes, Instructional Coaches may create assignments for any students at the schools where they are rostered. Assignments may be created for individual students, groups or students, or entire classes. We recommend that Instructional Coaches communicate with the other teachers on their campus to avoid creating duplicate assignments.
Like school administrators, Instructional Coaches may generate and view school-wide reports. They can also view reports for any class and student at the school where they are rostered as a teacher.
How to become a Zinc Instructional Coach
Instructional Coach accounts must begin as teaching accounts in Zinc. The process is entirely reversible. The necessary changes will be made for you by Zinc Support regardless of how you roster with us.
If you have a teacher account and require an Instructional Coach account, you just need to contact Zinc Support by using the support contact form or by clicking the blue chat support bubble on your Zinc homepage.
If you are an administrator and need an Instructional Coach account set up for one of your teachers, you can contact us the same way. We'll just need the name of the teacher and the email address for their account.
How to Find Students and Create Assignments
As an Instructional Coach, you will see your own classes on your Zinc homepage. This will allow you to easily track Zinc Journeys and any A La Carte assignments.
To view other students, click on "View Classes & Reports" in the top menu and then click "Classes and Students." Your Classes and Students page will show you all of the active classes and students at schools where you are rostered.
Search for a student on this page and click on their name to quickly access their Student Performance Report. This will show their current progress in Zinc Journeys, current and past assignments, and their Zinc Level history. Searching for a student will also show you which classes in which they are currently registered, which will help you create assignments for them.
You may assign A La Carte assignments like Vocabulary Games, Articles and Texts, and Close Reading Experiences to any student or groups of students. You'll need to know the class for each student or group of students. Click "Assign" on the assignment you would like to make and select the appropriate class. When you get to the "Choose Students" step, select the individual students you would like to receive the assignment or select the entire class.
Remember, all students have access to Zinc Journeys, which automatically includes Level Placements, Ignition, and Lift Offs. Progress in Zinc Journeys can be viewed on a student's Performance Report. You can also view another teacher's class progress in Zinc Journeys by selecting the class on your Classes and Students page.
School Reports for Instructional Coaches
Instructional Coaches have access to school-level reports for every school where they are rostered. (Instructional coaches may also view student and class reports on the Reports page.) To reach the Reports page, click “View Classes & Reports” in the top menu on your Zinc homepage and then click “Reports.”
School reports consist of your Student Performance Report.
With the School Level Student Performance Report, you can see the student usage and performance in specific Zinc assignment features for each teacher. You can click on the tabs for each type of assignment, and clicking on a teacher's name will take you to details about the usage and performance for each of their classes. After clicking on a class, you can click on a student's name to show you their individual use and performance.
Tip: Use the Date Range to hone in on the beginning weeks of a grading period, then compare those percentages to the ending weeks of a grading period to see growth.
Please Contact Us with Questions or to Request an Instructional Coach Account
For those who require it, we hope the Instructional Coach role will help you and your students find continued success in Zinc! If you have any other questions, please contact Zinc Support by clicking the blue chat bubble inside Zinc or by using the contact form.