Does your educational coaching program have a logo?
If your educational coaching program had a logo … What would that look like?
In this blog post, we’ll outline why your educational coaching service should create a unified logo that’s not only endorsed by your district administration, but shared with your school community as a symbol of the importance of creating a individualized professional. learning system not only for teachers, but for all staff.
Take a moment and think about your favorite sports team. How about your favorite sports drink? Think about the last time you drove down the road. Did something catch your eye at your favorite fast food joint?
What do your favorite sports team, sports drink and restaurant have in common? They all have eye-catching, clearly definable logos that quickly identify who they are, capture your attention, and get you excited about their brand.
Today I would like to ask you the question… does your educational coaching department have a logo?
What is a logo? What does this represent?
A logo, to put it succinctly, is a symbol that represents an idea or a group of people. Logos can be colored or monochrome. What all logos have in common is that they represent something. They represent an idea defended by a group or an entity.
Think of one of the most iconic logos on the planet, the NIKE Swoosh. Every time you see this, you’re probably thinking “Just Do It”.
But …
If logos are designed to be simple, does that mean that their the meanings should also be simple?
Below we have an image of several popular logos, many of which are familiar to you.
Each of them has a hidden meaning behind them.
On the surface, these images may seem simple, but when you take a look at them, you might find something hidden.
- Do you see a hidden arrow inside the FedEx logo?
- Do you see a cyclist in the Tour de France logo?
- Have you noticed that the number 31 is hidden inside the Baskin-Robbins logo?
So what does this have to do with your educational coaching service?
How to create a logo for educational coaching
When discussing the creation of your Mission statement of the educational coaching departmentwe’ve learned that the instructional coaching position should be a hybrid of what happens in both Technology AND Curriculum Departments. We also learned that professional learning, when supported by instructional activities (rather than applications), can be the catalyst for improved student achievement. For this reason, it’s important to create a logo that represents all of these components of your school district’s plan.
For these reasons, when planning and creating your educational coaching department logo should include all of these concepts when creating your department’s image.
Let’s take an example.
What does an educational coaching department logo look like?
Here is an example of a logo recently used in a school district not only to support, but also to give meaning to its educational support service. The logo was created from the district’s official colors and although the surface is easy to identify, when you look at the meaning behind you’ll know exactly how the school district feels and supports its instructional coaching department.
Let’s break down the example above. Here we see a simple logo of a Cardinal logo overlapping a puzzle made up of four pieces. Each piece of the puzzle is a separate color. It may sound simple, but a lot of work went into creating it and creating the meaning behind each of these unique sections.
Cardinal
At the center of this logo is the school mascot, the Cardinal. In this school district, each school has the same Cardinal mascot as its building emblem and for this reason the Instructional Coaching logo was designed to represent the entire school district both in graphic representation and in its color scheme. .
The four pieces of the puzzle
Each of the four pieces in this puzzle are designed to represent different aspects of the school district’s education plan and are strategically placed on the logo to represent their function in the school district.
The curriculum
The curriculum department is located at the bottom of the logo to represent strength and to signify that it is the curriculum that grounds the entire school district. Everything a student learns and a teacher teaches is designed by an agreed upon curriculum. It is the program that both supports a school district and supports the most fragile element of this logo.
Student Success
At the very top of the logo is Student Achievement. The goal of each and every program in the school should be to improve student achievement. For this reason, the logo was designed to show that the curriculum is the primary aspect of the school district that supports students and student success.
Technology
The technology is placed on the left side of the logo. It is the technology department and the devices in the hands of teachers and students that connect students to the program. This part of the logo is also designed to show that it is the technology department that drives both the curriculum and student success throughout the year.
Professional learning / Pedagogical coaching
Placed on the right side of the logo and serving as the glue between the curriculum and student success is the Professional Learning Department, otherwise known as your educational coaches. If the technology department is what propels the district forward, it is the instructional coaches who provide guidance and direction in a program-based process.
The Importance of District Membership
Creating an educational coaching logo is something that should be on every department’s list, but as we can see from the example above, should not be created in silos. Just as we discussed in our article about a Educational Coaches Mission and Vision Statementthe educational coaching department is the glue that propels a district forward by supporting the goals of all educational departments.