Instructional Coach

It takes someone with a vision of the possibilities to attain new levels of experience. Someone with the courage to live his dreams.

Les Brown, motivational speaker, and leader.

The Role of a Mentor and Coach

The saying goes, “We don’t know what we don’t know,” and my teacher mentors and coaches have helped me understand this. We all need an outside perspective to see what we might be missing in the classroom and our professional growth as educators.

This is why I love being a teacher mentor and instructional coach. I don’t go in as Ms. Fix-it; my goal is to support educators in their professional growth and mastery. As a mentor and coach, I provide personal and professional insights into the world of education.

Cognitive Coaching

I utilize cognitive coaching, a process that allows both mentor and mentee to engage actively in the coaching and learning journey. This partnership helps increase passion for education and learning, fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion, and promotes collaboration, communication, and reflection.

A coach doesn’t need to be the expert. While this may sound unconventional, my experience shows that setting aside our egos and ideas leads to better results. My focus as a coach is on the teacher, creating conversations around planning, reflecting, and problem-solving. Through these conversations, I mediate teachers’ thinking by asking questions, paraphrasing responses, and asking more questions to help them achieve their desired outcomes.

Methods of Support

As a coach, there are many ways to support educators. Along with cognitive coaching, I use the following methods:

• Coaching Cycles: Engaging in iterative cycles of observation, feedback, and reflection.
• Collaborative Curriculum Design: Working with teachers to design effective and engaging curricula.
• Teacher Inquiry: Encouraging educators to investigate and reflect on their practices.
• Team Teaching: Co-teaching lessons to model and support effective instructional strategies.
• Demo Lessons: Providing demonstration lessons to showcase best practices.
• Reflective Discussion: Facilitating discussions that promote deep reflection and growth.

These approaches help create a supportive and dynamic environment where educators can thrive and continuously improve their teaching practices.

Below are sample Coaching Cycles and Coaching Letters that I use.