Ongoing Professional Development

Ongoing Professional Development

Mentorship Strategies for Instructional Coaches

What is an Instructional Coach

• an educational leader who works in a school or district to support teachers in reaching their goals.

Role of the Instructional Coach

• Listener, advocate, content area expert, partner in learning, and data collector
• Mentor and role model for teachers, helping them improve the quality of their lessons and use the latest techniques and technologies
• Thought partner, building relationships based on trust and mutual respect and providing reflective, inquiry-oriented feedback
• Learner, modeling continuous improvement and lifelong learning
• Professional development facilitator, staying on top of changes in state standards and assessments and arranging learning activities for teachers

What is a Mentor?

• a person experienced in a particular field or business who shares the benefits of that experience with a younger person just coming up, called a mentee.

Strategies for Mentorship

• Consider what form of mentorship suits your needs There are many types of mentoring relationships, from the traditional dyad model to group mentoring and distance models.
• Assess your readiness for mentorship Ask yourself about what interests you in becoming a mentor or mentee.
• Find a mentor/mentee
• Set expectations
• Transition thoughtfully

Beyond the bowl of chocolates: How to build trust in instructional coaching relationships

• Partnership: Co-creating the journey It is important that coaches and teachers approach their interactions as partnerships, not hierarchical relationships.
• Reliability: A pillar of dependability
• Consistency: The backbone of trust
• Confidentiality: Building safe spaces
• Warmth, character, and stewardship: The crucible of trust

Pacing: Go Slow to Go Fast

Intentional Role Modeling

• demonstrating expertise and experience, intentional role models also show their strengths and weaknesses while helping observers see how they could attain a similar position.

Bringing out the best in everyone

Reference

• What do Instructional Coaches Do? The 5 Key Roles of an Instructional Coach - coachbetter.tv
• Beyond the bowl of chocolates: How to build trust in instructional coaching relationships - Teach. Learn. Grow. (nwea.org)
• Five strategies for successful mentorship in teaching and learning | News | University of Calgary (ucalgary.ca)
• What Is a Mentor? - 2024 - MasterClass