Giving Educators Hope through Coaching and Mentoring

 
I hear my colleagues say that they want to make an impact on the lives of children, but the fact is that they are actually trying to make a difference in the lives of future adults.  For us as educators to achieve this goal we have to support each other because 44 percent of teachers leave the profession within 5 years (2022, Steen) and 55 percent of veteran teachers would like to leave education (2022, Nguyen).  In Texas “77% of” teachers “seriously considered leaving the profession in 2022, a 19% jump from the 2020 results and a 9% increase from” 2021 (2022, Lopez).  Of the 77 percent of Texas teachers that are thinking about leaving education 93 percent have prepared resumes and have been on job interviews (2022, Lopez).  The desire to leave the profession of teaching is because teachers are burned out (2022, Nguyen) or do not feel valued (2022, Lopez).  So in order to change those feelings in teachers we “should work to foster a culture where teachers collaborate and learn from one another (2011, Dabbs).  How do schools create a culture that foster collaboration where educators grow from one another?

The first step that schools should take to foster a collaborative and supportive culture is to recognize that teachers are individuals.  As an individual teachers possess different talents, strengths, deficits and must dynamically respond to their classroom needs.  Teachers benefit from support through coaching or mentoring no matter what level of experience they have (2017, Grafwallner).  It is important to respect the knowledge of veteran teachers as well as novice teachers because they both have something to offer (2022, Steen).  New teachers have learned the latest methods (2017, Grafwallner) while veteran teachers have the real-world experience and application of teaching methods and best practices (2022, Steen).  

Mentoring is an important relationship that creates a beneficial relationship usually between colleagues.  It is a relationship that “empower teacher to leverage one another’s abilities and strengths” (2022, Steen).  Whether the mentorship is a master apprentice model or a partnership the relationship is driven by the needs of the mentee (2022, Steen).  Traditional mentoring gives all the power to the mentor and the mentee is to receive guidance like an apprentice (2022, Steen).  In an interdependent mentoring relationship both people have the power and collaborate to solve problems and come to a consensus on a solution (2022, Steen).  In spite of which mentorship model is used the mentoring relationship is beneficial because “it offers acceptance, guidance, and instructional support, hope, and optimism to teachers” (2011, Dabbs) while staying “student centered” (2022, Steen).  

Coaching unlike mentoring targets and has a specific purpose to support growth or professional development. Coaching focuses on giving a teacher specific action steps to improve their practice.  This is accomplished because the coach observes, models and debrief on what the teacher does well and what the teacher needs to work on.  (2021, Knight) Coaches also model to support the teacher when needed and offer support that “empowers teachers to carry out their own decision and plans in their classroom” (2021, Knight). 

The benefit of both mentoring and coaching are beneficial for teachers, students and schools because the collaboration between educators raises morale and allows educators to feel supported (2011, Dabbs).  When I was a new teacher coaching was lacking and even though I received feedback I would not receive modeling or clear steps on what I needed to do.  I would ask, “What does that look like? Can you give me an example?”  Even today when I ask that question, I sometimes receive the answer, “that is up to you, you need to look it up on XYZ app or I can’t show you because it is something that you need to select based on what you need.”  This is acceptable when one has the benefit on experience but as a new teacher or as someone that is taking a new role I consider that response unacceptable.  This is the reason that when teachers seek my guidance, or I am asked to coach them I make sure that I am clear on what things look like and I ensure to give them examples and points of reference. I also make sure that they feel good about our meeting and look forward to our next meeting.  The most important thing is that mentoring and coaching gives people hope so that don’t feel overwhelmed and alone in the education world (2011, Dabbs).

References:

Dabbs, L. (2011, October).  Mentoring Matters. Will you Take up the Challenge. Edutopia. Retrieved on October 14, 2022 from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/mentoring-new-teachers-lisa-dabbs

Gill, J. (2019, November).  A New Paradigm for Leadership Coaching in Schools. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved on October 12, 2022 from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/a-new-paradigm-for-leadership-coaching-in-schools

Grafwallner, P.  (2017, September). Coaching a Novice Teacher. Edutopia.  Retrieved on October 10, 2022 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-novice-teacher

Grafwallner, P. (2017, October). Coaching the Veteran Teacher.  Edutopia.  Retrieved on October 10, 2022 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-veteran-teacher

Grossman, P. and Davis, E. (2012, May). Mentoring That Fits. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Volume 69 Number 8

Knight, J. (2021, September) The Learning Zone/ Hey Instructional coach, What Do You Do? Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved on October 14, 2022 from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-learning-zone-hey-instructional-coach-what-do-you-do

Lopez, B. (2022, September). Politics and Pandemic are driving Texas Teachers to consider quitting, survey finds.  Texas Tribune.  Retrieved on October 14, 2022 from https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/08/charles-butt-teacher-survey/#:~:text=Of%20those%20surveyed%2C%2077%25%20of,interviews%20within%20the%20past%20year.

Nguyen, T. (2022, September). Stressed out, burned out and dropping out:  Why teachers are leaving the classroom.  Phys.org.  Retrieved on October 13, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-09-stressed-teachers-classroom.html

Steen, S. (2022, August) How Mentoring cab Be a 2-Way Partnership.  Edutopia.  Retrieved on October 11, 2022 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/coaching-veteran-teacher

Response to Intervention Paving the Road to Success or Failure

Students attend school and are expected to receive differentiated high-quality instruction (2011, Alber). Ideally all students should be able to experience success in learning when they receive Tier 1 instruction, but the reality is that struggling learners and students with learning differences are taken through RTI to support academic deficits (2011, Alber) and “prevent difficulties from escalating to the need for special education evaluation” (2015, Sparks).  A need for special education evaluation occurs after teachers take a student through Tier 2 and 3 instruction (2011, Alber).  The problem with RTI is that some schools experience success (2011, Alber) while others experience a regression in student growth compared to struggling students who did not receive more targeted instruction (2015, Sparks).  

I found this to be an oxymoron because RTI is a “proactive intervention model” (2011, Alber) designed to target struggling learners’ deficits with consistent research based high quality instruction designed to improve learning (2015, Sparks).  The research-based programs unfortunately are not always teachers delivering the instruction, but programs designed by companies and sold as curriculum that will address all the needs of the struggling student (2011, Alber). This raises the question of why teachers are not more involved in the decision-making process of RTI (2011, Alber).  Since teachers are the ones that are in the forefront of delivering Tier 1 instruction it makes sense to give them a voice in what tools or programs will be used to address the deficits of the student.

On the other hand, it is also concerning that teacher delivery of instruction and intervention is not as clear cut and not defined as clearly as it once was because the line is starting to blur (2015, Sparks).  When this happens, the teacher spends more time focusing on specific skills so the students miss out on broader concepts and are not able to pull the concept together or develop a full understanding of the learning objective (2015, Sparks).  To improve outcomes schools also need to leverage the interest of students as stakeholders in the material they are learning so that their thinking evolves from what the teacher teaches me to “our work, our learning, our ideas” (2011, Alber).

I think the lesson here is that teachers don’t always need to panic because students are low.  Instead, teachers should teach the students in Tier I instruction without blurring the line between Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction.  Students also need to become more invested in their learning so that they can close gaps.  I guess the bottom line is that both teachers and students worry about scores on state tests because of the pressure that comes from the school and district.  “Our school districts need to stop putting so much faith in things (a process, model, or program), and start having a lot more faith in people” (2011, Alber) maybe then we will have more consistent learning and performance from our students. 

References:

Alber, R. (2011, April).  Interventions for Failing Students: What Matters Most? Edutopia. Retrieved on September 27, 2022 from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-matters-most-student-academic-intervention-rebecca-alber

Sparks, S. (2015, November). Study: RTI Practice Falls Short of Promise First Graders Who Were Identified for More Help Fell Further Behind.  Edweek. Retrieved on September 25, 2022 from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/study-rti-practice-falls-short-of-promise/2015/11