TLC District Profiles
The following quote is being shared by Jaymie Randel at Prairie Lakes AEA from, Sara Fitzgerald, Fort Dodge Middle School Instructional Coach. Sara recently observed mentor coaches who are part of the Induction Consortium in Grant Wood AEA,Great Prairie AEA, and Mississippi Bend AEA engaged in coaching with Beginning Teachers. Sara describes a “desired state” that we want for all of our Beginning Teachers and their students.
Work of a Mentor Coach
“I was impressed with what I saw from two different angles. The first would be from a general coaching standpoint and the second would be from a mentoring standpoint knowing that these teachers were brand new to the profession.
I was able to observe three different mentor coaching conversations and each one was goal oriented, solution centered, and wholly focused on modifying teacher practice in order to assure student learning. The coaches flowed through the conversations seamlessly using New Teacher Center tools and coaching language as they worked with the new teachers to reflect on the work they'd been doing together.
The three new teachers I saw were professional, responsive, and extremely reflective with their mentor. You could tell that their time together was meaningful and valued. To see new teachers asking such great questions, sincerely reflecting on their teaching practices, determining student success criteria, analyzing student work, and making actionable plans for remediation, next steps, and enrichment was inspiring.
I can honestly say I have never seen such a productive coaching conversation before and it is definitely something that all coaching opportunities should strive to achieve.”
-Sara Fitzgerald
Related Resources
Mentoring and Induction requirements for the State of Iowa.
Teacher Leadership and Compensation Plan Application and Application Scoring Rubric for Part 4.Districts -Describe how the TLC plan will utilize teacher leaders and the additional funding to improve entry into the teaching profession for new teachers.
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