Teachers...Good to Great! 

Instructional Coaching for

Effective Teaching

(Minimum 3 observations and

3 follow-up sessions)

Target Audience:

Teachers, Education majors

Goals of the Program:

1. To provide teachers with an off-site mentor who does not participate in his/her annual evaluation process.
2. To observe instruction as it relates to your district's strategic education plan, and/or Effective Teaching, Essential Elements of Instruction and Bloom's Taxonomy.
3. To provide interactive post-observation feedback utilizing inquiry-based questioning technique to empower teachers.
4. To improve instruction and ultimately increase student achievement.

Process:

1. Initial meeting to dialogue and determine teacher's goals.  Review Essential Elements of Instruction, Bloom's Taxonomy and provide lesson plan format/template.
2. Pre-observation meeting to review lesson plan format/template.
3. Observation of lesson with lesson scripting by mentor.
4. Post-observation meeting to review lesson and assess teacher's successes and challenges. Set goals for next lesson.
5. Teachers will be asked to keep a professional journal of their teaching and students' learning, which will be read by his/her mentor.  The mentor will write non-judgmental comments in the journal.

Photo by Barb Adams (c) 2007

The Essential Question is not, "What did you teach today?"

It is, in fact: "What did your students learn today?"

For effective learning to occur, effective teaching must take place. Those of us who have been on the front lines of instruction and supervision know that without the proper tools and the necessary mentoring, teachers can flounder and perform below their capability. 

We owe it to our teachers, and ultimately we owe it to our students to remove the mystery surrounding effective teaching. We need to teach the skills while we mentor the process.

This is how no child gets left behind!

Photo by Barb Adams (c) 2007