Coaching Journal Entry #1

The teacher I will be coaching this semester is a fellow first grade teacher on my
team. While she has had many years of experience with children in pre-K, last
year was her first year as a classroom teacher in a first grade classroom. She is
open to the mentor/coaching process and receiving support as she works in her new
position.
I plan to meet with my mentee prior to my observation to discuss our upcoming
work together. I will inform her of what is included in the coaching process and
how we can work together to identify needs and goals, collaborate to come up with
a plan, and evaluate results. During this initial meeting, I plan to have the mentee
provide as much input as she is comfortable with so that she may address how she
feels about the process, being filmed, or any other questions or concerns she may
have. I will also like her to share what is going well for her in her classroom thus
far this year, as well as areas she would like support with. Additionally, she can let
me know her teaching style, the kinds of strategies that work best for her, and any
other information she feels is important for me to know.
This will be my first time in a coaching position, so I am not necessarily confident
in my coaching abilities since I have not had experience doing this before. I am
typically not comfortable being in a leadership position with adults either.
However, I plan to implement what I have learned from this course and our
readings thus far to practice facilitative coaching, as described by Knight, where
we can work collaboratively, rather than in a teacher/student type relationship with
directive coaching. I plan to revisit our coursework as needed to help me through
the coaching process.
Additionally, I entered the Instructional Technology program to help me increase
my own technology skills, so I am nervous that I may not have the answers for my
mentee if she has certain technology needs or questions. If this turns out to be the
case, I will research and talk with other colleges to find the answers to help support
my mentee.
 References

Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful
improvements in teaching. Corwin, A Sage Company.