We would like to introduce you to one of our graduates of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program! With over a hundred graduates since 2019, educators taking The Coach come into the program with different backgrounds, experiences and goals. Because the program is designed to be flexible and practical in nature, each graduate is able to customize their learning experience for exactly their needs – with the support of a mentor and the global community the whole way!
The Coach follows the Thrive Model for Sustainable Instructional Coaching, a proven framework for success in developing your coaching practice – for you as an individual coach and for your coaching program in your school. These educators have graciously given us permission to post some of their learning and reflections from the private coursework they are undertaking during this program.
Meet Nikki
Nikki came to the coach as an Early Years and Grade One Art specialist. With a solid educational background in Early Years and Elementary education, she has extensive experience in middle leadership roles, including team leader positions, chairing school-wide committees, and facilitating divisional professional development. In her collaborative work with teams, she was already bringing a coaching mindset, and wanted to further develop her coaching skills. She came to The Coach to learn more about the Thrive Coaching Model to better support and empower educators in improving their practices. In the same academic year, she was recruiting for an instructional coaching position – and she got one!
Reflecting on her experience in the course, she says…
“Going through the coaching cycle and then having people in the cohort to talk about it with was so impactful to talk about it with. I came to almost every call because I didn’t even know that was going to be an option. To have the option to meet with my mentor when I needed to or when something was urgent. The group calls were major.”
Nikki achieved her goals about deepening her coaching practice, saying…
“I am so grateful for this course. It came at the right time for me and my professional growth. Most useful for me was learning the stances and how to recognize and navigate between them while in a coaching conversation. Learning how to listen more deeply and to use better questions, rather than giving advice, has changed my practice for the better.”
After she graduated, she says…
I’m a lifelong learner so I am constantly looking at ways I can evolve and change but also say somewhat constant as an educator, but this course pushed me in ways that I wasn’t expecting. I already had a certificate for coaching, I just flourished by getting clarity about what coaching is. If I could say one thing: it was getting that clarity and then able to think about what I have in my toolbox.
Watch Nikki’s Final Project
At the end of The Coach, all participants complete a Learning Journey Video Reflection…
The Learning Journey Video Reflection is a chance for you to reflect on everything you’ve learned and/or discovered throughout this Certificate Program. You will create an 8-10 min video sharing on the goal that you set, documenting the process of working towards your goal, reflecting on your achievement and sharing the process/outcome with our learning community. The most important part of your personal project is that it’s relevant to you, and you can demonstrate, through documentation and video, the impact your work has had on your school.
Watch Nikki’s Learning Journey Video Reflection here.
Learn more about Nikki’s Learning Experience
Nikki was recently featured on the #coachbetter podcast in a Case Study episode with her coaching partner during the course, Amber Shortridge. These case study episodes are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting. At the time of recording, Nikki had just graduated from The Coach and she and Amber were able to reflect on their coaching partnership over the course of the year. If you’re curious about what a coaching partnership looks, feels and sounds like in practice, this episode is for you!
This episode is so powerful because we can see the ways that the coaching process truly empowered Amber to grow and meet the goals she had set for herself.
Amber says:
That’s the difference between coaching and a professional growth process. You’re having someone ask the questions, not giving me answers. It was what we do with our kids, as an adult without it being condescending, I felt valued. That guided inquiry process that valued me and guided me towards growth.
I feel like I’m finally meeting my goal. For two years I kept trying, and it wasn’t failing, but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. That is the difference between coaching where you’re being asked the questions to dig deeper into my reflection, not just giving me answers. It really is what we do with our kids. Doing it with me with an adult without it being condescending or patronizing where I felt valued. That guided inquiry process that honored me, but also guided me towards growth.
Ready to create a thriving coaching culture that improves student learning and builds belonging?
Come learn with me!
I help educators, instructional coaches, informal or positional leaders work together to create thriving coaching cultures that improve student learning and build belonging.
Coaching programs based on the Thrive Model, with clarity, consistency and community, can create time and space for educators to feel seen, heard, respected and valued for the experts that they are – creating a sustainable system of educator professional growth that ultimately improves student learning.
For this kind of coaching to thrive we need to focus on both the micro view of your coaching practice and the macro view of your coaching program, so while you’re developing your individual coaching practice you’re also intentionally developing a sustainable coaching culture.
If you’re ready to build this kind of coaching culture in your school community, join us for the Thrive Coaching Certificate program!
Wherever you are in your coaching journey, we can support you!
When you’re ready, there are three key ways we can work together:
- in the Thrive Coaching Certificate,
- in a private mentoring package, or
- through work directly with your school.
Leave a comment below, or reply to any of my emails and let’s start a conversation to see how we can work together to create a thriving coaching culture in your school setting!
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