We want to give you a peek inside our Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program. Coaches taking part in this academic-year-long journey have graciously given us permission to post some of their learning and reflections from the private coursework they are undertaking during this program. Where possible, we have shared the course and the action task to give context for the guest post.
Read Linda’s Reflection
What goals did you set for yourself at the beginning of the program?
When I started the course, I simply wanted to be a stronger coach. I got so much more out of this program than coaching strategies!
How did each milestone support you in reaching your goal?
Clarity: This helped me better understand the work I do and how it fits into the three parts of my job-Teach/Coach/Lead. In doing that, I became more efficient in prioritizing my time and focus.
Consistency: This is why I signed up for the course, I wanted to be a better coach. This part of the program helped me refine my skills and learn many more skills that help me be a more effective coach. Focusing on questioning as my milestone was a big lift for me.
Communication: This milestone helped me learn how to feedback the feedback, and to share (market) stories to engage more teachers in the work.
What has been your biggest area of growth in the program?
Gaining clarity that helps me prioritize my focus, as well as the skills and strategies I learned.
Which milestone had the most impact on your professional growth this year & why?
Probably the Venn Diagram. As soon as I aligned what I was doing each day with each of the three buckets (Teach/Coach/Lead) it was really easy for me to make decisions daily on how to prioritize my time. I also got very good at setting up systems, say for teaching, that could run efficiently so that I could focus more on coaching, which I felt was my biggest area for growth.
Where do you still have room to grow?
Questioning. I use my question sheet daily, as well as planning for coaching conversations. I want strong questioning to be something that is natural for me.
What surprises and/or challenges have you had along the way?
I was surprised at how easy it was for me to engage teachers in coaching, when I simply started naming coaching possibilities. They wanted to learn and grow, they simply needed to realize that coaching was not evaluative.
What would you do differently next time? What did you learn?
If anything I’d like another year to revisit the content in this course, it is so good and I haven’t internalized as much as I would like.
How did the Coach support you in your learning journey?
This course set up a structure for making sense of a role that is often ambiguous and defined in many different ways.
How has your learning inside the Coach impacted your coaching practice & program in your school setting?
It’s really set me up for success by helping me develop the skills to have successful coaching interactions with the teachers I work with. This has a positive impact on the coaching program at my school.
What next for your professional learning?
Next year I want to focus on consolidating the learning I’ve done this year.
Watch Linda’s Video
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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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