Brooke Lawrence

SED 765

Dr. Mahady

11 April 2021

Coaching and Mentoring Project

I’ve had many coaches and mentors in my life and it has been really helpful to learn the

various styles of both and reflect back to my experiences. I am able to pinpoint the coaches or

mentors that I have had that were trained to be in their position and those who were not. During

this year of my first time teaching, many people have been there to help me. I have four

teammates including one who is our team leader and a form of a mentor for me. She has been my

do-to person for many things when I need help or advice. I have also had a Consulting Teacher

who is hired by the school district to help and mentor first year teachers. She has been a

tremendous help to me during this year. Her interactions with me are intentional, helpful and

professional. Our relationship has many qualities that help me learn and grow. She is personable,

encouraging, makes me feel valued, and is willing to work through things with me. I have

learned a lot about teaching from her. I learned the importance of having teacher’s presence and

confidence in my teaching. When I work with students, I learned that it is good for students to go

through productive struggle but also that I need to support students where they need. I wish that I

had learned more of the ins and outs of the district I am teaching for and the only thing I would

change about her mentorship would be that she guided me more through the major events that

happened this year. She is very strong in the area of cultural awareness and she did provide many

resources on the topics, but I wish I would have had more direction on exactly how to teach the

subjects in the best way, especially in the virtual setting. The feedback that my Consulting
Teacher provided me with reflects the outlook of Eric Parsloe and Melville Leedham, authors of

Coaching and Mentoring, when they say, “constructive feedback increases self-awareness, offers

options as well as opinions and encourages self-development” (Parsloe & Melville, 2017, p.125).

She shared with me, in a very timely manner, a Google Document where she gave positive

feedback as well as constructive feedback. Her feedback always including questions that

encouraged me to reflect on my practice and plan for the future. Her mentoring style was very

supportive and directive.

Reflecting on my coaching and mentoring skills, I find that I have strengths in many

areas and weaknesses, as well. My personal style when I am in a position of leadership with my

students, colleagues, friends or family is supportive. I like to build the strong relationship with

the mentee so that the communication and bond can be open and comfortable. My weakness in

my personal style would be that I am not aggressive or direct in my approach to leadership. I am

very open, accessible and flexible. I am open minded when working with others, and I like to

take the input of others into account. I do not like change, so that sometimes hinders me from

being flexible all of the time. If I am too open and not direct enough, my ideas will get pushed

aside. When working with others I tend to analyze body language well and use good listening

skills such as nodding my head along with the speaker. I need to work on my confidence and

eye-contact skills. Feedback and questioning are two other important aspects of being an

effective coach or mentor. I really make it a point for both of these aspects to promote

confidence and reflection in my learners. Regularly monitoring progress is a great way to build

confidence (Parsloe & Melville, 2017). I like to walk around the classroom to check on work and

make sure to guide students in fixing mistakes. I would like to be better at giving work back to

students so that they are able to see their own progress. I like to use questioning strategically
during class to build confidence in my students. I like to use closed questions to gain

participation from all students and check for understanding, and I use open-ended questions to let

students think outside of the box and collaborate with each other (Parsloe & Melville, 2017). I

like the concept of “hands-on” and “hands-off” listening that Parsloe and Melville (2017)

discuss. I like to focus on body language and learn from others through listening. My Consulting

Teacher encourages me to continually post and talk about the learning objctives with my

students. It is something that I forget often, but when I do this I notice that my students feel

better about learning and when know when, what and why they are learning. Lastly, my cultural

awarenss has increased dramatically over the past year. I was not raised in a very diverse area so

unfortunately, I was not aware of cultural inequality in the world. Now that I am older and have

experienced so many different areas of life, I feel much more aware and in my classroom, I love

to discuss and celebrate the different cultures of our class.

 References

Parlsoe, E., Leedham, M. (2017). Coaching and mentoring: Practical techniques for developing

Learning and performance, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Kogan.

 Appendix A

Think of a time when you had a mentor relationship:

1. What was helpful about the relationship?
My Consulting Teacher during my first year of teaching has been very personable
and encouraging. She works with so many first-year teachers, but always made me
feel important and valued. Our relationship was very open and willing to work
through problems.
2. What did you learn? – What would you have liked to learn that you did not (if applicable)
I learned about the importance of “teacher’s presence” and having confidence while
teaching. I learned to let students learn through productive struggle, but also find
the balancing in assisting them where they need it. I wish I had learned more of the
ins and outs of the district I am teaching in.
3. What would you improve?
The only thing I would improve about my relationship with my Consulting Teacher
is our conversations during the important events that occurred during the school
year such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the attack on the Capitol. As a
first year teacher and with extra eyes of parents and grandparents on Zoom, I wish
I had more of an understanding and confidence in how to teach these important
topics. She did help me talk through it, but I felt like she assumed that I knew what
I was doing.
4. In receiving feedback on your work, what did the communication process look like?
Which ways were helpful and which were not helpful for you?
My Consulting Teacher came into my virtual teaching space (Zoom) to conduct
informal and formal observations. In a very timely manner after each observation,
she shared a Google Doc with me with feedback on my teaching during that time. I
was able to read her feedback, comment where I felt necessary, and then reflect and
plan for the future at the end of the form. This was helpful for me because of how
timely the feedback was. As soon as I was finished teaching, I was able to reflect on
her feedback. If it had been days later, I would not have remembered the lesson as
well. Her feedback on my teaching also was passed onto my administration and
other higher-ups in the county system.

Mentor Behaviors:
List 1-2 behaviors that your mentor demonstrated associated with following competencies
 Personal style: She had a very supporting style and directed me the way I needed to
go as an educator.
 Giving feedback: Timeliness and useful tips.
 Questioning: Asked questions leading to reflection.
  Setting objectives: Encouraged me to set clear objectives while teaching.
 Being open and accessible -- supporting colleagues: Let me have a say in our meeting
times and always was willing to talk through any topics I wanted/needed to.
 Active listening: Nodded during my talking and remembered details I mentioned in
previous meetings.
 Flexibility: Provided options for meetings.
 Awareness of culture: Provided many useful resources regarding culture and
inclusivity.

Self Assessment
Discuss your strengths and weaknesses (1-2 bullet points for each). Name 1 behavior that you
use currently in each area.

Personal style -Strength: I am very supportive to my

students/colleagues/friends/family.
-Weakness: I do not like to be very pushy or
aggressive in my relationships with others, but
that is a good way to get things done.
-Behavior: I ask people how they are doing to
check in on their well-being and to build our
relationship.
Questioning -Strength: I use questioning strategically during
class and always provide time for my students to
ask questions.
-Weakness: I encourage so many questions that I
feel that too much time is taken from
asking/answering questions.
-Behavior: I use questioning to build confidence
in my students
Being open and accessible -- -Strength: I am very open-minded when working
Supporting colleagues with others and willing to talk through ideas.
-Strength: I am always a listening ear for someone
who needs to share their thoughts and ideas.
-Weakness: Since I am not aggressive, I
sometimes let people walk over my ideas. I don’t
speak up for myself.
-Behavior: I talk about work items and personal
items.
Flexibility -Strength: I frequently ask for student input during
my teaching.
-Weakness: I don’t like change.
-Behavior: Letting students have choice during
lessons and instruction.
Giving feedback -Strength: I am encouraging when giving
feedback.
-Weakness: I do not give back math tests even
 though they would show students how they did on
them.
-Behavior: I walk around the room and look at
student work, tell them to fix things or if they are
correct.
Setting objectives -Strength: When I set objectives, students know
what we are learning, when and why.
-Weakness: I forget to verbally explain objectives
prior to a lesson often.
-Behavior: I connect content and objectives to
other subjects or everyday life.
Active listening -Strength: I am good at analyzing body language.
-Strength: I like to learn from the ideas of others.
-Weakness: When I am nervous I look around the
room instead of making eye-contact.
-Behavior: Nod along while someone is speaking.
Awareness of culture -Weakness: I was not raised in a diverse area and
as a child I was not aware of the cultural
inequality around me.
-Strengths: The school I teach at now is very
diverse and I have learned so much about
different cultures and how important they are to
celebrate.
-Weakness: I generally avoid any topics of
controversy, which probably is hindering me from
learning new things.
-Strength: I am very open to the ideas of others.
-Behavior: Discussing the various cultures in my
class with each other.

Mentorship process characteristics:

1. Consider different ways that you might work with your future mentee. (i.e., structured time to
meet, collaborate on project, in-person individual meetings, in-person group meetings, other).
Which ways would be most effective, and which would be least effective for you?
With a future mentee, I would begin the relationship by getting to know each other. This might
look like sending a PowerPoint out to my mentee prior to our first meeting so that they feel
comfortable. Our meetings would be as needed, for example, before/after an observation, when
the mentee has something to discuss etc. For me, scheduled or reoccurring meetings don’t always
need to happen and don’t always fit into a busy schedule. I would let my mentee have a say in
when we meet.

2. How would you understand how your mentee prefers to receive feedback?
I would have an open discussion with my mentee about how they have liked to receive feedback
in the past and how they anticipate wanting to receive feedback during this experience. This is a
conversation that should happen a few time over the course of the experience to make sure that
the mentee is responding well to the feedback being given. If I start to notice that my mentee is
not keeping up or reflecting on the feedback in a timely manner, I would have the discussion
again and try to problem solve.

3. What do you bring to the mentor/mentee relationship?

If I am in a mentor position I am usually knowledgeable about the topic. I am gentle and willing
to do anything to help my mentee be successful. I understand how it feels to be on the other side
of the relationships and I am good at being aware of the relationship and what it needs or doesn’t
need.