Coaching and Mentoring: GSRP Early Childhood Specialists

Coaching and Mentoring: GSRP Early Childhood Specialists

Moving Ahead TogetherAugust 15, 2012

Lansing, MI

www.oakland.k12.mi.us 1

Contact Information

Christine Boisvert Maier, Ph.D.,

Early Childhood Preschool Specialist

Oakland Schools

248-209-2310

[email protected]


Purpose of this segment:

•To provide supports as you engage in the coaching and mentoring role involved in ECS

•To provide opportunities to discuss and evaluate various tools for program improvement

•To discuss coaching / mentoring behaviors and attitudes that positively affect program improvement

•To provide resources to support your continuous improvement in the role of Coach / Mentor


Guidelines for the GSRP Coaching / Mentoring role:

• The ECS is a catalyst for continuous quality improvement

• Specialized knowledge and sufficient time

• Understanding of the Michigan Early Childhood

Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten

• Training in the GSRP program’s chosen curriculum

• Time and schedule availability

• Attention to your own growth as a coach / mentor


Drilling down to what’s most important…

Basic, central, and underlying goals for teaching staff in GSRP programs.


So, you have your PQA and

Child Outcome Data…

How do you broach the

program improvement conversation?

What tools might you need?

What skills might you work to sharpen?


Examples of Tools to Guide your Program Improvement Conversations:

• PQA Conversation (Feedback) forms

• Team Goal Planning worksheets (various types)


GSRP / Work Life ASIDE…

Think of a time in your life when you were the recipient of excellent coaching / feedback / mentoring…

• Examples: Soft ball, sewing, skating, tutoring, skiing, knitting, gardening, driving, music, dance, basketball, cooking, running, personal trainer, etc…


Questions for reflection…

1) What were your coach’s / mentor’s characteristics / behaviors? List some.

2) How did those behaviors, characteristics affect your relationship with your coach / mentor?

3) How did your relationship with your coach / mentor affect:• Your performance? • Your willingness to embrace improvement/change? • Your tendency to initiate your own improvement

efforts?


Basic Adult Learning Principles

• RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS,

RELATIONSHIPS!!!

• Individualized teaching and learning

• Learner is part of the improvement planning

process – in a sense the learner drives the process

• Physical and emotional comfort during feedback

and consultation sessions

• Strength-based


Why Strength-based?

•What does this mean?•What doesn’t it mean?_______________________________________________________________________________________

•What does it look like? •What does it sound like?

What connections can you make to high quality adult-child interactions?


Jeree Pawl’s Golden Rule of Supervision

“Do unto others as you would have others do unto others.”


Coaching Tips…

• In your work life, whether you were a coach /

mentor in the past, or the recipient of coaching /

mentoring, what tips or advice would you have

for others in that role?

• Think and Share (scribe to capture ideas)


ECS Coaching Tips

Build relationships first and continuously

•Validate teachers’ efforts and strengths

•Build your own observation skills

•Communication skills – open communication / active

listening

•Focus on your role as helper and support – down play the

evaluator role

•Collaborate with staff on improvement plans [partnering vs.

overseeing]


• Know the curriculum - Be prepared to model strategies in

the classroom

• Responsibility, trustworthiness, and accountability

• No judgment zone!

• Confidentiality – what happens in the coaching environment

stays in the coaching environment.

• Self-awareness of your own values and hot buttons

• Find support for yourself in your role as coach and ECS


Questioning / Conversing

Two examples…

What are your thoughts…


Listen and watch for communication…


Listen and watch for communication…


Coaching Resources

• Observation-Feedback Process (HighScope Educational Research

Foundation, Early Childhood 734-485-2000)

• Coaching Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood (Hanft, B. E.;

Rush, D. D.; Shelden, M. L.)

• The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook

(Dathan D. Rush, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, & M'Lisa L. Shelden, PT, Ph.D.)

• The Coach’s Guide (Heroman, Jablon, Stetson, & Aghayan (2009)

Teaching Strategies.


Resources Continued

• Consultation in Early Childhood Settings (Buysse, V. &

Wesley, P.)

• The Three Rs of Leadership (Julie K. Biddle, Ph.D.)

• Blueprint for Action (Paula Jorde Bloom)

• Giving and Receiving Feedback (Patti Hathaway, CSP)

• The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct (NAEYC)

• Supplement for Early Childhood Program Administrators


Quotes

“How you are is as important as what you do.”

(Jeree Pawl)

“I don’t care what you know, if I don’t know that you care.” (Author unknown)

“What matters most is how you see yourself.”

(found in the work of Janet Gonzalez-Mena)


Where Can You Go for Support in your ECS Role?

Talk at your tables about this question.

Ask each other where you might find support.

Full group discussion


What are your questions, comments, concerns?


Contact Information

Christine Boisvert Maier, Ph.D.,

Early Childhood Preschool Specialist

Oakland Schools

248-209-2310

[email protected]


Coaching and Mentoring: GSRP Early Childhood Specialists

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