Both Coaches and Mentors are Essential to Educators
Leadership Support | Teacher Support | Virtual Coaching |
Virtual Professional Development | Mentoring | Jun 21 | Written By Shannon Klaft, M.Ed
What is the difference between a coach and a mentor? Do teachers benefit from having both? A common misconception is that if a school provides mentors for their new teachers, there is no need to provide coaching services. At first glance, it may seem like a mentoring program could take the place of coaching, but when you dig a little bit deeper, it is clear that there are some differences in the type of support coaches and mentors provide. To make sure that teachers are set up for success they need instructional coaching. According to Education Week, “Coaching is far more formal than mentoring, and has a more expansive end goal.”
Many districts have a mentoring program for new teachers. The role of a mentor is to help “acclimate them [teachers] to the teaching profession”. Mentors typically help teachers navigate school rules, professional expectations, building, and classroom logistics, and get acquainted with the systems for attendance and grading. Teachers can usually go to their mentor to get a clarification about a well-known district or school policy or ask questions about schoolwide programs, schedules, or technology. Mentors are typically fellow teachers that have a few more years of experience and are partnered with new educators during their first couple of years of teaching. Other than answering building-specific questions, mentors can sometimes provide guidance about general topics within education such as classroom layout, setting up a library, and creating systems, and classroom procedures. They also provide moral support and encouragement when a teacher is feeling discouraged about the teaching profession or their current circumstances.
Coaches, on the other hand, address the ins and outs of instruction that mentors usually do not address. Instructional coaches provide ongoing observations, feedback, and lesson planning guidance as well as assessment creation, data collection, and analysis. They observe teachers and give specific guidance based on the teachers' unique goals. “Coaching is professional development. Its purpose is to help the adult learner improve their practice—whether that is teaching or leadership. Therefore, coaching is far more structured than mentoring. Effective coaching is anchored in goals (the coach's goals, the school’s goals, and student goals). Formal agreements around meetings, confidentiality, and processes are established at the start of the coaching relationship.”
At Education Leadership Services we provide teachers with confidential and trusting relationships and offer non-evaluative feedback. We not only use data to help teachers set and monitor goals, but we also provide the consistent check-ins that teachers need to stay accountable. We help teachers prioritize their goals in the midst of many demands. Even if a school is already providing mentors, our coaching covers instructional strategies that a mentor might not have the capacity or time to help with. We also offer an outside perspective that the building mentors cannot provide. New teachers need as much support as possible and Education Leadership Services is always honored to be part of the journey.
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