Melanie Matthews-Calhoun is a life-long educator with 25 years of experience in education. She's a published author of two books, Inside Instructional Coaching and The FORMula: 101 Must-Have Forms for Instructional Coaches, in addition to being a national trainer, consultant, instructional coach, and speaker. She loves improving coach's instructional and leadership capacities through professional development, workshops, and webinars.
Melanie works with schools, districts, and organizations nationwide, serving as a thought partner and leader in improving the quality of classroom instruction. She founded Literacy at Work, LLC (L@W) in 2008 after recognizing a critical need for quality literacy instruction in elementary school. She has since expanded L@W to include training and development for schools and organizational leaders. Her experience coupled with her passion for teaching adult learners around literacy and best coaching practices is why she loves to help educators master the art and craft of coaching. Melanie “cultivates the minds that cultivate the minds”. |
Stephanie Affinito is an educator in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning at the University at Albany in New York. She has a deep love for literacy coaching and supporting teachers’ lifelong learning as readers and writers through technology. She is the author of Literacy Coaching: Teaching and Learning with Digital Tools and Technology and Leading Literate Lives: Habits and Mindsets for Reimagining Classroom Practice and spends her days helping teachers reconnect with their reading and writing lives. You can find her online at www.alitlife.com where she blogs about the power of leading literate lives and podcasts weekly on all things books and reading, notebooks and writing and everything in between. You’ll also find her on most social media platforms as @AffinitoLit. |
Coaching doesn’t always allow for the path of least resistance. In fact, we are often set on a path of working with teachers who are full of resistance. Or, we work with teachers who welcome our classroom visit, and what we see surprises us. How do we approach these coaching conversations from a stance of safety that also pushes the teacher’s growth? In this session, we will discuss how planning that includes clear goals, carefully designed questions, anticipated responses, and objective artifacts can smooth our paths with teachers. Together, we will work through case studies to hone our skills and leave feeling empowered with a planning tool that supports our planning process. |
Starting the year off right (either as a new or an experienced coach) is key to success! A Coaching Calling Card allows you to express your coaching vision. How do you create one before school begins this fall? By following the steps: Reflect, Envision, Design, Launch, Sustain! Come engage in this workshop to start the year off full of coaching zest! |
This session will focus on how to manage your time and tasks efficiently. This blueprint will provide step-by-step guidance on how to prioritize tasks, eliminate distractions, and use technology to streamline workflow. Attendees will learn how to effectively manage their workload to reduce stress and increase productivity. The blueprint will also cover time management strategies such as goal-setting, delegating responsibilities, and using tools like calendars, to-do lists, and project management software. By the end of the presentation, instructional coaches will have a clear understanding of how to manage their workload with ease, allowing them to achieve their goals, effectively support their teachers, meet deadlines, and find more time for the things that matter most. |
During this information-packed presentation, you will be given the tools and tips needed to effectively coach the teachers you serve and support in your building or district. The A.P.P.L.E approach is a method I created as a new coach to ensure that I provide effective coaching in my building. With this approach, instructional coaches look at coaching from the vantage point of the acronym A.P.P.L.E. which means coaching with Achievement and being Adept, having a Perspective for coaching and the Perseverance needed for coaching in today's schools, being a Life-Long learner, and coaching with Equity and Excellence. |
Coaching through Trauma. During this presentation Evette will discuss ways to identify trauma, recognizing the impact of trauma while providing strategies and tips of how to navigating through trauma when coaching educators who have experienced trauma. |
This presentation centers on the importance of having emotional intelligence as an instructional coach. One of the most important pieces of instructional coaching is the foundation of relationships. An aspect of relationship building is emotional intelligence. This presentation will focus on the following: 1. Reviewing the subsets of emotional intelligence such as Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Management and Self Management. 2. Recognizing one's own emotional intelligence, and 3. Using that information as a foundation to serve and support others. |
Coaching teachers begins with creating connections and building relationships. In this session, instructional coaches will learn how to use thematic workshops to begin the process of breaking down barriers between the coach and teacher. Workshops are not about performance; they are about strengthening teachers. Workshops allow teachers and coaches to let down their guard and exist in a space of give and get. In this session, coaches will learn how to use the workshop stage to engage and excite teachers about instruction while creating an opportunity to build a relationship with the coach. At the end of this session, not only will coaches be equipped to create engaging workshops that win over new and veteran teachers, but they will also feel reenergized to get back to the business of coaching. |
In this presentation, we will be delving into what inspired us to go into this work and what keeps us coming back. Thinking of those moments that lift us up and help us persist through the difficult work, we use our tools and practices to continue toward our end goal. Flexible structures, collaboration with colleagues, and continued learning are the ongoing components that help us stay in the game and refresh our focus and spirit. We use structures like scheduling, organizational tools, and a coaching framework to drive our practices. Purposeful collaboration with other educators and those close to us helps keep our heart in our work and stay in touch with our "why". Our own professional development supports the needs of our teachers and refreshes us as we learn and grow in this profession. In our time together, we will draw from and build on these elements to keep focused on our end goal with an inspired spirit. |
Participants will understand the importance of self-care for those in helping careers and know it is ok to focus on themselves and keep their flame lit. Participants will review and recognize the difference between self-care and maintenance. You will leave with examples of mindfulness activities and techniques that you can do and practice at work or any location whenever you need to. |