PD Cohorts for Educators

Whether it’s developing and delivering rigorous instruction or learning how to better motivate and support your reluctant learners, a PD cohort will help your staff develop a portfolio of skills to increase improvement within your school.

Teacher Cohorts

Sometimes you need more intensive coaching on a particular teaching skill. That’s why we’ve developed teacher cohorts. Each cohort lasts for a semester or a year and help teachers take a deep dive into rigor, the 7 principles of effective instruction, or supporting struggling students. Cohort members will receive intensive training and coaching to deepen their understanding of the concepts, develop portfolios and video-taped lessons that demonstrate their growing expertise, and one professional development presentation they can use to share what they have learned with other teachers in their schools or school districts. Each cohort will include:

• Monthly webinars with a Mindsteps Coach on topics including how to plan rigorous learning units or how to support struggling students.
• Developing a teacher portfolio with lesson plans, student work samples, videos of lessons, and reflections
• Individual coaching and feedback on teacher portfolios and videos
• Peer review and reflection
• Two to three on-site trainings
• The development of one professional development presentation teachers can use at their own schools

Administrator Cohorts

Our administrator cohorts help principals, assistant principals, or aspiring administrators gain the skills they need to lead instruction in their schools. Administrators participate in monthly webinars to develop their proficiency in observing teaching effectively, providing effective feedback, and motivating reluctant teachers. Not only that, but each administrator recieves individual coaching feedack as they develop and implement these skills with their teachers. And, we provide one or two coaching visits where we offer additional individual coaching in each administrator’s school. Together we will design a coaching plan and select webinar topics that directly address the group’s needs and work to build their capacity to improve the quality of instruction in their schools. Each cohort will include:

• Monthly webinars with a Mindsteps Coach on topics including conducting effective walkthroughs, providing effective feedback to teachers, conducting post-observation conferences, developing improvement plans, motivating unmotivated teachers, and differentiating instructional leadership approaches to meet individual teachers’ needs.
• Additional resources, monitoring tools, and templates administrators can use in their schools.
• Practice conducing walkthroughs and providing effective feedback using real classroom models.
• Individualized remote coaching with strategies for working with your most difficult teachers.
• One or Two site visits to provide on-site coaching, conduct walkthroughs, and work with your admin team.

Instructional Coaches Cohorts

Instructional coaches often need specific training on how to coach teachers towards better performance. In our instructional coaches’ cohort, coaches will learn specific coaching strategies they can use to better diagnose the root cause of teachers’ teaching challenges, support struggling teachers, move reluctant or resistant teachers, and ensure that all the teachers they work with are consistantly moving towards mastery. Each cohort will include:

• Monthly webinars with a Mindsteps Coach on coaching strategies such as using strategic conversations, providing effective coaching feedback, motivating resistant teachers, identifying the root cause of teachers’ instructional challenges, individualizing coaching approaches to better meet teachers’ needs, and specific coaching strategies that are proven to improve teachers’ practice.
• Additional coaching resources including observation tools and planning tools
• Practice observing and diagnosing teaching challenges using real classroom footage
• The development of coaching plans
• Individualized remote coaching feedback
• One or Two on-site individual coaching sessions to help coaches work more effectively with teachers

Let us help you create a cohort for your district today!