Welcome To A New School Year !

Coaches’ Blog Post by Raymond Mallard

Welcome to a new school year!  After a rousing return event at USD’s Joan Kroc Center and subsequent days at Marina Village, teachers returned to their classrooms or decamped to their new sites or assignments.  And to that point, the Instructional Coach team shrank to its current number of three.  Change all around is the new reality.

Before I move on to the topic to start off this year’s Coaches Corner (you’ll no doubt be pleased that less of our entries will be textual and more will be dynamic videos starring the coaches and exciting guests), I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my personal and professional indebtedness to the coaches who have accepted new challenges.  All of you, Tracey Makings and Nathan Head who joined the ranks of administration, Malena Mandrapa who has enlisted her talents back as a full time classroom teacher at Innovations, and Jeff Heil whose support for student learning in the sector of technology will be a major asset for teachers who have integrated it into their instruction, provided a level of friendship and guidance that I will treasure the memory of always.  Our loss as coaches is others’ gain.

Because we are in a new school year, I thought I would offer up a few of the commitments and goals that we determined as a coaching team.  Unlike the traditional New Years resolutions that are more abandoned than achieved, these are goals we will hold ourselves accountable for as a team.

1.     To continue to provide the support to our teachers through Professional Learning opportunities and as thought partners to the teachers we work with in one on one coaching. 

2.     To continue to look for ways to stretch ourselves as professionals in order that we are better able to support teachers in achieving their goals as educators.

3.     To actively explore ways to model teaching strategies to deliver Common Core-aligned instruction.

4.     And to do everything we can to ensure that teachers are comfortable with their expertise in ensuring that their lessons include appropriate Learning Targets and Success Criteria.

As a Postscript, let me end on  a personal note.  I wish to thank my wife, Jacqueline, and all the people who have helped me throughout this past year.  My personal and professional debt to all of you is more than I can ever repay.  Ultimately however, it is my fellow coaches Melanie Tolan and Sara Matthews to whom I pledge my most sincere commitment to support and be a co-planner and strategist as we look to the year ahead.  Our tasks are big but more than achievable for a team.

Thank you all and may greatness be the result of all your work.

Have a fantastic year!!