M^TLC offers a convenient, cost-effective, and timesaving, on-line option for supporting coaches. Using Skype (free web-based conferencing) one of our Master Coaches will provide timely feedback to a real-time or videotaped coaching session. This is a five-session package. Each session is 60-90 minutes. Here’s how it works:

	MTLC Master Coach conferences with you via phone or Skype to discuss your goals and context. Together you set a schedule and create an action plan. Generally we recommend a case-study model in which you focus your work on one teacher for the purpose of these sessions. This allows for continuity and evidence of growth. However, all aspects of the content of your sessions are negotiable and customized to meet your needs.
	Prior to your coaching conference, you send a short (5-30 minutes) video clip of a coaching session you facilitated to your MTLC Master Coach via email or snail mail. You may also send other supporting materials, such as lesson plans or brief video clips from the classroom, questions, reflections and so forth. Your coach will view the videos and read the materials prior to your conference call. These artifacts will be used to ground your conversation and assist in the development of specific skills and strategies to enhance your coaching practice.
	Prior to your session, you will send videos and supporting materials along with your reflections and questions. The culminating session includes reflecting on the whole five-session process and assessing growth. New goals can be set and commitment to specific action steps verbalized. Taking the time to reflect and look forward are important processes that will assist you in keeping your momentum going.

Our coaching the coach model enhances:

• Coaching Skills— By coaching teachers under the watchful eye of a Master Coach you receive personal, timely, feedback and can identify what is working and where the “missed opportunities” are in your coaching sessions. When you videotape your sessions, you can study them, alone or with a Master Coach, to become a more effective coach. Feedback from a more experienced coach on your specific coaching practice is one of the most powerful ways to raise your awareness and substantially improve coaching practice.
• Analysis of Teacher Needs— By using a case study model we can assess a teacher from many different perspectives, over a period of time, we gain insight into the variables that come into play when coaching in educational settings. With these insights we can “differentiate” coaching to meet each individual teacher’s unique goals. A Master Coach can assist you in identifying the landscape of teaching to help you know where to focus with specific teachers.
• Examination of School Culture— By attending to the context in which the coaching is taking place, coaches learn to determine where to begin the work and how to navigate in ways that build trust, respect and partnerships. A Master Coach can assist you in assessing the school culture in which you work and help you create a coaching culture.
  • Content Knowledge— By focusing on mathematical (or relevant content area) big ideas, essential questions, strategies, skills, and applications that deepen teacher comprehension and flexibility with curricular material, coaches learn to assist teachers stay focused on “what” they are teaching, not just the mechanics of the lesson. A Master Coach can take you through this process and help you sharpen your focus on the content.
  • Pedagogical knowledge— By focusing on generic and content specific pedagogical strategies that make the content accessible to greater numbers of students, coaches broaden the repertoire of teachers they work with in ways that allow for effective “differentiation” without lowering the standards. A Master Coach can offer proven pedagogical practices for you to use in your coaching practice.
  • Lesson design— By identifying, selecting, adapting, and/or creating rich conceptual tasks that actively engage students and ensure learning of important content and skills in mathematics and literacy, coaches support teachers’ capacity to make every lesson count. A Master Coach can assist you in deciphering the difference between rich conceptual tasks and tasks that are less likely to foster student learning.
  • Student and Teacher Assessment— By learning and applying processes for informal, real-time, ongoing assessment and actionable feedback, coaches help adults and students manage their own learning. A Master Coach can offer a variety of informal assessment strategies and several metacognitive habits that will boost learning.

It all starts at our Master Coaching Institute. Find out more. Contact us.