Biographical Info

Areas We Address

A day school would engage with us if they are looking to develop or enhance:

• General education classroom instruction, including both Judaic and General Studies.
• Classroom environment and management.
• Teacher pedagogical knowledge, including lesson planning, educational psychology, and teaching strategies.
• Teacher skills, including classroom management, class preparation, building classroom routines.
• Student learning and engagement.
• Teacher collaboration.
• Expected Outcomes

Working with us, a school should expect to accomplish:

• Increased teacher knowledge about the field of education and tools for using in the classroom.
• Changes in teacher behavior in the classroom. The goal of our work is to directly improve classroom instruction by helping teachers learn and then use what they have learned. These improvements, in turn, positively affect student behavior, participation, and achievement in class.
• Working as a group, create a culture of learning together. Through these groups we build a sense that teachers are growing together and increase teachers’ comfort with discussing with peers the difficulties that they face.

Key Activities

We help schools achieve their goals by implementing the following:

• Coaching: One-on-one coaching in which we get to know a teacher’s classroom, identify areas for growth, and create plans for change.
• School-Based Sessions: Based on goals of the school, create learning groups that include a fixed group of teachers that meet on a regular basis. These groups are focused on implementation, giving teachers support for their classroom, creating a context for sharing what was used, and troubleshooting problems. We also bring targeted workshops to a school that is looking for support in a specific area.
• Workshops: Community-wide workshops available to teachers across Chicagoland schools, throughout the year and during the summer.

Setting Expectations

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect schools to create “space” for the learning. This includes a physical space in which to work and a time which is made available for the teachers. It also means that teachers are given the mental space to focus on our work.

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect administrators to provide clear guidance for curriculum, as we do not focus on curriculum development. Teachers have trouble focusing on how they are teaching when they are trying to figure out what they are teaching. It’s also important that administrators recognize the difference in roles between a coach and a supervisor. We do not serve as supervisors, they are responsible for evaluating their employees and our work with the teachers is not public information.

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect classroom teachers to maintain a level of conscientiousness and professionalism. Successful work also includes building a relationship, which our coaches recognize and create the structure for. So, it is important that teachers recognize that this work involves a certain level of vulnerability in having honest conversations and opening up their practice to a coach and to peers.