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I’m not coaching athletes, I’m coaching teachers

February 26, 2010 by Jeanne Fruge Rodriguez

As the students entered the classroom, I took a deep breath and mentally reminded myself that this was my classroom and that I had a Master’s Degree in education. I was ready for this. Ready for them. Once they were all seated and I got their attention, fear struck. The room full of faces that looked nothing like mine, the hard stares, the fact that not one of those eighth graders was smiling, was almost too much to bear. My lesson plan, five years of educational theory and pedagogy courses and my internship had not prepared me for this moment. I questioned myself as teacher that day and many times during that first year in the classroom. I questioned my abilities, my intellect, and most disheartening of all, I questioned my life’s desire to teach. Happily, I survived that day and the next, and I continued to face challenges as my teaching career developed. I learned that I needed the help of others, and I spent much of my free time seeking out that help from those around me. I also learned that the “them” that I was so afraid of on that first day were people with histories, life experiences, and dreams of their own. I learned what it was to be their teacher.

Some might wonder what this experience has to do with my current job as an Instructional Coach and a member of the YES Prep Teaching Excellence Program. Everything. On that first day and during that first year in the classroom, I needed someone who knew my successes along with my failures. I needed someone who could show me, with my own kids and in the moment what it was that I was doing wrong and spotlighting for me the places where I was getting it right. I needed a person who would not judge me and who would do whatever it took to lead my students to success. I needed an Instructional Coach.

Today, I get to be that person for the first year teachers at YES Prep. I am a part of a community of learners who continuously scope out the newest research in order to provide our teachers with the most current and effective instructional strategies. As a coach, I have the privilege of working closely with a group of 15 teachers as they face the challenges of their first year on the job. I spend my days working within heart of education -the classroom- through observing phenomenal teaching, talking with students about what they are learning and teaching model lessons in classrooms where the teachers demonstrate constant readiness to take that next step in their professional development. I get to be that person who does Whatever It Takes to insure that the students in each one of the new teacher’s classrooms achieves their personal best and takes that next step toward entrance into college. As I walk into the classrooms of the first year teachers, I know what they are feeling. I know the challenges that they face every day, and I can feel the emotions behind their deep breaths as they stand in front of a classroom of students ready to learn. I love that I get to be one of the many people who makes the experience just a little bit brighter, a little less stressful, and a little more special.

Jeanne Frugé-Rodriguez is a graduate of Louisiana State University where she received her Bachelor of Science and Masters in Education. She is currently working on completing her dissertation and will receive her Ph.D in Curriculum Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2010. Jeanne has spent 8 years in the field of education as a Louisiana and Texas public school teacher, a UT supervisor of student teachers and a University of Houston lecturer. She joined the YES Prep team in 2008 and continues to work with new teacher development through her role as a Teaching Excellence Instructional Coach.