Mentoring and Coaching
Are they the same thing?
The terms "mentoring" and "coaching" are often used interchangeably. Though they do have some similarities, they also have some key differences. As we will soon be implementing a new coaching plan in our school, we wanted to make you aware of the similarities and differences between them.
What's in common?
Mentoring and coaching both require trust between the mentor or coach and the teachers. Teachers need to know that the mentor and coach are there for them and want to see the teacher grow. Both mentors and coaches work in a on-to-one interaction with the teachers to bring about these positive results. They support working together to achieve desired outcomes and tailor their work to each teacher's needs and style.
Mentoring
Mentoring usually implies setting specific goals. A mentor will work with a teacher to discuss what that teacher would like to accomplish during the mentoring process. Mentoring usually involves taking small steps towards success and focuses on action: what can I do right now to change my teaching? The results of mentoring are usually quite objective. If a teacher wanted her class average to go up 5% from one pretest to one posttest, it's easy to see if that was achieved or not. Mentoring focuses on the individual, in this case, the specific teacher.
Coaching
Coaching implies setting broad goals, in our case, an increase in student achievement and improved teaching practice. There's usually an agenda set in place to make sure goals are met. There is time to focus on reflection for the teacher to see if he or she feels their students are learning the material as planned. Coaching deals with the big picture and focuses on performance: are our students learning and improving?
One very important note!
Coaching is not about what the teacher is doing or not doing. Coaching is about what the students are learning and doing. Are they succeeding? Are they improving? What can we do differently to bring out the most in our students? Our coaching will be student-centered, as opposed to teacher-centered, so that we can all work together to increase student achievement in our school.