When I think about my future, I think about how much I love teaching, interacting with my students and being in the education field. I also think about how much longer I will make it because it is mentally and physically exhausting. Teaching has changed so much within the last ten years, but specifically the last few years, especially with the pandemic that has hit our world. Before the pandemic we had a hard time finding support within education. There was a sub shortage, bus driver shortage, cook shortage, janitorial shortage, and paraprofessional shortage. Now, it is even worse. There are superintendents driving busses to get our students to and from school, principals filling in for teachers, our students not getting extra help, and the list goes on. As a teacher we feel burned out and it is only October. This pandemic has really made me look at my future and my goal is to become an instructional coach, more specifically I would love to become a mathematics instructional coach down the line by working hard and knowing my standards.

On my way to becoming an instructional coach I first need to know how to coach/teach adults. Some of my classes at Michigan State University have helped me with that. One of the courses that helped me was CEP 815: Technology and Leadership. This course helped me see how to become a leader and how to incorporate technology into it. Our world is constantly changing and technology is something that is not going away. We are becoming more and more dependent on it. This was my first leadership class. It showed me; professional development strategies, project management, planning and evaluation, relationship building, ethical and social implications of technology integration. One of the major take-aways from this course is in the future I will be able to plan professional developments that are useful for other teachers. Most of the time professional developments just feel like another check mark on the districts must-do list so they don't feel beneficial. Planning professional developments that teachers can use will be beneficial to reaching my goal of helping coach. In the future I will be able to use this resource from Uncommon Schools that lays out a scope and sequence for pre-teaching, as well as the first 90 days for both management and rigor in order to help coach teachers effectively.

My next step in becoming a mathematics instructional coach is knowing my standards. I will need to know the mathematical standards for all grade levels that I will be in. Usually it is elementary, so I will make sure I know them from K-6th. I need to start aligning them and see how the standards flow from grade level to grade level. The Common Core State Standards website will help me with this. Here they are all listed where I can start to get to know them. Knowing my standards will help me be able to help the teachers I work with more quickly. It will show the teachers that I have done my job of knowing my “curriculum” to be able to help them. If I do not know my standards efficiently then the teachers I work with will not be able to trust me and think that I am not doing everything I can to help them become more successful.

Finally, my third goal I will have to reach in order to become a mathematical instructional coach is spending more time within the classroom and making my district aware of what I would like to eventually do. This will help me network within the district and show my district how well I would be able to do that job. The more experience I have within the classroom, the more it will make me prepared for teaching other teachers! When researching instructional coaching, I found this website that shows what the job requirements are and how to get to that position. This article is what helped me decide what goals I needed to set to be successful. In order to become a mathematical instructional coach I need to step up, be a leader, and continue to expand my knowledge in mathematics. When I finish my masters I will continue my education by completing more course and looking for workshops that will help expand my knowledge. I will continue to check the Genesee County Intermediate School District for learning opportunities.

As an educator, I am always pushing myself to become better for my students. With becoming an instructional coach I would be taking it to the next level and pushing myself to be better for teachers and all students in our district. I would be able to reach more people this way!