Becoming a coach meant determining when the teacher needs to be encouraged to move up or down the Ladder of Abstraction by thinking more broadly versus needing to be grounded. A teacher involved in the Innovation in the Heartland project using the Design through Inquiry gave me the most experience in this process. 

I shifted my support by coaching, collaborating, and consulting with them to assist them in pushing themselves and their students to think beyond classic engineering ideas to address dated dress codes in the student handbook to student friendly language. A year later, we reconnected to celebrate their autonomy in continuing to pursue the community project to renovate a building to make a local grocery store providing food and resources for their small town.  

I had an amazing mentoring opportunity to support a teacher implementing Prosocial and Active Learning into a kindergarten classroom. The teacher took the initiative to invite other Kindergarten teachers to a professional development and networking day inspired by eMINTS to share best practices, classroom designs, and empathize with each other regarding the unique needs of students entering the school system.

I was able to model eMINTS strategies, discuss norm creation and inductive discipline, and then reflect with the teacher on the day to unpack their success and extend the experience. This teacher not only was featured in the first PAL newsletter but plans to continue to champion prosocial education and lead another PD for even more kindergarten teachers in the area.