ROGERS — When Jane Tua started teaching, she had never heard of academic coaches.

Now, in her second year as a coach at Mathias Elementary School, she sees the job as vital to the school.

“I see itas a support role,” she said.

“I do a lot of listening.” But she also does a lot of reading and researching, tryingto find ways to help the teachers in her building.

“There are times when I have to ask the hard questions about current practices and continuous improvement,” she said. But support from the staff, including the administration, helps.

“I get excited about new strategies,” she said. When she presents the strategies to teachers and they get excited too, it’s very rewarding, she said.

One of the biggest challenges for teachers today is differentiated instruction.

Each class is made up of arange of abilities with some students who are still learning English to students who are working well above their grade level. Each teacher is expected to teach each student at the level they find them.

“It can be overwhelming,” Tua said. The teachers are on the front lines, but she’s behind trying to help.

Coaches help by offering job imbedded professional development. In the past teachers would hear about a new technique at a one day workshop and they return to the way they’ve alwaysdone things. With a coach in the school, it’s easy to follow up. She can help the teachers implement new strategies, remind them of the steps and answer questions as they come up. That makes implementation more successful.

She also works with the data that teachers collect.

Because she has time to look at the big picture, she can often help teachers plan their next steps.

Every school is a little different, so Tua customizes her professional development to specific needs atMathias.

It helps that she spent 14 years in the classroom, so she has first hand knowledge of the challenges teachers face.

It was her former principal in Bowling Green, Ky., who suggested Tua should become an academic coach. She already had her master’s degree and several hours toward administration when she moved into her first coaching position. She found she loved the research and the reading.

“I find my role fulfilling and rewarding,” she said.

“Each day is a challenge;

however, it’s a challenge I look forward to.”

Even when she’s away from school, she spends a lot of her time working. But every night she and her husband take their two dogs on a mile walk. Not only is it good for the dogs, it’s good for the people who have quality time together each evening and a little bit of exercise.

They also enjoy a membership at the Walton Arts Center, and Tua loves visiting friends and family back in Kentucky.

Scholars, Pages 7 on 10/28/2009

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