Coaching and Mentoring: 

• Are professional development strategies that provide one-on-one learning opportunities for teachers focused on improving teaching practice.

• Could involve classroom observation, co-planning instruction, material development and thinking together about the influence of their behavior on students (Showers and Joyce, 1996).

• Are typically a collegial relationship.

• Use multiple forms of data to support making judgments, observations and inferences to improve teaching.

Collegial Coaching Examples:

• A partnership in which colleagues observe one another and hold focused discussions prior to and following shared teaching and learning experiences.

• A collegial relationship between teachers with similar expertise as they work together to become more resourceful in planning, reflecting and problem solving about their teaching.

• A series of structured and planned observations and discussions to help colleagues gather data, give feedback and reflect upon their teaching.

Mentoring Examples:

• A master teacher, recruited and assigned to help a novice teacher learn new knowledge and skills specific to improving his / her teaching practice.

• A partnership with a teacher desiring to improve his / her practice in a particular area with a teacher who is experienced in that area.

• Reflection by an individual on his or her own practice can be enhanced by another’s observations and perceptions

• Teachers working to master new materials or teaching practices benefit from ongoing assistance.

• "The time spent coaching or mentoring with a teacher is one of the single best opportunities for affecting change ... if you do it right. "  (Lin Kuzmich, 1999)