It's Happening! What's It's Like to Be In One of our Sustainable Teacher Content Coaching Clubs

It’s happening right now.  Really it is.  We have three Sustainable Content Teacher Memberships open for enrollment right now, with amazing teacher- content coaches just waiting to support you, provide you with materials, and get you confident in your course.

Here’s the thing.  As much as we, meaning myself and the amazing content coaches on my team love to teach and are absolutely reaching thousands of students, that’s not the only kind of impact we want to have.

We believe in empowering teachers.  Building their confidence, and most importantly, removing huge chunks of their to-do list (without sacrificing effectiveness of course) so they can focus more on what this pandemic has taught us is truly important about what we do… making connections with our students.  That’s it.

When your students are connected to you and within your classroom, they perform better.  But most teachers, especially those new to their content area or course, don’t have the mental space or time on their calendar to truly make those connections.  All they have time for is planning and grading.  We’re here to change that, and we’re ready to do with our membership, the Sustainable Biology Teacher, the Sustainable English Teacher, and the Sustainable Psych Teacher.

In this episode I’m going to share the full experience with you so you know exactly what’s included and exactly how you’ll be feeling at the end of the most supportive year you’ve ever had.

Let’s get to it.

I’ve got three words for you.  Curriculum, Coaching, and Community.  These three things make up what I believe every teacher needs, but also what constitutes the value and experience of each of our memberships.  So don’t forget those three words - Curriculum, Coaching, and Community - and I’ll explain a bit further.

Where did this come from?

Over two years ago when starting Teach On A Mission with a passion for truly supporting teachers in new and authentic ways, I could support teachers in two areas of my expertise, the flipped classroom and AP® Psychology.  And I that's what I set out to do.

I started by mentoring, one-on-one, two new AP® Psychology teachers by meeting for one hour each week to discuss the content and best teaching practices in the course.  It was really awesome, and I wasn't the only person who thought that - the teachers I mentored shared how valuable the experience was in getting the comfortable and confident in the content.

But meeting for one hour every week, as valuable as it was, is not sustainable for a new teacher when he/she has every other part of their to-do list to get to.  So in some discussion, exploring, and brainstorming, we landed on the Sustainable Teacher Content Coaching Membership model, the first one being the Sustainable Psych Teacher.

We now are growing and are offering two more content coaching memberships, one in AP® Biology, the other in high school English Language Arts.

What do I get in the membership?

Each month a new unit of materials is released.  In the materials that are released your main point of reference will be what we call the Unit Guide.  This is where we  have all alignment and materials necessary laid out for you literally in black and white.  This is also where each of our content coaches has outlined a  specific pacing guide for  you, recommending exactly what you're doing each day of your unit.

Coaching

Next you’ll find a content coaching video made by our content coaches.  These videos are the main source of content coaching that you’ll get in each of our memberships, which is great because their being prerecorded means you get to watch them whenever is most convenient for  you. 

The topics of those content coaching videos vary with the content-specific membership, the unit, and the coach.  They have creative freedom to make what they feel necessary  with those videos because they are the expert and know exactly what’s needed for each of the teacher-members to be supported and confident in their courses.  Sometimes coaches will focus on specific vocabulary or topics that newer teachers and students are known to struggle with.  Other times it’s an explanation of some of the materials in the course, and other times it's a combination of those things.

Curriculum

Now what about those resources?  Yes, let’s talk about those, because having ready-made, minimal tweaking necessary resources is the BEST way I know how to reduce any teacher’s to-do list and that is exactly  our goal with each of these memberships.

The resources released with each of the memberships do vary slightly, so I’ll explain and give a for-instance in each of the memberships.

In the Sustainable Biology  Teacher, Adriana will be providing you with each of her flipped videos that her own students use (this is in addition to the content coaching video she provides that’s targeted for teachers), and you are free to use those as your own resource or to assign to your students - it’s entirely up to you.

In addition to the flipped videos, you’ll get each and every set of presentation slides to do your own lectures with your students, plus the accompanying guided student notes Adriana uses with her own students.  These are seriously gold for you and your students because it allows them to take some time to listen as you lecture rather than only focusing on frantically writing every word you say.

Next, she’ll provide you with an activity that will help drive home the concepts or perhaps be one of the eight labs you’ll need to do this year.

Next up we have the Sustainable English Teacher.  To explain this membership and the comprehensive support system that it is, I’m going to tell you exactly what you get in one of the thematic units she’s releasing, and this one is Humankind and Injustice.  In this unit Emily will be providing you with multiple short stories and the discussion analysis questions to accompany them.  She brings poetry into this unit, providing you with multiple poems, and a student handout that helps them discover emotion in poetry.  Lastly she recommends two novels (of which you’ll choose one), plus a gallery walk activity, and resources for a lesson on point of view.

Lastly, let’s talk about the Sustainable Psych Teacher.  This membership is going into its third year, so the resources have been building over that time, and each and every unit you will receive powerpoint presentations, accompanying guided notes, student activities, even topic quizzes, and unit tests and test keys.  Literally all the things you’ll need to teach this course.

Community

All members of our Sustainable content teacher memberships will get access to each of the private, members-only facebook groups.  These groups end up being one of the best parts of the memberships in my opinion because of the small, close-knit communities that are formed.  The collaboration, resource sharing, brainstorming, and overall encouragement that happens in these groups is priceless, so if any of those things are what you're looking for as a professional, well we’ve got it ready and waiting for you.

What Teachers Have to Say

But don’t just take my word for it.  I want you to hear from teachers that have been inside one of our membership programs and what they had to say about it.

Rachel Wright says, “Thank you so much for this program.  My stress levels have gone down so much this year, in a year where most people's stress levels have gone up, and it’s all because of this membership.”

Tim shares that “Having a mentor has been a total game changer for me.  It’s like my students have not just one teacher, but two teachers on this specific subject, and the support they feel is immeasurable.”

Courtney shares, “My first year teaching this course was rough.  I was a brand new teacher, I hadn’t taken any course on this content in years, and had no other teachers in my district teaching with me.  I attended the AP® Summer Institute and it was wonderful, but I didn’t know the material well enough to fully grasp it all. My first year I spent all of my time creating all of my materials while learning the material. It was not an easy task. I was more confident my second year, but I still struggled with some of the confusing concepts that AP® Psychology discusses. I would find myself not knowing all of the answers and second guessing myself. That is when I found the Sustainable Psych Teacher membership! The pacing recommendations and alignment provided has totally saved me. I became extremely confident with my content and am no longer worried when students ask questions.  I have awesome materials that my students have loved and have made my teaching life manageable! Content coaching in this program is one of the greatest investments I've made in my teaching career!”

And there you have it teacher-friend.  We have Sustainable Teacher membership for AP® Biology teachers, AP® Psychology teachers, and high school ELA teachers.  But that doesn’t provide support for everyone, right?  Unfortunately, no.  But my better response is not yet.  So if you teach another specific course or subject and are wanting support, please head to the show notes to complete the survey to tell us what specific content membership you would like offered.

But if you do teach one of those courses be sure to head to the show notes, see examples of what’s provided in the membership (images and all), and see details on how to join us.

One last thing before we go.  My AP® Biology and high school ELA teachers listening out there, when you sign up for either of those memberships, you become a Founding member.  This means that you will very much get to shape the experience of what this membership will be, and you get to do so all at the founding members price.  So don’t miss out.

There you have it teacher-friend.  It’s all happening right now, and we are ready to support you in ways that allow you to say, at the end of this school year - not next year or the year after - this year that you were supported and sustainable.

I’ll see you right here next week.  Bye for now.

Before you go, let's make sure you know where to go to learn more about and even get enrolled in any one of our content coaching membership programs.  Click any of the memberships below to learn more.

The Sustainable Biology Teacher

The Sustainable English Teacher

The Sustainable Psych Teacher