Missouri Has Plenty of Coaches in Sports. Our Teachers Deserve Them, Too

Teaching is a hard job, even in the best of circumstances. But when I started teaching last school year, I had a new principal and a new curriculum, and I hadn’t yet graduated from college.

Fortunately, I had what is common in sports but rarer in education: a coach. Receiving regular feedback from an experienced educator made a world of difference for me and my students, and I hope all new teachers in Missouri can get similar assistance.

I teach kindergarten in Newburg, a small town near Rolla in Phelps County, where lots of our students come from a wide range of backgrounds. At the beginning of the school year, most of my students do not know their letters or the sounds each letter makes. This presents a challenge for any teacher.

For me, the situation was particularly fraught. I had my associate’s degree in education, and I had previously worked as a student aide in an early childhood special education classroom. However, leading my own class was a different experience — but I am very thankful for this amazing opportunity. I was also being asked to use a curriculum that I had heard of, but was also unfamiliar with.

Fortunately, I had Kelly. My school is part of the Rural Schools Early Literacy Collaborative in Phelps County, which means kindergarten and first-grade teachers like me have access to experts in teaching reading through TNTP, a national education 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every month, I talked to Kelly once virtually and once in person, when she came to visit my classroom. Even though I did not know about my new curriculum, Kelly did, and she offered to teach a lesson with it so I could observe. Being able to watch and learn was a unique perspective for me to have as a classroom teacher. It was also invaluable. Seeing the curriculum in action helped me deepen my understanding of it and even gain lots of confidence.

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