Sharron Helmke
Senior Vice President, Professional Services
Sharron Helmke, senior vice president of professional services at Learning Forward, is a professional certified coach with the International Coaching Federation and a Certified Gestalt Professional Coach. She is the author of the recurring “Coaches Corner” feature in The Learning Professional. Sharron formerly served as senior consultant for Learning Forward, leading our Coaches’ Academies and supporting schools, districts, and regional organizations in the implementation of instructional coaching programs, mentoring, and teacher leadership development. She also serves as a content development consultant, supporting the design of Learning Forward’s virtual offerings and customized professional learning, including the ELA Mentor Coaching and the Content Coaching programs. Previously, Sharron served as a classroom teacher, campus based instructional coach, ELA program coordinator, and coordinator of instructional coaching. She holds a doctorate in transformational change for societal impact and her published research focuses on shared leadership for instructional improvement.
All Articles
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To coach for equity, start by looking within
As coaches, we spend our days actively supporting the professional growth of others, but we’re also tasked with modeling lifelong learning through our own continued inquiry and reflection. Nowhere is this more important than when it comes to antiracism. But knowing where or how to start can feel overwhelming. In […] -
The keys to coaching outside your expertise
Kindergarten and elementary classrooms never fail to bring me to a state of awe. Alphabet charts, number lines, book bins — the environment is so different from the high school English classrooms I inhabited as a teacher. The teaching is different, too, guiding inexperienced students in learning what it means […] -
Support teachers or challenge them? We can do both
Traditionally we welcome each new year as a fresh start, and many of us looked forward to 2021 with that same sense of hope, albeit more guarded than usual. Then, the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 brought us yet another example of the fragility of things we often […] -
Coaching and mentoring in a virtual world: What to keep and what to change
Is it the new normal or the now normal or just new and now? As educators across the world have adjusted to current teaching and learning environments, instructional coaches and mentors have been essential in helping to ensure continuously smooth transitions. From online office hours to virtual collaboration and feedback […] -
Address the stress
It’s the start of another school year, but unlike any other in our careers. This year, we find ourselves at the nexus of a widespread, months-old pandemic and racial trauma that is centuries old. We cannot pretend this is an ordinary school year. For many of us, there is fear […] -
Encourage a growth mindset in teachers
Growth mindset, a concept that has been influential throughout education and beyond, is core to successful instructional coaching. Coaches not only embody a growth mindset toward teaching and learning, but the very purpose of our work is helping that mindset come alive in the professional growth of teachers. We support […] -
We will be different
When we found schools closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us wondered, “When are we getting back to normal?” A few weeks later, the question changed to, “Will we get back to normal?” And now, we’re realizing the old normal won’t be back, at least not anytime […] -
Tips for leading professional learning online
Learning online is different from learning face-to-face, and that’s true whether you’re 15 or 50. Just as teachers are adjusting their methods to work for students in a virtual context, those of us who lead professional learning need to adjust so that our efforts are beneficial for the educators we […]
