Coaching and mentoring in a virtual world: What to keep and what to change

Sharron Helmke, senior vice president of professional services at Learning Forward, designs and manages the organization’s consulting service programs that support state, regional, and local organizations in translating their improvement and learning goals into custom-designed high-quality professional learning programs that result in scalable and sustainable change. During her twenty-plus years in education she has served in a variety of roles at the campus and district levels, including teacher, instructional coach, and district-based program administrator. She is an international coaching federation certified professional coach, a Gestalt professional coach, and a trauma-informed care provider, all of which inform her approach to supporting educators. She is the author of numerous professional articles, including “To make a difference for every student, give every new teacher a mentor” in the August 2022 issue of The Learning Journal.

Stacey Jones is currently an academic coach and literacy instructor for the Cobb County School District. She began her career as an elementary school teacher and went on to become a middle school teacher and department chair. She has worked as a literacy consultant for the Consortium on Reading Excellence in Education, serving both urban and rural school districts across the United States. Her positions have included high school administrator, lead teacher, intervention instructor, and high school academic coach.