Introduction: Your Coaching Journey Begins Here
Lynn Meade; Kristen Karpinski; Carson Rein; Dené Wamsley; and Toby Phebus
Working in education can be difficult – you don’t have to do it alone.
Welcome to and thank you for diving deeper into coaching practices with us! This course and textbook were authored by a small collection of educators and student advocates. Our expertise ranges in years and in subject, but we all have one thing in common: we are incredibly passionate about helping our students, as well as sharing our knowledge with others. In this book, we have come together to organize and disseminate our perspectives on working one-on-one with students.
With this book, we aim to provide practical advice, actionable suggestions, and a myriad of resources you can utilize during your interactions with students.
This book will include the following units:
- Coaching Foundations: Facilitating Meaningful Conversations
- Promoting Student Resilience: Coaching Students Toward a Growth Mindset While Building Failure Immunity
- Mental Health: Supporting Student & Educator Concerns
- Advocacy Strategies: Empowering Student Voices
- Teaching Students How to Learn: Coaching Students to Become Self-Regulated Learners
- Resources for University of Arkansas Coaches
We were inspired to create this course as a way to provide support to fellow coaches and student advocates from all walks of life. In the education profession, one-on-one coaching and student support are often skills expected of educators but not necessarily skills that are directly taught or discussed. It is sometimes assumed that these skills will be naturally picked up while teaching in the classroom; however, that assumption sometimes leaves educators feeling underprepared or alone. At other times, educators are supplied with the theoretical basis for advocacy, but not necessarily provided with concrete suggestions that they can apply during their work day. This course aims to remedy this problem by filling the gap between theory and actual application.
Things to keep in mind while reading:
- When we use “we,” it is referring to those who coach college students.
- This book includes some direct resources within the University of Arkansas network.
- “Students” refers to college students.
- University of Arkansas educators reading this book may have access to a complementary online course. This course will provide a digital space to discuss these tips and reflect on experiences and struggles with working with students and successful completion results in the earning of a Coaching Microcredential.
We hope you enjoy exploring and thinking more about these principles of coaching, and we hope participating in this course makes you feel less alone!
Thank you for reading!
From the University of Arkansas Coaching Connections Team!
Kristen Karpinski
Lynn Meade
Dene Wamsley
Toby Phebus
Carson Rein
Thanks to Deb Korth for allowing us to pursue this project, to Trevor Francis for co-sponsoring this project, and to Christine Rickabaugh at the University of Arkansas Libraries for providing resources and support.
Are you using this textbook in your class? Tell us!
