Maiko Hosokawa

EDUC 663
Dr. Tony Pickar

Coaching Experience Reflection:

The scheduling was hard for both. From this fact, the math specialist needs to be less than .7 classroom
teacher in my building. Also, ideally, a math specialist has experienced with teaching general education
math and have knowledge of special education because I have more knowledge of special education than
math and it is difficult to coach general education math teachers regarding academic contents and
teaching. However, if a math specialist doesn’t have knowledge of special education or ELL, (s)he cannot
coach regarding inclusive learning. So, in general, I think a math specialist needs to have various
experience in both general and special education as well as working experience with the ELL population.

When we had the coaching session after the observation, I found that the teacher was struggling with
teaching other class. So, I think it’d be better that we have a pre-meeting, if possible, in order to be more
productive. Since I am not a math specialist in the building and just a special education math teacher, the
teacher and I are co-workers and not have vertical (such as supervisor-supervisee) relationships. We were
able to talk to solve problems without barriers. Although a math specialist is a trained/certified person, I
think it is good and necessary to be in a neutral position and build good horizontal relationships, instead
of vertical relationships. When I become a math specialist, I would like to be a part of team for problem-
solving, and the team work together to solve problems. To do that, it is also important that I trust co-
workers and respect their knowledge, performance, and beliefs. During the coaching session, I noticed
and paid attentions with communications and language use to respect them as well as to avoid the teacher
feel attacked.