Personal Narrative: My Experience As An Academic Coach

Improved Essays
I had the incredibly opportunity to sit in on an academic coaching session with a professional academic coach. When I first entered the Student Success Center, the academic coach invited me into her office to give me some background of the student before the session began. She informed that there would actually be two students involved in the session. One student was actually under the coach’s advisement and the other was just a friend. The academic coach told me that this wasn’t something she would normally do, but she feared that if she didn’t allow her student to bring her friend that she would not come at all. I thought this was a brilliant idea. The coach broke traditional advising strategies in order to follow her duties as an academic coach and provide guidance to a student that needed it, and wouldn’t have received it without her friend attending the session. Then, she went on to tell me that the session would focus around the students’ resumes. The students were interested in getting a job, but needed to refine and bulk their resumes, so the coach provided them with tips and trick to improve their resumes. The session began with the disarming step and the academic coach asked the students how they were and began talking about upcoming assignments in their ACAD course (the coach was also the students’ instructor for ACAD). She also let her students know about some upcoming events and encouraged their attendance. After the disarming step, the coach asked the students why they came to her, and why they wanted to improve their resumes. She then gave them tips for having a stellar resume like revising for typos, and different ways to phrase skills on their resume. For example, one student listed that she could speak Spanish under her skills section. The academic coach asked the student if this was the student’s maternal, or first language and the student said yes. The coach then told the student that she should list this because future employers view first and second languages very differently. Throughout this discussion, the academic coach learned a lot about the students like what they are interested in, what they are majoring in, their future career goals and so on. …show more content…
I don’t either!” and everyone in the room laughed. She also specifically stressed that the advice she was giving them were purely suggestions, reassuring the students that the academic coach wasn’t to be seen as a superior but as an equal. These interactions made the students feel much more comfortable and open with their academic coach. After about 45 minutes, the academic coach decided to wrap up the appointment and explained that after the initial corrections were made to their resumes, they could come back in and make a final copy. This allows the students to fulfill the deliver step of appreciative advising and give them the opportunity to follow through in revising their resumes. The students became so comfortable with their coach that they began asking unrelated questions like how to order books for next semester and were able to learn valuable information about how to buy books, rent books and save money by selling them back. At the end of the session, the students were pleased and excited about everything they

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The author describes how the coach talks about how he sends one of his students twelve dollars which shows that he cares about his students and want them to know if they have a problem they can always count on him. According to Hubner, the coach…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Mentor, is a kind of authority. Very rarely is an authority in every respect. There is also a difference between the professional mentor and moral mentor. It would be wonderful if these aspects went hand in hand, but this is rare.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As I walk into the gym my senses go wild. There’s many smells of sweat, weird smelling perfumes, and colognes. I finally spotted Coach Ed after scanning the whole gym for 2 minutes. He was standing by the bleachers at the far end, watching the kids like a 6’4 tall hawk. While I was walking towards him he began to laugh because I almost tripped over a cone while walking to him.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    BOEE Ethics Case Study

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We cannot commit conduct that has the community, our students, or fellow educators questioning our ethics. The Prezi, “Ethical Decision-Making for Preservice Professionals” outlined some guidelines expected of future educators. Because we are professionals, using slang, discussing personal issues with students, giving your cell phone number to students, and texting students are not appropriate. I plan on being a coach as well as an educator, so I have responsibility to teach and provide feedback to my student athletes. However, there is a line that I will not cross and that is participating in what I am coaching my athletes.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In 2013-2014, I was the leader of the tutoring and mentoring organizations within my high school. As a tutor, I volunteered at a local elementary school, helping young students with their homework and projects. I also was a mentor to younger students in my high school, aiding them in their transition by giving them study tips and introducing them to the wide range of extracurricular activities. These roles allowed me realize my passion for helping people and cultivate the interpersonal skills I needed for nursing. In 2014 until now, I am involved in the Canadian Nurses Student Association, which is the national voice for Canadian student nurses.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I was very excited but also nervous about meeting my school mentor. I felt better once my SU mentor gave me background information on Mrs. Trotz, my school mentor. Mrs. Trotz recently got married and graduated from Stevenson University. I thought it was cool that she graduated from the school that I am currently attending. I couldn’t wait for Tuesday morning to finally meet Mrs. Trotz face to face at Carroltown Elementary School.…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My graduate experience will be light years different then my undergraduate training. I chuckle just contemplating the technological difference alone. Back when I attended undergraduate school there wasn’t the internet, the LoudCloud, e-books, or personal laptop computers. We thought we were “hot stuff” because we progressed from the slide ruler to a state of the art Texas Interment graphing calculator. By the way google informed me that my particular calculator at that time was the first of its kind.…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Everyone has their own kind of sacrifices for better or worse. Sometimes we offer these sacrifices as a means to provide protection or some ray of hope. Tutors are known to be educated in whatever subject they tutor in as well as being extremely patient. Though some do it for free or may charge a fee, it always comes down to how much effort they put into each session and ultimately the result. I remember a particular event during sophomore year of high school, I offered to tutor a young freshman girl named Misha.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. When President Obama launched the Young African Leaders Initiative in 2010 to support the emerging generation of African leaders, this was to educate us to change Africa. I believe this Professional Development Experience is intended to give Fellows practical training and the opportunity to learn transferable skills, and apply theories learned in civic leadership classes in the real-world setting. As a leader, I seek to participate actively and productively in the field of global health leadership and health policy and to fill a strategic position in a multinational institution working on promoting health, particularly in Africa.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One would imagine their twenty-first birthday to be companied with friends and legal consumption of alcohol. I never imagined mine to be woken up by a phone call to the hospital. Being next to my mother’s side as she recovered from a successful kidney transplant was the best gift in my twenty-one years of life. My mother’s health journey is my drive to pursue nursing. I devoted to be my mother’s supporter and fighter to never let kidney disease defeat her.…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I remember when I was 5, the first time I went to a building daily for 8 hours. I sat down on the cold blue chair. In front of me was a bin of crayons, all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple. I remember sitting in the cold room and having the freedom to draw marks on my blank sheet of paper. The dye scratching against the table, colors spreading across the canvas like the sun, rising in the early morning.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Coaching Reflection

    • 1277 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Introduction The coach’s role is to develop the coachee’s resourcefulness through skillful questioning, challenges, and support; not advising because when advice is given, the coach implies that he or she knows best and that the coachee does not (Rogers, 2012). Coaching requires a listening ear to ensure that the coachee is understood and is making decisions that will ultimately help accomplish the goals. During this final coaching session, my client and I will be working together to close the coaching sessions and then determine the next phase of our relationship Pre-Coaching Plan…

    • 1277 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First of all, College was terrifying. No one in my family has even graduated High School, one day you’re graduating college, next day you’re choosing a career based on no information whatsoever. I was Seventeen with no clue of what was college, my life was revolving around friends and being a kid. Not choosing a Life Decision, and like any other kid, I procrastinated. I thought I had more time, to just apply to a university and that’s it.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    I currently work as an Interventionist. I provide small group interventions to at risk elementary students. The teacher leadership program has added purpose to my profession as an educator. I’ve learned to use data and records on students as powerful resources to plan effective lessons. Data lets me learn strengthens and weaknesses of the students.…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At times I think it’s often quite normal for new teachers to become overwhelmed their first year teaching. Especially at a school where there may not be enough resources to adequately assist them, this leaves many new teachers to fend for themselves. In my experience, it was my mentors that made a difference in my career, and prompted me to pay it forward and it is these mentors that I try to emulate in my own mentoring. A mentor serves as a professional role model for the mentee.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics