Thanks for visiting! My name is Caitlyn O'Loughlin, and I have been an educator for 10 years. I am originally from Ft. Worth, Texas, where I graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. I then received my M.A. from Dallas Theological Seminary in Education. After teaching 1st grade in Texas for two years, I moved to Denver and continued my career in Jeffco as a 1st grade teacher for 4 more years. I have also been a 4th grade teacher, a reading interventionist, and now I am starting my second year as an instructional coach. I have a great passion for teaching, and I have particularly loved teaching early literacy. Over the past couple of years, I have enjoyed zooming out and learning about curriculum and instruction K-5 for all subjects. When I interact with teachers in their classrooms, I get to see the many facets of teaching and learning with students from the ages of 5-11. This kaleidoscope perspective has made me appreciate the art and science of teaching even more, and has motivated me to continue learning and growing. I am excited to see what the future holds for me at Kendrick Lakes, particularly in this unprecedented time of a world pandemic! When I am not at school, you might find me hiking, paddle boarding, enjoying a great park, drinking coffee, eating good food, reading, hanging with friends, and exploring the great city of Denver. Being a Texas girl, I still visit regularly to see my family, the beautiful blue bonnets, bright stars, longhorns; and to indulge in the delicious bbq and Tex-Mex. Enjoy exploring my site, and email me with any questions you might have!
-Caitlyn
What is an Instructional Coach?
Mentor
Part of my role as a coach is to come alongside teachers. One of the ways I do this is to partner with teachers when they are struggling, when they'd like to improve, or when they just need to talk. I enjoy sitting with new teachers, or teachers who want to improve their craft to find out what goals they'd like to achieve. Together, we set goals, make a plan, and set out to do the work to get better together. Most times, I end up learning and improving my own craft along the way!
Data Coach
Being a data coach can mean many things. Depending on where teachers are in their learning journey, I could be teaching how to read data, how to interpret data, and how to use data to help us change for the better as educators. When we ask ourselves the questions, "what does it say?" "what does it mean?" and, "how do I change?" we allow data to be transformative in our craft. My goal in being a data coach is to ensure that numbers are not just numbers. Rather, when we look at data, it is part of considering what it means to look at the whole child. "How can we better help a child grow?" is the central question to consider when looking at data.
Curriculum and Instruction Specialist
As a curriculum and instruction specialist, I seek to understand all standards of math, reading, writing, science and social studies K-5. As a teacher leader, helping teachers understand what we teach, how we teach it, and why we teach it, keeps teachers grounded in their purpose and direction throughout the school year.
School Improvement Leader
As a school improvement leader, an instructional coach is always considering both the classroom and the admin sides of a school building. In order to continually be a catalyst for change, coaches must understand the systems and structures of a building. They also must understand the challenges and joys that come with teaching in the classroom. In doing so, coaches can discern how to best move forward with targeted professional development, and building capacity within teachers to lead as well. Being a catalyst for change means coming alongside teachers to accomplish the vision and mission of the school in order for students to succeed.
Classroom Supporter
As a classroom supporter, a coach can teach and learn alongside the classroom teacher in real time. Instructional coaches can model lessons, help with lesson design, units of study, or structuring the academic year in order to ensure student success. This can be done with one teacher, or a group of teachers together. It is exciting when teachers want to get better at teaching a particular subject, or using a particular teaching strategy. In being a classroom supporter, we become better teachers together.