The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Academic, writing coach meets needs of teachers, students alike
Longtime teacher enjoys also mentoring other educators.
Veteran teacher Elizabeth Whalen likes how being an educator never gets old, and serving as an academic and writing coach brings freshness to her teaching career.
“I’m the kind of person who wants to learn new things all the time, and when I change positions in this role, or in this school, I’m learning something new,” she said. “I feel like the more I learn, the more that I can give to my students.”
Whalen has been an educator for the past 16 years. She works as an academic and writing coach at Charles Ellis Montessori Academy.
While attending college, Whalen majored in child physiology, but she has always been interested in education, so becoming a teacher was an obvious option for her.
“When I was growing up, school just played such an important part in my, you know, in my life. I really wanted a way to work
with children,” she said. “I just wanted to do something meaningful, have a job where I was impacting children, so that just led me right into education.”
‘Help them grow’
Whalen said a typical day of an academic coach would include observing teachers in the class
room and discussing their goals. She likes how the role allows her to be a mentor to teachers.
She also works with a lot of student data, communicating with school leaders, holding trainings for teachers and being part of the school improvement team. She said she acts like a liaison between the school district and the school.
Whalen works and meets with administrators weekly to discuss professional development goals for the school staff.
“I feel like my job is to always keep [an eye on] the pulse of my teaching staff and to help them mature and to help them grow into the best teachers they can be,” she said.
When it comes to working with her writing students, she said, she works withthem in small groups and looks for ways to improve their writing.
Whalen said during the COVID19 pandemic, it was hard for students who weren’t in school for face-to-face instruction. She said if a student was struggling, she would have conferences with parents, have small groups with students, have students set their own goals and provide one-onone instruction with students.
She described teaching at a Montessori school as more hands-on, and it goes beyond a teacher standing in front of a class lecturing. Whalen said teachers use Montessori learning materials in the classroom, and lessons are crafted from those materials.
The students have more control over their work.
According to an American Montessori Society website, children in a Montessori education choose meaningful and challenging work that involves interest, learning about engagement, motivation, sustained attention and gaining a sense of responsibility to oneself and others.
Whalen said she was sold on a Montessori school setting while she was student teaching.
“I just fell in love with how the students are able to regulate and how they are in control of their own learning,” she said.
Whalen said she was honored to be recognized as a Teacher of the Year finalist and is ready for what’s next.
“I feel like I have a lot to share with my colleagues outside of my
school. You know, I hope that I get the opportunity to, you know, share some of the things that we do in our school that I feel like would benefit other teachers in the district.”