Erin Healey is a dedicated and passionate advocate for education. After teaching in the secondary classroom for five years, Erin’s constant determination to seek out best practices and lead with vision led her to a Master’s in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Education Technology, and a leadership role as an Instructional Systems Coach at Portsmouth High School. Erin currently continues her work in large-scale education innovations as the Speakers Network Manager for the Teach Better Team; a national network that strives to make the entire education system “better today than it was yesterday, and better tomorrow than it is today”.
In 2018, Erin founded the Young Educators Society of Rhode Island (@yesriorg) to advocate for early career educators; this community has impacted over 200 educators in its first few years and aims to decrease beginning teacher burnout while providing positive support and dynamic professional development to benefit the future of Rhode Island education.
Trenches story: secondary Eng. teacher, interdisciplinary learning. Used to texts we all grew up learning. How do we make those relevant to our students? Not always a lot of experience in pre-service. New teachers, ask around and build a community. It’s hard to bring in electives teachers into English. Tie in dating violence to Romeo & Juliet. She wants to see this more in her coaching role. Can we bring ppl together to have a brainstorming session? Create the space, moments of collaboration.
What does an Instructional Systems Coach do? Unique position to school district. Essential instructional coaching with MTSS focus. new for district. 4 at each HS. They align their practices K-12. Together, the align more MTSS support, curriculum updates. In-depth focus at micro level. Brings more minds together. ⅓ tech support, a lot of work can be done w/ alignment. Helpful to have discussion with elementary school teachers for co-teaching models.
How did you get involved with Teach Better Team? as the Speakers Network Manager. Pretty new to role, she has been since Jan. ‘22. Reimagined scope & sequence of what it means to be a speaker on the network. Teaching Better is a multifaceted asset. Covers school/student leadership. Also t burnout. Identify experts, invite them to be part of network.
What made you want to work to advocate for early educators? New teacher support. In RI- they have 32 districts. She has taught at both charter & public schools w/in her state. Look at microcosm to see what works/what doesn’t. 50% of teachers leave CR within 5 yrs. Started Young Educators Society, 200 educators across state. A lot of t’s struggle w/ but not necessarily in your education. Support from junior/senior year in CR, to 5 years in CR. Explain how to read contracts. They look @ root causes. She teaches a college in teacher ed program. NEA has started a really big push to build up early educators support. Doesn’t know of non-union related young educator support. Should be equitable experience for all new educators. Then usually hear about it from word of mouth. Share the news with young teachers.
Out of everything? Build up a community of people who will lift you up. Support your professional/personal goals. Fill your cup. Find opportunities through asking questions, building your network. Click To Tweet
Where can ppl find you online? @mrserinhealy on all social media, Twitter/FB/IG TB speakers’ network-Teach Better Speakers Network – Teach Better @yesirorg
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y8vMNEeO5k8
MORE EPISODES
