The behind the scenes orchestrators of education are the personal learning coaches. PLCs provide support to the school community and ensure that learning commences smoothly. Marshetta Brazley-Rodgers became the newest Spartan PLC three weeks ago. 

“It’s the personal learning coach’s responsibility to carry out the instructional vision set by the leadership by helping teachers to understand what that is and by providing them with resources on strategies to help students,” Brazley-Rodgers said. 

Personal learning coaches spend their time researching what is needed in the classroom. This involves communicating with both students and teachers to determine what the classroom needs and how education can be improved. 

“Do we need more instructional materials? More instructional strategies? More ways to engage with social-emotional learning and to tie into the community? My job is to understand and have my finger on the post of this school to help people get the resources they need to go in the direction they want to go,” Brazley-Rodgers said. 

Brazley-Rodgers taught in a special education classroom for nine years before pursuing a career as a personal learning coach. This first-hand experience has helped her to better understand the needs of instructors.  

“Every year I picked up something new that helped improve my practice. As I got further along, I thought ‘I really wish that I had somebody with experience when I was a younger teacher to share it with me,’” Brazley-Rodgers said. “Whenever you’re embarking on something new there’s always a bitter trial by fire. But maybe the fire doesn’t have to be so hot if you have someone that has experienced things and picked things up along the way to help you.”  

For the rest of the 2019-20 year, Brazley-Rodgers will continue to use her skills to improve the environment at White Station by helping teachers to form plans and securing the resources for Spartans to succeed. 

“In any space that I’m in that is always my goal: to help people understand that they have agency and how to exercise their resources,” Brazley-Rodgers said.