The cohort built camaraderie for Laurie D’Amico, while she builds capacity for others.

 

Laurie D’Amico did not plan to become an educator. She began her career in the automotive industry and enjoyed the puzzle of repairing cars. A larger puzzle surfaced when her daughter began struggling during middle school. D’Amico was determined to figure out the best way to assist her child and decided to return to school to pursue a degree in education.

Now with 17 years of experience in classrooms throughout the midlands — including three years at a youth detention facility — D’Amico is more passionate than ever to help educators and students succeed.

“I began this path with the intention of gaining knowledge of the educational system to help my daughter,” says D’Amico. “I thought after she finished high school, I would return to my love of cars. She graduated at 16, and I am still here.”

D’Amico has served as an educator across grade levels, but middle school seems to be her niche. She’s served as a principal and is now an Academic Interventionist. She’s passionate about providing quality education to all learners but knows that teacher support is the key ingredient to student success.

“Teachers cannot do their best when they are living in negativity,” says D’Amico.

In addition to supporting educators at her school, she also supervises interns in their field experiences. D’Amico felt the Coaching Academy would boost her abilities in both roles.

“I help incoming educators adjust to their new normal in the classroom,” says D’Amico. “I also help manage expectations for future educators. I knew this program was the perfect opportunity for me to get an outside perspective on how to best achieve momentum in both areas.”

D’Amico shares that the camaraderie among the program directors and the participants contributed to its success.

“They had a way of empowering us,” says D’Amico. “Even if it was knowledge we already had, they gave us different lenses to use it. It brought joy back to my work and really helped me get excited again.”

Building teacher capacity is at the core of D’Amico’s work. Because there are only two instructional coaches in her district, she sometimes feels isolated.

“Not only did they give us a cohort to build our networks, but they highlighted new ways to use the tools we already have,” says D’Amico. “This program gave me confidence. It taught me to be brave enough to approach problems I might not have the answer to.”

D’Amico supervises interns on traditional and alternative pathways to the classroom. She shares that the program benefitted her the most in communicating with future educators who might be newer to the profession.

“These people are coming in from a totally different mindset,” says D’Amico. “Maybe they have a corporate background or a different skill set. I have to help them navigate that transition. The Coaching Academy helped me narrow my focus to home in and figure out how to be most effective in that supervisory role.”

D’Amico hopes her story will bring more awareness to the importance of coaching in the profession and their impact.

“We have to build our teachers up,” says D’Amico. “Teachers need a safe space where they can get feedback and grow. They need somewhere to let out frustrations and get encouragement to return to the work.”

While D’Amico is building those safe spaces for her colleagues, she still enjoys working on cars in her free time with her family.

“I like to get my hands dirty, fixing a car,” says D’Amico. “My brain can shut down from work, which we all need every now and then.”