Working with Individual Learners: Strategies for Mentors, Coaches, and Teachers

This report discusses effective strategies for mentors, coaches, and teachers working with individual learners. It includes a summary of responsibilities, differences between coaching, mentoring, and teaching roles, justification of selected strategies, and an action plan for improvement. The report also covers factors affecting the referral process and opportunities for improvement.

WORKING WITH
INDIVIDUAL
LEARNERS

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Task-1..........................................................................................................................................3
Task-2..........................................................................................................................................5
Task-3 .........................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Individual learning is a method of teaching where a teacher pays attention to every
student and keeping their personal circumstances in mind they are to be treated in order to
maximize their learning outcomes and helping them to learn as much as possible. The report is
based on the given case studies where three students and different circumstances are given would
be taken into consideration. A repost summarizing responsibilities of a mentor, teacher, coach
would be depicted, along with analysing differences (Podolsky, Kini and Darling-Hammond,
2019)
Then on the basis of the cases, strategies are to be prepared in order to meet the needs of
those learners, explaining referral process too. At the end of the report actions plans will be
fabricated in order to improve owns areas of strengths and to make teaching activity more drastic
and suitable for the students, here all three different teaching and learning situations shall be kept
in mind.
MAIN BODY
Task-1
Summarizes the responsibilities of a mentor, coach and teacher working with individual
students-
The role of a teacher, mentor or a coach is very drastic since the way they behave and
assist their student, it decides the way forward, the success of a student or learner hugely lies in
the ability and skills of a teacher, coach or mentor, they way they treat and help their student it
reflects the final outcomes.
Responsibilities of a teacher- the responsibilities of a teacher is unmatchable since a
teacher is the person who is behind success or failure of a student. Unlike coach and mentor the
working diaspora is wider for a teacher. There are a range of responsibilities it carries out. For
instance- identify needs of individual, supporting to achieve goals, ensuring security, promoting
autonomy of students etc. (Hollweck, 2019)
Responsibilities of a coach- Coach is a senior person who guides an individual to
improve its capabilities and competencies in order to perform better in its realm. This role
consists a range of responsibilities such as facilitate learning, then giving advise and timely
analyse too. So can make appropriate changes.

Responsibilities of a mentor- the role of a mentor is a bit different as compares to teacher
or coach, the main role is to giving guidance, feedback, advice and surging confidence level of
individual. The main responsibility is to share self-knowledge to assist individuals to develop
their-self.
For instance- as above it has been seen, there are three different students, and they all
have different circumstances so being a teacher, mentor or a coach the responsibility to meet
their requirements and aiding them to work with higher efficiency lines in the jurisdiction of
such professionals.
Differences between coaching, mentoring and teaching roles-
Coaching, teaching and mentoring are radically different roles, but are being used as
synonyms which is not fair treatment. These are some differences which are lying in these
notions.
Coach- the main role of a coach is to identity the areas with need of improvement, then
giving guidance, and directions to meet the needs of individual learner. So it can be said that a
coach is someone who owns responsibility to guide its student and paving way to make it
fructified. A coach is intended to work on specific guidelines. As it has been seen that a coach is
generally an experienced person whose role is to just guide. The responsibilities of an individual
is irrefutably higher, it is supposed to work with greater efforts, then only be guided by the coach
(Uştuk and Çomoğlu, 2019)
Mentor- a mentor is also known as “a critical friend”. For an individual learner the role of
their mentor is very much rigorous since this is the person who acts like a friend but being
conscious and critical too. It gives direction to ace the goals, further aids to be on owns track so
can not get deviated form the aim (Keiler, Diotti and Hudon, 2020)
Teaching- this is a wider term, the roles of a teacher are bigger and challenging too.
Because a teacher it the person who decides learning plans, teaching method, feedback process,
assessment outcomes, managing the process of learning etc. if a teacher is making any form of
minute mistake then it may bring severe damages to individuals.
So altogether it can be concluded that the roles of teacher, mentor and coach are
extremely different, in term of degree and volume of roles, responsibilities. They are supposed to
work in benefit of an individual learner. For instance- Cassie, Aran and Lissa are having their
personal circumstance, all are looking for different needs such as help in learning, help to boost

up confidence, help to come out from sort of personal issues etc. here being a teacher, mentor or
coach the responsibilities are intensive to make their path clean and hike educational purposes.
Review of effectiveness of coaching, mentoring and teaching roles-
As Morgan and Rochford shared their ideas on effectiveness of coaching and mentoring.
Both coaching and mentoring are effective when it comes to hike the outcomes of a leaner, yet
the fact can not be denied that the both convictions are having sort of differences among.
Coaching is nothing but a task of extending guidance, whose role is to identify the gaps
in skills or practise which may hinder the goal achieving capacity. It identifies needs, learning
style, and enable student to help their-self in order to enhance results. For instance- Lissa whose
attendance is 100% yet there are issues of performance so can be guided to fulfil the gap and
bring better results (Mitchell, Kwok and Huston 2020)
Mentors role as suggested by Morgan and Rochford, this is the person whose main role is
to help an individual in fetching significant changes or transitions in term of thinking, work and
knowledge. It is very effective since work on future career management of a learner, this is the
salient realm of focus. For instance- the mentor is also known as “critical friend” so in the
circumstances, Aran is going through, there is strong need to help him as a mentor. He is
consuming toxic things which may hurt him in the future, with this regard a mentor may play
effective role to help him to come out.
Teacher is one of the busiest person, whose effectiveness is enormous, as (Podolsky, Kini
and Darling-Hammond, 2019) Shared their views that the teachers are the people with mammoth
amount of effectiveness they bring better to their students in order to help them perform better.
For instance- Cassie who is having sort of abnormal circumstance is facing some issues, so here
teacher many develop suitable teaching plan and can address her problems in most effective
manner.
So from the reviews above it can be concluded that the effectiveness of teaching,
coaching, mentoring is enormous in shaping up growth and learning outcomes of an individual.
Task-2
Justification of the selection of strategies to meet needs of individual learners-

Firstly all the cases were closely observed in order to meet the needs of individuals. It
was found that Cassie who is a 36 years old lady. She has been in vulnerable situation in her life,
left study at the age of 16, then lost her mother, parent of three children, suffering form sort of
depression etc. Yet her academic skills are enormous. To meet her needs confidence building
strategy was followed, she was supported to make SMART goals and go towards them
gradually. It is utterly justifiable since her life is not as simple as others so there is need to keep
her fallen moral up (Gomez-Najarro, 2020)
Aran who is a 17 years old boy, having good academic skills his academic performance is
also admirable. He is totally misled due to some extraneous factors and got involved in drug
selling, alcohol consumption etc. these factors may bring devastation to him. Here the chosen
strategy is to be critical friend of the student. Here mentoring is needed, since Aran is fabulously
performing in his academics so the only need is to hike his emotional state. His family is
expecting much which is ultimately deteriorating his attitude to there is strong need to aid him
emotionally.
Lissa is an 18 years old African girl. She is notching up 100% attendance but getting
bored with the activities of sessions. So eradication of her issue is rigorous since she is giving all
her efforts but not getting curriculum as interesting as it should be. With this regard Innovative
strategy was followed, where different methods of teaching, such as visualization, using teaching
supportive tools, making teaching process student centric had been practised. The practised
strategy was the most suitable to bring her interest up. Individuals like Lissa who generally feel
bore with same set of practise, needs to get new experiences.
Reflection of the case study-
I closely observed all three case studies and fabricated different strategies to help students
in overcoming their concerns and hiking learning outcomes. Multi agency approach which refers
to a constellation of agencies gets involved to sort out problems of students.
I believe that if more professionals are working together then can bring better changes to
the students and can meet their individual requirements. To carry out multi agency approach I
found that there was need to use some resources such as communication tools, mobile phone,
internet, in-house intranet, vocational bodies charges etc. By using these resources the issues of
individuals had been sorted out (Akgul, 2020)

While working, I figured out that there was need to keep a range of factors into
consideration. Because all the three students were suffering form different perils and their cases
were unique to abiding with a same set of factors.
These factors were emotional intelligence, special needs of learners, subject specification,
vocational bodies, employment providers, need for referral etc. I pointed out that Cassie had
need to work on her emotional and attitude based aspects, so I extended that to her, at the same
time Aran who had obstacle of mental state, besides his educational intelligence, so he has been
supported with personal needs identification and Lissa whose problem was about activities of
classroom, so she has been served considering interactive classroom environment, employment
providers etc.
Factors affect referral process-
Referral process is a set of practices which are being performed by a teacher in order to
extend extra assistance to a student who is having need to it. In the classroom there are many
students and some of them may have sort of extensive concerns about their learnings.
There are some issues I found them affecting my ability to perform referral process with
greater influence, these factors were specific nature of a student that what he exactly needs,
limitations of self competencies and skills, interest conflicts, available time to carry out the tasks,
commitment required, resource availability, supporting provision and their inclination, special
provisions, process of referral actions, student performance and ability of adaption, mutual trust
etc. (Aspden, et al. 2022)
These factors are having potential to affect the referral process, it can not be speculated
that to which extent the process will get affected yet their presence is cumbersome for a
practitioner, coach, mentor, or a teacher to execute the task. For Cassie, Lissa and Aran there was
need of practising referral process but to different-different levels.
Factors enable to review the process-
There is strong need to review the process, I personally felt it that in the all three cases
there was need to work on emotional, intellectual and social aspects of the students. Aran was
suffering form social issues raised by parents, Cassie had sort of mental trauma due to her part
and rather the nearest past, on the other hands Lissa had obstacle of intellectual practises.

It was required to mentor Aran who had good academic skills and was shuffled due to
sort of personal issues, which were destroying his personal attitude, being a critical friend he got
mentored. The process aids Aran and hiked his emotional state of mind.
Cassie who had some tragic experiences, she was striving a lot but due to prevailing
circumstances was not able to notches up higher attendance in the class, there was need to be a
good coach and drive her towards her goals of life. Building her confidence, empowering
individual, demonstrating reliability, encouraging reflective practice are some those factors had
been involved in the process (Hendricks and Jimenez, 2021)
Lissa had problem with the classroom activities, so there was rigorous requirement to
change the scenario and turning classroom environment suitable to such creative students, so
they can enjoy. Here being a teacher worked on her social attitude, self assessment, providing
necessary tools, aiding problem solving approach, extending horizons were considered with this
regard. So all the techniques and tools used above enabled me to review the processes.
Task-3
Action plan for improvement in one-to-one teaching and learning situations-
Personal audit- To prepare action plan there is need to understand the strengths and
weaknesses so can articulate owns actions plan. For fulfilment of the aim SWOT analysis is
made, depicting personal audit (Bullough, 2019)
components
Strengths  Better understanding of students needs.
 Subject specializations and having good command.
 Honesty and good professional competencies.
 One of the biggest strength is to take the students into belief, they
freely share their issues (Holloway, 2019)
 Keeping myself closer to the curriculum activities and timely
review its efficiency.
Weaknesses  Some times show poor emotional understanding.
 Communicational difficulties in some cases.
 Poor understanding of others attitude and aptitude.

 Lack of bringing innovative practise in teaching.
Opportunities  There is good opportunity to improve problem solving approach.
 With higher communication skills can be more affective.
 Can hike subject command and can make the career thrive.
Threats  Professional skills are not updated may cause severe damages.
 Poor ability to inculcate changes in curriculum activities may
topple the moral of students and along with owns image too.
Action plan for self-improvement- The action plan is being fabricated in order to
articulate the areas with need to make improvement in order to be a competent teacher.
Area of improvement strategy Resources needed monitoring Time
Emotional
understanding. As in
the all three cases it
was seen to have
higher excellence to
understand emotional
aspect of students.
For this purpose
CPD, (Marschall,
2021) continuous
professional
development will be
adapted. Where
Plan, Do, Record,
Reflect, Action
steps will be taken.
For this purpose
there is no need of
external resources,
just normal
stationary items and
can use electronic
application cost
£150.
The plan will be
monitored by
myself on week
basis.
1 month.
Communication
skills, so can
understand students
deeply.
Will be attending
seminars, it may
help to boost up
ability to understand
others, in classroom
there is strong need
to decipher ideas of
students in order to
extend better to
It will cost £500 of
seminar fees, and
£120 for some other
relevant charges.
The seminar
heads would be
keeping their
eyes on the
performance and
will also help for
further
improvement.
2.5
months.

them.
Lack of being
innovative. With
innovative practise
can hike the learning
outcomes and cal also
surge students
attendance.
For this purpose
will try from my
owns side. As a
teacher will include
some new teacher
supportive tools so
can help students.
Here a good amount
of resources would
be needed such as
computer, software,
playing tools,
visualization items,
charts and so on. It
will cost around
£2200.
The action plan
has to be
observed by
peers and views
of students will
be taken into
consideration.
1 month.
How the opportunities are planned to improve own skills in relation to teaching and
learning situation-
There have been some opportunities have been experienced, so by using some tools or
techniques may make improvement in professional competencies.
Here CPD, Continuous performance development strategy can be used in attempt to
develop owns professional competency. The problems of student can be sorted out with better
understanding or professionalism. As it has been seen in the cases, students were suffering form
different issues, and they were not able to overcome due to poor support of society. With this
regard can improve professional skills and can take advantage (Beauchamp, 2019)
On the other hands peer monitoring can be used for availing more opportunities. In the
action plan as it has been seen that there is opportunity of hiking ability of problem solving. If it
is improved than being a teacher can be more affective and bring better results to the students.
Here peer support could be taken in order to enhance owns command of problem solving (Garner
and Kaplan, 2019)
For improving the emotional intelligence among the student the one that would be used
would be observation through which the students would be noticed on daily basis and the change
in the attitude and behaviours would be observed. Hence, through such observation best action
plan would be than suggested to the students so that it is able to overcome such problems in the
best manner. Furthermore, for improvement in problems solving peer mentoring would be

adopted as it would help student in providing continuous support and guidance so that students
would be efficient enough to devise the best solutions to various problems.
Analysis of effectiveness of own practice-
In context of the own practice it can be said that the teaching style is adopted based on
the learner thinking and way of learning so that positive outcomes might be achieved in the end.
Furthermore, in context of Lisa, Aran and Cassie it can be said that all the three are ones that
have certain strengths and weakness and requires different learning environment for better results
in the end.
Moreover, while adopting different teaching style the effectiveness might be known
through collected the feedback after each of the classroom sessions so that changes than might be
made in the future delivery of various lessons accordingly. Furthermore, the formal observation
are also the best method that involves observing the change in attitude and behaviour while
delivering any lecture among the three students (Emery, Maher and Ebert-May, 2021).
Also, through having the adequate amount of subject knowledge and analysing the
students' response within the classroom also the effectiveness might be identified. Moreover,
action planning and identifying certain short and long term targets is also one best way of
analysing the effectiveness of the own practices so that better analyses might be made whether
the targets are achieved or not.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of own practice might also be improved through collecting
the feedback from the peers and doing performance review based on the achievements made by
the students at the end of the sessions and development of certain skills through the overall
classroom sessions.
CONCLUSION
Form the report above it can be summarized that the role of a teacher in helping different
students with different circumstances is intensive when it comes to their learning outcomes. The
report evaluated three case studies and on the basis of it presented views. The report discussed
role, responsibilities of mentor, coach, and teacher with respect to individual students,
Furthermore, in the report justification for selected strategies to improve leaning
outcomes of different students, along with sorting out their personal issues. At the end, a well-
articulated action plan had been developed in order to reflect the areas where can go improve

owns practise and can pave way for surging owns strengths, along with how the skills can make
thrive considering one-to-one teaching and learning situations.

REFERENCES
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