Staff Spotlight: Sarah Chmielecki
As an instructional coach at Langford Elementary School, Sarah Chmielecki is focused on student achievement and growth. She spends much of her time action planning with the teachers in her building and analyzing data to support the learning that’s going on in the classroom.
“A couple of years ago, our district made the transition to student-centered coaching for elementary coaches, and really that just means that we keep students at the heart of everything that we do,” said Chmielecki.
That student-centered approach is why she also spends a lot of time inside the classrooms herself. That way she can support the implementation of the instruction she planned with her colleagues and see how students are responding to it.
“It is so crucial that I’m in the classroom,” she said. “If I don’t know what things look like in the classroom and how our students are learning, then I can’t create effective structures for our school.”
Langford Principal Cynthia Callahan says Chmielecki is an exceptional leader of learning for many reasons, including that she too is always learning.
“I think that’s what makes her stand out,” said Callahan. “She learns from being inside our classrooms, she learns from her colleagues, her other coaches, and she is really dedicated to the cause of student achievement.”
Chmielecki started her teaching career in Hartford. She came to Langford Elementary School in her hometown of East Hartford as a 4th grade teacher six years ago. One year after that, with Callahan’s support and encouragement, she took on the instructional coach role.
“Sarah was a stand out from the first time I saw her in a classroom,” said Callahan. “She just comes up with really incredible, effective strategies to help all of our students learn.”
Chmielecki says her favorite things about her role are being able to have an impact outside of her own classroom and getting to know every single student in her school.
“I get to greet every student in the morning and I get to see how they perform in the classrooms,” she said. “Part of student-centered coaching is that I’m responsible for knowing. I need to know every single student and I need to know kind of where they are and where they need to be going in order to support them and the teachers.”