Our long-standing partnership with NTC and our shared mission – to improve student outcomes by training great teachers – make this event a “must attend” on our annual conference calendar. This year’s theme was “REALIZE: Grow + Teach + Lead.” The symposium’s purpose was to bring together leaders in education to share best practices for developing a well-trained and highly-effective teaching workforce. Some of the topics or “tracks” covered this year included Mentoring and Coaching, Equity and Access and our personal favorite, Innovation in the Field.

Certainly, a highlight for Courtney and James was sitting in the audience while our friends at NTC presented on the topic of  “Leveraging Video to Support Teacher Learning.” In this session, members of the NTC team shared “best practices, strategies, and research on how the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project, a face-to-face mentoring model, is leveraging video to support ongoing teacher and mentor learning.” Team members highlighted how they utilize Torsh TALENT in their ongoing work.

A former Teach for America recruiter before joining our sales team at Torsh, James had this to say upon returning to the office after the symposium: “To sit in an audience and hear our clients talk about their positive experiences with Torsh TALENT is incredibly motivating. I’m very proud that an esteemed organization like NTC continues to derive value from our platform… so much so, that they share it as a best practice.”

Congrats to NTC for hosting another successful symposium this year. And congrats to the entire Torsh team. Together with our clients, we are truly having an impact in the field of education. Keep up the great work!

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NTC is a national nonprofit dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders. NTC works with schools, districts, state policymakers and educators across the country to develop and implement induction programs aligned with district learning goals. Last year alone, NTC worked with 8,500 mentors and more than 31,000 new teachers. 

Part of what makes NTC unique and effective is their research-backed teacher induction model. The program provides weekly on-the-job mentoring for new teachers from a peer mentor. NTC provides training for these mentors to make sure they are prepared for the role. Mentors are then able to connect online through mentor forums which support professional learning. Principals and site leaders also receive training on the process and structure for how mentors will help new teachers. Finally, central to the model, NTC provides a Formative Assessment and Support System, which provides tools and resources for teachers, mentors and site leaders. Together, this model has been shown to increase both teacher effectiveness and retention.

NTC became a client back in 2012 when they were searching for a classroom observation tool to help new teachers capture and share videos with their mentors. Before NTC found TALENT, video observations were optional because of the challenges with uploading video and sharing it with mentors. Marc Dembowski, Program Consultant at NTC spoke about how TALENT enabled them to make video observations part of the program expectations:

“Prior to using Torsh TALENT, conducting video observations was very difficult. Sharing a 15-minute video cannot be done through email, and we did not want to use a public site to store our videos either… video observations had been optional for our teachers, because of all the challenges that come up with conducting a video observation. Now it is a part of the expectations and all of our beginning teachers are using TALENT to conduct video observations with their mentors.”

NTC now uses TALENT for a number of their efforts. Just recently, NTC received the prestigious SEED grant to fund instructional coaching for K-8 teachers at Austin Independent School District and Volusia County Public Schools. Another one of NTC’s well-known programs is e-Mentoring for Student Success (eMSS), an entirely remote program to provide high-quality mentoring to teachers in rural areas that lack access to coaches. This program would not be possible without the TALENT platform.

Our relationship has grown over the years and we appreciate the feedback that NTC has provided us to help shape the platform. From suggesting new features and how we can make the experience better, it truly is a wonderful collaboration. Together, we can help each other make a difference in improving teacher effectiveness and in turn improving student outcomes. We hope to continue to work together for many years to come. 

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Courtney Williams, CEO of Torsh and Marc Dembowski, Educational Technology Program Consultant for New Teacher Center (NTC) will lead a joint session entitled “Coaching and Mentoring in a Video World.” This seminar will examine the research behind video technology in the classroom, explore how NTC leverages video for learning, and share testimonials and best practices surrounding video’s role in teacher professional development. 

“Schools are just beginning to reap the benefits of video technology in the classroom,” said Courtney Williams. “NTC is an excellent example of an organization that is currently leveraging video to support teacher professional growth and development. Through our presentation at the symposium, we want to share with a wider audience the benefits, best practices, and challenges that NTC and some of our other clients have experienced with video.”

The joint presentation will also give attendees a closer look at Torsh TALENT, Torsh’s signature product that is currently used by NTC. Torsh TALENT is a video-based observation, feedback and data management platform that gives educators an opportunity to reflect on practice, collaborate with others, measure the effectiveness of instruction, and receive high quality coaching at scale. Attendees will get an inside look at how NTC uses the video annotation, collaboration and feedback tools on Torsh TALENT in their work with new teachers.

Torsh has been partnering with NTC since 2012, most notably with NTC’s e-Mentoring for Student Success (e-MSS) program. Through Torsh TALENT, NTC is able to remotely mentor and coach new teachers, which improves their effectiveness and desire to continue teaching. 

“Prior to using Torsh TALENT, conducting video observations was very difficult,” said Marc Dembowski. “Sharing a 15 minute video cannot be done through email, and we also did not want to use a public site to store our videos. [Additionally] … video observations had been optional for our teachers because of all the inherent challenges. Now it is a part of the expectations. All of our beginning teachers are using TALENT to conduct video observations with their mentors.”

All symposium attendees are invited to attend the “Coaching and Mentoring in a Video World” session on February 22nd at 2:50 pm. After the session, educators will have the opportunity to learn how Torsh TALENT can be utilized at their school or organization.

The Symposium is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available here.

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