March is International Women’s Month, and we are using this opportunity to spotlight some strong women making a difference in our community. Today we are talking about Charlene Ammons.
When we think about education, we often picture the teachers in the classroom. But behind the scenes, others are helping those teachers succeed.
For more than a decade, Charlene Ammons has been one of those people in the Great Falls Public School system. As an instructional technology coach and elementary instructional coach, her role is to support teachers across the district, helping them navigate challenges and strengthen their classrooms.
Shiksha Mahtani reports - watch the video here:
"It's more of a P.I.R., which is teacher professional development and choice-based… When we introduce any new devices, my role is to help them learn how to use it. I do a lot of group, but also one-on-one in that role. I do a lot of informing decision making. I'm not a decision maker. But I do help leadership understand the technology landscape," Ammons said.
Ammons works with teachers in all 15 buildings, answering questions, helping troubleshoot problems, and creating training materials to guide them through new tools and programs.
But the heart of her job is working directly with educators, one-on-one.
"A lot of it is it just depends on what the teacher needs in the moment and where they're at in their career too, so that it just gives me different angles… We focus on things like classroom management, behavior management, student engagement, and then we get into lesson delivery and planning," Ammons said.
Much of the support she provides is for teachers in the first few years in the classroom, still getting a handle on their role as an educator. And while some only need help with their lesson planning, others require a little additional support.
"Others are having a hard time, so I'm their cheerleader and the shoulder they cry on, you know, like, it just it varies based on what they need. For a lot of them, it's a make or break. They need that support system," Ammons said.
Her supervisor, Rachel Cutler, says that kind of one-on-one support can make a major difference for teachers.
"There's a ton of research to suggest that the best professional development is job embedded. That it's connected to what teachers are doing in their classroom every day," Cutler said.
Cutler says Ammons has a unique ability to connect with the educators she works with.
"She's approachable. I think she's super knowledgeable. And so that's really helpful. She knows what she's talking about," Cutler said.
Ammons began her career as a first and second grade teacher, something she says still shapes how she approaches her work today. Now, instead of working with one classroom of students, she's helping teachers across the district build stronger classrooms of their own.
"The most rewarding part is just like it was for me in the classroom with students, those lightbulb moments where all of a sudden they are joyful at the idea that this is actually going to make my world and my job better," Ammons said.
By working alongside teachers every day, Charlene Ammons is helping strengthen classrooms throughout Great Falls.
This article has been lightly edited for online publication with the assistance of AI for clarity, syntax, and grammar.
