Brenda Augusta

Senior Associate

Brenda Augusta has been encouraging and supporting teaching and learning for more than three decades, in a variety of roles: coach, teacher, consultant, mentor, and author.
 

Just as it did when she was a classroom teacher, Brenda’s approach emphasizes that there is no single template for teaching or learning - there are many paths that lead to success. As such, she has spent her twenty-year tenure as a consultant focusing on being responsive to the needs and goals of those she works alongside, be they system or school leaders, teachers, or students. In recent years this has meant an intentional focus on working with students, teachers, and leaders online, dedicated to finding and refining new ways of working together while maintaining Brenda’s connection to the classroom, the venue in which she sees the greatest potential for positive change.

As an author, Brenda has most recently co-published Making Physical Education Instruction and Assessment Work (2017), Collecting Evidence and Portfolios: Engaging Students in Pedagogical Documentation (2017) and Making Writing Instruction Work (2015). She has also employed her writing skills in the service of clients, bringing assessment for learning strategies into units of study for a Mohawk Immersion program, guiding a group of literacy leaders to write a single point rubric designed to assess student writing and drive instruction, and most recently, creating a teacher professional growth plan using the principles of assessment in the service of learning as a guide.

An innate ability to put people at ease and instruct from a place of comfort and openness allow Brenda to effectively challenge assumptions through her presenting, coaching, and mentorship roles. Whether it’s a one-to-one coaching context, or facilitating a session for an audience of one hundred or more, her approach remains the same: What are you looking to achieve, and how can we plan pathways that will bring you there? Each and every session is custom designed for the learners Brenda is supporting.

Although Brenda’s roles in the realm of education are many, she will always identify as a ‘teacher’ in the classical sense: a practitioner with a dedication to influence and support students, teachers, and leaders – learners all.