TeachersUniversity Faculty

Coaching / Consulting / One-On-One

One-on-one coaching

99% found sessions valuable

96% would attend again

93% found session inspiring

15+ years of experience

Make the biggest impact in classes in the shortest amount of time.

Get personalized, real-time feedback on your craft. Have intensive focus provide supportive feedback to instructors to improve teaching.

Teachers often don’t have an opportunity to reflect on their teaching and receive feedback that is formative, rather than summative. One-on-one coaching provides a supportive environment where teachers can receive immediate feedback and support in the areas that matter most.

Personalized support to dramatically improve teaching.
Learn how pedagogy and content come together to improve lessons.
Make incremental changes that quickly compound over a semester or term.

Give teachers a space where they can gain insight to improve their craft, and a space to gain insight in a confidential setting.

Dr. Geillan Aly

is a mathematics educator and former award winning Assistant Professor who received her PhD in Teaching and Teacher Education and a Master’s in Mathematics from the University of Arizona.

Her research focuses on the emotional side of learning mathematics and includes how computer-centered learning has affected students’ abilities to control their learning environment and how meditation may reduce mathematics anxiety.

Dr. Aly has been teaching at the university level for over ten years and, without sacrificing rigor, brings a personalized math learning experience to the classroom through active learning methods and by centering students’ emotional well-being. She is very familiar with the Common Core Standards and has experience teaching mathematics to Middle and High School students.

Underlying all of Dr. Aly’s teaching and research is a dedication to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice in mathematics education. She enjoys traveling, seeing live music, and is an avid chef. Geillan is also a wife and mother of a beautiful boy. They live near Hartford, CT.

Who is this for?

Teacher and faculty who want personalized, private feedback to improve teaching in non-judgemental way.

New Curriculum?

Learn how to best use a new curriculum to meet the specific needs of students.

New Ideas

Revitalize your teaching and increase student engagement immediately.

Non-Judgemental Feedback

Have an opportunity to get non-evaluative support.

How coaching with Compassionate Math is different...

Dr. Aly uses qualitative research methods for her observations.
There are no preset expectations for classroom observations (no checklists).
Pedagogical practices as well as effective content implementation are observed.
Trust in teachers' drives this observation method. Ineffective practices are assumed to be well-intentioned, allowing the opportunity for transformative growth.
Research and frameworks are brought in to support professional development.

Four stages of transformation

Stage 1

Pre-plan

We meet privately before a lesson to discuss the content, lesson plan, and suggestions for implementation.

Stage 2

Observation

I observe your lesson with a "researchers" eye. Rather than being evaluative, I watch how your lesson plays out.

Stage 3

Debrief

We discuss the lesson. I ask questions about your implementation and provide my observations and suggestions for improvement.

Stage 4

Follow up

I send an email highlighting my suggestions and what to consider changing or improving based on our discussion. Resources will be provided if applicable.

A shame-free space for improving lessons

As a trained researcher (and not evaluator / administrative coach), I observe classes with an eye towards curiosity. Evaluations are based on supporting what's there, rather than imposing a specific goal.

Case Study

Fort Greene Preparatory Academy in Brooklyn, NY values diversity and welcomes all students into the neighborhood and the classroom. As a school focused on inquiry-based curricula, students have multiple opportunities to interact with one another in small groups to build on one another’s knowledge. As diversity at the school has increased so have achievement scores; stagnant scores jumped significantly. In the 2021-2022 school year, 14% of all students met state math standards. This includes 3% of black students and 15% of Hispanic / Latinx students; the White population was so small no data were recorded. By 2022-2023, 30% of students met the state math standards, including 19% of Black students, 17% of Latinx students, and 78% of White students (see https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2024/13K691/EMS/#IP for more detailed findings). Note that these scores were not isolated to the new population, the rising tide brought by newer White students lifted the boats of Black students. These findings demonstrate that a community composed of students of diverse backgrounds and resources, where students can interact and learn from one another, benefits all students.

Nevertheless, increased diversity has also brought with it a new challenge. Namely, an achievement gap now exists among the students. There is a significant demographic difference between the grades and achievement scores of students. Recognizing the consequences of having inequitable outcomes among the student body and acknowledging the changing demographics at the school, in Spring 2024 as part of a district-wide initiative, FGPA worked with Dr. Geillan Aly, to help reduce the achievement gap.
Dr. Aly’s work has had a marked impact on the teachers and their practice by focusing on equitable teaching practices, effective implementation of student-centered lessons, and a strong focus on mathematical content. Overall achievement increased from 30% (in 2022-2023) to 36% of students meeting state standards in 2023-2024, and differences between Black and White students decreased 10 percentage points. The trend has continued to increase or hold steady with increases among English Language Learners.

What people are saying

Great speaker! Very knowledgeable and passionate about her work.

Very insightful workshop to help us think about how (in)equity can be present in the classroom

Life changing!

Finally something that’s attainable!

A great workshop to help you dive deeper into the introspection of your teaching.

AMAZING, very insightful on power struggles, values of intellectual contributions, norms, strengthening student contributions

It was great! Exactly what I needed at this point in the semester.

The session in IBL is very informative and it provides actionable items that we could apply and bring with us in our classroom settings. Thank you for sharing your expertise; much appreciated!

I’ve never addressed my maths trauma the way that I just have. This was very helpful for me now and future teacher me. Thank you!

It was a very inspiring session and it is as well a motivational one, as now you think you can actually be successful in math.

Spoke about students' hearts as well as their minds!

Actually learned about the disconnect in math. If you want to learn about motivation and how to move forward in math. If you want to actually enjoy doing math and be motivated to do it get this speaker in! So so so impressed and feel more prepared as a teacher to go forward. Have a growth mindset and make mistakes.

A reminder of every student's humanity. As a teacher, I forget that my students are struggling not because they don't try, but because they have a lot going on in their brains. To reach them, I need to think about their emotional well-being first.

The session with Geillan facilitates a fresh start on how we should start building an inquiry learning classroom to promote equity.

This session was great. We talked about kinda taboo topics within math straying away from content focuses. Instead bringing up the emotional influences that interact with learning mathematics. The anxiety, and societal pressures that students come into the classroom with. How the sciences are finally starting to move away from the content is all viewpoint. Instead putting student motivation and wants/needs first.

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Frequently Asked Questions

It's hard to schedule teachers to give up two periods for pre- and post-observation meetings. What can we do?

No problem! Pre meetings and post-observation meetings can occur via zoom. Ideally the pre-meetings should be in person immediately before the lesson, but that is not an absolute requirement. In any case, the time between meetings should not be extensive.