Jennifer Abrams, Educational Consultant, Works with 45+ Faculty and Administrators on Mentoring, Evaluation, and Change Management

Taipei American School hosted Jennifer Abrams for four days of training with 49 faculty and administrators who hold leadership positions across our school community. From department heads and program coordinators to deans and directors, this group made up the key layer of employees whose work with parents, students, and fellow employees, to most-directly support and share out the initiatives at the heart of our Strategic Plan.  

As part of our Strategic Plan, these professional development opportunities help ensure that all teacher-leaders develop skills, knowledge, and understandings to effectively lead teams and departments in achieving our mission, vision, and strategic priorities. 

This specific series of workshops focused on teacher mentoring and evaluation, including deeper dives into the professional standards for evaluators that guide these processes at TAS, as well as change management. 

During this training, participants explored how coaching fellow professionals through different areas for growth and change can be done through the lens of relational trust. This framework has been shown to help raise student achievement (Bryk and Schneider) and increase the effectiveness of the adults who support children at every stage of their educational journey.  

Joel Jayamohan, Middle School Art Teacher, commented that, “One of the most powerful takeaways from Jennifer Abrams’ workshop was the self‑assessment process. It pushed me to reflect on who I am as a teacher, the value I bring each day, and what it means to grow as an adult learner.” Reflecting on how mentorship develops between employees, he shared, “Her framing of adult learning as a process of identity formation, paired with the simple question, ‘Am I someone people want to talk to?’ was both grounding and transformative.”  

Jennifer’s work across these four days dealt with the essential skills that foster a collaborative culture, focused on student learning, trust, respect, and professionalism that embrace productive struggle. Especially at TAS, where opportunities, initiatives, and strategic projects are always underway, it’s essential that all adults working to support student learning can manage hard conversations that ultimately contribute to greater student success.  

Alfredo Papaseit, Lower School Technology and Design Coach, noted that “the workshop reinforced for me that leadership shows up most clearly in difficult conversations. How we enter those moments determines whether possibility opens or closes. Our presence in difficult conversations can either invite growth or shut it down." These skills, tied closely to our Schoolwide Learning Outcome as Collaborative Communicators, are important to model for students, but also to continue deepening the culture of collaboration at TAS.

The second half of the training focused on change management and reducing social friction, two key capacities for the TAS community to build while working toward a future-focused educational experience for all students. From how to identify and transform feelings of resistance, to meeting changes with resilience, clarity, and self-regulation, participants dug into the skills of making change in a school community. 

Maneesha Maingot, Middle School Academic Support Teacher, reflected that this training, “provided practical, next-day strategies I could apply immediately. It also clarified that resistance is a normal and expected part of launching a new initiative, and it equipped me with tools to support team members and keep our work moving forward.”  

Each workshop closed with a “Critical Friends” protocol, where small groups shared a professional dilemma and engaged in a structured process that centered on listening, inquiry, idea sharing, and problem solving. This form of reflection and problem-solving is one example of how attendees can work with fellow employees back in their teams and departments, when engaging in constructive dialogue about next steps toward the achievement of our strategic priorities as a school. 

Thank you to Jennifer Abrams for joining us during these four days of learning! TAS employees' next large-scale professional development experience is coming up on March 20. Stay tuned for more ways that our professional community is continuing to grow to support the best student outcomes possible here at TAS.