About

Dr. Monica Medina has been an international educator for over 25 years working as a Deputy Superintendent and Principal in Ecuador (Academia Cotopaxi), Kenya (International School of Kenya), China (Shanghai American School). the United Arab Emirates (American School of Dubai) and Brazil (Escola American do Rio de Janeiro).

She earned her Doctorate in International Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco in California where Monica worked as a teacher and school administrator for over 15 years prior to moving overseas. During her 20+ years overseas she has worked in growing schools where program expansion and growth were a focus.

She also worked very closely with the late Bonnie Campbell Hill, the developer of the Bonnie Campbell-Hill Reading and Writing developmental continuum. Monica is a recipient of the National Association of Elementary School Principals prestigious National Distinguished Principal Award. She presently works as an Instructor in the Education Department at California State University Channel Islands and consults with international schools coaching administrators, providing workshops on K-12 literacy practices and training international schools literacy coaches facilitating the International Literacy Coach Cohort (ILCC) in the CEESA and NESA regions.

Monica has two sons, one who was educated in international schools in Ecuador, Kenya and China. One of her sons in a middle school special education teacher in the US.

On Coaching Principals and Coaches

In addition to her work with our teachers, Monica was also supportive of me as I led the change towards Balanced Literacy and Readers and Writers Workshop. We worked very closely together as we planned ways in which I was able to bring more accountability to our staff and support staff in their progress. She and I met on a regular basis while she was on-site to discuss progress and needs of our faculty members and when she left, I always had a plan and steps to move forward. Monica was a crucial part of our learning journey and as an experienced principal herself, knew how to support me and help move our school forward.(Sue Williams, Principal, Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

It was during this visit that Monica began to take on the role of mentor for me. She continually coached me to help lead the discussion with staff and asked my opinion on the instructional decisions she was making. This allowed for a partnership approach to her visit and I was able to benefit as a literacy coach from her work with staff. This level of collaboration also includes the work she does with our administrative team. Due to her many years of experience as an International Schools Principal, she understands the needs of our staff and school community and works well with me and with our administrative team to support the school’s program development. (Kimberly Shannon, Instructional Coach Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

At our staff’s darkest moments, Monica was there for us, helping us see the positives and helping us find those tricky next steps. (Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

When my role changed from first grade teacher to reading specialist and literacy coach, Monica was there for me every step of the way. She always knows what questions to ask to get me to process and understand my role and knows how to support me when I need a confidence boost. I have appreciated her clarity, kindness, and reliability.(Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

.Whenever I have a question about literacy she is quick to provide me with resources. She has such expertise in literacy development and instruction. I have learned how to lead with respect from her coaching and watching her interactions with staff. She always allows me to “get in her head“, explaining why she asked what she asked, which has made me more thoughtful in the questions and responses I give when I am coaching. (Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

In all three contexts where I worked with her, Monica’s work with principals and teachers at all levels left each school in a dramatically stronger position in three realms: leading, teaching and learning. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

Finally, I feel it is important to reflect on the effect Monica has had on my own growth as a professional. Her ability to connect, coach, empathize, converse, model, plan and follow through have been singular and unique in my career. When unique circumstances or complications arose, I sought Monica’s feedback. Her coaching, which she infuses expertly into conversation (I typically didn’t feel that I was being coached, but looking back I clearly was),helped me to find next steps at critical junctures. The reach of those conversations extended far beyond literacy; I am a different leader after working with Monica – a much more centered, realistic, reflective and smart leader. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA; Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain; Principal, Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lima, Peru)

Effective professional development

Monica was so knowledgeable in the change process and prepared us for the challenges we might see along the way (Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

Our staff is also very fearful and not trusting by nature. But Monica quickly gained their trust. This speaks volumes about her ability to coach individuals and teams. She has very high social intelligence, and quickly understood the dynamics of our staff and how those dynamics would affect her moving forward. (Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

On a school level, Monica was a tremendous support not only in assisting staff to move forward in identified goal areas, but in figuring the way forward when unexpected problems arose. Monica is highly effective because she so naturally establishes a rapport and trust with staff, and staff quickly are able to find value in the reflections that Monica prompts, the questions she poses, and the suggestions she respectfully shares. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

Dr. Medina-Olds’ ability to gain trust from others, ‘read’ people, listen to them and see what needs to be done next are skills that an excellent professional development leader needs. She is flexible in her delivery of her work with teachers and is always open to feedback; something she asks for after all of her sessions with faculty members and something she uses to build next steps.(Sue Williams, Principal, Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

Her humility and openness are tremendous assets when moving forward with changes that could otherwise seem jarring and overwhelming; her approach invariably causes people to ask for more support and energizes them in their work. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

Monica demonstrated various best practise techniques from planning with homeroom teachers in preparation of her modelled mini lessons, meeting with teachers to debrief the lessons and discuss their self-selected topics, and presented a professional development session on supporting English Language Learners in reading workshop. (Kimberly Shannon, Instructional Coach Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

This was made possible due to the differentiated structure of Dr. Medina-Olds’ work with faculty. She understood when we needed to do more with conferring, or when we were ready to switch to data gathering. She knew when she needed to shift gears for those who were able to put into practice the workshop components and those who needed more scaffolding as they deepended their understanding and skill level (Sue Williams, Principal, Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

This is another example of Monica working in collaboration with our administration team and myself to tailor her visit to suit the needs of our staff. During this visit, I was able to witness Monica redesign her professional development session for the staff. Over the first three days of her visit, she observed that there was a greater need for using data to drive instruction so she created a session that guided teachers through the moderation of a DRA2 assessment and provided strategies for teachers to implement when taking part in small group instruction. (Kimberly Shannon, Instructional Coach Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

Monica began her work at both schools identifying the expertise and background of the faculty to be able to tailor her sessions to meet the needs of all learners. I was very impressed with Monica’s natural ability to connect with each member of the faculty (Jessica Hicks, Principal, American International School Abuja and Escuela Americana El Salvador)

In all the work Monica does, she successfully plans her work to give teachers a clear target for their learning, engages teachers in meaningful discussions and experiences, and efficiently assesses the necessary knowledge and skills needed to be addressed. (Kimberly Shannon, Instructional Coach Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine)

Monica’s fluency in Spanish was an asset as she was able to provide our Spanish speaking faculty with professional development in the Writer’s and Reader’s Workshop curriculum to be able to align our Spanish and English reading and writing programs. (Jessica Hicks, Principal, American International School Abuja and Escuela Americana El Salvador)

Her wealth of knowledge, her keen understanding of people, her ability to identify and fill gaps in staff understanding, her support of distributed leadership structures, her ability to make dramatic within-visit adjustments based on staff need, and her inspiring vision about what could be accomplished all contributed to powerful and transformative improvement efforts that were self- sustaining after she left. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

Monica’s personalized attention to each teacher’s needs really sets her apart from other experts in her field.(Jessica Hicks, Principal, American International School Abuja and Escuela Americana El Salvador)

Recommendation statements

Monica’s well-planned professional development and follow through with individuals and teams ensured that each had what they needed as they went through the year to successfully implement the workshop. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

She is the best expert I have worked with as an educator and I highly recommend her to your educational organization. (Jessica Hicks, Principal, American International School Abuja and Escuela Americana El Salvador)

I give Monica my highest recommendation as a consultant or for any position where she can influence adult learning in education–teachers and administrators. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

Over the last decade, Monica was hired as a consultant in three different schools where I have worked, and thus I have had the pleasure of seeing how she has adapted and measurably impacted schools who have different cultures and challenges. (Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)

I cannot recommend Monica enough to train any staff or lead any change initiative. In summary, she is a strong leader who has the expertise, clarity, drive, and heart needed to support any staff in a literacy change. (Bobbi Tracy, Wausaukee School, Wausaukee, Wisconsin)

Any organization would be very lucky to have her vast experience and training–in both knowledge and human behavior–to effect necessary change or be part of a continuous improvement model that will have measurable results.(Ann Kox, Superintendent, Wausaukee School District, USA and Principal, American School of Valencia, Spain)