Balancing confidence: M2 uses AI to help coaches transform teaching at both ends of the scale

What fire will we extinguish today?

Michelle Ashmore and Allison Hurston, instructional coaches at Newnan High School in Georgia, struggled to keep up with the demands of supporting their diverse teaching staff. With limited time and resources, they found themselves constantly “putting out fires” rather than implementing strategic coaching plans.

“As instructional coaches, we get requests all the time,” Allison explains. “Sometimes teachers invite us into their classrooms; sometimes they don’t. And even when we observe, we’re only seeing a short snippet. There’s no way we can capture the essence of what a teacher is doing unless we were in there every day.”

This reactive approach meant they couldn’t connect meaningfully with every teacher, and the interactions they did have often felt rushed and surface-level. That changed when Newnan High introduced M2—the intelligent co-teacher that provides real-time instructional feedback and a space for active teacher reflection. 

M2’s eyes open our own

Within just days of implementing M2, Michelle and Allison noticed a fundamental shift in their coaching workflow. Instead of spending precious time identifying issues through limited observations, they could now focus on what they do best: delivering targeted solutions based on comprehensive data.

“It’s almost like a second pair of eyes for us,” Michelle says. “We’ll still go into classrooms, but M2 gives us a different lens to look through. It shortens the time between observation and action—I can go back in a day versus it being a week.”

The traditional five-step coaching cycle has been streamlined. “It’s no longer me just observing, writing notes, having a meeting and only then creating a solution, then having another meeting,” Michelle explains. “It’s me seeing the data and showing up to our first meeting with solutions.”

Showing veteran teachers new tricks

Perhaps most surprising has been the enthusiastic adoption by one of Newnan’s most accomplished veteran educators. Susan Turner, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher with over 20 years of experience, has become one of M2’s biggest advocates.

“I can’t even describe how excited she was,” Allison said. “She was absolutely glowing. She talks a mile a minute—what she calls ‘Turner time’—and at one point, M2 suggested she slow down because her pace might be surpassing what kids could understand.”

Susan took this feedback and immediately adjusted her teaching in the moment. For her next class, she proactively addressed her pacing, which students immediately benefited from. 

What’s remarkable is that Susan had initially been skeptical of AI tools. Allison said, “She would leave conferences saying, ‘I’m too old for this. I’m not doing this AI stuff.’ “Now she’s spearheading other teachers in her department to use it.”

Susan herself admits the impact: “I thought I knew all the tricks, but [M2] is helping me really pay attention to my kids in the moment.”

Building teacher leaders from their newest crop

While veteran teachers are finding new insights, newer educators are using M2 to build confidence and resilience. James Drayer, a third-year Geometry teacher, has been dealt a challenging hand, but consistently strives to rise above. During his first year at Newnan—amid the aftermath of a tornado that forced classes into trailers with limited resources—James found himself trying to balance the school’s situation in addition to classroom management challenges that every first-year teacher faces.

One of the first to jump at trying M2, Allison said that James is “using M2 to get feedback on how his class flows, looking for choppy transitions or ways to explain concepts differently.”

James also uses M2’s recording feature which automatically tracks and zooms in on him as he teaches to understand his true presence in his classroom. This eye-opening reflection opportunity combined with the daily feedback M2 provides has accelerated his growth significantly.

James has made such progress in his various strategies and practices that he’s been chosen to present at Coweta County’s Innovation Summit this summer, demonstrating techniques he refined with M2’s assistance.

From fighting fires to strategic, supportive coaching

For Michelle and Allison, M2 has fundamentally changed how they approach their roles as instructional coaches.

It cuts out the guesswork of how to support every teacher and gives them back the time they need to actually implement strategies that help teachers overcome their challenges. “It makes us more effective. It makes the teacher more effective,” Michelle concludes. “And it addresses every teacher’s biggest challenge: time.”

The non-evaluative nature of M2’s feedback has also created a safer space for growth. Michelle says. “With M2, our teachers know their feedback will not go toward their evaluation or be sent punitively to an administrator. They share their reflections with us, and I can immediately take a solution-oriented approach rather than one that involves a fire extinguisher.”

This changes the entire tone of coaching conversations and helps them in their mission to support every single teacher at Newnan: “We can immediately start with the positive: ‘I saw your reflection and what you said. I’m here to help you. Here are some strategies'” says Michelle. 

With M2 as their trusted partner, Michelle and Allison don’t just solve problems—they empower teachers to join them in crafting solutions, creating a culture where both veterans and newcomers thrive.

The next frontier in coaching has arrived

Meet M2 – every teacher’s intelligent co-teacher and every coach’s new best friend. MirrorTalk powers it and helps you take your coaching to catastrophic heights. Learn more.