How to Coach Teachers Without Being Weird About it

educationrickshaw

Nov 25

I was recently invited to chat with Matt Findlay and Femi Adeniran on their fantastic podcast, Beyond Good. I would absolutely recommend that fans of my podcast add this one to their list.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/54wVyOm029JufraUSm5NzB?si=vzYhv0_oQ3iPzGtU1HToEg

Much of our discussion revolved around my approach to instructional coaching. I do not claim to have all the answers. I do know, however, that being timid and hiding in your office will never lead to improvements in teaching. I also suspect that withholding advice from teachers - such as by mainly asking interview questions to get the teacher to discover the answers to immediately solvable classroom problems - is not only ineffective, but it comes off as plain weird to teachers. As we talked about in the podcast, it feels similar to pulling over to ask for directions, only to be asked by the local townsperson, "Well, what did you do last time you were lost?"

Another thing that comes off as weird to teachers is trying to formalize instructional coaching. Some school districts send out forms, tools, and templates for their instructional coaches to use to document every converstation. I prefer to bypass these formalities by entering as many classrooms as I can, and talking to as many teachers as I can. And when I show up, I try to convey that I am there not to record or report on their activities, but to geek out about teaching. So, I put my computer away during coaching converstations and speak candidly.

But there is perhaps nothing weirder in instructional coaching than asking a teacher whether they would like to be in one of your coaching cycles. It shouldn't come as a surprise that few teachers want to commit to additional, unpaid responsibilities, especially ones that are not easily backed out of. Besides, when you ask teachers to be among the 3-4 teachers you will focus on for a semester, you invite them to wonder why they have been chosen. "Is it because the principal asked him to work with me, or because he thinks I suck?" Rather than awkwardly asking teachers to be in a coaching cycle, I just do coaching cycles, and privately plan next steps for my 3-4 teachers in OneNote.

Have a listen to the episode, which is also available on podcast sites like Apple Podcasts.