As educators, we know that one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter teaching doesn’t work for our students. We recognize that students are individuals who need different things at different times to grow. However, this knowledge sometimes fails to translate to educating and coaching adults. Too often, instructional coaching looks like the very thing we try to avoid with students: following rigid steps, meeting to give standardized feedback, and moving on to the next person to replicate the process.
Coaches who work with a large faculty with varied teaching experiences face a significant challenge: how to meet teachers on their level and gently push them through the learning curves to achieve their goals and improve instructional outcomes.
The Coaching Toolbox
Viewing coaching strategies as a toolbox from which to draw “just right” interventions means that we can focus on teachers as individuals rather than as cogs in the machine. Adjusting our approach in this way helps us build the foundation necessary for lasting classroom change (Kise, 2009).
Setting Goals
Formal coaching work should start with a purposeful pre-conference between teacher and coach around an instructional goal or goals. One impactful way to approach goal setting is to create a student-focused, personalized goal with each teacher that centers on something they want to see happen in their classroom. This can be anything from hearing students answer questions in complete sentences to seeing them use models to represent word problems. Some teachers already know what changes they’d like to see; others will be open to possibilities coming from the coach.
Establishing the Coaching Relationship
A positive coaching relationship is foundational to the work coaches and school leaders do with teachers. We must be mindful of the reality, however, that many teachers are not ready to leap headfirst into an experience that demands trust and vulnerability (Matsumura et al., 2010). Sometimes we forget how daunting it can be for a teacher to host a guest in their classroom. Instead of rushing into a classroom observation or modeling a lesson for a less-than-receptive teacher, it’s essential that we find ways to demonstrate our credibility and empathy through small, meaningful interactions. Simple strategies such as being a sounding board for teachers or checking in regularly via email may seem low-impact, but they can make all the difference to the coaching relationship.
Such relationship-building strategies lead directly to opportunities for successful higher-impact work in the classroom. It’s as easy as replacing the phrase, “Let me know if you need any help” with, “I’d love to see that in action. Can I come by tomorrow?” Rather than ending interactions with a closing statement, keep the door open and push toward impactful work.
Viewing coaching strategies as a toolbox from which to draw “just right” interventions means that we can focus on teachers as individuals rather than as cogs in the machine.
Sometimes coaching is about being in the right place at the right time. For example, as a campus-based coach, I once passed by a classroom and overheard the teacher and students groaning in frustration. When I stepped in, the teacher explained that the speakers weren’t working, so she was unable to share the science video she’d planned. After a minute of troubleshooting, I plugged the speakers into the correct jack, and the narrator’s voice filled the room. The students cheered, the teacher was relieved, and I took the opportunity to ask, “Can I stay to see what you’re working on? I miss teaching science in my own classroom!” Thus began a series of conversations with that teacher about using video meaningfully during lessons.
Building Pathways to Apply New Learning
Instructional coaches spend hours of their days facilitating meetings. Preparing for these meetings with data analysis and collaborative planning can easily fill our calendar. We know the meetings matter, which is why we build them into school schedules and work to come up with creative solutions for classroom coverage. However, it’s not uncommon for a team to sit around a table, discuss the data, and then return to their classrooms without an understanding of how to use the data to make the changes they’re looking for.
When time spent in meetings results in little to no classroom change, it’s clear that there’s an obstacle in the way. Although some teachers may be natural implementors, many need a coach to help them develop a thoughtful plan for applying what they’ve learned. Based on the needs of individual teachers, we may want to provide opportunities to practice teaching points, discuss potential obstacles to the instructional goal, prepare ways to approach specific challenges, or build in personalized supports to translate the strategic learning for the classroom.
Tackling Team Dynamics
Our support should also reflect the needs of our teachers at the team level. One strategy that creates authentic, thought-provoking conversation is student work analysis, in which teachers use a rubric or guide to analyze student work, share their thinking and evidence about how students demonstrate certain skills, and discuss teaching actions to help students reach the instructional goal. This strategy helps shape a team of individual educators into a supportive learning community that grows together.
One of the most interesting conversations I’ve had as an instructional leader was with my 3rd-grade team. After three weeks of student instruction on “expository writing,” I realized that teachers were using the phrase to describe different types of writing. There seemed to be no agreement on what a successful piece of expository writing should look like.
To get everyone on the same page (pun intended!), I shared a 4th-grade writing sample. Using an example of strong student work that illuminated specific skills truly changed the way my teachers interacted around writing. We were able to discuss the strength of the writing based on the 4th-grade team’s rubric and analyze its connections to the 3rd-grade curriculum.
Another powerhouse strategy to use with teams of teachers is to build assessments together. This facilitates discussions about standards, what assessment should look like, test design, the kinds of misunderstandings or errors students may make, developmentally appropriate outcomes, and so much more. The dialogue and decision making that go into building common assessments generates a shared, deep understanding of the process.
Tools That Enhance Your Flexibility
The go-to strategies in coaching cycles are observing, modeling, and coteaching lessons. Each of these practices serves a specific purpose and supports teachers in a different way. Coteaching, especially, allows teachers to risk trying out something new with the safety net of the coach’s presence (Sweeney & Harris, 2017). However, teachers benefit tremendously when we expand our coaching toolbox to include strategies that help them envision practices in action, incorporate in-the-moment coaching support during a lesson, and identify the exact point at which a lesson goes off the rails.
Following are three strategies that will enhance your flexibility, allowing you to meet a variety of teacher needs across your school.
Visiting a Colleague
Not everyone is excited to learn a new instructional practice via a modeled lesson. A teacher might not be ready for a coach to be in their space teaching their students, and pushing in prematurely can feel invasive. In addition, it’s not uncommon for coaches to lack specific content knowledge (such as for a specialized class or one in a different language), which makes lesson modeling less practical. However, teachers often need to see new practices in action before they can envision them in their own classrooms. In such cases, setting up a visit with a colleague who has already mastered the skill in question is a highly impactful coaching strategy.
The more tools you have, the better you can support each teacher’s practice—and give them the gentle push they need to grow.
After determining an instructional goal with a teacher, identify a colleague who is strong in that area and arrange for a classroom visit. If possible, accompany the visiting teacher to observe the lesson and debrief with both teachers afterward to help connect the visiting teacher’s observations to their own classroom. Collegial classroom visits like these not only build capacity in teachers to serve as learning leaders across the campus, but also create an environment in which educators support each other organically.
Utilizing In-the-Moment Coaching
A veteran teacher once changed my coaching work when they said, “Just tell me right away if you see me doing something wrong.” Although I had no intention of describing their teaching as “wrong,” the idea of providing feedback or asking thought-provoking questions about their instructional goal in real time made me rethink the traditional coaching cycle structure.
Coaches typically observe a lesson, then follow up with feedback in a reflective post-observation conversation. But often the teacher is unsure which specific moments are being discussed in the conference and isn’t always able to connect the feedback to their practice.
Instead of delaying the conversation, try providing in-the-moment coaching to help a teacher think through their instruction, management, and interactions with students as they are happening. Before the lesson, discuss what an in-the-moment signal or prompt could look like, to ensure the teacher is on board and it will not be disruptive to students. For example, you might stand in the back of the classroom and hold up a yellow piece of cardstock with a clock drawn on it to remind the teacher of wait time before calling on a student. You may also choose to have a quick whisper conversation in which you ask the teacher, “Do you think students are ready to move on or do they need one more practice question? Let’s see how many got the last one right.”
Reflecting with Video Coaching
The days of having to check out a camera from the media specialist are long past. Now we all have a camera in our pocket, and we can use this incredible tool to support better instruction. Ask teachers to record a short lesson of approximately 5–12 minutes. Afterward, watch the video together, noting how students react to specific instructions or which interactions lead to undesired consequences (Beltran, 2021). Use these short videos to inform micro-coaching conversations. This feedback can not only have a big impact on the teacher’s assessment of their progress toward their instructional goal, but also highlight issues the teacher may not notice in their day-to-day practice.
The Bigger the Toolbox, the More Fitting the Solution
Expanding your instructional coaching toolbox is a powerful way to support each teacher in their practice and give them the gentle push forward they need to grow. Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all model to your school, identify ways you can support your teachers with a personalized approach using the right tool. Doing so will create the kind of professional learning environment we all want at our schools: one where teachers partner with coaches and each other to enhance their practice and maximize student success.
