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Instructional coaches are often treated as a school’s all-purpose backup: covering classes, managing testing logistics, joining extra committees, and handling whatever emergency appears next. In this episode of Better Teaching, Gene Tavernetti explains how those individually reasonable requests quietly dismantle a coaching program.
Gene makes the case for protecting coaching time as carefully as instructional time. He recommends a clear job description, a schedule that protects observation and debriefing, explicit monthly expectations, and a target of spending 70–80 percent of the coach’s time in classrooms. The long-term choice is clear: covering a class solves today’s problem, while coaching improves instruction this year and the years that follow.
Better Teaching is hosted by Gene Tavernetti and focuses on practical ideas for teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and everyone who supports better work in classrooms—no clichés, no buzzwords, only stuff that works.
Added/created/modified by Codex on 2026.09.22 13:22 PT on ombee
Descriptions of effective teaching often depict an idealized form of "perfect" instruction. Yet, pursuing perfection in teaching, which depends on children's behavior, is ultimately futile. To be effective, lessons and educators need to operate with about 75% efficiency. The remaining 25% can be impactful, but expecting it in every lesson, every day, is unrealistic. Perfection in teaching may be unattainable, but progress is not. Whether you are aiming for the 75% effectiveness mark or striving for continuous improvement, this podcast will guide you in that endeavor.
Welcome to Better Teaching.
Only stuff that works, a podcast for teachers,
instructional coaches, administrators,
and anyone else who supports teachers in the classroom.
This show is a proud member of the BE Podcast Network,
shows that help you go beyond education.
Find all our shows at bepodcastnetwork.com.
I am Gene Tavernetti, the host for this podcast,
and my goal for this episode, like all episodes,
is that you laugh at least once,
and that you leave with an actionable idea for better teaching.
A quick reminder, no cliches, no buzzwords,
only stuff that works.
Hi everyone, it's just me again today,
and today it's just another short episode,
and I wanted to share some thoughts about
an issue that we see frequently,
that disrupts the coaching program,
that really stifles the coaching program,
that really prevents it from being all it could be.
It's one of the traps that schools get into,
when they see coaches as the valuable all-purpose supports,
whether it's covering classes, running meetings,
managing test logistics,
handling whatever the building needs today,
because there's an emergency,
and why it persists is very clear.
It's, you know, schools are understaffed,
and a capable adult,
not tied to a classroom,
is irresistible to an overwhelmed principle.
The coach becomes a utility player,
sub-coverage, testing help,
committee meetings nobody wants.
Each individual task seems reasonable.
Collectively, they eat the coaching calendar so completely,
that coaching never happens.
Now the principal isn't doing this intentionally,
maliciously,
but they are deep and dismantling the site's coaching program bit by bit.
Every time a coach is asked to provide support in an area outside
of what would be considered coaching duties,
they're diminishing the importance of the coach,
and their coaching responsibilities.
Again, the principal isn't doing this maliciously.
In schools, there always seems to be one emergency after another.
The principal is drowning,
and the coach is the nearest like boat.
And not coincidentally,
the coach in many instances
would be the logical choice to assume those duties,
as they are usually a multi-talented and skilled individual.
And just to add one more layer,
many instructional coaches chose to be coaches.
They chose the role because they saw it as a step up the career ladder.
They applied to be a coach,
not because they necessarily wanted to coach,
but they wanted to become known as a person with multiple skills
and a team player willing to do whatever needs to be done.
Teachers noticed that coaches are pulled.
The message is clear.
The coach's job is not important.
Again, the principal isn't doing this maliciously
or intentionally to demean the program.
But there are so few models of effective instructional coaching programs,
including models of individual coaching that are successful,
that the principal doesn't even realize the damage they are doing.
We want to be clear.
We do not believe the principal is pulling the coach from coaching duties,
means to be harming anyone.
But every time the coach gets pulled to cover a class,
that's meeting with another teacher, the coach has to cancel.
It's a coaching cycle that didn't happen.
And meetings and coaching cycles with teachers are how instruction approves.
This is worse when the role of the coach is poorly defined.
No job description, specifying classroom time versus other tasks,
no expected number of coaching cycles per month,
no weekly schedule that protects observation and debrief time.
Without parameters, the role fills whatever vacuum exists.
And in schools, there's always a vacuum.
There's always a class to cover.
There's always a meeting to attend.
There's always a crisis that seems more urgent than the coaching cycle
that was supposed to start that day.
Protect the coach's calendar like you'd protect instructional time,
because that's what it is.
Define the role, minimum 70 to 80 percent in classrooms,
observing, debriefing, planning, running cycles,
write it down, track it, review it monthly,
hold leadership accountable for protecting it.
And start with a clear job description that specifies what the coach does.
And just as importantly, what the coach doesn't do.
The coach doesn't cover classes, except in genuine emergencies.
And I want to tell you about my former partner, Dr. Randy Olson,
who had been a superintendent, retired a few years ago,
successful superintendent for over 25 years.
And Dr. Olson, in the days before cell phones,
would give his staff the following instructions about contacting him
and disturbing him if he was off-campus at meetings.
He would say, only contact me if it's an emergency.
And remember, nothing is an emergency.
He didn't mean that things don't come up on a school campus.
Of course they do.
But most of the time, there are capable and competent people
who can handle it without having to kick the problem upstairs.
When pressure comes and they always will,
leadership has to decide priorities.
Covering a class today solves today's problem.
Coaching solves this year and next year and the year afters problems.
Every time a coach is pulled for logistics,
the school chooses short-term convenience over long-term improvement.
That's a legitimate choice if it's conscious and rare.
It's a disaster when it's unconscious and constant.
It will be the beginning of the end of the instructional coaching program.
I hope you have enjoyed this episode and I look forward to having you visit next week.
You're enjoying these podcasts.
Tell a friend.
Also, please leave a five-star rating on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
You can follow me on Blue Sky at G Tavernetti on Twitter,
X at G Tavernetti.
And you can learn more about me and the work I do at my website, testcg.com.
That's T-E-S-S-C-G.com, where you will also find information about ordering my books,
teach fast, focus adaptable structure teaching, and maximizing the impact of coaching cycles.