How to Start Coaching Faster and More Effectively

In this episode, I talk about how to get a faster and more effective start to coaching this year. 

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

What is Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works?

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.

Gene Tavernetti: 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 [e-mail].

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.

Hello, everyone.

It's just me again today.

And today, I'm gonna be talking about how we can get a, a fast start, a better start, a more effective start to our coaching program this year.

Everybody in North America is just getting back to, uh, school, and those of you around the world who've already been in school a while, hopefully this will still have some valuable information for you.

So today, I'm gonna talk about, again, how to get a, faster, more effective start with your coaching program.

And I wanna tell you that it starts with the administration.

It starts with the principal.

It's the principal and coach working together.

Now, one of the things that teachers have told me over and over and over again, what they don't-- one of the things they don't like about coaching is that the coaches don't know them.

it's a one-size-fits-all, and, you know, they're absolutely right.

So the only way we can get to know teachers is to observe them teaching, observe them in their practice, observe them doing all of their duties.

So this is where the administrator comes in.

This is where the principal comes in.

And one of the things we highly recommend Before anything happens is that the principal communicates to the staff that the coach is gonna be coming in and observing classrooms.

And we recommend that the coach does this with some type of letter, email, communication to the staff so that they know what's going on.

So, for example, here's a sample letter that one principal wrote to the staff, and it just says, "Over the next several weeks, you are gonna see our coach in classrooms frequently.

Those visits are not formal coaching observations, and they are certainly not evaluations.

She may come in for a few minutes, leave, and return another day or at a different point in the lesson.

There's no checklist.

There's no rating.

Her first job is to simply get to know you as a teacher, your students, your classroom, your strengths, and the challenges you face.

When she walks into your classroom, just keep teaching.

You do not need to stop, explain anything, or put on a show.

She's there to learn about you and your classroom so that when the coaching work begins, it can be genuinely useful and personalized.

I'm really excited that we have someone of our coach's depth of experience, demonstrated leadership, and genuine commitment to
teachers stepping into this role, and I have a great deal of confidence that she will-- what she will bring to our staff and students."

So just the-- see what this letter did.

First of all, it let the teachers know that somebody's coming in, why they're coming in, why they're not coming in.

This is not an evaluation.

This is not a coaching session.

This is just to go in to get to know the teachers.

Now, when should this begin?

Well, you don't wanna do it first day, obviously.

you probably don't want to do it second day.

Maybe starting third day is not too soon just to go and take a look at what's going on in the classrooms.

But that doesn't mean that first and second day there's nothing to observe.

How about how teachers gather the students, uh, at the door of their classroom and how they transition from, uh, recess to the classroom?

How middle school and high school kids transition between classes?

What's the procedure?

There's a lot to learn about how teachers and the entire staff does these things.

There's gonna be variance.

There's gonna be a lot of variability between teachers.

So one of the thing that the coach is doing is just gathering data to see who does what, what's effective.

And, and I'm gonna tell you one of the most difficult things in doing this is you're gonna see a new teacher maybe, and you're gonna give them some help.

You're gonna wanna give them some feedback.

You wanna give them a little tip.

Let me give you a little tip.

Don't say anything.

Now is not the time to start giving tips about how to do things better.

Now's the time just to go in, get to know them, collect data, and know what's going on in the entire school

An important note about this.

It can't just be you.

You are going to be doing the bulk of this work, but you are gonna need your administration to be on the same page as you.

So just as you are going into classrooms for just a few minutes early in the year, your administrator is gonna be needing to do the same thing because you're gonna be working as a team.

You don't want any surprises.

There should be no surprises if you tell an administrator, "Uh, there's an issue with how we're coming-- uh, how the kids are transitioning from
lunch back to the classroom, and we may need to do something as an entire school. Uh, our lunchroom is a mess. We may need to do something there."

You are eyes for the administrator, but the administrator needs to see it too.

The administrator needs to be involved.

And when I say involved, they need to be seeing the same thing that you're seeing.

You need to calibrate what you're seeing.

Okay, so tho-those are the first few days of school.

You're just observing, uh, what's going on outside of classrooms.

And then it's time to go into classrooms and observe.

And again, what are you observing?

You can observe everything that you think a teacher needs to know from, again, transitions, how you gain attention, how you get kids, back in their seats, how you correct kids, how you ask questions.

There are so many things that you can observe.

But if you are working on instruction, and you are working on effective lesson design and effective lesson delivery, that's the focus of why you're there.

And if that's the focus of why you are there, that means they have been trained in how to do this effective instruction that you're observing.

So you're gonna be observing that.

What are they doing?

But again, you're only gonna be in there for a few minutes at a time.

Initially, ten minutes here, five minutes there, ten minutes there, seeing what happens at different times of the day, different periods, different content areas if it's elementary, Just as much variable data that you can get.

And again, here's the feedback that you're going to give the teachers.

Zero.

None.

No feedback.

Even if you think, "Oh, this would be so good for them to know right now," save it.

The note from the principal, the email from the principal said there would be no feedback, no evaluation.

You have to honor that.

If every time a teacher sees you, and they think you have some little tidbit they're going to want to share, you've moved from being a coach to being a nag.

Do not say anything about these visits.

You are there to collect data about individual teachers and about how all teachers are doing.

Now, when we say about what all teachers are doing, is there are going to be things that teachers you want to work with individually, and there are
going to be things that teachers, maybe two teachers, three teachers, four teachers need to work on that you might be able to work with them as a group.

So gather that data.

What's a teacher doing individually?

Are other teachers doing the same thing?

Again, this is all before.

This is all before you have done any sort of coaching cycle with them.

Just in the classroom getting to know them.

And I like to think about this getting to know you period as how you're really developing a relationship.

think of a doctor that you like.

Think of a doctor that you go to, as opposed to doctors that you haven't liked.

I'd be willing to bet that if I asked you, "What are the characteristics of your favorite doctor?" You would say things like, " She knows me.

She listens to me.

She respects my time.

She has boundaries.

And I think all of those things are what teachers are gonna be looking for in coaches.

Some of you may have heard, "Oh, I'm gonna go in, and I'm gonna do a glow and grow.

I'm gonna tell them I'm being there for 10 minutes.

I'm gonna tell them something that was so great.

I'm gonna tell them, 'Oh, this was so good,' 'cause that's my glow, and then I'm gonna give them a grow." Give them nothing.

Don't say anything.

Save it.

Save it until it's time that you're actually gonna be doing some coaching, and then you'll really be impactful.

They don't wanna hear little bits here and there.

Let's wrap this up.

Couple things.

Administrator needs to let teachers know why you're in there, how long you're gonna be in there, what to expect, what you expect from them, what they can expect from you.

Number two, the principal needs to be in there as well, not with you, but has to go through classrooms as well so that that administrator can see what you're seeing.

It's very difficult to describe something that's going on.

They need to see what you're seeing.

And third, start right away.

Start right away.

Don't be getting your office ready.

Don't be setting up schedules.

Don't be doing all these things that you can do in your office, at another time.

Get into the classrooms.

See everybody.

See everybody multiple times.

I'm gonna tell you, it is gonna pay off.

I remember working with a coach once.

We met in August, and I gave him these suggestions just like I'm giving you.

And I went back in October, hadn't been in all the classrooms.

December, hadn't been in all the classrooms.

January, hadn't been in all the classrooms.

Get in the classrooms.

Get to know the teachers.

Let the teachers be used to seeing you.

Let the kids get used to seeing you.

This is gonna be the best way to develop that relationship with teachers.

They get to trust you.

And when you're talking to them and when you're giving tips later on and feedback, you're giving them to a person who you really know professionally.

I hope this is useful, and hope it gets you off to a good start.

Don't be in a hurry.

Don't be in a hurry to get started coaching, but be in a hurry to get into classrooms and find out who these folks are.

If you're enjoying these podcasts, tell a friend.

Also, please leave a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

You can follow me on BlueSky at gTabernetti, on Twitter, x at gTabernetti, and you can learn more about me and the work I do at my website, BlueSky.

Tesscg.

com, that's T E S S C G dot com, where you will also find information about ordering my books, Teach Fast, Focus Adaptable Structure Teaching, and Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles.