As I read the September 2015 ASCD Educational Leadership, which is focused on questioning for learning, I was struck with how many of the issues explored equally connected to coaching work with teachers. A research alert (page 8) cites a study from the journal, Neuron (October 2014), that indicates when a person’s curiosity about a topic […]

I was asked to facilitate 15 elementary coaches’ reflections on their past year’s experiences and gather direction for the next school year. I think that the questions I used can be helpful to others who are leading instructional coaching teams. If you are an instructional coach you can use the questions individually for personal reflection. […]

New instructional coaches or coaches newly assigned to a school seek to find a starting point for building coaching relationships. My guidance is to begin with finding the teacher’s agenda ….changes the teacher wants to make with learners…. and establishing that as a coaching goal. A backwards planning approach can generally be applied here: What […]

I often explore the role of vulnerability in coaching relationships. I need to make myself vulnerable with my coach for me to gain maximum growth from coaching input. As a coach I need to share my own vulnerability in supporting the person I’m coaching. Brené  Brown, the author of The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on […]

 Frequently when doing school wide observations of teaching and learning with instructional coaches and principals, questions arise regarding the co-teaching settings we experience. I find rather often that many schools have no clear picture or guidelines of ways to assess how the quality of learning is impacted by the efforts of the teaching team. I […]

Education: Most teachers have never had a coach and are not sure what to do with one. Many have had a mentor and all have had a supervisor/evaluator but not an instructional coach. Considering the cost to school systems, when they decide to invest in instructional coaching positions they should be considering how they educate […]