Coaching thru Transitions

Remember when you went to an unfamiliar grocery store and everything was in the wrong place? Did you feel a bit drained by the time you left? If even small transitions like these feel uncomfortable, consider the discomfort families and educators are feeling as the school year gets underway.
 
Discomfort during transitions can come from at least four places: the unknown, extra decision-making, changes in relationships, and changes in identity.*
 
A sixth-grader may be walking into a middle school, not knowing what it will be like to have multiple teachers and a locker. A teacher may be using new curricula. A coach may be unclear about expectations for her role. These unknowns can feel weighty.
 
There are so many decisions to be made: What to wear, how to get there, who to talk to first. Students’ families are adjusting their morning routines: What time must the morning alarm be set for now? Teachers are deciding about the structures they want to establish: What do these students need? Coaches are considering how to best allocate their time: Which teachers should they begin with?
 
At the beginning of the new school year, even when returning to a familiar building, there will be new faces, new relationships to be established. That sixth-grader is hoping to see last years’ friends, but finds there’s no one he knows on the cross-country team. There’s a new teacher on the grade-level team that changes the whole dynamic. Similarly, these new teachers are unfamiliar to the coach, and relationships of trust need to be established.
 
For the middle-schooler, the identity shift is palpable. He was the experienced one at this elementary school, but now he’s the newbie. How does a sixth-grader even act? The teacher, at the beginning of the school year, is shifting from her summer persona to the facilitator of learning. Maybe even changing classes taught or grade level. How is a STEM teacher different from a math teacher? How is a first-grade teacher different from a fourth-grade one? A huge identity shift happens for the teacher transitioning into a coaching role. How does the coach view her new self? How do others view her? Will she be considered credible?

Recognizing the tensions of the unknown, of decision-making, of new relationships, and of identity shifts can help us face them more intentionally. Transitions require that we get into a more conscious state – we can’t act out of habit. This offers the opportunity for planning, for purposeful creation. We get to design new spaces.

Coaches can minimize the unknown by getting clear about their roles and responsibilities (with themselves, their principals, and their teachers). Make sure the district calendar and the school’s master schedule are at your fingertips. Ink in testing dates. These steps make the upcoming year more known.
 
We can make big decisions in advance, and make them only once. Coaches can determine a coaching model they’ll use. (Of course, I recommend the GIR Model 😊, which integrates well with other coaching cycle designs. If you’d like the GIR coaching conversation plan, click here). We can decide on our coaching master schedule, setting aside blocks of time for planning, observing, conferring, and our own professional learning. We can prioritize to-do lists for when unexpected small chunks of time pop up. Now the decision-making for this beginning-of-year transition feels manageable!
 
The relationships we maintain or establish with teachers are both personal and professional. When we get back together in August with our colleagues, it’s okay to spend some time catching up – it’s not a waste, because coaching is relational work. I was flattered recently when September Gerety recalled a time 10 years ago (!!!) that I brought mini Almond Joys to a meeting because at the previous one, she’d complained that someone had eaten all the Almond Joys (her favorites!) out of the bowl in the teacher’s lounge. “Vicki was so focused on the work, I didn’t expect her to be paying attention to something like that,” she said. All these years later, both things stood out to her: my focus on the work and my gift of Almond Joys. As coaches, we are establishing both credibility and connection. Relationships matter.
 
Identity is closely-related to relationships, and we are working on both at the beginning of the school year, especially if we are morphing into coach as a new role. Which of your skills and passions especially lend themselves to your coaching work? How do you collaborate? How do you contribute? How do you lead? How do you promote teachers and students? How do you contribute to the culture and climate of the school? Considering these aspects of identity inform your transition into the new year.

Coaching identity is also forged by personal attributes such as presence, openness, positivity, and curiosity. Humility, especially, is important because it establishes a productive horizontal stance with teachers, rather than a vertical, authoritative stance over them. They’ll respond better to a guide-by-the-side than a dictator-from-above. Humility and confidence can (and should) co-exist in the coaching role. (Shame and self-confidence are at opposite ends of one spectrum; Pride and humility are on a different continuum* – and you know where we need to be on both of these gauges!) We can acknowledge and draw on teachers’ expertise and experience while sharing our own.
 
By proactively managing unknowns, decisions, relationships, and identities at the beginning of the school year, we can make this transition a productive one. 

(For a Coach's Guide to Beginning-of-Year Transitions, click here.)

*Thanks to Jody Moore for these ideas.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Monday headlines for a peek at home life:
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/monday-headlines/

This video on using a mentor text as a writing guide:

https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/

Why coaches need a “smile file”:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/smile-file/

Formative assessments that inspire creativity:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/creative-formative-assessments/

Books about books (for all ages):
https://www.alitlife.com/2023/08/08/books-to-celebrate-book-lovers-day/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Hooray!!! My book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: AUG2023 for 15% off plus FREE SHIPPING. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
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