Overcoming the Culture of Nice

Instructional coaching is built on trust and positive relationships. We want to affirm the good things that are happening and build on them. But that doesn’t mean we can’t also be a critical friend who thinks through – and sometimes points out – challenges. We can both affirm AND recommend. However, this might feel uncomfortable. It means overcoming an established “culture of nice” that researchers recognize as dominant in school settings.
 
The coaching culture at your school is rooted in the broader culture of teaching, which tends to value norms of privacy, individualism, politeness, and non-interference. This culture of nice reflects a preference for congeniality over critical colleagueship. Teachers are likely to experience feelings of vulnerability in a coaching situation (with escalated feelings of vulnerability for novice teachers). It’s appropriate that coaches want teachers to feel comfortable, safe, and successful, but that doesn’t mean we have to avoid saying or doing anything that might cause feelings of discomfort. Change requires discomfort. Growth requires discomfort.
 
A discomfort-avoidance stance is reflected in feedback that accentuates the positive and avoids attention to things that aren’t going as well. Sometimes, we use the sandwich technique to squeeze in feedback that challenges the status quo between two positive statements – an approach that research suggests doesn’t work, because most listeners walk away focusing on only the outside, positive slices of feedback. (Even though you and I can probably think of teachers who are just the opposite, in general, this holds true.)
 
The culture of nice is also reflected in coaches’ desire to avoid judgment, It is true that we shouldn’t jump to judgment, taking an inquiry stance instead to find out more. It is possible, however, that this avoidance attitude may also limit learning.
 
How do coaches think about the place of supportive challenge in their work, especially with novices? How do they support teachers in navigating the discomfort that arises when confronted with ideas, evidence, or possibilities that challenge their expectations or experiences?
 
Conditions that promote teacher learning include both affirming and recommending, as demonstrated in the GIR model. We lean into the coaching move that fits the situation to create a coaching environment that overcomes norms of politeness and the desire for harmony that can inhibit serious professional exchange. By embracing a both/and approach, we ease the tension between the coach’s role as a guide for instructional improvement and norms of individualism, privacy, and non-interference. Collaborative coaching environments overcome an unproductive culture of nice to include opportunities for work as critical friends.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Creating class books:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/lets-write-together-the-importance-of-class-books/
 
 
During coaching interactions, be a thermostat, not just a thermometer:
 
https://larahogan.me/blog/be-a-thermostat-not-a-thermometer/
 
 
Build background knowledge to increase understanding:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/prior-knowledge-reading-skills
 
 
Reading WHOLE books fosters empathy and comprehension:
 
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64953/its-not-too-late-to-read-that-entire-book-with-your-students
 
Or listen to this podcast about Google tools for student engagement:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/podcast-tech-tools-and-student-engagement/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! It’s still November, so you can use the code: NOV2024 for 20% off. 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!