Listening for Patterns in Coaching Conversations

As an instructional coach, you’ll discern how to best support the teachers you work with through observation and careful listening. An instructional coach is a listener and learner first. She meets with a teacher to listen to and learn about the teacher’s concerns, strengths, and needs.
 
As you listen to understand the teacher’s perspective and goals, you can pose questions that support the teacher’s self-directed learning. Listening helps us focus on the teacher’s needs and ideas. Unless there is an urgent reason to do otherwise, it’s best to coach teachers on something they are interested in working on. Listening is the way to figure that out.
 
I met with Molly last week after observing a math lesson on expanded algorithms in her fifth-grade classroom. When we sat down, I first asked Molly what she wanted to celebrate about the lesson. I asked when she’s seen the most thinking. I asked her about light-bulb moments – times when she noticed that a student really caught on – when real learning occurred. Threaded through the conversation were her concerns about a few students who she felt were struggling. Even when I asked about successes, she prefaced it with part of the lesson when she’d noticed a student’s confusion.
 
As the time we had together was nearing it’s close, I said, “I noticed that several times during our conversation, you’ve mentioned that you were worried about some students who seemed to be struggling. Can you tell me more about that?” Molly described this as an ongoing pattern, not just a response to that day’s lesson. I asked, “What are some ideas you’ve had about supporting those students?”
 
Molly said she’d been wondering if grouping students differently might be helpful. “I know we’re not supposed to do homogeneous grouping,” she said, “But I think it might be helpful.” I affirmed that there were times when homogeneous grouping could work well. “What we want to be sure to do is keep groups flexible and have different kinds of grouping throughout the day, not just homogeneous groups. “How are you thinking that might work in your upcoming lessons?” I asked. Molly thought she would try homogeneous grouping for math the next day and see how it went. “I think I could pull them for just a few minutes right after our whole group time, just to get them off on the right foot,” she said. She thought she could also check in on that group a few minutes later, once their work was underway, to see how they were doing.
 
“Remember the idea of ‘catch and release’ that we talked about?” I asked. “You could pull students back together for a quick clarification if needed, then they could get back to work.”
 
Listening carefully as Molly reflected on the lesson helped me identify a pattern, leading to a fruitful conversation.
 
What the teacher says is ultimately more important than what you say as a coach (the one who does the talking does the learning!), so be prepared to prompt, encourage, and listen. When we listen with intensity so that we can hear and understand, we find threads that weave together to help us recognize patterns in the teacher’s story. Then we can respond in a teacher-centered way that leads to authentic questions. Asking questions is a powerful coaching tool for gathering information, engaging others in discussion, clarifying perspectives, and facilitating discovery and self-direction.
 
Listening builds connections and fosters respect, trust, and safety. As an instructional coach, you’ll determine the most effective ways to support teachers by attentively listening so that you can discern teachers’ hopes and needs.
 

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

Incorporate drawing into high school ELA:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/three-meaningful-ways-to-incorporate-drawing-in-english-class/
 
 
Achievement motivates!
 
https://nataliewexler.substack.com/p/the-key-to-motivating-students-and
 
 
Conferring with young writers:
 
https://ccira.blog/2025/02/04/conferring-with-young-writers/
 
 
Ted Talk – Every kid needs a champion:
 
https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion
 
 
The relationship side of coaching:
 
https://www.schoolstatus.com/blog/managing-relationships-the-power-of-follow-up
 
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! You can use the code: FEB2025 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!