Practice This: Enhancing Strengths

As we enter into the summer season, there’s a shift in the day-to-day tasks for coaches. Hopefully we’ll make time for rejuvenation and pause. The better we refill ourselves, the more we have to share with others.
 
Summer can also be a time to coach ourselves, practicing stances we’ll take with us into our coaching work later. One approach for coaching ourselves this summer is to set goals that focus on enhancing our strengths. We can reinforce and refine rather than attempting to do away with a chronic trouble. When we identify strengths and frame goals as positives, our motivation increases.
 
Summarize Strengths
 
When taking this approach, it’s helpful to begin by summarizing strengths. Instead of a list of lacks, catalog things you’re good at. For practice this summer, this list can include a range of physical, intellectual, social, and emotional attributes. Divide a blank sheet of paper into 4 quadrants and label with these 4 categories; then begin listing your strengths. For example, I’m including hiking in my physical section, theorizing for intellectual, listening in the social section, and self-efficacy in emotional. Of course, adjust categories so that they make sense for you.
 
Identify Focus
 
Once you’ve got an index that includes many of your strengths, review the list and put a star by a few you’d like to enhance this summer. Next, think about how you can take these assets to the next level. Build a goal based on previous wins. How will you boost them? It’s helpful to write out a concrete statement. For example, my short-term hiking goal is to walk at least 1 mile at least 4 times per week, with each walk including an incline (my long-term dream goal is to hike the Alps with my siblings!).
 
Identity Shift
 
When we focus on strengths, we are becoming more of our best self – the person we envision ourselves to be. We reflectively ask, “What went well?” and “When have I had success in a situation like this before?” Building on strengths makes it easier to see goals as an identity shift rather than a to-do list. We visualize and celebrate successes and cultivate an attitude of becoming. Even if the changes are tiny ones, we are re-forming and transforming ourselves in positives ways.
 
Strengths-Based Coaching
 
This summer, as you take a strengths-based approach to reaching your own goals, you’ll be developing a stance that you can take with you into your coaching work in the fall. Strengths-based coaching amplifies assets, building on the valuable skills and experiences teachers have had that can be leveraged for growth in teacher practice and student learning. You will look for what’s working well – routines, relationships, strategies, and content expertise – and use these as a foundation for your coaching work. You will look for possibilities, not problems, as you work side-by-side with teachers, acknowledging their voice, agency, and expertise. It may not be your only or always approach, but strengths-based coaching can be a helpful tool – especially when you are establishing new coaching relationships and when teachers are experiencing doubt or lack of self-efficacy. And this summer is a good time to practice strengths-based coaching on yourself!

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
10-Minute Podcast: 5 awesome things for teachers to do this summer:
 
https://www.coolcatteacher.com/5-awesome-things-for-teachers-to-do-this-summer/
 
Fun with words:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/vocabrity-fun-with-words-for-middle-school-students/
 
Kindergarten relationship skills that predict college success:
 
https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/kindergarteners-with-these-two-skills-are-twice-as-likely-to-get-a-college-degree-according-to-a-19-year-study.html
 
 
Handling negative coaching responses:
 
http://cultureofcoaching.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-do-you-handle-angry-or-negative.html
 
AI and writing instruction:
 
https://community.theeducatorcollaborative.com/processes-problems-and-possibilities-where-2025-finds-us-with-ai-in-writing-instruction/
 
 
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: FDNS25 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!

My Coaches Couch Top 10

Last week, this blog passed the 300,000 view mark. I thought this was a good time to point you toward the most-viewed posts so that you can revisit or discover the content that has drawn the most attention. So, let’s take a look at My Coaches Couch top 10, in count-down fashion (each post is linked):
 
Let’s get started with the #10 spot!
 
#10 Celebrating Success
This end-of-school-year post talks about giving teachers the space to reflect on their own accomplishments. Reflection helps teachers see that their hard work and persistence have paid off!
 
#9 Teach the Teacher
When coaching, we often deflect attention from the teacher to provide a safe space for conversations about the art and craft of teaching. Those safe spaces are important, but ultimately, improving instruction is about the teacher. Find out more about using specific examples from instruction to strike a balance that leads to change.  
 
#8 Modeling as Translation
This super-short post describes “fishbowl” modeling for students and likens the benefits to those of coaches modeling for teachers.
 
#7 Working with “Pumpkin Patch Teachers”
This post rolled out just before Halloween, which may account for its viewability. 😊 However, I think the content is relevant for coaches as well – How to work with a teacher who is desperately hanging on to old ways. 
 
#6 Be a Data Explorer
This is the concluding post in a series of 4 that describe protocols for collaborative data exploration (links to the other posts, with the protocols described, are also included). Using these protocols reduces unproductive change.  
 
#5 Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching
This post provides an overview of the GIR model and how it accounts for the differences among teachers in experience and expertise, including how these factors change over time.
 
#4 Using Third Points
During two-point communication, teacher and coach are looking directly at each other, which is usually helpful in building coaching relationships. But if a conversation might be difficult, it helps to shift to third-point communication. In this post, you can learn about possible third-points and why they’re useful.
 
#3 Funneling or Focusing: Using Questions to Support Thinking
Asking questions is the fulcrum of the GIR model, the coaching move that gives the bulk of the decision-making to the teacher. This post describes funneling and focusing questions, including examples of how and when to use each.
 
#2 Coaching Roles & Responsibilities
Included is a description of the coaching roles that, according to research, make the biggest impact. This post also includes a link to a template for a principal-coach agreement – important for getting the two of you on the same page.
 
Drum roll, please! The most-viewed post on the bog is….
 
#1 Coaches & Teachers: The Intersection of Greatness
This post compares the collaborative work of coaches and teachers to the confluence of strong rivers. When coach and teacher join together to form a single channel of thought, there is symmetry in the relationship, 
 
I hope you’ll take the opportunity to peruse some of these posts as we mark this milestone!
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

As a coach, it helps to be likeable.  J  Here are 13 habits of likeable people (maybe we can work on these over the summer!):
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2015/01/27/13-habits-of-exceptionally-likeable-people/
 
 
Creating belonging fosters learning:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/picture-books-for-mental-wellness/
 
 
Are graphic novels real reading?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7oLlFR2uKg&feature=youtu.be
 
 
Brain breaks for high-schoolers (and all ages!):
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/17-brain-breaks-tailored-for-high-schoolers/
 
 
Regie Routman describes how to build the trust students need to learn:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/37101/10-ways-to-build-the-trust-kids-need-to-learn/
 
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: FDNS25 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!
 

Reflections on a Coaching Year

At the close of the school year, instructional coaches support teachers’ reflection on their work. This is also a time to pause and think about our own experience. It can be helpful to frame our reflection around three “sights”: hindsight, insight, and foresight. Hindsight helps us recognize what we’ve gained in the past. Insight governs our present, and foresight prepares us for our future. Let’s settle into each of these to guide our introspection.
 
Hindsight for Reflection
 
Growth lives in the honest examination of experience. When we take the time to check in on events that occurred and how we and others experienced them, we can better recognize effects. Here are some questions for summoning hindsight:

• Which coaching conversations felt most productive or transformative?
• What feedback did I receive from teachers, formally or informally?
• What habits or routines helped me be consistent and effective?
• What coaching moves had the biggest impact on teacher growth and student learning?
• What moments of discomfort led to breakthroughs — for me or for the teachers I support?
• What patterns emerged across my work that are worth noticing?

Choose two or three of the above questions to consider. As you do, try to filter defensiveness and distortion. Instead, lean into humility and curiosity. Journaling or talking through your responses with a trusted colleague could be helpful in recognizing hindsight. Unfortunately, experience doesn’t automatically lead to growth – it could just foster stagnation. But experience plus clear reflection leads to hindsight. And learning from the past propels insight.
 
Insight for Understanding
 
Insight is clarity in the present. Insight is deep, grounded in in-the-moment examination. It’s that light-bulb moment, that “ah-hah” experience. It’s what happens when something clicks. Insight can resolve stuckness. Walking through the day with eyes wide open and presence of mind increases insight. Here are some questions to foster insight:

• What do I know now about my coaching that I didn’t know a year ago?
• What do I now understand about my role?
• What’s bringing me energy in my work? What’s draining it?
• How do my values show up in my day-to-day coaching practice?
• What have I learned about navigating school culture and systems?

Insight is recognition of what matters, what’s true, and what’s possible. Insight might offer a shift, a reframing, or a new direction. Although it lives squarely in the now, it opens future options.
 
Foresight for Intention-Setting
 
Foresight is looking ahead with intentionality. It includes taking stock so that we know what we’re carrying forward. Foresight is not just predicting – it’s choosing how we want to show up in the future. It is planning with purpose. Foresight helps us position ourselves so that we’re ready for what will come. It is all about designing a hoped-for future. Here are some questions to engage foresight:

• What do I want to do more of next year? Less of?
• What kind of coaching culture do I want to help create?
• What will I need to let go of to make space for something new?
• What structures (e.g., schedules, tools, norms) will help me be more effective?
• What risk am I willing to take in my coaching practice?
• What learning do I need to pursue to support teachers more powerfully?
• What systems, routines, or boundaries will help me coach more effectively?

Foresight allows us to design the future rather than drift into it. Through foresight, we align our future actions with noticed opportunities. Summer is a great time for breaking away from the day-to-day so that we can zoom out and strategize a desired future. Foresight fosters clarity and hope.

Using Our “Sights”
As you shift into summer mode, I hope you can carry this reflection with you – not as baggage, but as ballast. Ballast, according to Webster, improves stability and control, equipping us and steadying our course. I hope our hindsight can ground us, our insight can guide us, and our foresight can propel us toward our aspirations for 2025-26.
 

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

Picture books for mental wellness:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/picture-books-for-mental-wellness/
 
 
6 Ways to recharge this summer:
 
https://artsintegration.com/2018/07/01/6-ways-to-recharge-in-the-summer/
 
 
Book clubs as teen activism:
 
https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/ya-books-reflect-the-activism-of-real-life-teens
 
 
How to program your brain for positivity:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmx_35rQIRg
 
What data counts for student growth:
 
https://ccira.blog/2022/05/17/creating-a-narrative-of-progress-broadening-the-definition-of-reading-growth/
 
 
As the school year draws to a close, I wish you more:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hti6bGm4664
 
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: FDNS25 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!

Wrap-Up Report

In last week’s post, I named my questions for the final coaching conversations of the year and promised to report back on how this winding-down process went. Rather than a play-by-play, I’ll share some highlights from one coaching conversation – with Eleanor, a novice teacher – that have been helpful for me to reflect on.
 
I started the conversation with questions about something Eleanor had noticed that made her smile, about her hopes for students’ next steps, and about her dreams for her own future classroom. These questions all bore fruit with specifics – reflections about the recent past and hopes for students’ hard-won understandings. The next question was, “What’s a micro-step you could take between now and the end of the year that would get you a teeny bit closer to your dream future?”
 
After a thoughtful pause, Eleanor talked about one last writing assignment she planned to do with students after the semester test. “I’m hoping I can tie things off with a little bow,” she said. “Show them how much they’ve grown.”
 
Eleanor had just told me about one student’s work that she’d submitted to administration to document her impact, describing the impressive difference between a beginning-of-year and end-of-year writing assignment. So, including the phrase she’d used herself, I asked whether she thought it might be a good end-of-the-year activity, to tie things off with a bow, by doing something similar with all students, having them find beginning- and end-of-year writing in their Google drive. I told her about when I’d done something similar and had students write a quick summary of the differences they noticed.
 
By using Eleanor’s own language, I wanted to strengthen her intention for a clear and meaningful closure and to emphasize that I was supporting her own hopes. Mirroring the teacher’s language deepens connections, enhances clarity, and fosters an individualized coaching experience.
 
Eleanor thought this over and problematized it. For some, Eleanor said, that might be motivating and show what’s possible. “That might work for the students who actually turned stuff in,” she said. This was not the time to wonder with her about why some students hadn’t turned in beginning-of-year assignments. I let that slide as unrelated to our current closure conversation, but I made a mental note that it might be something to address next fall.
 
We kept going with the same thread. Would it be helpful to show the whole class a few anonymous pre/post examples, I asked. “Well, maybe for the 8^th graders, She paused. Maybe I could have a discussion board asking, “What’s one way that you’ve grown this year?...Or maybe I could find a way to make it more fun.” There was another thoughtful pause while Eleanor considered.
 
Again using her own words, I asked Eleanor, “How might you make it fun?”
 
Eleanor said that a lot of her kids really benefit from visual presentations. Maybe they could do sticky note responses, she said, and then plaster them on the wall. “That would give them something look at.”
 
I mentioned I remembered that is something she’d done in the past that seemed to work well. Now, Eleanor was smiling, and there was a sparkle in her eye. Connecting a current idea to past successes helped her feel grounded, capable, and optimistic – essential characteristics for meaningful growth.
 
I came back to the idea I’d pitched earlier about having students look at the two pieces to come up with what to write on their sticky note – to help them identify ways they’d grown. I’m not sure whether there was uptake on my idea, but the part she came up with as we talked – the sticky note idea – seemed sure to stick! “That would be fun to save for after semester test,” Eleanor said. “Fill up the wall with sticky notes!”
 
With this being our last scheduled meeting for the year, I thanked Eleanor for our collaborative work. She replied that “being able to talk about my classroom experience one on one” had been helpful.” “Being able to reflect, like when we’re in meetings like this, helps me unscramble my brain,” she continued. “The opportunities for reflection have been really good.” Now it was Eleanor’s turn to do the affirming!
 
She continued, “Those individual meetings for reflection where I can spend more time talking about how things went and bouncing my observations off someone, that’s really helpful. I do reflect on my own, while I’m teaching, after I’m teaching. But getting the chance to verbalize that, to sort things out – besides like all the strings and the stuff all over my brain” (here she made gestures about things ping-ponging in head). “Saying I’m going to do something makes it a little more real.”
 
“I’m grateful for all your help,” Eleanor continued. “We talked about the kids’ growth, but I feel like I’ve grown a lot this year. Whenever I stop and think about it – I’ve made a lot of big steps.” Ah, that, my friends, is why we do this work!
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Songs for end-of-the-year reflection (I plan to use some for teacher reflection as well):
 
https://www.bespokeclassroom.com/blog/2017/5/14/10-songs-with-prompts-to-use-at-the-end-of-the-school-year-for-reflection
 
 
5 end-of-year tasks for instructional coaches:
 
http://buzzingwithmsb.blogspot.com/2017/05/5-end-of-year-tasks-for-instructional.html
 
 
The power of story in overcoming difficulties:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/the-power-of-story/
 
 
This short video asks us to consider what we are willing to shift to empower students:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYBJQ5rIFjA
 
 
To improve lessons, think like a student:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/understanding-student-experience-classroom 
 
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: FDNS25 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!

Winding Down

It’s May. Where I live, testing is over. We’re in the delicious month of wrapping up. May is full of activities, but they’re celebratory. Teachers feel more flexibility, and they want to finish on a high note.
 
This week, I’ll be having year-end conversations with teachers. I want the talk to be positive, but also productive and real. So I’m taking this week’s blog post to think things through with you.
 
I think I’ll walk a bit of a zig-zaggy path for these closing conversations and be ready to follow the teacher’s lead. I’m thinking I want to start with a past positive, move to an envisioned future, and then take one last look at the present. Here’s the conversation plan that is unfolding in my head, what I’m looking forward to asking.
 
Thinking Back
I’ll begin by asking the teacher to look back – to do a rearview mirror check. I think I’ll ask:

·       What’s something you noticed in your classroom last month that made you smile?

·       Can you tell me a story of a student who grew this year?

Projecting Forward
Next, I want to invite the teacher to project a bright future. Here are some questions that might work: 

·       What are your hopes for your students as they take their next steps?

·       Imagine your dream class for next year. What do you see? What do you hear? What does it feel like? 

Assessing the Present
Finally, we’ll step back into the present.  It’s not over ‘til it’s over!  Some questions that might be helpful are:

·       What’s a micro-step you could take between now and the end of the year that would get you a teeny bit closer to your dream future?

·       What’s a micro-step you might take this summer to get closer to your dreamy future classroom – some small thing to do in advance?

Well, thanks for thinking that through with me! If you’ve tried something like this and have thoughts to share, please comment below to help me refine this plan. If you try my ideas, I’d also love to hear about that
. After I try the plan, I’ll let you know how it goes!
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Models for faculty-led PD:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/collaborative-faculty-professional-development-benefits
 
7 types of rest everyone needs: 
 
https://ideas.ted.com/the-7-types-of-rest-that-every-person-needs/
 
 
Ideas for end-of-year learning:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/29647/make-end-of-year-learning-meaningful-fun/
 
The value of rereading picture books:
 
https://teachersbooksreaders.com/2021/02/22/read-them-again-and-again-and-again/
 
 
Reasons and resources for teaching empathy:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/empathy-classroom-why-should-i-care-lauren-owen
 
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: FDNS25 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!

 

Coach Like a Yoga Instructor

This week, as I learned a little more about yoga, I thought about how instructional coaches are like yoga instructors. For both, growth is personal, nonlinear, and guided through observation. Coaches and yoga instructors both give gentle nudgings and ask questions rather than giving directive demands.
 
During a yoga routine, you might be stretching into a new pose. You’re not sure whether you’ve got it right. The instructor comes near, offers a light push on your shoulder, and asks, “How does that feel?” It’s not a correction, but an invitation to notice. That’s a lot like instructional coaching.
 
When an instructional coach makes a recommendation, she can similarly ask, “How does that feel?” When I told Emma about the “Take a Stand”* activity for learning about counterclaims in argumentative writing, I asked, “How does that feel?” and found that some classroom management concerns arose for her. The question prompted productive conversation about both risk-taking and holding clear expectations. Instructional coaches support gentle adjustments.
 
In yoga, the participant is expected to tune into their own experience. During a yoga routine, we settle into our bodies and notice what is going on. That guides us as we move toward our goals for flexibility and well-being.
 
It’s a maxim that teaching requires flexibility. As we face unprecedented teacher burnout, the importance of attending to well-being is amplified. Asking, “How does that feel?” helps a teacher check in and notice whether something suggested or tried aligns with current needs – their own as well as their students’.
 
A yoga instructor might suggest, “Notice where you’re holding tension.” An instructional coach similarly encourages reflection. She might ask, “Which part of that lesson felt just right?” “Which parts felt less fluid?” and “What do you think worked well in that moment?”
 
Like yoga instructors, coaches tailor their support to the teacher’s context, experience, and comfort. We think about pushes and pulls and help the teacher to adjust. To grow and change, we have to be willing to stretch and wobble. Like yoga instructors, coaches work to create safe space where teachers can take the kinds of risks that lead to growth.
 
*In “Take a Stand,” students first write briefly about their opinion on a topic, then stand against one wall or the other to de
monstrate their side. A debate ensues between the sides, with claims and counterclaims. Finally, students are invited to switch sides if they’ve been persuaded.
 

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

It’s May! Ideas for wrapping up the school year:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/34768/keep-students-engaged-until-summer-begins/
 
 
This video about encouraging students:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos/
 
 
Writing fantasy to satisfy standards and foster creativity and engagement:
 
https://ccira.blog/2025/03/31/respond-to-the-creativity-crisis-by-teaching-fantasy-writing/
 
 
Ideas to energize learning:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/renewing-energy-in-the-classroom/
 
 
How to stay optimistic (a retro musical message!):
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEhj-rQSAU
 
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: FDNS25 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!

Coaching with Credibility and Curiosity

Curiosity and credibility are two valuable coaching ingredients. The trust that is necessary for coaching includes both relational trust and experiential trust. The teachers you are working with need to feel seen and
safe in your presence, and they need to feel that you are credible and that you believe they are, too. Credibility comes from knowing that you are drawing from you own experience and from you knowledge in the field. Teachers need to know they can trust any counsel you might provide. So they have to know you know some things. However, your confidence will be best received if it is quiet confidence paired with curiosity.
 
When working with teachers, ask questions from a place of authentic wonder. Wonder with the teacher about why something happened and how it might happen. Ask questions that demonstrate your curiosity and openness. Asking “Why do you think…” with curiosity provokes useful analysis. Questions can evoke teachers’ curiosity, and the best questions are those about which coaches themselves are authentically curious. When coaches ask with genuine curiosity, we communicate respect and show faith in the teacher because we demonstrate that we value what he has to say.
 
It can sometimes be hard to pull away from our own knowledge and experience enough to ask an authentic question. We have to mentally set aside the answer we would give so that we can care more about the teacher’s response.
 
When a teacher says she wants students to be able to show their thinking, we might authentically ask, “What does that look like to you?”  When a teacher says she wants students to describe their problem-solving process, we might ask, “Can you think of a time when students really showed their thinking in their work?” When reviewing student work, we might ask, “What is really important to you in this assignment?” Authentic questions like these seek the teachers’ perspectives and insight.
 
Even when making a recommendation, you can frame it with wondering, “I wonder whether this or that might help?” Then ponder the possibilities together. Here are a few wonderings I’ve had during coaching conversations:
 
“I wonder what differentiation could look like for this assignment.”
 
”I wonder if there are a couple of places in this lesson where partner talk would be helpful.”
 
“I wonder if your team might have some ideas about this?”
 
These wonderings are recommendations with a soft edge that invite opportunities for discussion. Using the “I wonder” statement calls the teacher you are working with into inquiry.
 
Coaching trust is built but through a steady presence grounded in both experience and inquiry. When teachers sense that you truly see them, that you honor their work, and also that you bring hard-earned knowledge to your conversations, trust grows. It’s not about showcasing expertise; it’s about offering it with curiosity. Quiet confidence, paired with genuine curiosity, invites collaboration and deepens the coaching partnership.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Maximizing coaching in the month of May:
 
https://dianesweeney.com/maximizing-coaching-month-may/
 
 
To wrap up National Poetry Month, consider how poetry supports emotional learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-poetry-supports-sel-elementary-school/
 
 
Is there a writing process?
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/exploring-the-writing-process/
 
 
Creating language mindfulness about student equity:
 
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-our-language-feeds-inequity
 
 
Teaching social-emotional skills: Better than a forced, “Sorry!”
 
https://offspring.lifehacker.com/what-to-say-to-little-kids-instead-of-say-sorry-1819288365
 
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: FDNS25 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!

Coaches' Noticings

During coaching conversations, sharing “noticings” and asking questions can lead to meaningful targets for instructional improvement. Those noticings can be generic, gathered over time, or specific to the teacher you are talking with.
 
I like to memorize sentence starters so that I can prompt myself during a coaching conversation. My sentence starter for noticings is, “I’ve noticed that when the teacher ____, students ____.” I’ve found this handy sentence stem is flexible and effective. The noticing can be a more general observation: “I’ve noticed when teachers use the last two minutes of a lesson for reflection, students often make new connections.” The frame can be stated as a negative, “I’ve noticed that when teachers move on to another student after a wrong answer, kids often shut down” or a positive: “I’ve noticed that when teachers probe an answer that seems wrong, they can often uncover a kernel of correct thinking to build on.”
 
The noticing could also be specific to the teacher’s class: “I’ve noticed that when you use the doc cam to model, your kids are clear about directions.” Coaching observations are opportunities for data gathering. The list we create of specific, objective noticings – what we have seen and heard – becomes a menu for conversation. When we ask, “Is there a part of that lesson you’d like to talk about?” there are examples to draw from that point us down a productive path. Oftentimes conversations that grow from the noticing stem lead a teacher to her own solution.
 
These sentence frames worked for me when I met with Angela, a vibrant early-career teacher who has much to offer the profession. She walked into my room and even before she was in the seat, she was venting her frustrations about the lesson I had observed. “The kids were all over the floor,” she said. “There were two girls playing with each other’s hair, and half the time the kids weren’t even listening!”
 
“You sound frustrated,” I said. “Let’s back up and think about what went right in the lesson.”
 
“What went right?” she said, seeming surprised.
 
“Yes,” I queried. “What do you feel good about?”
 
“Well, the read-aloud. The kids were really into that.”
 
We talked about all the positive comments and relevant learning that happened during the story. “That book was a great choice,” I said.
 
“And I was really pleased that some of the kids noticed the way I’d grouped the numbers. They noticed it on their own without me pointing it out. And Edgar – he is really shy and hardly ever speaks up. I saw when he figured it out. The light bulb went on!”
 
We gloried in the light-bulb moment, and then Angela returned to the frustrations she’d expressed earlier. However, she was now on more solid ground. “But it was still so frustrating that kids weren’t paying attention during the game!”
 
“Why do you think that happened?” I asked.
 
“I’m not sure,” she said, and paused thoughtfully. “Maybe they didn’t understand the procedures. I just shouldn’t have tried that game.”
 
I didn’t want her to give up on the game so easily! Now was the time for that flexible sentence frame: “I’ve noticed that when teachers are clear in giving directions, students are more engaged.”
 
“Yes, I definitely could have been more clear with the directions,” she said.
 
“Modeling would help,” I suggested, and added another sentence with my frame: “I noticed when you were clear in describing the purpose at the beginning of the lesson, students seemed very focused. I wonder if they didn’t see how the game connected to that purpose? I’ve noticed that when teachers keep bringing the activity back to the purpose, reminding students of the reason for the activity, engagement goes up.”
 
Wow, that was a lot of noticings! Had I overdone it with that sentence stem, I wondered?
 
But Angela’s face suggested otherwise. She sat up straight and seemed reenergized. “Yes,” she said, “that makes sense.”      
 
Angela thought about how she could be clearer with directions and we talked about tying each part of the lesson back to the purpose. As Angela’s experience demonstrates, noticings and questions can lead to meaningful targets for instructional improvement.
 

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

How non-cognitive factors affect learning (and what to do about it):
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-students-noncognitive-skills
 

Teaching how to read textbooks:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-students-read-textbook
 

Teaching critical media literacy:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/learning/helping-digital-natives-overcome-digital-naivete-four-steps-to-media-literacy.html

 
A podcast on balancing test prep and authentic learning:
 
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/balance-test-prep-authentic-learning/
 
 
It’s still National Poetry Month - Poetry with paint-chip boards:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/blackout-poems-and-paint-chip-haiku-two-fun-ways-into-poetry-with-adolescents/
 
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: FDNS25 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!