Visualizing Failure: How Instructional Coaches Help Teachers Ride the Waves

As an instructional coach, you’ve probably been there when a lesson falls apart. Things are moving along smoothly—students are engaged, the pacing feels right, and everything is clicking into place. Then something shifts. Students get confused. Directions don’t land. Side conversations bubble up. What started as a strong lesson begins to wobble, and sometimes, it unravels.
 
These moments aren’t rare interruptions to otherwise perfect teaching—they are a natural and inevitable part of it. The question isn’t whether things will go off track, but how prepared a teacher feels when they do.
 
This is where instructional coaching can make a meaningful difference—not just helping teachers plan for success, but helping them prepare for when things fall apart.
 
Planning for the Messy
In many professions, it’s part of the training to plan, not just for success, but also for breakdowns. Pilots learn emergency procedures. Athletes visualize how they’ll respond under pressure. Military personnel have a wartime plan. They don’t wait for things to go wrong to decide what they’ll do. Visualizing in advance is the best preparation, and teachers need that preparation, too. But too often, our planning conversations stay focused on the best-case scenario:
 
*What will students do?
*What questions will you ask?
*How will the task be structured?
 
Those are important, but they leave out a critical piece:
What will you do when it doesn’t go as planned?
 
Stopping short of that step leaves teachers without a clear path forward when reality doesn’t match expectations. That’s were a “wartime plan” comes in.
 
Creating a Wartime Plan
I’m not actually suggesting that the classroom will be a warzone, of course, but you understand the metaphor! When things unravel quickly, teachers benefit from having thought things through in advance. A wartime plan means having an intentional response to predictable challenges—a way of thinking ahead about how to navigate those inevitable moments. Rather than being caught off guard, teachers can respond with confidence.
 
Naming possible ways that things might fall apart helps to normalize them and it opens the door for proactive thinking. Instead of reacting in the moment, teachers can begin to anticipate and prepare. During planning meetings, you could bring up potential challenges like;
 
* The activity is too hard (or too easy)
* Students become disengaged
* Technology fails
* The discussion falls flat
* Directions are confusing for students
 
These aren’t signs of failure; they are simply part of the complexity of teaching and learning, and teachers should be prepared for them. Coaches can prepare teachers for flexibility by helping them think ahead about possible sidesteps that might be needed in these familiar moments. We always need a Plan B.
 
On my desk, I have an old toy – a small Gumby doll based on the Claymation cartoon character who can bend, stretch, and reshape himself. He uses this ability to solve problems or escape tricky situations. Gumby reminds me to be ready to be flexible. Like Gumby, teachers need to be prepared to be flexible when things start to fall apart.
 
Moving from “What if?” to “I See Myself…”
Teachers need to ask themselves, in advance, “What will I do when things get hard?” They begin building the habit of asking this question when you regularly ask, ““What will you do when things get hard?” Then, we move the practice from abstract planning to mental rehearsal by asking for visualization that brings those thoughts to life. Asking a teacher what they might do is a good starting point, but the mental imagery of visualizing a hoped-for outcome prepares the teacher’s mind for the challenge.
 
When visualizing, teachers can mentally simulate the classroom experience—the students, the timing, and even the pressure of the moment. This kind of rehearsal strengthens decision-making because it reduces the cognitive load when the teacher is tested. Instead of generating a response from scratch, she draws on something she has already “experienced” in her mind. Instead of being reactive, she is intentional.
 
Visualizing helps teachers clarify the steps they’ll take. It reduces hesitation, helping them to react more quickly and deliberately in the moment. Entering a challenging situation with a plan increases confidence. Teachers can be steady instead of panicked, calm instead of anxious. Because of visualization, a teacher’s mind and body feel like they have practiced success before the real moment arrives.
 
Coaches can support this rehearsal by asking questions that ground the plan in action:
 
* “What might you say first in that moment?”
* “What might students do?”
* “Where would you move in the room?”
* “What might you do?”
* “How will you know whether the adjustment is working?”
 
Questions like these can slow the coaching conversation down in productive ways that transform a vague idea into a concrete plan.
 
The goal of a wartime plan is not to anticipate every possible outcome, but to have a starting point that keeps the lesson moving forward. It is a first step that creates a sense of readiness. Taking this step can make the difference between a lesson that stalls and one that recovers.
 
Why the Plan Matters
Without a plan for these messy moments, even experienced teachers hesitate. When there’s not a clear next step, it’s easy to default to ineffective habits or to lose valuable instructional time while deciding what to do.
 
But when teachers have visualized and rehearsed their responses, they are ready to act quickly and intentionally. They are more likely to maintain the flow of the lesson, preserve student engagement, and adapt in ways that support learning goals. They begin to see these moments not as disruptions, but as manageable parts of the teaching process. That shift in mindset is empowering!
 
A Coaching Move Worth Trying
In your next planning conversation, consider creating space for this kind of thinking. After discussing the flow of the lesson, you might ask:
“In this lesson, when might things get messy?” Then invite the teacher to visualize that moment and talk it through in detail. Ask follow-up questions that help them see themselves in action. Over time, these pauses build a habit of proactive thinking that teachers carry into their independent planning.
 
Our Own Wartime Plans
Just like in the classroom, the goal of instructional coaching isn’t to eliminate difficulty. It’s to be ready for it. As instructional coaches, we encounter our own challenging moments. There are conversations that feel tense and sessions that drift away from their purpose. In these situations, we are also susceptible to hesitation and uncertainty and can benefit from a wartime plan.
 
In our practice, we might prepare by considering how we’ll respond when a teacher becomes defensive, when silence lasts too long in a conversation, and when teachers are unproductively negative. Having intentional “go-to” moves, and taking the time to visualize using them, can help us navigate these moments with greater confidence and care.
 
Because when we are prepared for the waves, we’re far more likely to keep moving forward—to ride the waves, even when the water gets rough.
 
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Did you know My Coaches Couch is also a podcast? (with different content) Find it in your favorite podcast app or at MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com.
 
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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: FNDS26 for 15% 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! 

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

Pause, recenter, and renew during busy days:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/pausing-for-renewal-throughout-the-day/
 
 
Visual thinking activities to boost student writing:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-cool-visual-thinking-activities-that-strengthen-student-writing
 
 
3 ways to help students manage emotions:
 
https://blog.heinemann.com/3-coping-skills-activities-to-help-kids-manage-emotions
 
 
Ideas for coaxing poems (April is National Poetry Month – coming right up!):
 
http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/search/label/Coaxing%20Poems
 
 
Book guide for the picture book, Big:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/course/big-book-guide/
 

That's it for this week. Happy Coaching!

Why Modeling Matters in Instructional Coaching

One of the most powerful ways instructional coaches support teachers is through modeling. When we step into the classroom to demonstrate a practice, we make teaching visible. We show what a strategy looks like with real students, in a real classroom, with all the unpredictability that comes with it.
 
In the GIR Model for Mentoring & Coaching (see below), modeling is shown as the most supportive coaching move. It offers a clear example of what instruction might look like and creates a shared experience that teachers and coaches can discuss afterward.
 
When coaches model instruction, they provide a vision for what future instruction might look like and open a window into parts of teaching that are invisible to students—planning decisions, instructional moves, the moment-to-moment problem solving that happens during a lesson, and the reflection that occurs afterward.
 
Making Teaching Public
Teaching can feel like solitary work, but modeling pushes against that isolation by making practice public. This starts with the pre-observation conversation. Before Alice modeled a lesson on inferring in Crystal’s fourth-grade classroom, they talked through specific instructional moves she would make: beginning with a thumbs‑up self‑assessment, adjusting instruction based on student confidence, reading aloud from an article, listening to partner talk, and probing students’ reasoning. Alice suggested that Crystal listen in on students’ thinking and also make note of the probing questions that Alice asked to assess and support students inferring skills.
 
During a modeled lesson, the classroom becomes a shared professional space. Teachers can watch how students respond, notice instructional decisions, and focus fully on learning without worrying about making the next teaching move themselves. Stepping into the role of observer offers teachers the opportunity to focus closely on participation smf engagement—details that are easy to miss when you’re the one leading the lesson.
 
Observing Is Not the End
Observation is only part of the modeling process. Powerful learning also happens afterward. Modeling creates the shared experience that fuels rich professional conversations. After the lesson, coaches and teachers can analyze what happened: What did students do? What instructional moves supported learning? What might the teacher try next? Sharing these observations out loud helps us see teaching differently. As we talk through what occurred, new insights emerge. What seemed automatic during the lesson becomes clearer when we reflect on it together. Modeling is more than demonstration—it becomes a catalyst for professional thinking.
 
The “Something More” Teachers Might Need
Sometimes experience alone isn’t enough to create instructional change. When a teacher is trying to reach a group of students in a new way, implement an unfamiliar strategy, or move beyond a long-standing routine that isn’t producing the desired results, Modeling can provide the “something more” that helps a teacher move forward. Because it is the most supportive coaching move, modeling can be a powerful place to start a coaching cycle. It can also be the move we return to when other approaches aren’t quite enough. Modeling fills the gap.
 
Principals have noticed how modeling supports instruction. In one study, a principal noted that teachers’ wait time increased after observing, and he emphasized how that increased wait time boosted students’ participation. Another principal said that modeling allowed teachers to evaluate and talk about instruction in a non-threatening context. Observing instruction creates distance from the pressures of teaching, which can make reflection more productive.
 
And modeling has another powerful benefit: coaches learn from modeling, too. When we model and then reflect alongside teachers, we deepen our own understanding of teaching and learning. Maybe that’s one of the reasons coaches enjoy being in classrooms so much.
 

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Did you know My Coaches Couch is also a podcast? (with different content) Find it in your favorite podcast app or at MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com.
 
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This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
When students refuse accommodations:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-do-when-students-reject-their-accommodations
 
 
Reading – just reading – matters:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/unadulterated-reading/
 
 
Reading to children develops empathy and creativity:
 
https://theconversation.com/reading-to-young-kids-improves-their-social-skills-and-a-new-study-shows-it-doesnt-matter-whether-parents-stop-to-ask-questions-274926
 
 
A podcast episode about the power of student interest (and more):
 
https://www.classroomcaffeine.com/guests/massey-and-vaughn
 
 
The importance of a good feeling:
 
https://davestuartjr.com/credibility-booster-freds-best-line/
 
 
3 Ways to more “aha” moments in coaching:
 
https://www.growthcoaching.com.au/resource/3-ways-to-more-aha-moments-in-coaching/
 
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: FNDS26 for 15% 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!

Co-Teaching as Modeling in Instructional Coaching

Modeling, the most supportive move in the GIR coaching model (see below), offers the opportunity to demonstrate practices that the teacher might choose to take up. Modeling also provides content for teacher-coach conversations and builds teachers’ confidence and efficacy. And, since the end goal of coaching is to improve students’ learning, it’s important to note that research demonstrates coaches’ modeling can improve student achievement.
 
Modeling helps to establish the coach’s credibility and to foster a learning culture where everyone’s practice is put up for analysis, including the coach’s.
When the modeling occurs in the teacher’s own classroom, the teacher sees that the practices observed (hopefully!) were worthwhile for her students. Thoughts that “this wouldn’t work for my kids” are avoided. Teachers appreciate seeing the strategies in action with their students. They value the coach as demonstrator to support possible changes in practice. Modeling can sharpen teachers’ attention to student learning and broaden their instructional repertoire. 
 
Co-Teaching as Modeling
You have probably used, seen, or heard of co-teaching as a model for providing support for students needing special services. The special education teacher pushes into the classroom and becomes a teaching partner.
 
Co-teaching can also be a way for a coach to model. When coach and teacher co-teach, it offers an opportunity for learning-while-doing. In the perfect scenario of co-teaching, colleagues ping pong instruction back and forth – one asking a question, another following up to push students for deeper thinking; one at the document camera, another leaning in to support an individual student. Teaming like this gives a coach a chance to be part of the action and to demonstrate the nuances of an instructional approach with the teacher as an active participant. I love it when I see this happen! However, this is not always easy to pull off. Below are some guiding principles for coaches who want to try this modeling approach:
 
Pre-Plan
Co-teaching works best as a planned experience, not as a response to ineffective instruction. When you plan the lesson with the teacher, including how you will partner, the teacher will be ready to both participate and pay attention. Jumping into a lesson to co-teach because you feel something has gone awry, however, is more likely to cause damage than improvement.  
 
No Correction-in-Action
Correction-in-action can be hurtful to the teacher and can also undermine her relationship with her students. Ensure that words and actions convey respect. Respectful relationships (teacher/coach and students/teacher) are vital to learning. Anything that could potentially undermine those relationships should be avoided.
 
Don’t Interrupt Student Learning
Coach-to-teacher conversations shouldn’t interrupt the learning experience for students. In the classroom, the most vital outcome is student learning. Although some have suggested that students will put up with a pause while teacher and coach confer with each other, to me, this undermines the very goal of coaching. We can find other times and places to talk that are not on students’ time.
 
Cautions for Co-Teaching
I have observed co-teaching working seamlessly, which helped me recognize the above guidelines. However, I’ve also observing co-teaching in ways that give me reason to suggest caution in using this modeling approach.
 
A co-teaching experience I saw years ago remains strong in my mind. The coach seemed dismissive of the teacher’s knowledge and possibly undermined her relationship with students. I was in a first-grade classroom when this coaching occurred. The teacher introduced students to an activity, giving instructions that were, admittedly, a bit ambiguous. The coach, who had been observing, decided to step in and make it a co-teaching situation. She changed the task slightly as she gave students clearer directions about what to do. The teacher, in what appeared to be a face-saving attempt, reiterated to students what the coach had just said. Students started working and then the coach called for a mini-conference with the teacher. She whispered, “I wonder what would happen if…” and then finished the sentence with a recommendation disguised as a question. The teacher nodded her head and complied, her feelings of self-efficacy ebbing before my eyes.
 
I know the coach was acting out of two sincere desires: a desire for strong instruction for the students and a desire to help the teacher. But this co-teaching scenario backfired, illustrating the importance of pre-planning, conveying respect, and maintaining the flow of instruction for students. Additionally, it raised a caution about recommendations disguised as questions.
 
Co-teaching can be an effective coaching move, but it’s a risky one. The example above is extreme, but I’m sure I’ve made mistakes in my coaching that were similar in nature – it’s always easier to see it from the outside. I’m learning that giving myself time to think before reacting helps me choose words that respect the teacher’s intentions, and it’s harder to do that in the midst of instruction.
 
Co-Teaching as Collaborative Partnership
Modeling through co-teaching can be a powerful way for coaches to make instructional practices visible while keeping teachers actively involved in the work of teaching. Students benefit because two heads and four hands are better, and teachers benefit as they learn while teaching. Co-teaching can enrich the teacher’s instructional repertoire and strengthen the collaborative partnership that coaching depends on.

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Did you know My Coaches Couch is also a podcast? (with different content) Find it in your favorite podcast app or at MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com.
 
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This week, you might want to take a look at:

Instant mood-boosters:
 
https://aestheticsofjoy.com/2020/10/17/8-quick-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-boost-your-mood/
 
 
Teaching students discernment and reasoning when using AI:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/53084/teaching-discernment-in-our-interactions-with-ai/
 
 
Modeling acceptance when dysregulated behavior happens:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/responding-to-dysregulated-behaviors-what-about-the-other-kids/
 
 
Building the emotional resilience to receive feedback:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/helping-students-give-receive-feedback-without-defensiveness
 
 
Like Superbowl champs, coaches treat teachers as capable professionals:
 
https://www.the74million.org/article/super-bowl-players-get-expert-coaching-teachers-should-too/
 
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: FNDS26 for 15% 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!