Coaching through Transitions

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You can find My Coaches Couch, the podcast (with different content) in your favorite podcast app or at MyCoachesCouch.podbean.com.
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Think of a time when you got a new phone or the operating system on your laptop had a significant update. You probably had to stop and figure out where all of your favorite and familiar settings and functions had gone. Even simple tasks take more mental energy when the system is unfamiliar. 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.*
 
Discomfort from Unknowns
 
A sixth-grader may be walking into a middle school, not knowing what it will be like to have multiple teachers and a locker. They may wonder what their schedule and daily routines will look like and whether they will be in class with friends. A teacher may be using new curricula or wonder what needs the new students will bring with them. They might have new colleagues and worry what working with them will be like. A coach may be unclear about expectations for her role. She might wonder about the new teachers on the staff and what teachers will want to talk about. These unknowns can feel weighty. Transitions disrupt the comfort that comes from predictability. We aren’t able to anticipate what is coming so that we can prepare for it. Instead, we tend to make predictions, and those predictions aren’t always optimistic!
 
Unknowns can also make us question our readiness. We might wonder if we’ll know what to do, if we’ll be able to handle the situations that are presented. We worry that we won’t be prepared, but we don’t know what to prepare for!
 
Decision-Making Discomfort
 
While facing the unknowns, there are also so many decisions to be made at the beginning of the school year. Everyone makes decisions about tiny things: we wonder 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? The volume of decisions that have to be made can cause decision fatigue.
 
Decision fatigue happens because decisions require mental energy. Even minor decisions make us stop, consider options, and determine what to do. There are lots of minor decisions to be made, and some major decisions, too. Often making one decision creates another choice. The cumulative cognitive load can be exhausting!
 
When making decisions, we may feel pressed to make the “right” choice, even when there isn’t a clear one. Because we care deeply about doing things well, our decisions become quite consequential in our minds. But beginning-of-year decisions involve judgment rather than certainty. Transitions require decisions without full information. Teachers, coaches, parents, and students have to make choices without knowing how those choices will play out. Teachers and coaches are especially conscious of the fact that their decisions affect others, adding extra weight to our decisions.
 
Relationship Discomfort
 
At the beginning of the new school year, even when returning to a familiar building, there will be new faces and 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.
 
Relationships aren’t just something we do, they are something we have to build while trying to figure everything else out. Because we don’t know people’s personalities, preferences, communication styles, expectations, or boundaries, even ordinary interactions require more thought. We may worry about good first impressions, and how to create connections. We wonder how we’ll be received. This vulnerability can make new relationships feel uncomfortable and even risky. Teachers might also be figuring out what they want to reveal to coaches – how comfortable they are with being open, how vulnerable they want to be. Relationships are built, not manufactured, and this takes time.
 
Identity Discomfort
 
For a new 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?
 
Transitions can change not only what we do, but also how we understand who we are. Even positive changes usually mean letting go of something familiar.
We may be leaving behind an identity that felt comfortable, and now we are creating a new version of ourselves; we have to reconcile the old and new versions.
 
We know who we are in a particular setting, but transition unsettles that certainty. A new role might have us feeling like a beginner. Our responsibilities change, and people may see us differently. This can be true for students, teachers, and coaches. Changing roles can affect how others interact with us, which can require us to rethink how we interact with them. When our role or circumstances change, we may wonder, Where do I fit now?
 
Transition Discomfort
 
Discomfort during transitions isn’t a sign that anything is wrong. It just means that we’re adjusting. Recognizing the tensions of the unknown, of making countless decisions, of building new relationships, and of figuring out who we are in a new context can help us face those discomforts 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 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 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!). “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.)
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Busting mentorship myths about coaching new teachers:
https://www.ascd.org/blogs/4-effective-strategies-for-teacher-mentors
 
Monday headlines for a peek at home life:
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/monday-headlines/
 
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!
 
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: AUG2026 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!