Advice from an Olympic Coach

It’s time for the Olympics! – A good time to reflect on the role of coaches. Bob Bowman, who coached swimmer Michael Phelps to his record 28 Olympic medals, offers some advice about coaching that applies in educational settings, too.
 
1. Abandon the “one size fits all” mentality. Swimmers have different approaches and gifts, and so do teachers, so coaches should individualize their support. The Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model for Coaching (described in previous posts), can help instructional coaches pick an effective coaching tool.
 
2. Determine the gold standard. Bowman suggests being process-oriented and focused on the things you can control. “Be a little better today than you were yesterday,” he said. Doing that day after day leads to remarkable change. As coaches, we can focus on individual goals (for ourselves and others) and also organizational goals (for the school or district). Establishing clear targets and keeping them in focus is an important coaching task.
 
3. Continue to develop your skills. For Instructional coaches, reading professionally and being part of professional networks supports our own continuous improvement. Then we can find opportunities to put these new ideas into practice. If you don’t have students of your own, don’t be afraid to borrow another classroom. Modeling, even when things don’t go as planned, is a learning experience for everyone involved. Bowman points out that we learn more from mistakes than from successes, so don’t be afraid to take a risk. And encourage risk-taking in teachers and students as they develop new skills of their own.
 
4. Accept that there will be daily challenges. “The more successful you are, the more headaches that come with it. The stakes are higher,” Bowman says. “The fun is overcoming (the challenges).” It is easy to sit back and be satisfied with the status quo. Difficulties come with quests for change. So expect it, accept it, and view the challenges as problem-solving exercises.
 
Like Bowman, instructional coaches can sit on the side, cheering and supporting those we are working with. By keeping Bowman’s four tips in mind, we’ll also have victories to celebrate!
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Build classroom community with a “Where I’m From” poem:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/linking-literacy-and-community-at-the-start-of-the-year/
 
 
Video shorts of classroom makeovers:
 
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-learning-spaces-classroom-makeovers
 
 
Teaching the Writing That Students Need Now:
 
https://ccira.blog/2024/07/16/teaching-the-writing-that-students-need-now/
 
 
A Calendar of “National Days” (both serious and goofy) to celebrate throughout the year:
 
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/
 
 
Ideas for easing back into the school-year routines:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/cheat-sheet-first-days-school-jose-vilson
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: JUL2024 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!
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Follow on Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com.

Try This at Home: Read the Room

This is part of my summer series posts of, “Try This at Home,” that focus on coaching attributes you can practice now and carry into the school year. Let’s think about reading the room.  
 
During one of my previous jobs in a district-level position, my supervisor caught me by surprise when, after a meeting with a group of decision-makers, he cautioned me that I needed to take better care to “read the room.” What he meant was, I needed to attend more to how people were responding, using their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, in addition to the words that were said.
 
I was surprised by my supervisor’s suggestion because I thought that attending to these features was something I’d refined while coaching. I thought I had learned to proceed with caution, listen for openings, and recognize what was hidden. I thought I had learned to be totally present and give others my full attention. I thought I had learned to use all my senses to guide me through a conversation. As I reflected on my supervisor’s suggestion, I realized that in my district position I often felt I had to fight for what I believed in when it came to literacy instruction. I had gotten into the habit of being on the offensive, and it had impacted my “listening” skills.
 
There are so many roadblocks to reading the room. If our focus is on our own thinking and opinion, we will miss too much. But if our focus is on others, we will notice their eyes, their smile or scowl, and their posture. Their messages will speak loud and clear to us, even if they are silent. And in that listening, we can find a way forward.
 
Although subtle, the ability to read a conversation with all of our senses is a valuable coaching talent. As with any talent, it takes time and practice to develop. The good news is, we probably have many opportunities daily to practice this talent, so you can try this at home (or at the family reunion, pool, or vacation location). Any conversation, in any context, can help us develop the full-body listening skills that will make our coaching stronger. If you try this at home, you’ll be a better coach when the school year gets underway.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

A beautiful, printable poster with tips for new teachers:
 
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/TipsForNewTeachers_Poster.pdf
 
 
How mentors help first-year teachers:
 
http://neatoday.org/2017/06/19/lean-on-me-how-mentors-help-first-year-teachers/
 
 
Moving coaching relationships from social to professional:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/failure-to-norm/
 
 
Poetry for kindergartners:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/poetic-writing-kindergarten
 
 
A Pinterest board with lots of relevant links for instructional coaches:
 
https://www.pinterest.com/alysoncarpenter/instructional-coaching-partnerships/?lp=true
 
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: JUL2024 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!
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Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com.

Try This at Home: Don’t Interrupt!

This is the first in my summer series of, “Try This at Home,” posts that focus on coaching attributes you can practice now and carry into the school year. Let’s start with not interrupting.
 
According to Brené Brown, interrupting gets in the way of psychological safety – which is necessary for taking risks, expressing ideas, asking real questions, and making mistakes without fear of being embarrassed or rejected.
 
When we avoid interrupting, we show respect for the person who’s talking. We strengthen relationships. We listen and understand better. When we refrain from interrupting others, they are more likely to reciprocate and listen to us, creating more-balanced conversations.
 
If you want to interrupt less, try to focus entirely on the speaker and what they are saying. Push back the impulse to start thinking about how you will respond. Maintain eye contact to express engagement. Smile, nod, or say “mmmmm,” or “mmmhmmm” to show you are listening. If a thought comes that you don’t want to forget, jot it down. Wait for a natural pause before you respond. Monitor yourself, consciously willing yourself to let others finish.
 
If you’re willing to be vulnerable, ask friends or family to gently remind you if you interrupt. Making a commitment to yourself to avoid interrupting will help you develop better listening and communication skills.
 
When you’re excited about an idea or you feel like you’ve already waited patiently for the speaker to stop talking, it can be hard not to interrupt. But cutting someone off mid-sentence, without letting them finish their thought, shows disrespect and can damage relationships. Being an active conversational partner, a respectful turn-taker, shows that you value the speaker’s ideas and their time.
 
This week, in your personal conversations, suppress the urge to interrupt. Don’t give in. Allow the other person to finish what they’re saying. Prioritize shared communication over your own desire to speak. When it comes to good communication, listening is just as important as speaking. If you try this at home, you’ll be a better coach when the school year gets underway.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Extending silent think time:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/extending-silence/
 
 
Taking learning “temperature checks” and asking for student feedback:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/free-videos
 
 
A podcast episode about preventing teacher burnout:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/podcast-addressing-educator-burnout-self-care-in-not-enough/
 
 
The importance of teacher reflection:
 
https://www.thoughtco.com/importance-of-teacher-reflection-8322
 
 
Building positive school culture:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/k12-hub/blog/3-areas-to-consider-when-creating-a-positive-school-culture/
 
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! TODAY you can still use the code: JUL2024 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!
---------------------------------
Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)
Follow on Instagram @Vicki_Collet_Educator, on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch and Twitter @vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips!  You can also find me at VickiCollet.com.