Can You Imagine? Coaching Teachers to Anticipate Student Response

Recently, I was coaching a novice first-grade teacher, Peyton, whose phonics lesson I had just observed. The lesson had trailed off as students finished the activity and began putting their materials away. Knowing the value of lesson closure for helping students make meaning of what they’ve just done, I asked Peyton what ideas she had for creating closure for her phonics lessons. Peyton said she’d included closure in her plans, but had forgotten to do it.  She had planned to ask, “What did you learn today?”
 
While a general, open-ended question might be productive, I wasn’t sure how well it would serve her first-grade students. I said, “I’m wondering – can you imagine how your kids might respond to that?” I encouraged Peyton to think of a few specific kids, including some whose skills were just emerging. How might they respond to that question? Peyton decided she’d need something more-specific to create a meaningful closure.
 
When we anticipate how students might respond based on previous experiences, we’re able to create a better plan for moving forward.
 
Predictive Planning
Predictive planning allows teachers to be preemptive, to replace weak areas in a lesson with stronger ones before enacting the plan. By anticipating student responses, teachers are also able to respond more effectively in the moment, to clarify concepts and correct confusion.
 
For example, during a middle school math PLC meeting, teachers predicted that students would make calculation errors when working through the word problems. Because they anticipated that using the wrong operation might cause these calculation problems, teachers decided to emphasize how to choose the correct operation during their opening discussion. Their preemptive planning fended off student confusion. When it came time to teach the lesson, the teachers were tuned in for students who were confused about which mathematical operation to use. Their awareness had been heightened that this might be a concern.
 
When teachers think the lesson through from the students’ point of view, they are more prepared to support students’ learning. Going into the lesson, the teacher has a solid plan. Because of this thoughtful preparation, they are also well-positioned to be flexible when teaching.
 
Asking teachers to imagine how students might respond helps them proactively consider potential student confusion. Envisioning what student thinking will look like allows for revision even before the lesson is taught!
 
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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:

Confidence boosts progress:
 
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/school-students-sense-of-control-improves-reading-progress
 
 
Naming craft moves in student writing:
 
https://vimeo.com/1085797889/edfda2b9c8
 
 
Nurturing classroom identity and belonging:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/do-i-belong/
 
 
Boosting comprehension with immersive read-alouds:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/taking-your-read-alouds-from-interactive-to-immersive
 
 
The Collective Efficacy Cycle for teacher PD:
 
https://www.k12dive.com/spons/the-5-steps-of-a-collective-efficacy-cycle/650710/
 
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!

Two Powerful Words for Coaching Conversations

What if two little words could lower defensiveness, increase cognitive flexibility, support experimentation, strengthen collaboration, and position teachers as thinkers? In coaching conversations, the words, “What if?” can do just that. I’ve noticed how these simple words spark conversations that inspire growth. “What if?” can frame an idea as a topic for exploration rather than a directive. It proposes possibilities that can stretch thinking in productive ways.
 
Offering Invitations
Asking, “What if?” increases openness. Instead of feeling defensive because a recommendation is offered, a teacher who hears, “What if?” feels an entry point. “What if” sounds exploratory, helping the conversation unfold. We share ideas in ways that communicate respect, honoring the expertise of the teacher in front of us.
 
After a conversation with Angela’s team about the research on class behavior charts (problems with the “clip up,” “clip down” system), she lingered; she was concerned about the behavior chart that had been in her classroom for years.
 
“What should I be doing?” she asked. She expressed frustration about the lack of PD on classroom management.
 
I commiserated and added, “There are some kids, like we said, who need something more tangible along with having appropriate expectations modeled and taught.”
 
“The thing is,” Angela countered, “I really only end up using the behavior chart for a few kids. Most kids just stay on green.”
 
This was where a “What if” could get traction. “What if you got rid of the behavior chart and put a more private practice in place for those few students who needed it? Could that work? What might that look and sound like?” What if’s can be an invitation to create a plan for moving forward.
 
Teachers Doing the Thinking
When coaches ask, “What if?” they affirm that the teachers is capable of careful analysis and professional judgment. Rather than delivering a solution, you’re offering a possibility and trusting the teacher to examine it. It says, “This is a thought experiment. You know your context. Let’s explore this together.”
 
When I ask, “What if students generated their own questions before reading?” or “I wonder where partner talk might fit into this lesson,” I am not handing over a finished solution. I am inviting the teacher into inquiry.
 
When we frame ideas as possibilities rather than prescriptions, we signal that teachers’ knowledge of their students matters in determining whether the idea is worth pursuing. Asking, “What if?” supports professional agency, strengthens confidence, and reinforces the relationship of respect.
 
Collaborative Partnership
“What if?” communicates that we are thinking about this together. Coaching isn’t a top-down dynamic – it is shared inquiry, with both of us bringing curiosity to the context. That shift from telling to thinking together leads to rich professional dialogue and strengthens the coaching partnership.
 
During team meetings, collective thinking is expanded and ideas can multiply!  I saw this in action while planning a lesson on equivalent fractions with two excellent third-grade teachers. One teacher expressed concern about students’ lack of background knowledge. The other shared that using a balance scale had helped in the past. Then I added, “What if you used modeling clay on the balance scale — equal blobs on each side — and then divided them into halves and quarters to show equivalence?” That idea wasn’t mine alone. It grew from their concerns and prior experience. Everyone had ownership.
 
When ideas emerge through dialogue—when a teacher names a concern, recalls a prior success, and together we extend the thinking—ownership is distributed.
 
When we ask “What if?” in response to a teacher’s expressed need, we extend the teacher’s thinking. Improvement is a shared endeavor, not a delivered prescription. Joint ownership increases commitment because teachers have shaped the ideas.  Improvement happens through co-construction rather than compliance.
 
Flexibility and Growth
When we ask, “What if?” we present ideas as something to consider rather than something to unquestioningly implement. “What if?” can gently disrupt habitual patterns and routines that have outlived their usefulness. Asking, “What if?” can stretch thinking, allowing new possibilities to emerge while still honoring what is already working.
 
“What if?” invites teachers to imagine alternatives and compare outcomes. It kindles hypotheses and experimentation. That experimental mindset reduces pressure and increases willingness to try something new. This mental flexibility fosters innovation and growth.
 
Two Small Words
When “What if?” reflects genuine curiosity, ideas are carefully examined, reasoning is articulated, and shared expertise is elevated. These two small words, asked with sincerity and respect, create space for thinking, Potent change can begin with two small words and a posture of curiosity.
 
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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:

Using AI to boost writing without compromising human connection:
 
https://www.the74million.org/article/how-ai-is-helping-nyc-english-teachers-improve-middle-school-reading-and-writing/
 
 
Balancing literacy and play:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/balancing-play-literacy-mandates-preschool
 
 
Sketchnoting to increase retention:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/sketchnoting-in-the-library/
 
 
Careful words for coaching:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/coaches-words-and-questions/
 
 
Reasons to do an author study:
https://www.readingrockets.org/books/authorstudy/reasons
 
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!

Offering Choice in Coaching Recommendations

You were hired as an instructional coach because you have solid knowledge of content and pedagogy, as well as a deep reservoir of classroom experience. During a coaching conversation, an important questions to ask yourself is, which parts of that repertoire do you share—and when?

Just because we could offer suggestions doesn’t mean we should. The discernment lies in knowing what to bring forward.

Honoring Teacher Choice

Growth sticks best when the arc of change is set by the teacher. An important part of a coach’s job is to pay compassionate attention to the clues teachers give us about their readiness and to honor their judgment and choices.

The teacher sitting across from you is the most reliable source of information to guide your recommendations. The questions she asks tell you what she’s thinking about, what she’s wrestling with, and what she’s ready to try. When a colleague poses a specific question, her question reveals her focus. It shows you where her energy is.

Instead of offering just one option in response to a teacher’s question, consider offer a few alternatives for the teacher to consider. Offering choice develops teachers’ power and efficacy. Being asked to decide rather than being told what to do signals, “I believe in your professional judgment.” That matters.

There’s also a motivational benefit. Research shows that offering choice increases engagement and persistence. When a teacher chooses, she’s far more invested in making that choice work. It becomes her goal—not yours.

A Self-Selected Journey

I saw this clearly in my work with Stephanie. I had observed her lesson on crafting engaging beginnings in narrative writing. She used a PowerPoint to introduce four techniques writers use to hook readers. During our debrief, we started with celebrations. I asked what happened in the lesson that she was especially pleased with.

Stephanie felt good about student behavior. She had added all-respond opportunities and varied her voice when she noticed attention slipping. She paired each writing “hook” with a physical action to help students remember. The lesson met its objective: students were introduced to the techniques.

And yet—she was disappointed. Students weren’t enthusiastic. She felt like she had to work hard to keep them with her.

Before our meeting, I had jotted down a few reflections. Many of them pointed to engagement:

·        Make connections with students’ experiences and interests.

·        Limit rote repetition; emphasize thinking.

·        Create opportunities for inquiry and discussion.

Because Stephanie had already named engagement as a concern, the door was open. We talked through these ideas conversationally. I would float one out and ask, “What do you think?” After some discussion, I asked her to choose a goal. What would she like to work on next?
 
Stephanie grabbed onto inquiry and discovery, but expressed hesitation. “It will be hard,” she said. “I like to have more control.”
 
We talked a bit about how she might balance her need for control with her students’ need for discovery. Inquiry didn’t have to mean chaos or a sprawling research project. It could be bounded and managed so that she still felt control. Stephanie was seeing how her hope for more enthusiasm and her need for control could co-exist. We also explored why inquiry felt uncomfortable. Had she experienced discovery-based teaching herself? Did she have models? Not really. No wonder it felt risky!
 
But by the end of our conversation, Stephanie was energized. She wasn’t complying with a coach’s recommendation—she was stepping into her own professional curiosity.
 
Who Decides?
Who decides the next step in improving instruction?
Just as Stephanie’s students needed opportunities for discovery, Stephanie needed space to inquire into her own teaching. She identified the concern. She selected the goal. We explored ideas together. Rather than positioning myself as the expert, we considered instructional improvement together. I offered options, not directives.
 
When teachers’ voices lead the conversation, they see their strengths and name where they need to grow. When I focus my recommendations on the next step that a teacher has identified, we can come up with a tangible plan to achieve their goal. As instructional coaches, we have expertise to share. The art is in knowing when and how to offer it.
 
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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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Top of Form

Bottom of Form

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

Teach students to do their own thinking, without the AI crutch:
 
https://ccira.blog/2026/02/02/teaching-students-what-to-do-instead-of-asking-the-chatbot/
 
 
How careful words boost understanding:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/the-language-we-use/  
 
 
Why teach handwriting in a digital age?
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-handwriting-older-students
 
 
Don’t remediate – accelerate:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/53063/accelerate-or-remediate-youre-at-the-controls/
 
 
What Wordle can teach us about phonics instruction:
 
https://www.ascd.org/blogs/what-wordle-reminds-us-about-effective-phonics-and-spelling-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: FEB2026 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!
 
 

When Coaching Questions Spark Curiosity

One of the most impactful moves in instructional coaching isn’t a protocol, a tool, or a strategy—it’s a question. Questions can invite teachers to pause, think, and reimagine what they’re doing and why. That curiosity can fuel impactful instructional change.
 
A Coaching Conversation That Changed the Work
 
Coaching questions can engage the intellectual curiosity of the teachers we are working with. That’s what happened when Andi was coaching a group of high-school English teachers. With the ACT test coming up for their juniors, test prep was on their minds. They had identified grammar and punctuation rules as an area of need based on previous assessment data and evidence from student work.
 
A conversation grew around Andi’s questions: “What is the overall goal you want to achieve regarding punctuation?” and “Why is it important for them to understand punctuation or at least how to use it?”
 
Liz responded, “They need to know how to be clear,” and Cherie followed up with, “Well, they need to know how to write when they go to college.”
 
Andi’s questions helped the teachers extend their focus from a narrow goal of doing well on the upcoming test to one with broader application.
 
As they planned a lesson with this purpose in mind, Andi again asked questions. When they shared concerns that students’ Native American cultural heritage meant that speaking out in class might press against cultural norms, Andi asked, “How else could students show they understand what you are teaching them, besides answering aloud?”
 
Through discussion, they planned an effective, interactive lesson where students worked collaboratively in small groups, moving from station to station to create sentences with varied structure and punctuation from strips with words and phrases.
 
Andi’s questions supported design of a lesson that was culturally appropriate, authentically purposeful, and highly engaging for students. Her questions challenged teachers to find a better way than the worksheets they had previously used for grammar instruction. The teachers were engaged and intrigued. They had energy for the task because they were curious. Andi’s questions encouraged them not only to think, but to rethink what they had done previously when teaching grammar. Her questions generated collective learning.
 
Why This Matters
 
This scenario isn’t powerful because Andi had the right answers. It’s powerful because she resisted the urge to provide them. Instead, she asked questions that:

·        Expanded the teachers’ purpose beyond test preparation

·        Centered students’ cultural context and ways of demonstrating understanding

·        Opened space for creativity, movement, and collaboration

·        Invited teachers to reconsider familiar practices

Teachers give effort when coaches ask questions that incite their curiosity and challenge them. Asking questions shifts the thinking to teachers, creating energy and agency. Teachers are interested and immersed in the work.

 
As coaches, our questions can open up the work. When we ask questions that help teachers connect instruction to purpose, we don’t just support better lessons. We cultivate curiosity, and curiosity sustains growth long after the coaching conversation ends.
 
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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
 
*******************************************************************************************
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Risks and benefits of school AI use:
 
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/14/nx-s1-5674741/ai-schools-education
 
 
Helping students know they belong in a classroom community:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/do-i-belong/
 
 
Interactive vocabulary lessons:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-to-turn-vocabulary-lessons-into-nuanced-conversations-about-meaning
 
 
This short video about how to create timelines in Google Sheets:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqdjTMit4tU
 
 
This podcast about getting small businesses involved in education:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/podcast-65
 
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: FEB2026 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!