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!

When Coaches Overdo It

Effective teachers adjust the scaffolding provided so that a learning activity sits squarely within a student’s zone of proximal development. As coaches, we did it with our students - offering just enough support to move learning forward, then gradually stepping back when the support was no longer needed.
 
Coaching is no different.
 
Through dialogue, we scaffold teachers’ professional learning, and when it’s done well, it strengthens reflection and encourages flexible, intentional use of teaching practices. But when we offer too much support for too long, we risk getting in the way of the growth we’re aiming to cultivate. As coaches, we need to be careful not to over-scaffold.
 
Why Scaffolding Matters in Coaching
The Gradual Increase of Responsibility model (see below) describes how effective coaching shifts over time. Coaches might begin with higher levels of support—modeling and recommending, if that’s what’s needed. When less scaffolding is needed, we ask questions—and move toward moves like affirming and praising.
 
The GIR model supports coaches in matching support to need. When coaches intentionally adjust scaffolding, they help teachers of all experience levels stretch. This flexible, responsive support leads to real instructional change.
 
The Problem with Over-Scaffolding
Scaffolding supports learning – but did you know that giving too much support can actually undermine learning? Researchers found that continuing to model once a learner had gained competence reduced agency, damaged self-confidence, and reduced motivation.* And over-scaffolding can limit engagement and restrict responses.**
 
In coaching, this sometimes shows up when our “go-to” moves remain highly supportive—even when the teacher does not need that level of help. For example, a coach might continue recommending specific strategies to a highly capable teacher who could make those decisions independently. Or we might jump in to model when a reflective question would have been enough. The intention is good, but the impact isn’t. Over-scaffolding sends an unintended message: I don’t think you’re ready yet.
 
Matching Support to Need
Effective coaching means adjusting support in real time—stepping in when a teacher is trying something new and stepping back once they have traction.
Sometimes that scaffolding looks like:
 
*offering a specific recommendation when a teacher is trying out an unfamiliar strategy
 
*asking guiding questions to help a teacher think through the details of a lesson
 
*anticipating together how students might respond so a teacher can plan to be flexible
 
When support isn’t needed, we lower the scaffolding. And if movement stagnates, we step in with more support. The key is responsiveness, with scaffolding continuously adjusted—not fixed. When support is no longer needed, removing it is just as important as offering it in the first place.
 
Letting Teachers Take the Lead
Coaching for a gradual increase of teacher responsibility means trusting teachers’ increasing competence and confidence. It means resisting the urge to over-explain, over-model, or over-direct. It means knowing that teachers grow most when they’re supported enough to stretch—rather than over-scaffolded in ways that crowd out their agency.
 
As coaches, our role is to help teachers see what’s possible. When we match scaffolds to the moment, teachers develop stronger instructional decision-making, greater confidence, and an increased sense of ownership over their practice.
 
By avoiding the over-scaffold, we acknowledge that sometimes less support can lead to more learning.
 
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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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*Wood, D. & Middleton, D. (1975). A study of assisted problem-solving. British Journal of Psychology (66)2, 181–91. Pomerantz, F., & Pierce, M. (2013). " When do we get to read?" Reading instruction and literacy mentoring in a" failed" urban elementary school. Reading Improvement, 50(3), 101-117.
**Daniel, S. M., Martin‐Beltrán, M., Peercy, M. M., & Silverman, R. (2016). Moving beyond yes or no: Shifting from over‐ scaffolding to contingent scaffolding in literacy instruction with emergent bilingual students. TESOL Journal, 7(2), 393-420.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Overcoming the “drama triangle” when working with teams:
 
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/recognizing-and-overcoming-the-drama-triangle
 
 
Charts as tools and teachers:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/charts-as-tools-charts-as-teachers/
 
 
Independent mentor text studies:
 
https://vimeo.com/1085805154/4e5ddc29d3
 
 
The role of identity in learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/when-social-brain-misfires
 
 
Using Interactive reading guides in science:
 
https://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/integrating-literacy-strategies-into-science-instruction/interactive-reading-guides
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentxiated 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: FDNF25 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!

Coaching to Extend the Gratitude

In the U.S. this week, we celebrated Thanksgiving – a time to remember the things that fill us with appreciation. Thanksgiving offers a natural pause – a time to take stock of the positives. Let’s carry that positive lens with us when we head back to school on Monday by looking for things to applaud: small wins, acts of generosity, and evidence of learning that we can celebrate. Instead of letting these things slip by unnoticed, let’s carry forward gratitude as an ongoing practice, not just a holiday.
 
Gratitude Matters in Coaching
 
Expressing gratitude is more than just a feel-good extra. Coaching is relational work, and expressing gratitude can be a trust-builder. Genuine and specific gratitude helps teachers feel seen, and they are likely to respond with openness. Appreciation has a place in our professional routines.
 
Collaborative Praise
 
Praise isn’t indulgent – it’s a performance strategy. Teachers benefit from praise offered by coaches, and coaches can also create opportunities for teachers to provide praise to one another. Carrying the holiday forward, you might start the next team meeting by suggesting a gratitude circle – going around the table with each person sharing something work-related that they’re thankful for. Collaborative praise gives teams the relational fuel needed to problem-solve together.
 
Another way to cultivate praise is to rotate a “spotlight” each week, with a teacher sharing a small victory and colleagues respond with what they learned from it. You could also create a digital “shout out” board in Padlet (or another easy-to-add-to app) so that teachers can celebrate each other.
 
Overt plans for sharing praise can be complemented by quieter expressions, as you model your generous appreciation during coaching conversations, notice and name what teachers do for one another, and send a quick note to acknowledge admiration. Activities like these support a culture that recognizes service.
 
Enduring Gratitude Structures
 
Instead of being just a holiday novelty, tangible reminders to give thanks – like Gratitude jars, Gratitude breaks in agendas, and a Wall of Thanks in the staff room – promote connection and contribute to a sustainable school culture. And connection supports collective efficacy, which research suggests is closely tied to student achievement.
 
When adults in the school feel and express gratitude, teachers collaborate more effectively and students feel the difference, too. Positive teacher relationships can create contagious calm that benefits everyone. Appreciation is an investment in both teachers and students.
 
There is no bad time to express gratitude. Besides increasing optimism, improving health, and boosting productivity, gratitude opens the door to new relationships and bolsters existing ones. As we return from Thanksgiving tables to teaching tables, let’s carry forward feelings of gratitude and invite others to join us.
 
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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:

Establishing an (early childhood) classroom culture of writing:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/exploring-writing-preschool
 
 
Setting the stage for hard classroom conversations:
 
https://mismatch.org/2025/06/03/navigating-difficult-conversations-576/
 
 
First grade family history inquiry project (with meaningful technology integration):
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/family-history-inquiry-project-integrating-technology-with-social-studies-in-first-grade/
 
 
A digital compare/contrast map:
 
https://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/compare-contrast
 
 
 
The role of identity in learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/when-social-brain-misfires
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentxiated 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: FDNF25 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!

No More Coaching Cycles

Discussions of coaching typically talk about the work we do as “coaching cycles.” It’s time to stop this language and instead describe coaching work in a way that is more responsive and relational. Let’s talk about coaching rhythms.
 
The dictionary defines rhythm as movement marked by regular recurrence or natural flow. According to researchers Klarner and Raisch,* who study organizational change, a rhythm is how moves are timed. These descriptions fit my GIR model for coaching (below). The 5 coaching moves (modeling, recommending, questioning, affirming, and praising) are used in a natural flow in response to teachers’ needs.
 
Appropriate coaching support will guide, challenge, or validate. The squiggly line in the GIR model shows that coaching isn’t a linear process – it’s a fluid one. There’s no circular movement indicated, although we might certainly revisit more supportive coaching moves as needed, especially as we work with the same teacher on different skills.
 
Although in general your coaching will move from more supportive to less supportive during a coaching cycle, the path is not a linear one. I’ve described it as shifting, sinuous, flexible, and responsive.
 
Instructional improvement is contextual, so coaching is a cha-cha. We will step forward and back, and there will be lifts and dips along the way. We know that the upward sloping line in the GIR model indicates growth, but the cha-cha of coaching includes small steps back, too. When it seems needed, don’t hesitate to lean on a move that offers more support, like modeling or recommending. If one move doesn’t bear fruit, we can lean back and try an approach that provides more scaffolding. The 5 coaching moves create the rhythm of our coaching work.
 
Coaching is responsive; if we stick too long with a move that’s not needed, we are over-scaffolding; this reduces teachers’ agency and motivation. We know how to move by paying careful attention to the teacher and the context. We are ready to reposition, to find a match between the support needed by the teacher and the support offered by each of the 5 coaching moves. This is the rhythm of responsive coaching.
 
Finding the right pace supports authentic teacher learning. Just as students learn at different speeds, teachers, too, have unique paces of growth. To keep the metaphorical coaching dance engaging and challenging, our coaching moves match teachers’ motion.
 
My friend Karen, an experienced and amazing coach, told me that early in her coaching career, she would carefully plan a framework for an upcoming coaching conversation and then stick to the plan. “Those conversations left me feeling that they didn’t quite land,” she said. Karen knew something was off. Then one day, a teacher said to her, “It feels like you’re continuing a conversation from the past, but I’m not in that same place anymore.” Karen realized that a plan is helpful, but flexibility is essential. “Truly listening,” Karen said, allows coaches to align with where teachers are “both in their professional learning and in the moment during the conversation.” “It’s essential to stay flexible and responsive,” she said. “Effective coaching requires us to meet teachers in their current space.” We’ve got to adjust the rhythm.
 
Responsive coaches are those who pay attention. They reinvent and adapt to the experiences of those they serve. They build on the resources that teachers bring to the table and attend to current needs. To find out what those needs are, you might ask, “What are you wondering about right now?” or “What is missing for you right now?” Teachers’ wonderings and questions will provide insight about how you can support them. Their questions will tell you what they are troubled by and what they want help with. That is the beginning. We can’t know what to do until we know where they are. Then we know how to move. We know the next beat in the rhythm.
 
As you gather information from teachers, you can make professional decisions about how to best support them. You will be armed with greater understanding about teachers’ current needs. You will be more responsive. Teaching and coaching must always be dynamically adapted and reinvented to match learners and contexts.
 
Coaches are responsive when they are attuned to teachers’ abilities, interests, and needs. They are aware of emotional concerns and aware of teachers’ successes and celebrations. Coaching well can’t be done apathetically.
 
Instead of a cycle that elicits a supervisory schedule of observation and evaluative feedback, coaches who are responsive offer collaboration and consultation – we reason together. Within a coaching rhythm, observation and feedback are options but not expectations, and data collection often focuses on students, not teachers.
 
Another feature influencing coaching rhythms is the relationship that has been built between teacher and coach. Teachers and coaches are all very different individuals, so the relationship between the two will vary. Each coaching relationship is unique.
 
Coaching is relational work, and a relationship of trust is required. Trust involves confidence that someone will act in your best interest, an assurance that they are on your side.
 
Coaching rhythms are relational and responsive. The pattern of the 5 moves in the GIR model is determined by teachers’ needs, flowing in real-time response to the teacher. We adjust the tempo and intensity of support. Change should be carefully timed in keeping with an individual’s resources and the time required to learn. Coaching rhythms set the direction and magnitude of change.
 
The GIR Model helps coaches carefully consider a dynamic process for supporting growth. Differentiated coaching means recognizing teachers’ strengths and needs and then varying the supports provided as those you work with gain experience and expertise, one step at a time. The GIR model can guide our moves as we create a coaching rhythm.
 

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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:

Give teachers more of what they need – TIME:
 
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/the-gift-of-time-is-an-educators-best-tool
 
 
This video of a writing conference, nudging a student toward multimodal informational text:
 
https://vimeo.com/1085826263/7a570821fe?ts=0&share=copy
 
 
Strategies for strengthening teacher-coach relationships:
 
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-good-coaches-build-alliance-with-teachers
 
 
A stance of confident humility:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/confident-humility-and-coaching/
 
 
A reminder for coaches to be active listeners:
 
https://simplycoachingandteaching.com/blog/2021/10/05/better-listener/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentxiated 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: FDNF25 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!

Video As a Coaching Model

When coaches model, they demonstrate techniques and instructional practices to scaffold implementation. Modeling, the most supportive coaching move in the GIR model, is recognized by teachers, researchers, and professional organizations as a valuable practice.
 
Observing professional practice can sharpen teachers’ attention to student learning and broaden their instructional repertoire. Modeling is a powerful, differentiated coaching activity, usually focused on working with individual teachers to address their specific needs and goals. In addition to demonstrating potential practices, modeling provides content for teacher-coach conversations and can generate other coaching activities. Modeling can also build teachers’ confidence and efficacy. Research demonstrates that coaches’ modeling can improve student achievement (Elish-Piper & L’Allier, 2011; Firestone, 2003; Shidler, 2009).

If it’s not possible for you to model in the classroom, or if that doesn’t seem like the best solution, a video could serve the purpose instead. You might have a video of yourself that demonstrates the strategy in another setting. Clips from video recordings purchased from publishers or professional organizations may also be useful. Or you could find a clip from YouTube or another online source. Better yet, you could spotlight the instruction of another teacher in your building.
 
Model by Spotlighting Other Teachers
 
You can start your own video collection for this purpose. Whenever you see something good going on, ask, “Would you mind if I capture that?” then whip out your phone or other friendly device and record away. Not only will you have meaningful examples to share, you will have built good will in the building. Just be sure you don’t create “coach’s pets.” Every teacher has an idea worth capturing!
 
Another bonus of home-grown videos is the authenticity factor; when teachers see something happening in their own school with their own student population, they are less likely to discount the idea as something that wouldn’t work for them. As with “live” modeling, recordings need not be perfect examples; learning occurs through reflecting on both successes and less-successful aspects of lessons. Just be sure to keep the focus positive, especially when using clips from colleagues’ classrooms.
 
Using Video in Coaching Conversations
 
When video recordings are provided as instructional models, you might choose to view and discuss clips during a planning or debriefing session. This allows for on-the-spot dialogue about how to adjust and put the ideas into practice. Pushing pause as the video plays lets you draw attention to nuances that might otherwise be missed. Sometimes, though, sending the video in advance is the best solution, especially when your time with a teacher is short. You can then use your valuable time together to tweak and transform the strategy to meet the needs of her learners. If you don’t have any face time at all, you can share a link as part of an online coaching conversation.
 
Teachers can have “unlimited, on-demand access” to videos demonstrating effective instruction and could watch a video on their own schedule and again and again, as often as needed. Re-viewing a video again after a teacher has tried the practice can support self-adjustment.
 
Video-based modeling can be either collaborative (viewed with a group) or more targeted and individualized. Although lacking the immediacy and full-bodied experience of classroom modeling, videos can be accessed any time and many times. Video recordings provide an instructional model that allows the teacher to see practices in action.
 

This week, you might want to take a look at:
Overcoming the “drama triangle” when working with teams:
 
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/recognizing-and-overcoming-the-drama-triangle
 
 
How to feel more joy and help others do the same:
 
https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_how_to_find_it/
 
 
Creating effective sentence frames to support emergent bilingual students:
 
https://www.middleweb.com/52443/strong-sentence-frames-to-support-your-ells/
 
 
Moving coaching relationships from social to professional:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/failure-to-norm/
 
 
This video about grouping to increase eye contact and learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/what-social-brain
 
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: FDNF25 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!

10 Things Instructional Coaches Should Know and Do

Recently, as I was filming a training about instructional coaching, I overhead one of the production crew members say, “If they’d had something like this, I probably would have stayed in the classroom.”
 
Instructional coaching is a powerful support for teachers – one that can keep them growing, thriving, and staying in the profession. In these times of high teacher burnout and turnover, this is an important coaching outcome. It’s not the creation of a coaching position, though, that makes the difference. It’s what those coaches know and do . Below are 5 things coaches should know and 5 things to do to increase impact.
 
What Coaches Should Know
 
Coaches’ knowledge makes a difference. The following ideas can guide your work:
1) Pedagogy: It will come as no surprise that research says coaches are most effective when they have pedagogical knowledge – knowledge about teaching and how students learn. Even though instructional coaches might coach teachers across disciplines, it’s also helpful to have pedagogical content knowledge – knowledge of subject-specific teaching strategies.
 
The teachers you are working with need to feel that you are credible and that you believe they are, too. Credibility comes from knowing that you are drawing from your own experience and from your knowledge in the field. Teachers need to know they can trust any suggestions you might offer.
 
2) Adult Learning: In addition to knowing how students learn, coaches should understand how adults learn. Andragogy (principles of adult learning) reminds us that adults learn best when they are self-directed, their experience is acknowledged, and they understand and buy into the goal.
 
Adults benefit from having choices and autonomy. They like to take responsibility for their own learning. Adult learners are often practical and problem-centered. And, of course, they want to be shown respect. Adults expect to be treated as capable and reliable individuals. They want a collaborative learning environment where their input and opinions are valued.
 
3) Change & Implementation: Coaches need to understand how teachers change their practice – incrementally, over time, and through modeling, feedback, reflection, and affirmation. Substantive change is not sudden. Just like with student achievement, there are no quick fixes – just hard work. Change is a process.
 
Coaches should also know some common barriers to change: too many expectations, shifting priorities, time constraints, caustic culture, and conflicting teaching philosophies, for example.  
 
4) Data Literacy: Not only do coaches need to know how to analyze both formal assessments and classroom observation data, they need to be able to explain it and guide teachers in how to use data to inform instruction.
 
Coaches support teachers as they dig into data, identify problems, determine root causes, and narrow the focus, As we move from data to decision, coaches  help teachers make a plan that matters.
 
5) School and District Systems: Coaches need to know how the work they are doing fits in with larger systems in their school and district. Understanding the big picture helps coaches identify elements of shared vision that they can support. It helps when coaches and principals are on the same page.
 
Coaches can avoid being seen as “one more initiative,” when their work aligns with school and district priorities. Teachers then view coaching as a support for meeting these expectations. You can be on their team.
 
What Coaches Should Do
 
It’s hard to limit this list to 5, but below I’ve prioritized some important, research-supported actions for coaches to incorporate into their practice.
 
1) Build Trusting Relationships: There’s no doubt about it – positive coaching outcomes are built on foundations of trust. Teachers are more open to feedback and more willing to take risks when they feel seen and safe.
 
Trust is built through active listening, expressing empathy, maintaining confidentiality, and acknowledging teachers’ strengths. By honoring agreements, showing up as expected, and being consistent, coaches sustain trusting relationships.
 
2) Offer Practice-Based Support: Coaching is more than just talking. Effective coaching includes modeling, observing, offering feedback, making recommendations, and supporting reflection.
 
No matter which coaching moves are used to offer practice-based support, make clear connections to student learning. Seeing how changes affect student engagement and outcomes creates buy-in.
 
3) Balance Support and Challenge: Effective coaches affirm teachers’ strengths and nudge them toward growth. Including specific evidence as part of an affirmation makes it authentic, meaningful, and more likely to encourage repeat performances of the effective practice.
 
Similarly, when recommendations are specific, they are more likely to be remembered and applied. Open-ended questions that spark reflection can also spur growth. Another way that coaches propel growth is by checking back with teachers about goals they have set for themselves.  
 
4) Foster Collaboration: In the GIR model, coaching build collaborative, interdependent relationships. Through collaboration, both coach and teacher offer valuable perspectives, sparking ideas that wouldn’t be created otherwise. The insight and power that we gain from working together is one of the enduring assets of successful coaching.
 
Coaches can also create structures for peer collaboration. Coaching grade-level teams or disciplinary departments extends impact by creating networks of support and accountability. Coaches can also create structures for peer observation so that teachers recognize and build on each other’s successes.
 
5) Differentiate: My coaching book is called Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching for a reason – teachers are not all the same, and they don’t grow at the same pace, just like our students.
 
Differentiated coaching means recognizing teachers’ place, pace, and progress, and then varying the coaching moves you use as those you work with gain experience and expertise. By selectively choosing whether to model, recommend, ask questions, affirm, or praise – based on teachers’ needs – you effectively differentiate the support provided.
 
Coaching as Knowing and Doing
 
Recent research on instructional coaching suggests clear patterns for what makes coaching most effective. When coaches focus on the practices that matter, they have a positive impact on both teachers and students. The 5 things to know and 5 things to do, described above, make a difference. Instructional coaching helps teachers strengthen their practice and sustain their energy for teaching.
 

This week, you might want to take a look at:
Pairing teachers to support professional growth:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLBVJfQHQoQ
 
 
Helping students satisfy their esteem needs in healthy ways:
 
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/maslow-esteem/
 
 
Why teachers should be asking more questions in their classroom:
 
https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/always-on-inquiry-asking-more-questions-classroom/
 
 
Relationship-driven strategies for responding to challenging behaviors:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/relationship-driven-strategy-addressing-challenging-behavior
 
 
Book-choosing strategies for middle schoolers:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-teaching-book-choice-strategies-to-middle-schoolers/
 
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: FDNF25 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!