The #coachapproach chat benefits school administrators and other school leaders wishing to lead with a "coaching hat." It moderated by the co-authors of the book The Coach Approach to School Leadership: Leading Teachers to Higher Levels of Effectiveness.
Hey #CoachApproach crew! I'm Greg from Northern California where I have the best job ever: Elementary School Principal. Understanding my role and how to help teachers do their best work for kids is what I love to do!
Q1: What are you doing at the start of the year to build rapport/relationships with new and veteran teachers to set the stage for coaching? #CoachApproach
I'm Shira. Director of Academics for Catapult Learning in NYC; a co-author of #coachapproach Privileged to support teachers working in Title 1 in NYC & supervisors supporting them. Love coaching to support teachers & school leaders!
A1: I want teachers to know how much I appreciate them and how much of a difference they make. At the start of the year, noticing all the good things that are happening is my priority. #coachapproach
I ended the year with personal conversations about goals and desires for this year. I’ll be following up on each of those and asking again how I can support.
#CoachApproach
Q1: What are you doing at the start of the year to build rapport/relationships with new and veteran teachers to set the stage for coaching? #CoachApproach
I collect birthdays, favorite treats/drinks, and gift card favs from all teachers under my evaluation cycle. I also do team building and ice breaker exercises. #CoachApproach
Q1: What are you doing at the start of the year to build rapport/relationships with new and veteran teachers to set the stage for coaching? #CoachApproach
That's fantastic! Love the teacher choice in selecting goals and focus on desire. Love the role of coach as supporter of teacher chosen goals. #coachapproach
Building relationships! It’s the same with students and parents: deposit compliments the bank account for when you have to draw out later in the year
#CoachApproach
Wow! That is fantastic! I've taken the via character strengths assessment myself; yet have not used it in coaching. Let us know your reflections on the process. I'd so love to learn from your experiences. #coachapproach
I really need to create a survey form to get favorites too. We are implementing #Playworks this year and have been doing lice of fun icebreaker/team building activities for staff to learn to lead with students. #CoachApproach
#CoachApproach as a coach, my main goal has been to build relationships. I want the work that we do to be fun and low stress. I’ve met with a few of the teachers that I’m working with this year and they’ve left the meetings so happy and relaxed!
A2: main challenge is resistance from an older staff, used to “the old ways” of “running a school”; relationships and a few key individuals are helping me break those molds/stereotypes
#CoachApproach
A2: I think the biggest obstacle is always the many interruptions that can pull us away from our intentions. Need to calendar/prioritize classroom/coaching time. #CoachApproach
Ah, relationships! If more people understood the power of relationships, including politics, we’d all be a little happier and healthier.
#CoachApproach
You have to really remember that while you are there to be an advocate and support them, your primary job is to ensure teaching and learning are occurring each day. #CoachApproach (tbc)
You have to put aside personal feelings when you’ve given guidance and need to correct Ts if you see changes aren’t being made in instructional practice for your kids #CoachApproach
A2: I think the biggest challenge to wearing a coaching hat is to be aware that, as the principal, my words carry a lot of weight. It's important that I help teachers reflect. It's important that I listen. #coachapproach
Also be intentional with your time. I create my schedule day by day ensuring there is time for me to be in classrooms to provide feedback to teachers. Nothing is more important #CoachApproach
A3: set aside first hour of the day and 30 minutes after lunch as asministrivia/problem solving then plan hour morning block and hour In late afternoon for classrooms/coaching #CoachApproach
A3: intentional times throughout the week, provided by my Ideal Week (https://t.co/ZA8gQK7sXg). I’m also working on getting a list of times when teachers are off-stage and tracking through Justin Baeder’s system @eduleadership#CoachApproach
Response to Q1: it is important to plan ahead of time in order to provide teachers, veteran/new, with team building, culture building, goal setting, and best practices #CoachApproach
Q1: What are you doing at the start of the year to build rapport/relationships with new and veteran teachers to set the stage for coaching? #CoachApproach
A3: I have a daily "get-to" list. On the list is to get into @ least 4 classrooms & have @ least 1 coaching conversation. If it doesn't happen, it becomes a priority the next day. If it still doesn't happen, it's time to refocus & do something different. #coachapproach
Response to Q2: One challenge is not knowing when to be in both roles at the right place and the right time. It takes practice and experience to become a fluent coach, as well as consistency and fidelity #CoachApproach
Response to Q3: organization and planning has to be started ahead of time (e.g. 3-6 months), you have to be intentional in planning and scheduling classroom visits, and be purposeful when coaching. It needs to become a positive habit #CoachApproach
So many great ideas from the #coachapproach chat tonight! Thank you @PrincipalJ and @shiraleibowitz for putting the focus on building relationships so we can all grow and get better for kids!
Thank you so much for joining. We chat the first Thursday of each month at 8pm CST and you can certainly follow/use the hashtag #CoachApproach anytime! https://t.co/5vyhqBnUc3
A2: I think the biggest challenge to wearing a coaching hat is to be aware that, as the principal, my words carry a lot of weight. It's important that I help teachers reflect. It's important that I listen. #coachapproach
