This blog series will take you on a journey where we’ll delve into six foundational practices that embody how leaders can embrace a coaching mindset. Each practice serves as a stepping stone, guiding us towards instructional change and student success. Together, we’ll explore how coaching builds will, skill, knowledge, and capacity, breathing life into the aspirations of educators, leaders, and the futures of the students they serve. Part 1 of the series can be found HERE.

Coaching and leading is not just something you do. It’s an opportunity to embrace a mindset and cultivate an environment conducive to growth, fostering collaboration and supporting teachers in enhancing their instructional practices. 

From the article Unpacking the Partnership Principles with Your Team, by Brian Sepe and Melissa Terrano, they define Jim Knight’s Partnership Principles as the following:  “The partnership principles is about a way of being for mutually humanizing interactions. Principles guide our actions whether we are conscious of them or not. They provide us with a theoretical framework for being, but they are also very practical. They help us determine what to do in new or ambiguous situations. Principles also help us describe both the person we are and the person we want to be.” 

In Jim Knight’s ASCD article titled, Seven Principles for True Partnership, he names and defines them as the following: 

The Partnership Principles

• Equality: I don’t believe any person or group is more valuable than any other. I recognize and honor the dignity of every individual.
• Choice: I communicate in a way that acknowledges the professional discretion of others by positioning them as decision makers.
• Voice: I want to hear what others have to say, and I communicate that clearly.
• Dialogue: I believe conversations should consist of a back and forth exchange, with all parties hearing and responding to one another’s opinions.
• Reflection: I engage in conversations that look back, look at, and look ahead.
• Praxis: I structure learning so that it’s grounded in real life.
• Reciprocity: I enter each conversation open and expecting to learn.

With this in mind, drawing on inspiration from Jim Knight’s partnership principles, I believe that leaders have the ability to create the conditions necessary for instructional practices to evolve and student outcomes to flourish. By prioritizing effective coaching and collaborative practices, leaders empower teachers to reflect on and enhance their work with students. Through embedded professional learning opportunities, a culture of continuous improvement takes root, promoting lasting instructional change. 

Leading Through a Coaching Mindset: 6 Practices That Transform Dialogue, Instruction, and Student Growth – Part 1

Click HERE to use the infographic below for discussion

In part one of this blog series, I delved into the ideas of being less evaluative and more collaborative. I invite you to read that post before you continue reading here, but it is certainly not necessary.

Idea 2: Lean into Learning

Since I have stepped into a formal leadership role, I have been working towards shifting the narrative of the observation process to one centered around coaching, elevating the impact of feedback, driving meaningful growth and development within their educational community.

After being in education for nearly two decades, it is safe to say that I have learned that your evolution as human beings and educators can rest on the shoulders of those who genuinely took the time to inquire about your triumphs and setbacks. It was the leaders and educators who give you the time and space to freely collaborate, think, reflect, and embrace your successes and failures (and there will be many). When considering all of the productive conversations I have had about learning and teaching, I have discovered that there were a handful of observations that lifted the level of my instruction and landed at the forefront of my mind. 

I have been formally observed approximately 35 times over the course of my career and informally observed more times than I can count. When I was an instructional coach and now I am a leader, I am getting observed every time I interact with my colleagues, educators, and the community I serve. The conversations that moved me forward weren’t necessarily the ones that involved a formal write-up or rubric. It was the in-the-moment dialogue, the reciprocal nature of those meaningful exchanges, and the authenticity of the process that led me to taking new paths to a destination. 

Shifting the Observation Narrative

I’ll admit, the trajectory of my career has been beautiful. Having served many communities in different roles, I quickly recognized that each building had a wide range of strengths and opportunities for growth. Having been a teaching assistant, classroom teacher, elementary and middle school literacy specialist, instructional coach, and mentor coordinator K-12, these experiences have collectively afforded me opportunities to speak with a plethora of administrators, teachers, mentors, students, and families who have impacted the way I approach teaching and learning. 

Throughout this time, I have considered many different perspectives, sifted through various curricula, collaborated on the writing of curricula, have attended and presented many professional learning experiences, and have coached and taught many teachers and students. I have also recognized that every educator adds value to a conversation, and those who serve on the frontlines have tremendous insight into where they need to grow. As I stepped into formal leadership roles at the building and district levels, my journey has led me to think about how I can shift the narrative of observations and ask myself: 

• How can I be the leader I always needed during the observation process?
• How can I capitalize on my teaching and coaching experiences to elevate and support the educators I serve?
• Is the planning, process, and evidence of the observation a reflection of what you believe in as a school district?

Before I revisit some of the ideas I have shared in my previous writings, let me be clear that this experience has been embraced by my school district in order to support and cultivate a culture of collaboration that will directly impact student achievement. As we move this important work forward together, we recognize that this is a journey and we have only planted the seeds for experiences we will continue to develop and grow.

Observing Through a Coaching Lens: 8 Ideas to Lift the Level of Conversation & Transform Practice

CLICK HERE to print out the card for discussion

Less Evaluative and More Collaborative: Approach conversations as a thinking partner. There are no titles in teaching and learning discussions. Keep the conversations focused on the learner and the learning. In the book Innovate Inside the Box by George Couros and Dr. Katie Novak, George identifies 3 critical areas for learning by educators and why they are crucial. 1. Learn about our students 2. Learn for our students 3. Learn from our students. The same applies during a collaborative conversation between an administrator and teacher: 1. Learn about our teachers 2. Learn for our teachers 3. Learn from our teachers. There is no one who knows themselves and their learners better than the teacher themselves. 

Root in the Mission and Vision: When I was onboarded to a building and district leadership roles, one of the first documents shared with me was the District’s mission and vision. I am still in awe of the time, thought, and collaborative effort that had gone into creating this document. This isn’t a document that is simply just posted on the District website. This is a document that lives and breathes in every conversation we embark on. The language and meaning are easily embedded into observations, informal conversations, professional learning experiences, and presentations. In discussing teaching and learning with teachers and planning instruction, we look back at the mission and vision together and intentionally reflect on student outcomes. Is the planning, process, and evidence a reflection of what we believe in as a school District? 

Bridge Building Level Goals: When discussing the mission and vision, it is vital to communicate and bridge the building level goals with the discussion. As teachers are planning, executing, and responding in real time during lessons, having a building level focus such as “student-generated questioning” or “enhancing evidence-informed practices” or “delivering intentional small group instruction” (to name a few) can keep the goals of the conversation grounded and the planning and preparation more focused.

Target Priority Standards: It is recognized that there are a significant number of standards that learners are expected to be exposed to, explore, and in many cases master by the end of a school year. Zoom in on the priority standards and keep the conversation rooted in what standards are critical in helping learners access more complex skills. Consider creating a digital folder of standards that teachers can have access to while planning lessons in one space. Having the standards available will also help guide the conversation to the assessment component of the lesson. It may lead to the question, How will you know if students are accessing the standard during and after the lesson?

Value Teachers as Guides: Allow the teachers to guide the observation conversations. Let them talk about the teaching and learning that transpires in their rooms. Let them share what they are most proud of and what they feel are areas of growth based on student evidence. These authentic discussions show teachers that you value their expertise that could lead to a more organic experience. 

Consider Multiple Pathways to Feedback: After an observation, I will never leave a classroom without naming the goodness I saw. I never make the teacher wait to get an observation write up to know what their impact was during that lesson. I talk directly to the teacher and students. I name the work I saw through the experience. “It was amazing to see you using accountable talk stems to lift the level of each other’s thinking together. I can see you and your teacher have been working hard at actively listening to one another so you can add on to the discussion in meaningful ways.” I am also a fan of leaving a digital note, handwritten note, or Voxer message (walkie talkie app) and sending it right to the teacher’s email directly after the lesson. This lets the teacher know that you appreciated being in the room and shows you are a true learning partner in the process.

Growth Through Coaching Conversations: Ask good questions that will spark learner-driven conversations. They will lead you to identifying and focusing on a problem of practice. Questions such as: What worked well for you during our collaboration and coaching cycle? How has your teaching been positively impacted? How do you feel our collaboration has positively impacted the students? What were any challenges or missed opportunities during our work together? What are some next steps in your teaching?

Recommend Relevant Resources: Like a teacher, every instructional leader should have a bag of tricks available and ready to support and grow an educator during any given conversation. Keeping yourself well-versed on up-to-date articles, books, and practical resources teachers can use to apply in their classroom TOMORROW is a great investment in the teaching and learning deposit box. Recently I recommended Evolving Education by Dr. Katie Martin to a teacher. After watching a lesson that was learner-driven, personalized, and innovative, I wanted to be able to get a seasoned teacher to productively seek out new ways to take incredible existing practices and make small shifts that will have a big impact. As this particular teacher is reading the book, she is sharing what parts resonated and how she is implementing some of the ideas. For example, she took the School Learner Profile exemplar on page 16 of the book AND our District mission and vision, and created a learner profile that was in line with her classroom community values.

Moving Forward

So I ask school leaders, will you lean into learning and consider shifting the narrative of observations by observing through a coaching lens? Every interaction you have as a coach and thinking partner is an opportunity to build community, lift the level of conversations, and transform practices in the most meaningful, productive ways.