Coaching Myths

Early in my career, I would bristle at the thought of someone wanting to observe me for the purpose of giving feedback for improvement. "Didn't I get this job precisely because I was a good fit? Don't they trust me?" I would think.

It wasn't until later, when I was in a position of being a coach to instructional coaches that I realized how entitled my previous attitude sounded. 

Of course I needed a coach! I still had more to learn. 

The coaches I had during that time (who all had coaches of their own) taught me so much, and they really helped build my self-reflective ability so I could coach myself when I had no formal coach around.

It's common to have some apprehension about coaching. It can feel vulnerable to let someone into your classroom practice at a deep enough level to help identify areas for growth. However, some of the most common fears I hear about coaching are just plain wrong.

I don't want anyone in my classroom telling me what to do

No one wants someone in their classroom barking out orders like a drill sergeant. Luckily, my job as an instructional coach is not to tell you what to do. The purpose of a coach is to help guide you towards problem solving. If you are trying to master the skill of "Prompting Thought Processes" as it is outlined in the "Quality of Feedback" dimension in the CLASS tool, but are struggling to remember what questions to ask in the moment, a coach is for you. If you have dozens of tried and true behavior management strategies that have worked for years, but one student this year is really testing you, and you just don't know where to go from here, a coach is for you.

A coach's job is to help you identify specific outcomes that you would like to see. Once you have that defined, you may already have some ideas of how you can reach the goal. If not, a coach is there to help guide you through the problem-solving phase. How much or how little advice a coach gives really depends on you and your goals. A coach's main goal is to guide you through the self-reflective process so you can solve your own problems. A coach is there to be a help, not be another boss.

If I'm required to participate in coaching, it's because my principal/director doesn't trust me as an educator and a professional

If your school is requiring that you participate in coaching, it is precisely because your administration does view you as a professional. Coaching is becoming increasingly popular in every professional field, and that's a good thing.

Think about trying to find a surgeon to do your knee replacement. You seek the opinions of two different surgeons, both who have been in the field for 30 years. The first tells you that he still does the surgery exactly like he learned in 1987. It worked fine then, he's really mastered the art of that method, and it'll work fine for you. The second explains that although she learned how to do the surgery 30 years ago, there have been a lot of advancements since then. She uses the knowledge she's gained over the years, combined with ongoing professional development and one-on-one coaching about new technologies and surgical options to do knee replacements in a way that improves outcomes and lessens recovery time.

Which surgeon are you choosing? I'm choosing the coachable one every time. She's not less professional or knowledgeable because she seeks coaching. She's more professional and knowledgeable precisely because she seeks coaching.

A coach is going to tell my boss everything I do wrong

If this happens, you don't have a very good coach. Apart from instances of gross negligence and/or safety concerns, my first goal is to build a relationship with the professional I am coaching. For coaching to be successful, everyone has to feel safe to be open and honest with one another. My goal as your coach is to help you find out where your roadblocks are so you can find a path around them. If you know I will run to your principal/director with every little hiccup, you aren't going to let me see where your roadblocks are. When you are worried about looking perfect for fear of a "gotcha" moment, I will never be able to help you, and coaching becomes fruitless.

The point of coaching is to turn everyone into a cookie cutter classroom teacher

The point of coaching is to help each teacher reach his or her full potential as an educator. Every teacher and every room is not going to look the same, and as an instructional coach, I don't want it to. Every classroom has a different set of students in it, which means each classroom looking the same would be highly inappropriate. However, there are some strategies and methodologies research has shown us are most predictive of student success. As your coach, my job is to help you find, plan, and try strategies that interest you and will benefit your students. Even though there are some basic indicators of high quality teaching, the way they are carried out in each classroom often looks different.

Everything is working just fine in my classroom so I don't need a coach

This is actually one of the best times for a coach. When you don't have any fires to put out, trying out new methods and strategies is so much easier. While it is absolutely possible to use coaching as a way to work through more systemic problems in a classroom, and I have done this many times, coaching is also for when everything is going well. 

Think back to the surgeon example. If you only try something new when there are issues, you might keep doing the same old thing forever, even once something more efficient comes along. Not to mention when you do have to try something new because of a problem, the pressure is suddenly on. The truth is, that sometimes even when everything is going perfectly, we still learn about new methods and strategies that might help our students even more. I'm a big believer that most people are already doing their best at any given moment, but once you know better, you do better.

If you've not had experience with an instructional coach before, or you've had a negative experience, the prospect of coaching may not seem very appealing at first. However, studies have found that teachers who are given access to high quality coaching and mentoring not only improve their own practice and their student's outcomes, but they are also less likely to feel burnt out. Good coaching really is an investment in growing and keeping quality teachers.

If you'd like to see how Erin can help move you or your teachers towards becoming more "Enlightened Educators," see a list of her services or contact her to ask about educational coaching and consulting options.