During a recent podcast conversation with Mitch Weisburgh, the author of “Mindshifting: Stop Your Brain from Sabotaging Your Happiness and Success,”, I found myself connecting his ideas to a challenge instructional coaches and school leaders frequently encounter. At times, teachers come to a coach asking, “What can I do?” while simultaneously believing there is little […]

How do the words teachers hear from school leaders, instructional coaches and peers provide an uplift and motivation? Are there time that the words teachers hear create a subtle source of stress, confusion, or disengagement? Our language can be a vehicle through which expectations, emotions, and commitments are transmitted.  What we say—and just as importantly, […]

Have you ever had this happen? Coach: Thanks for meeting before our coaching observation. What would you like me to focus on when I come into your classroom? Teacher: Honestly, I don’t really have anything specific. You can just come in and watch. Coach: Okay… sometimes teachers ask me to look at student engagement, questioning, […]

I use the last and first weeks of the year to break from writing a new blog and look to provide some previous work that can encourage reflection. I pulled some of my thinking that focusses on coaches having a repertoire of practices that enable them to align their coaching approach to meet the agenda, […]

Last week I had the opportunity to return to the Pride Academy in East Orange, NJ and spend time with staff as they prepared for the start of a new school year. Last year the Pride Academy received an Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) Silver Gains Award for Driving Dramatic Student Achievement Gains. I’ve worked […]