A lot was shared and written about well-being as schools were in the midst of the quarantine. As I interact with teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators today, I’m convinced we need a continuous conscious focus on the topic. Consider these findings prior to the pandemic. A 2018 report by the International School Counsel shared: Teacher […]

I am working with several school systems and their instructional coaches and administrators to support teachers in creating a mindset and actions of acceleration rather than remediation as they begin the coming school year. Here are some of the resources I’ve found that might be helpful to you in planning your professional development and coaching. […]

In an interview with Learningforward, Jal Mehta, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, shared the following: “The challenge with the pandemic is that, for a lot of people, there has been this sense of, “When can we get back to what we had before?” But in the case of schools, it’s pretty […]

I was interviewed on this topic by Jonathan Mueller and Scott Linder for the BabblED podcast. They initially asked me for my personal experiences that speak to the power of coaching. Those of you who have heard my early history in teaching are aware that I was “vaccinated” into teaching as a public and coached […]

Coaching conversations, where the teacher’s agenda emerges and develops over time, increase understanding, build trust, and promote vulnerability and risk-taking. The teacher’s agenda includes the beliefs, values, and thinking behind the teacher’s decision-making. A general guideline, I recommend, is that a coach wants to know what the teacher is thinking before sharing what the coach […]

As I read various descriptions of different coaching practices, I value building multiple ways to process the decision-making that coaches perform on the spot as a coaching conversation unfolds. In an earlier blog, I described the Barkley Model of coaching as not being a model. “I’m sometimes asked ‘What is the Barkley Model of coaching?’ […]