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The Coaching Cycle: say this, not that: Growing as an Instructional Coach

Listen up, elementary instructional coaches. Communicating with teachers can make or break your relationship with them. Want to learn about how to visit classrooms and give feedback during the coaching cycle? Check out these easy sentence starters to learn what to say (and what not to say) to support teachers with your feedback. The coaching cycle. We hear about it all of the time.

It’s a best-practice approach to working with individual teachers, honoring that they are learners in their own place in a learning process and valuing that we are all constantly growing.

But if you haven’t really used the coaching cycle with a teacher before, it might be a little bit daunting.

You might be worried that you’ll say “the wrong thing” and end up with a teacher who’s not too happy with you (or excited about your support).

Here are some things I’ve learned that have helped me use the coaching cycle effectively with teachers in different places in their learning process.
The Pre-conference 
During the pre-conference, you’ll meet with the teacher to discuss what he or she is interested in working on or growing in. You’ll identify a specific area to focus on and set a date or time for a classroom visit and the post-conference. You can also plan together for this lesson, if the teacher is interested in trying out something new.

Listen up, elementary instructional coaches. Communicating with teachers can make or break your relationship with them. Want to learn about how to visit classrooms and give feedback during the coaching cycle? Check out these easy sentence starters to learn what to say (and what not to say) to support teachers with your feedback.
The classroom visit 
During the visit, you’ll take detailed notes. You can interact with students in a limited way to find out what they’re working on and to have them verbalize their thinking to you. Be sure to arrive on time and watch closely for the focus the teacher asked you to look for.
Listen up, elementary instructional coaches. Communicating with teachers can make or break your relationship with them. Want to learn about how to visit classrooms and give feedback during the coaching cycle? Check out these easy sentence starters to learn what to say (and what not to say) to support teachers with your feedback.


The post-conference

During the post-conference, you’ll debrief with the teacher and help him or her think through their lesson and their goal. You can discuss next steps and offer support as needed.

Listen up, elementary instructional coaches. Communicating with teachers can make or break your relationship with them. Want to learn about how to visit classrooms and give feedback during the coaching cycle? Check out these easy sentence starters to learn what to say (and what not to say) to support teachers with your feedback.

But wait! There’s more!
Hee hee
You can sign up for my all-new Start-Up Course for Instructional Coaches!
It’s a free email course, right to your inbox, that will give you the essential steps for getting started as an instructional coach. You’ll get videos, links to posts, and even a free resource or two, and follow-up emails to help you along your coaching journey!
Just enter your email address in the box below. You’ll also be signing up to receive periodic emails about instructional coaching as part of my mailing list!

 
 
 
 
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15 Comments

  1. This is a great reference tool! It is a daunting task as a new coach to start the actual coaching process rather than just popping in and out asking what teachers need.

  2. Hello Karener. My name is Tori. I am a coach for K-1st grade and would like to know how soon are you planning to begin your coaching cycle?

    Looking forward to hearing from you soon Thanks in advance

  3. i would love to see the e-course but didn't see the box to enter my info. any chance that is still available? your ideas and presentation are stellar…i am adding your blog address to a session i am doing TOMORROW for a statewide conference! thank you for your hard work and generosity!

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