20 practical coaching strategies that help you IMPACT the classroom and create positive change.

Chrissy Beltran

Author, Instructional Coaching Consultant

“Practical, thoughtful, and immediately useful, this book gives coaches the tools to move beyond simply supporting teachers to helping them improve their practice and positively impact student learning.”

—Steve Ventura, President-Advanced Collaborative Solutions & Author/Consultant

Every instructional coach has experienced the frustration that comes along with balancing a rigid approach to coaching with the realities of the school day.

I’ve been there too: trying to navigate challenging school dynamics and logistics while prioritizing lengthy coaching cycles can feel impossible. Then you add in “other duties as assigned” and coaching takes a back burner.

When school leaders have a limited view of what constitutes “real coaching”, we find ourselves struggling to fit our work into a tiny box, and fail to actually take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves for coaching every single day.

The Coaching Strategy Toolbox is a collection of 20 flexible strategies that are designed to help you meet teachers where they are, keep the relationship moving towards more impactful coaching work, and change classroom instruction.

These tools are differentiated so you can choose the right tool for the right time and take advantage of every coaching opportunity, whether it’s 1:1 or across a grade level or department. Choose from relationship building strategies like the Sounding Board, knowledge & alignment building strategies such as Analyzing Student Work, and classroom skill building strategies including In-the-Moment Coaching to differentiate your approach for teachers and build their expertise.

Coaches and school leaders who use these strategies and adopt an “Always Be Coaching” mindset will find opportunities to move the coaching relationship forward and leverage those opportunities into classroom change.

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Inside Expand Your Coaching Toolbox, you’ll learn…

Why a broader view of coaching will help you create change in classrooms
How to establish a foundation for coaching that supports teacher improvement
Real-word examples of coaching strategies in action
A detailed guide for each of the 20 strategies in the book and when to use them
Strategies to build coaching relationships and leverage them into impactful work
A step-by-step process to nine strategies for building teacher knowledge
Tools and processes you can use tomorrow in team or PLC meetings to build alignment
High-impact strategies for classroom skill building that go beyond the basic coaching cycle and observations
Methods for modifying the strategy and continuing the coaching conversation

This book is for anyone who supports teachers and is ready for new ways to improve instruction.

Instructional coaches
School administrators
Teacher-leaders
District leaders
Mentors

What people are saying about Expand Your Coaching Toolbox…

Expand Your Coaching Toolbox captures the real day-to-day work of instructional coaching. Chrissy authentically captures the competing demands, complex relationships, and many hats coaches wear each day. I love how the book offers practical strategies that coaches can pull from their toolbox when they need them most. Most of all, the “Notes from a Coach” make this book feel like having a coach of your own. It offers guidance, perspective, and encouragement along the way. This is a must-have resource for instructional coaches, leaders, and teacher leaders in education.
Nita Creekmore
Author of Read Outside Your Bubble
Having been coached by Chrissy myself, I know the power of her approach firsthand. Expand Your Coaching Toolbox! brings years of her practical wisdom and proven strategies together in one essential resource. After supporting coaches throughout my career, I know these are the tools they need to build trust, strengthen practice, and move teaching and learning forward. Chrissy has given coaches a book they will use again and again.
Nicole S. Turner
Simple Coaching Co and SolutionTree Author
Chrissy Beltran gives coaches permission to stop forcing every interaction into a formal coaching cycle. She champions an always-be-coaching mindset instead, one where every interaction supports growth. Beltran offers practical strategies and draws on stories straight from her own coaching practice, leaving coaches feeling both seen and equipped to navigate the realities of their day-to-day. This is the book coaches will dog-ear.
Becca Silver
Founder and CEO, The Whole Educator; author of The Resistance Solution
In Expand Your Coaching Toolbox!, Beltran upends limiting notions about coaching and opens up greater possibilities, making coaching a more responsive enterprise that addresses the needs of classroom teachers and the realities of a coach’s calendar. Through 20 strategies and her ABC mindset—always be coaching—she helps coaches, teacher leaders, and administrators see this work as a partnership that can move teacher practice, whether you have 4 weeks or 40 minutes.
Lori Cohen
Consultant, coach, and author of The Science of Lesson Planning
Chrissy Beltran understands instructional coaching at its core: relationships matter, knowledge and alignment matter, and ultimately, improved classroom practice matters. In Expand Your Coaching Toolbox!, she has zeroed in on the areas that can truly accelerate a coach’s effectiveness. Practical, thoughtful, and immediately useful, this book gives coaches the tools to move beyond simply supporting teachers to helping them improve their practice and positively impact student learning.
Steve Ventura
President-Advanced Collaborative Solutions & Author/Consultant

Meet the Author

Chrissy Beltran is an author and instructional coaching consultant who helps coaches and school leaders feel supported, skilled, and ready to lead change in their school. After years of coaching in a public school, and, later, helping coaches find opportunities beyond the basic coaching cycle, Chrissy has broadened her definition of coaching and created a collection of coaching strategies designed to give coaches a tool to use in every coaching situation.

Through her work with schools, her podcast, and her coaching resources, she has helped coaches design coaching programs that pair flexibility with structure, build their collection of tools and strategies, and differentiate their approach so they can truly meet their teachers’ needs and impact instruction.

For Schools & Districts

Bulk Book Orders

Ready to support your school or district coaches in building their own Coaching Strategy Toolbox? Quantity discounts are available through ISTE+ASCD Books.

For information about large orders and purchase orders, email programteam@ascd.org or call 800-933-2722, ext. 5773.

Professional Learning Workshops

Pair this practical resource with professional learning designed to help your coaches use these strategies effectively and build better teaching practices. Chrissy’s workshops are practical, engaging, and focused on the real work of coaching—building a framework for coaching, identifying coaching opportunities school leaders may have overlooked, and implementing strategies and processes that improve instruction.

Workshops can be tailored to your team’s needs, whether you’re building a coaching program, strengthening existing coaching practices, or expanding your coaches’ strategy toolboxes to move teachers forward.

Contact Chrissy to Learn More

No two teachers are the same.

Expand Your Coaching Toolbox gives you 20 practical strategies to help you meet teachers where they are, choose the right tool for the moment, and build better instruction.

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