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Preparing for the New School Year #5: Tips for New Coaches
Our “Preparing for the New Year” series has tackled strategies for enrolling teachers in coaching, using presentations as an enrollment tool, the importance of establishing role clarity and managing...
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10 Great Books for Coaches
Being an instructional coach involves a wide variety of skills and knowledge. Over the years at ICG, we have always found inspiration in the work of others, and we’d like to share some of our favorite...
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Paulo Freire’s Five Ideas for Dialogical Learning
All of ICG’s work is based in partnership and dialogue. Our research supports our belief that recognizing the learner as an equal is essential for true learning to take place, and much of our approach...
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What’s Clear After Running the Impact Cycle?
Today’s guest author, Chris Munro, is a director with Growth Coaching International, the leading provider of coaching professional development in Australia and New Zealand for nearly two decades....
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Five Ideas for More Effective Teaching
Robert Sutton’s Good Boss, Bad Boss examines the differences between being a bad or good boss, but those distinctions can also serve as extremely useful parallels for bad or good teaching. In...
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Take the Judgment Challenge: Why Moralistic Judgment Is Wrong, Why It Feels...
For many reasons, judging people can feel good. Saying something like, “I can’t believe they wore that!” or, “What’s wrong with these administrators?” or, “What are these kids thinking?” could be an...
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Great Questions for Instructional Coaches
For the past few years, I’ve been asking people for their metaphor for coaching, and I’ve heard a number of different suggestions, including a sherpa, sour dough yeast, and the gobstopper that Violet...
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Music to Listen to While Writing (Reading, Painting, or Doing Other Creative...
Creative work can be extremely fulfilling, but it also takes a lot of time and dedicated focus. The right music can inspire you, facilitate the momentum of your work, and even help keep you on task....
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Why Teacher Autonomy Is Central to Coaching Success
Pressure to see results can lead coaches and administrators toward a directive approach – dictating exactly what teachers must do to improve – but research has shown giving teachers more control and...
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Can Administrators Be Coaches? Yes and No.
Like most educators, principals and administrators are very busy professionals. With all of the various tasks that fall under their responsibility, finding the time and focus to go through a complete...
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Meeting Teachers Where They Are: Maslow Before Bloom
Today’s guest author, Casey Landry, is an Instructional Coach for The Woodlands College Park High School in Conroe Independent School District and has over 19 years experience in education, including...
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“Be Authentic” Can Be Bad Advice: What Does It Mean to Be an Authentic Person?
We often are often advised to “be authentic,” but depending on what that can mean, it might not be the best advice. If I take it to mean that I should do whatever I want in any given situation because...
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The Binary Myth
Schools are complex, ambiguous environments. Trying to understand the motivations of one student in one classroom is challenging enough. When you expand that to 30 or more students in each classroom,...
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Seven Success Factors for Great Instructional Coaching
Why are some instructional coaching programs more successful than others? Coaches and onsite professional developers often find themselves in high-stakes, critically important roles expected to lead...
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Coaching for Engagement Is Just as Important as Coaching for Achievement
Understandably, many educators are focused on increasing student achievement. After all, teachers constantly strive to help students achieve their full potential. However, student engagement is just...
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Shifting Culture and Changing Practice Through Instructional Coaching
Today’s guest author, Janice Lenarduzzi, is a Deputy Principal at MacGregor State School in Queensland, Australia. Before entering her current role, she served in a regional position on the Teaching...
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Everything You’ve Heard About Checklists Is Wrong
Checklists can feel tedious and reductive, especially in a field like education, where the autonomy of the teacher is so important to success. Some argue that the art of teaching cannot be reduced to...
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Should We Forget About Goals and Just Focus on Habits?
Several books have been published recently describing the role habits play in personal growth. Some authors have even stated that people who want to get better should ignore goals, and focus on...
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As I wrap up day two of our first Intensive Instructional Coaching Institute of the year, I’m thinking about a key strength that we, as coaches, all must have: Empathy. Whether it’s in relation to...
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Five Ways to Be More Coach-Like, From Michael Bungay Stanier
As a series of posts leading up to our annual conference, Teaching | Learning | Coaching, we will be sharing thoughts and ideas by experts who will be presenting at the conference. The posts will...
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