Top Ten List of: Coaching Beliefs

10. Don’t Get Caught Up In The Small Stuff Don’t sweat over the situations you have no power over. Instead focus on the big picture. Have your eyes set on the goals you are trying to achieve. At times people may get frustrated, but don’t take it personal, you have nothing to do with most of the stress that is being put on the teachers you are working with. 9. Recognize Your Beliefs & Attitudes About Teaching Everyone holds their own beliefs and attitudes about teaching. It is important that you recognize that not every teacher will carry the same views that you may. As a coach you must go in with an open mind, willing to work with colleagues who may run a classroom differently than you would. 8. Don’t Become An “Expert” Establish yourself as a colleague. You do not want to have to run the whole show on your own! It’s more important to collaborate and work together in meeting a shared goal.

7. Introduce Yourself & Your Role It is important to meet with administration so a job description can be available. It never helps to keep everybody wondering. You want to make clear what your responsibilities are, this will make things much easier on you and everyone else in the school. 6. Prove You’re Trustworthy Good communication is key to success. It is important to make sure that you follow through in what you say you are going to do in a timely fashion. You must also respect confidentiality. Teachers want to know you are on their side, not talking about them to others. 5.Use Concrete Data Data is the key to figuring out what teaching methods are effective and it allows us to assess students needs. Know how to use data as a key tool in the classroom, this way you can teach teachers to use it as well.

4. Don’t Avoid Tough Issues Don’t let anything get in the way of progress. Take time to reflect and work through things that need to change. Conflict can be intimidating, but avoiding the white elephant in the room will just cause more unhealthy tension. 3. Listen More, Talk Less Show teachers that you value their thoughts and concerns by listening. They will respect you for it and you will also learn more about the people you work with! 2. Model With Teachers Have a clear purpose of what you are modeling. Know what you want the teachers to take from the demonstration and what you want students to gain from the teacher teaching the lesson. Try to model for a whole group of teachers so they can go back and reflect on the experience together.

1. Be A Learner! You never know everything. As a coach continue to study and learn on your own. Take the time to research so you can keep up on the most recent trends and beliefs. Your knowledge is valued by the teachers and professionals you work with on a day to day basis.