Coaching the Reluctant Teacher
Britt Humphries, EdS.
Literacy Instructional Facilitator
Fort Smith Public Schools
brittsliteracyworkshops.pbworks.com
Objectives
• Hear some practical ideas
• To learn what professional texts have
to say about coaching the reluctant
teacher
• Discuss how others have handled
hard coaching situations
• Problem solving time
Real life experience
•
•
•
•
•
Tough conversations and situations
Using an objective measure
Hard evidence
Video taping
Action plans and timelines
What do the professional texts say?
• Quality Teaching in a Culture of
Coaching by Stephen Barkley
• Negative responses represent real fears
and concerns
• Reflect earlier experiences and
circumstances
-p.157
• Coaching is not evaluating & trust is
paramount
-p. 161
• Speedboats, barges, and rocks
-p. 157-158
What do the professional texts say?
• Differentiated Coaching by Jane Kise
• Meet the needs of the teacher
• Relate or apply the learning to the
problems teachers want to solve
• Use a common framework for unbiased
reflection
• Understand the teachers strengths and
beliefs about teaching and learning
• How tightly are teachers beliefs tied to their
own strengths?
• What are the teachers beliefs about their
role in student success?
• What else keeps teachers from trying new
practices?
(p.11)
What do the professional texts say?
• Cathy Toll’s The Literacy Coach’s
Survival Guide & Surviving But Not Yet
Thriving
• Are the teachers goals poor goals or
just different from yours?
• To address poor goals:
• Keep eye contact direct but friendly
• Use a neutral voice, devoid of judgment,
cajoling, or condescension
• Turn your shoulders toward the teacher and
uncross you arms and legs
• State your “concerns,” “options,” or
“perspectives,” rather than “criticisms,”
“opinions,” or “proof.”
-p.115 LCSG
What do the professional texts say?
•Understand the resistance
•When we resist it is because we believe we are right
•Not because we are lazy or unmotivated
•Remember this about teachers
I don’t have
time for this.
There’s nothing There’s nothing
I need help
you can teach
with.
me.
I understand.
When would be
a good time for
me to come
back?
I’d like to learn
about your
work for my
own sake. . .
You probably
have some
things you
could teach the
new teachers. . .
p. 121 LCSG
What do the professional texts say?
•Focus on coaching conversations.
•Keep the conversations going.
•Treat teachers with dignity and respect.
•Ask only questions you want to know the answers
to; if know the answer don’t ask.
•Use information about students to support claims.
•Develop a sense of what teaching will be like
when goals, interests, or needs are met.
•Determine which information will help gauge
whether the goals, interests, or needs are met.
p. 19-20 SBNYT
Other Sources
How to Deal With Teachers Who Are
Angry, Troubled, Exhausted, or Just
Plain Confused by Elaine McEwan
Results Now by Mike Schmoker
The Best Schools by Thomas
Armstrong
Leadership for Learning by Carl
Glickman
Instructional Coaching by Jim Knight
Your Turn
How have you as professionals
handled difficult teachers?
Problem Solving Time
What are some situations that you
are currently facing?
What are some ideas for helping?
Remember:
“. . . adult learners like to have some say in
the content and format of their learning and
like to see immediate applications.”
-p.128 LTSG