The Art of Coaching Teachers
Elena Aguilar, an experienced K-12 educator, trains individuals and teams to build resilient, just communities. She is the author of The Art of Coaching (2013), The Art of Coaching Teams (2016), and Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators (2018). She is also the founder of Bright Morning Consulting (brightmorningteam.com) and is active on social media. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
What's the Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring?
A coach and a mentor are different things, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Elena Aguilar clarifies the difference between the two roles.
Education
Opinion
Improve Your Coaching With One Move: Stop Talking
Your role as a coach is not to fill someone else's head with ideas, advice, or direction, Elena Aguilar writes.
Education
Opinion
How to Wrap Up a Year of Coaching: Reports, Reflections, and Appreciation
Reflecting on your clients' growth is an opportunity to reflect on your own practice, Elena Aguilar writes. Here are some strategies to reflect on a year of growth.
Education
Opinion
Why Coaching Is the Best Job
After just about every coaching meeting, it feels like there's a chance I can be a better person on this earth, a more compassionate, patient, curious person.
Education
Opinion
Coaching Teachers Through Unexpected Change
Here are 10 ways to coach teachers through inevitable changes in their job or school.
Education
Opinion
Expansive Listening: An Essential Coaching Skill
As coaches, our primary tools are listening and questioning. It's time we take responsibility for how we've listened and the questions we've asked. It's time we listen and respond in new ways.
Education
Opinion
The Stories Teachers Tell
Our stories can be empowering, motivating, and useful--or they can be undermining and destructive. As a coach in schools, I'm constantly on the listen for storytelling that doesn't serve the tellers or students or the community that they serve.
Education
Opinion
Don't Give Up on Coaching a Teacher
As a coach, your job isn't to determine when to give up on a teacher. Your job is to believe in her potential, to coach and coach and coach her, to put your own anxiety to the side, and to recognize that the journey of transformation is a long one.
Education
Opinion
How to Ignite Educators' Willingness to Change
Ask the people that you coach: Who do you want to be in this world? Who do you want to be for your students?
Education
Opinion
Are Administrators Qualified to Coach Teachers?
I think it is very, very hard for an administrator to coach someone they evaluate or supervise. It's hard for the administrator and it's hard for the coachee. Here's why.
Education
Opinion
What Should a Coach Do?
Here are five things a coach must do when he or she sees a teacher engaged in a behavior that hurts student learning.
Education
Opinion
Coaching Educators' Strong Emotions
When we coach teachers, we must remember that we are coaching—and talking to—a human being, and to recognize and honor their humanity is a coach's primary mandate.
Education
Opinion
How Transparency Can Build Trust
If coaching is new at your school, if you're new at your school, or you're new in the role of coach, you can cultivate trust by being explicit, direct and transparent about what you're doing and why.
Education
Opinion
When Is it Time for a Hard Conversation?
If a teacher is delivering a message of hatred and exclusion to students, how should other teachers respond?