The Learning Curve of Coaching
As a new coach, I was overwhelmed by how open and honest my colleagues were about the challenges in their classrooms. As a teacher, it is easy to think that every classroom operates like yours with the same obstacles and rewards.
Even though I was a new coach, I had over 15 years of classroom experience, so I felt pretty confident I knew how to support any teacher regardless of their problem of practice. Of course, I did not have all the answers. My teachers were facing real apathy from students, conflict with their colleagues, and a continuous revolving door of changes in priorities in education.
I wish I had not taken my leadership training in the classroom as preparation for leading adult learning. From my perspective, I needed a new skill set or at least to enhance my interpersonal knowledge. I started to realize that I needed to research strategies for scenarios I could not anticipate.
Coaches Can’t Coast—They Keep Learning
Coaching can be all things including instructional, relational, and change agents. Readers span a continuum from voracious to occasional and even indifferent. Coaches who read, in my opinion, are the most influential in the field.
As educational research evolves, it is our responsibility to stay current. There is no “coasting” in coaching. For example, when I started teaching, instructional coaching was not a career path. Within my career, instructional coaching was born and as an enthusiastic educator, I set my sights on the coaching position.
As an avid and eager reader, I devoured just about every book on the topic during my transition from teacher to coach. I am in my 12th year as a coach and still reading and learning and growing my network. One of my favorite phrases is, “Don’t take my word for it, what do I know… let’s check in with some experts. I was recently reading…”
Great coaches know that sometimes, being the expert in the room isn’t enough. You can offer the same advice repeatedly, but it may not resonate until it comes from a well-known educator or researcher. Citing experts allows teachers to hear familiar guidance from a fresh perspective—one that carries weight in a different way. Sometimes, it’s not about what you say but who says it that makes the message stick.
Great coaches are armed with knowledge from an army of great thinkers and writers and can articulate how the theory meets practice. Teachers need thought partners, choice, and a variety of options to consider when making instructional decisions.
Don't Worry, I Got You: A Must-Read List for Coaches
Understanding that not everyone has the time or desire to read each and every book about instructional coaching, or even loosely related (I read those too), I thought it would be beneficial to create a must-read list for anyone pursuing instructional coaching as a career passion.
Many school leaders find themselves in dual roles, balancing leadership and coaching. If you're navigating this challenge, you may find this blog post helpful in exploring how to balance coaching and evaluation effectively—and this book list is great for you too.
No matter your role in a school, I would encourage an insatiable love of learning for anyone pursuing the work of a coaching position. Being in love with your own ideas or solutions isn’t at all what the job entails. It is being vulnerable, asking questions, and almost never getting credit for student successes that you were instrumental in facilitating.
It is still the best job in the world. Take a peek at the following titles and know that they are worth the time and effort.
Five Great Reads: You might be armed with loads of information about curriculum and instruction, but there is also something about reading people from the non-educational world that can really help with working with adult learners. Here are my top five great reads to help: |
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Title & Author | Key Points | Why Read This? |
|---|---|---|
| No one grows up in an ideal environment and has something that triggers an emotional response that you weren’t ready to receive. The key to coaching is to always be gentle with yourself and others. There is big” T” and little “t” trauma but there is no benefit to comparing grief or belittling any person's experiences. There is tremendous benefit in being attentive, compassionate and empathic. | |
| I am currently rereading this book because when I started this list and opened it back up I was immediately engrossed. Compassion, comfort, and self-kindness are not too much to ask for in our daily lives. In a profession like teaching, where every day is exhausting, this book is filled with smart and often funny remedies for burnout symptoms. We all make and experience meaning in unique ways, and the authors are excellent at pointing at people and places to seek if you are lacking. | |
| Brene Brown and a few dear colleagues of mine helped me shed a shield of agreeableness that did not mesh with my belief system. Daring Greatly is about calling out generationally poor behavior, perfectionism, and catastrophizing. If we continue to live in fear of failure, we cannot achieve or connect as a human race. I would highly recommend Brown’s work, including TED talks and books, to every educator on the planet. | |
| As I practice mindfulness, I am constantly thinking about how to notice and name emotions that are fleeting and those that are founded. Being an emotionally agile adult takes tremendous dedication and determination to be in difficult moments, accept grief, and be comfortable detaching from an unhealthy relationship with your thoughts. I am always striving to be more curious, and David has the strategies to support that quest. | |
| Recommending Wolfpack is a requirement for anyone who listens (which I recommend the audiobook highly) to Wambach’s life lessons. She is armed with skills beyond soccer and her logic is flawless. As a feminist, this book gave me goosebumps as she encouraged me to understand and embrace my worth and contributions. Speak up, speak loudly, and be the wolf…then find your pack. |
Five Coaching Keepers Coaching can look different across schools, districts, and states. Defining and refining the craft of coaching is a lot like staying current on educational initiatives and implementation. Here are my top five coaching recommendations. |
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Title & Author | Key Points | Why Read This? |
|---|---|---|
| Aguilar is the queen of writing about coaching. I own every one of her books and her books are my happy places. I highly recommend all of her titles to reinforce great coaching practices, but this one about coaching teams was instrumental in my own development. She is adept at describing the impact of power dynamics in teams and how decisions and feedback are the crux of a functioning team. A must read for coaches who work with teams! | |
| Knight is a guru in the coaching world. I have seen him speak at conferences and highly recommend his presentations and books. This book is filled with success criteria for successful conversations, which is the only way to foster and maintain coaching partnerships. I am also a huge fan of the diagrams Knight includes and have child development teachers utilize these in their classrooms. As a coach, you are always reading for resources for teachers. | |
| Bungay-Stanier’s prose was exactly what I needed when I stumbled onto his book. There are two more in a series, but this one starts with the straightforward message to be clear and concise. Saying less, asking one question at a time and listening better. I know, not rocket science but he labels each type of question with a purpose. For example, the focus question and the strategic question are steps to the art of a coaching conversation that makes the time you spend together valuable. | |
| Student centered coaching was the paradigm that made me understand coaching as a partnership. Coaches tend to be excellent teachers, however, outside of your teaching expertise, you can feel like you are right back into the deep end of the pool without a life raft. I had the privilege to work with Diane and Leanna in coaching professional development and was tremendously impacted by their expertise in coaching and conversations. They have authored several books. This one is my favorite for its practical applications. | |
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| Everyone skims and scans naturally to speed up reading. Close reading each word is time-consuming. Writers need a clear goal to keep readers invested. As a coach, we will communicate in written form, and with 60% of adults professing they do not have time to read, we need strategies to sustain them in reading content. Less is more. Include fewer ideas and prioritize the stronger supporting details |
Conclusion
It took me some time as an instructional coach to understand that I didn’t always have to have the answers.
Early on, I was called the “teacher’s teacher,” which only added to my desire to have all the answers. But over time, I realized that coaching wasn’t about knowing everything—it was about learning alongside teachers.
In classrooms and during professional learning, I learned to redefine my role. I became the instructional coach who “works with all the teachers—new and veteran—trying something new or different.” Wordy, but much more accurate.
Instead of positioning myself as the expert, I began introducing myself differently. I would start with: “I am not an expert on anything; however, I am very open to learning more about everything.”
I hope these book lists and summaries help you continue learning, growing, and finding inspiration in your coaching journey.
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