5 Powerful Instructional Coaching Tips
Are you considering a career as an instructional coach? This is my third year in coaching, and I absolutely love it. I’ve definitely had a few hiccups, but the successes I’ve gotten to experience with teachers have far outweighed the hard times. I’m hoping these instructional coaching tips will save you some heartache in an incredibly fulfilling career.
Are you curious about what an instructional coach does all day? In K-12 public schools, instructional coaches work with teachers to improve their instruction and enjoy work MORE.
We typically do this in 6 key ways:
- Lesson Planning or Internalization Support
- Modeling
- Co-Teaching
- Informal Observation and Feedback
- Facilitating Peer Learning through PLCs or Peer Observations
- Data Analysis
Some instructional coaches in elementary schools support all the core subjects, while others specialize in a particular content area. Since I work in a Title 1 school that receives extra federal funding, I spent my first two years supporting only K-2 teachers in their reading instruction, specifically as we rolled out a new curriculum called Amplify.
Even though every instructional coach is tasked with the same core responsibilities, it does vary quite a bit from one campus to the next, depending on the needs of your school.
Here are my 5 top tips for being a great instructional coach.
Need help providing quality feedback to teachers? I’ve got a post about that.
In a funk across your whole campus? Here’s an assets-based approach to school leadership that can turn around your whole climate.
1. Instructional coaches support the vision of the principal.
Each campus has its own flair, and each principal has their own set of priorities and an agenda for the year.
At our campus, the Gomez and Gomez dual language model of instruction sits front and center. That means it’s my responsibility to ensure that all new teachers are adequately implementing the best practices that are expected on our campus. I also help veteran teachers find ways to integrate those practices into their teaching.
Each week, I meet with our principals and the math instructional coach, and we discuss how well we are aligning our coaching and instruction with the school’s vision and annual goals.
In my experience, instructional coaching that doesn’t align with the principal’s vision of good instruction will get you absolutely nowhere.
For one, it benefits students when teachers across the campus are using many of the same tools and practices, particularly when the program is excellent. Obviously, kids learn best over time when they don’t need to spend months re-learning expectations in a new year.
Also, organizations of any kind need everyone headed in the same general direction to make progress over the long haul. This also helps you connect teachers with one another to improve their practice, which I’ve found is really well-received.
It’s very helpful if you can have a designated time set aside each week to discuss instruction with your administrators. Another great tool is a shared Google Sheet where you can add comments each week as you support teachers, so that everyone can be on the same page about the instruction that is happening around the building.

2. Great instructional coaches know their content.
In order to be helpful to teachers, you need to know the content back and forth. If you don’t know the content right when you begin, that’s okay, but don’t offer constructive feedback until you are confident that you’ve got sufficient content expertise to be helpful. My first rule of thumb? First, do no harm. Teaching is hard enough as it is without a know-it-all coach who doesn’t position her/himself as a learner.
Even if you do have content knowledge, if your teachers are learning a new curriculum or HQIM (high-quality instructional material) that you’ve never taught, consider yourself a novice and take it slow with offering feedback or putting your ideas front and center.
I have learned the content by simply spending time in the classrooms of our strongest teachers to see how and why they teach the way they do. Many times, teachers don’t even realize they’re doing something special until you call it out and ask to share the idea with another teacher. This does require patience.
3. Instructional coaches build authentic relationships with teachers.
If you’re currently teaching, you’ve probably heard the expression from Theodore Roosevelt: “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” We often apply this to students, but it’s probably even more relevant for instructional coaches trying to push teachers into a new direction.
If it’s your first year as an instructional coach, whether you’re new to the building or not, I would expect to spend the first 3 months building relationships with teachers before you begin to push them hard toward new learning or coaching them up on a new skill. And even then, tread lightly until you’re sure you know what sort of feedback will help them feel successful.
Every time a new teacher joins your campus, I would tap the breaks on the feedback or delivering an action step until the relationship is pretty solid.
Remember, you’re not an administrator. You don’t just offer feedback or write people up for not meeting a standard. You’re a coach, and it requires some degree of buy-in from teachers.
What does relationship-building look like as an instructional coach?
First, consider learning more about servant leadership. This book is a wonderful best-seller about great leadership and will help you get the right mindset. As you develop your understanding of servant leadership, consider the following practical ways of showing you care.
- Pop in on teachers during their conferences to connect, listen, and develop real friendships (but “read the room” and leave if they’re busy or not the type to chat during the day).
- Bring affordable treats to different grade levels each week.
- Leave encouraging notes in their classrooms about all the ways they’re doing a great job. Never give generic compliments, but instead be very specific and sincere. Stay long enough in their classrooms to find something meaningful that is worth noticing and honoring.
- Offer to make copies or laminate for them, or any other form of “grunt work.”
- Be a trustworthy person – someone who is a safe sounding board who will also speak up and quietly defend what is right if a teacher is being unkind or unhelpful.

4. Instructional coaches master their calendar and time management systems.
I’ve held many different positions within education and outside the field, too. Instructional coaching is the first time I’ve felt confused or overwhelmed about how BEST to manage my time. Eventually, I figured out what works for me, and you will, too.
There are some things that must be done in a particular time slot. You’ll surely have meetings and campus duties that are fixed and predictable. Of course you’ll calendar those using whatever platform your campus prefers: we use all Google products, so Google Calendar is my bestie.
There are other things that must be done approximately once a month, quarter, or grading period but which have a moving or unpredictable deadline. Data analysis following every major test would be an example of mine. I put the tests on my calendar and then block off a window of time immediately following for data analysis and conversations.
You’ll have a lot of tasks that need doing each week – I have Tier 1, 2, and 3 teachers who need to each be visited and observed at minimum once per week, plus informal check-ins or lesson co-planning that might be either fixed or on an as-needed basis. These things work better in a block schedule, but of course, each grade level will have different availability.
What has worked best for me is to maintain the following:
- A to-do list for one-off tasks
- A checklist of teachers to visit 1, 2, and 3 times weekly that gets updated weekly and then refreshed each Monday.
- A calendar featuring both fixed appointments (lunch duty, ARD meetings, PLCs, co-planning appointments) and blocks of time allocated for different types of tasks, including classroom visits, check ins, and desk work.
What makes all this tricky is that you’ll not just be managing your own schedule – you will also need to know when your subjects are being taught around the building so you can catch the lessons you need to see throughout the day and week.
The best coaching schedule is one that offers the perfect blend of scheduled appointments and blocked off periods of time to accomplish different types of tasks. The bad news? The only way to figure it out is to just begin, reflect, and try something different until you develop your own rhythm over time. There’s no one-size-fits-all plan.

5. Instructional coaches understand how their role differs from administrators.
While coaches spend a lot of time in classrooms watching for strengths and challenges, the role is very different from an administrator.
A coach’s job is non-evaluative, meaning that nothing you record will likely end up in a permanent file. You will give some feedback, but most of what you say (in many cases) will be presented more as an idea for forward momentum rather than a requirement.
It’s best practice to keep track of action steps that you’re presenting and keep these written down, but it’s still less formal than anything an administrator will fill out and put in a file.
When a teacher is really off-track, you may say things like:
“I really want to help you in this particular area, because I think it may be a trouble spot on your end of year summative if we don’t make some progress.”
“I am worried about the results of the district assessment. Let’s find a couple of celebrations and then work together on your small group plans so you’re prepared for your upcoming PLC.”
“You’re making great progress on your transition times! The last time I was in there, you were averaging about 2 minutes on transitions. I’d like to get them under 90 seconds so we can reduce opportunities for big behaviors to flare up. You’ll go home less tired if we can keep moving that number down.”
Teachers will develop trust in you and begin to value your opinion once they know you’re not there to “snitch” on them for any false moves in the classroom. You’ll probably be in their classrooms much more than administrators and have more opportunities to bear witness to the good, bad and ugly.
Never go to your administrators with minor infractions or shortcomings in your teachers. Over time, this will come back to haunt you as your teachers lose faith that you’re on their team. On the other hand, if you see something great, shoot them an encouraging email and cc: your principal.
However, occasionally the waters will get muddied. You may see something that makes the hair stand up on your neck or be truly egregious in terms of bad behavior. Kids’ safety and progress matters more than grown-ups feelings.
Examples:
A teacher leaves a group of kids with an interventionist or inclusion teacher and goes to get fast food during instructional time.
A teacher is struggling with classroom management and leaves a child alone in a classroom mistakenly.
A teacher is consistently showing up to class unprepared, and test results show that kids are falling behind. You’ve tried to engaging with the teacher, but they aren’t responding to your many different methods of holding them accountable for good teaching.
Major safety problems or disciplinary concerns do have to be reported. In this case, I think it’s best to be honest with the teacher that you’re going to have to report it, even if it harms the relationship. At least then you’re being transparent.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re new to instructional coaching, fear not! As long as you take your time getting to know your teachers, remain humble with a learning stance, and continually reflect on your practices, you’ll do great over time.
Be sure to like and share this post if you found it helpful. I think it’s difficult to find current instructional coaching information online from a school-based leader.