In 2021, Ted Lasso won seven Emmy Awards. If you’ve seen the program, just hearing the show’s title likely causes you to smile and then to say, either internally or audibly, “Oh, I love Ted Lasso.” (If you haven’t yet seen this show, I highly recommend you immediately stop reading and go watch some of the heartwarming goodness you have been missing.)
Why are so many of us so enamored with this program? In short, because it’s about a man hired to do a job for which he is unqualified—to be a professional soccer coach when he has never coached or even played soccer. Yet Ted brings a deep understanding of human interactions, passion, and heart to this new role, in which he cultivates relationships at the individual and organizational level that ultimately result in something deeper and longer lasting than a successful soccer season.
We cheer for Ted’s earnestness and compassion, but when we flip back to real life, it’s pretty outlandish to imagine being asked to coach in an area we know very little—or even worse, nothing—about. Few would disagree that being a coach requires a strong and flexible foundation in the subject matter—be it sports coaching or, for our purposes here, literacy coaching.
When educators decide or are asked to transition into a literacy coaching role, there is an assumption that they have experienced literacy teaching success and believe they have a level of understanding worth sharing with others. Whereas Ted Lasso is able to succeed in spite of a lack of exposure to the sport he is coaching, literacy coaches are the opposite; they must be well versed in effective literacy practices before contemplating the role.
So, if content knowledge is a prerequisite, new coaches must focus on other underlying but equally important Ted Lasso–like skills to cultivate and grow. Four of these critical skills are
- centering children at the heart of all coaching work,
- active listening and responsive conversation skills,
- targeted and collaborative goal setting, and
- respecting and honoring identity and choice.
The first and most vital mindset for new literacy coaches to foster is the understanding that although much of the work is between the classroom teacher and the coach, the entire collaboration is in support of positively impacting instructional outcomes for children. The most effective coaching places students and their work at the heart of every interaction and conversation. New coaches need to actively embrace this outlook and seek to put it into actionable practice. Bringing student work to coaching conversations and adopting language structures that invite teachers into this work is an effective way to begin this work. Some student-centered examples are as follows:
- Let’s take a look at some student writing.
- Let’s take a look at a running record.
- Let’s listen to a recording of a minilesson/small group/conference.
- What do you see/hear/notice in this child’s work/talk?
As teachers share observations, a strong coach can foster further reflection by encouraging them to delve even more deeply into their thinking. The goal is to create a self-extending system a teacher can use to think about students when not directly with the coach. Talk prompts to support this might sound like these:
- Say more about what you observed/heard.
- What does that make you think or wonder? What else?
- Show me where you saw that in a piece of student writing/running record.
Instead of inserting “expertise” into the conversation, a coach can nurture and validate deeper teacher thinking with phrases such as these:
- So what I think you are saying is [paraphrase]. Is that right?
- I’m hearing you say [paraphrase].
- It sounds like you are wondering [paraphrase].
- What do you think the next best step would be? Please share more about your thinking.
Just as teachers need to have goals for their lessons that are crafted and shared with children based on children’s identities and what they need, coaches need to have shared goals for coaching that teachers are equally invested in to guide the work. Once coaching partnerships are focused on what children are saying and doing, this can be leveraged to craft shared goals within a coaching cycle that extend beyond “one and done” or random pop-ins. Although such quick hits may feel effective in the moment, they do not inspire deeper and lasting change.
As emergent coaches are shepherded into new roles, time must be dedicated to cultivating a mindset that honors and respects the unique identities of the teachers and children with whom they will be working throughout the coaching relationship. A large part of this thoughtfulness is being flexible with the materials and methods shared so they are the most high-leverage options for individual adult learners. Just as choice matters for children, it also matters for adults. A flexible coach who builds choice into the coaching partnership will likely experience less resistance and more success.
It is equally important for new coaches to be aware that, in some districts, teachers who are assigned a coach are deemed in need of improvement. The coach may be viewed by the teacher as a punishment, and as a savior by the administration—quite a challenging way to begin a coaching relationship! The coach must be aware of who holds or is perceived to hold power and privilege in these situations, particularly when a white coach is supporting a teacher of color.
All of the above must be cultivated in the midst of an often overriding desire amongst burgeoning coaches to be “the expert,” who therefore have a tendency to lead with an “I’m the expert” or “listen to me” stance. This unbalanced approach can have the unintended result of making the teacher(s) being coached more passive. Creating this type of “Just tell me what to do” role in the partnership does not result in an investment in the coaching process nor sustain meaningful growth that will directly and positively impact children. This imbalance can also create dependency or, even worse, resentment if the teacher does not feel respected or valued by the coach, a negativity that will surely stifle ongoing partnership. Opportunities for young coaches to share, role-play, and problem-solve with fellow coaches are a few of the ways to try on and continually refine these ever-evolving, essential skills critical to initial and ongoing success.
Although no one aspires to become a literacy coach in the same haphazard way that Ted Lasso became a soccer coach, new coaches can bring his passion, heart, and strong interpersonal skills to the work and their new roles. Centering children, engaging in rich dialogue, co-creating collaborative goals, and using a deep understanding of human interactions will empower new coaches to do this critical work, and do it award-winningly well.
