This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim’s amazing clients, Kelly Esposito, K12 Instructional Coach at Phoenixville School District in Pennsylvania USA. Kelly is a graduate of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program, and Kim’s been working with Kelly (and the rest of the coaching team at her school in Pennsylvania) for several years.

These case study episodes are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting. 

In this conversation they talk about… 

• What coaching looks like in Kelly’s school setting right now
• How her role has, and the coaching program at PASD has, evolved over the years
• A big “aha” moment Kelly had in The Coach around equity and math instruction
• The success of implementing Building Thinking Classrooms at PASD
• How she’s refining her practice over this academic year
• What she wish she knew when she started coaching

This episode is a fantastic example of how successful instructional coaches are always intentional about growing their skills and refining their practice over time.

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Show Notes

Tell us about your coaching journey – where did you start as an educator, and where are you now?

I had been in education for about 20 years. had moved districts to Phoenixville to take a position as a K5 math coach. That was right after Covid, starting in 2021 – 22 school year. I’m currently in my third year as an instructional coach. 

What does coaching look like in your school right now? What makes that work? What’s challenging in that environment?

Came into a program that had been established for 2 years, building the mindset that coaching is for everybody. That had taken a little bit of time to establish, even my first year, which is the third year of the coaching program. we had really worked a lot on relationship building and culture. Takes more time than I expected it to take. The meat of coaching is getting those relationships established, so when you’re on that journey you’re feeling safe and able to be vulnerable – for both the coach and coaching partner. The journey has been a little bit of a rollercoaster at times. 

I know that my first year while confident in being a leader, there was definitely things about coaching that I didn’t know. That led me into working with you (after two of my coaching partners had already worked with you for a year), and I kind of got to watch a little bit of the work that they had done and help, like really set the foundation for our coaching program. And then, Tracy and myself joined  The Coach a year later and just kind of really continued the work that they had already started. 

We would not be where we are now without our whole team having gone through The Coach.  At first when they were going through it, I thought, “great, you guys went through it, you did the work for us”,  but it’s not really like that. It really does feel like an ongoing journey that you’re never really done with. You’re constantly revising your craft. Developing a coaching program, and your craft as a coach feels like an ongoing journey. You’re never really done, you’re constantly improving.

When you started you were working with just the Elementary teachers in your first year, and then you had a big switch. Can you tell us about that?

My switch from K5-k12 actually happened because of our conversations that we had while in The Coach. Luckily my district purchased one-on-one coaching with you for the course, which was really a great model for me about what it means to be a good coach. Seeing the moves that you would make as a coach that helped me learn from your modeling. 

Through our conversation, we had lots of talks about the fact that the three other coaches had been K 12 coaches. We kept talking about how the teachers at K five had access to me, but the teachers at 6-12 didn’t have access. We started talking a lot about equity with students and it really made me start to come to like the realization of like, wait a minute, are we providing access for all teachers? It really didn’t seem equitable. We weren’t giving all teachers and ultimately all students access to me. Because my work with teachers is really driving the work with students. And if all students don’t have that access, it really didn’t seem fair. 

I didn’t really come to that moment of ‘aha, I need to switch my role’ until I was really having that one-on-one conversation with you. So that’s really how my role evolved. Then I kind of just took it to my supervisor and said and she had been thinking about it too. She hadn’t mentioned it to me yet, but I’m glad that I was the one that initiated it because she had already been thinking about it. Being that it kind of was our idea, you and me collectively, being that it was our idea, it felt like a really, natural shift. I appreciate the fact that the coaching conversation you had with me drove me to really create more of an equitable opportunity for students and teachers at my district to get math coaching. 

I know from our work together in The Coach, that you had a big aha about equity in terms of your coaching practice and access to high quality math instruction. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

While we all have awareness of equity, I didn’t have the equity lens in my coaching. It wasn’t purposeful, I didn’t intentionally bring up conversations about equity the way I do now. Now I can’t even picture a conversation in coaching without having an equity lens.

I don’t think I would’ve ever come to that, that aha moment having not been in the Coach, honestly. In module one we did a lot of work around equity, and I realized every conversation needs to have an equity lens. It doesn’t need to be that every conversation is about equity. This helped me build confidence in myself to say I’m gonna have really tough conversations when needed.

Now I approach my coaching conversations with an equity lens, I often ask: are we teaching with equity in mind? How do all of your students have access? Do all of your students have a voice? Having those conversations is part of my craft all the time now. So I really do feel thankful to have had that aha moment – and it did end up driving the rest of the work that I’ve been doing since then. 

Most of my work in the first year had been around student discourse, which is connected to equity. When you don’t call it out as equity, and you’re not connecting the dots for teachers explicitly, they might not see it as equity. I found it really important to start connecting those dots for teachers to help ensure they see it too. When teachers need a framework, it shifted from discourse to equity. And that shifted my focus for my second year.

Now I’m K-12 instructional coach and I work with teachers in all content areas and at all levels. It’s a good feeling because it’s really amplified the work I’m to multiple classrooms and therefore as a result I’m really impacting lots of students. 

I also know from our work together in The Coach that you had HUGE success with Building Thinking Classrooms in your school community. Can you tell us a little about that? How did you end up building that out from just a few math classrooms to the whole school?

There’s never been a book that I’ve read that I critiqued myself as a teacher so harshly, and at the same time that I was so driven and motivated to make change. But I know I can’t hold on to the negativity, and I need to shift this to positivity.

Started with one coaching partner, and then began planting seeds with lots of different coaching conversations. Then, I started with a book club, with just 10 teachers because I wanted to be able to support it in an authentic and intentional way. I worked on getting in and coaching and having regular coaching conversations each week, and then getting in their classrooms regularly to really implement these practices in a way that were transformative to the rooms and to their students.

Once we had these 10 classrooms, I knew if we could get other teachers in these classrooms, it would be contagious. Coming back to equity, all students deserve to have a voice. All students deserve to be able to share the thinking and model and challenge themselves. All of our students deserve this. Started calling those classrooms “learning labs”. Strategically placed at least one or two classrooms at buildings I was working with, so teachers could come and see the work in practice. Bite sized PD around BTC to allow teachers to experience it.

We’re still growing this. It’s not perfect, but it’s really helping build our culture for coaching. We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking for progress. I think teachers are seeing that I’m learning alongside them. I’m not the expert. We’re learning together, it’s collaborative. Teachers have been empowered to become my coaching arms. They are helping me coach within their buildings, branching out to other teachers. 

We did this as a team –  it has to be a team approach, because it’s not sustainable with one coach. It became a part of our coaching program to launch this forward in an even more powerful way. 

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Show Notes continued…

I’ve been very fortunate to work with your team for several years. Can you tell us a little bit about the evolution of your coaching program and the way your team works within the school over that time?

We’re constantly revising the things we do. Each of the four of us has a strength in a different area. When leveraging each strength is what makes us whole. Taking one part from our team would leave a void. We’re always reflecting and saying “how could we make this better for next time.” Each of us plays a very critical role on our team. I don’t know that we would be as powerful or impactful as a team without each of our parts. 

The idea behind each of us having a focus within our K12 roles is to make it really easy for teachers and administrators to navigate who they go to for support. It’s about providing access to everybody, but narrowing it down, because we can’t all be knowledgeable about everything. We like to say we’re not experts. We are learning alongside you, but we can become more knowledgeable in one thing. I can’t go to every webinar, every session, but if I hit all the math ones, I can be your go-to math person and be able to speak the language. I know the most current research and I can bring the best of myself to you with a focus. And each of us has that. 

We weren’t always there, though. That happened this year, year 3. During year two, through our work with you, we really came to realize the need for focus. That was really through our work with you. It’s so important to be involved with a coach, whether it’s through The Coach or someone else. Having a coach for the coach is critical. 

What have been some aha moments in your role over the past few years?

Equity

Intentionality – being intentional

Reflection: I have to be reflecting, my coaching partners have to be reflecting. If I’m not reflecting on the coaching work that we’re doing, I’m not really sure how to revise or change the practices that I have.

Being a change agent: Knowing that I have a voice to make change and be part of that change. Understanding that as a coach, I am a leader. Knowing that this role, in a way, gives me permission to lead. So it’s okay for me to be vulnerable in those moments and, and take leadership opportunities and, and lead teachers.

What are you thinking about in terms of refining your practice for next year?

Last year I did a book study, this year I want to do work around podcast reflections. I want to kind of bring an opportunity for discussion around podcasts, as a common listening point for BiteSized PD. How do I get teachers talking about teaching and teaching math outside of math class? Podcasts could be the way to do it because podcasts are so fun to listen to on your drive 

Intentionality, developing a year-long plan

It’s critical that our teachers get the best of us

Our team is really working on intentionality and developing a year long plan. It’s like really the scope and sequence is set. We know what we’re doing. If we’re intentional, our goals will be met. If we let things slip by the wayside, things will get missed. It’s critical that our teachers get the best of all of us, and getting that is through planning. Just like we want teachers planning, as coaches, we have to plan very intentionally. 

Thinking back over your first years as a coach, what do you wish you knew before you started? 

I wish I was more in tune with student centered coaching – I wish I was better at asking better questions. When I first moved into the role, it was more about the teacher and less about the student and the student perspective. Being more intentional and thinking through, what am I going to ask my coaching partner to help them come to this realization on their own. I thought it was more about me helping them. As a coach now, it’s more about the student and it’s more about the teacher figuring it out and really empowering them, as teachers. 

Shifting that mindset was very challenging for me. It wasn’t until my second year in The Coach with you that I realized I think I don’t have this right. I needed to go slow to go fast. I needed to pause and reflect on what I’m doing and I need to be honest with myself that maybe what I’m doing is not the best way. 

What’s one thing you would recommend all new coaches do to be successful in their role? 

Ask your admin to put you through The Coach. I really truly do believe that it wasn’t for the coach, our district wouldn’t be where we are. I’m not sure we would even have a coaching program if it wasn’t for our work with you. 

I really do feel like if you wanted to know one thing, I would say get your administration on board with coaching and make sure that your stakeholders are informed about why it’s so important, the work that you do. And if you value what the work is that I’m doing, you’re gonna put me through the Coach and make sure that I’m really intentional, I’m coaching with an equity lens, I’m taking on a leadership, for all stakeholders. Going through The Coach and putting in the work, is only gonna make your coaching program better. While it might sound like, they’re not gonna have the money for it, if they value coaching and they value student outcome, they’ll put the money in and and get the program. 

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Ready to Learn More about Growing Your Instructional Coaching Practice?

If you’re ready to dig deeper into how to grow your instructional coaching practice – or if you’re new to instructional coaching and you’re curious about getting started, join us for one of our courses for coaches!

To learn more about these options, we have three FREE workshops to share with you today.

For New or Aspiring Coaches

If you’re just getting started as a coach, and you want to be successful in your early years, watch our New to Coaching Workshop, which highlights the key mindset and skill set shifts you’ll need when moving from the classroom to a coaching role. The workshop will also tell you all about our online course, Getting Started as a Coach. This course is specifically designed for classroom teachers who are moving into a coaching role so you’re prepared for the transition. It’s focused on exactly the skillset & mindset shifts you need to so you can be successful in your first years as an instructional coach. 

For Experienced Coaches

If you’re already a coach & you want to think about being more intentional & strategic in your practice, watch our workshop on the Thrive Model for Coaching Success which will help you evaluate your program and your practice to see where you may have room to grow. You’ll walk away with a clear picture of exactly what you need to focus on to build a thriving coaching culture – and help you decide if our year-long mentorship and certification program, The Coach, is right for you, right now. This program is designed for current coaches who are focused on building a coaching culture through intentional and strategic coaching work at all levels – with teachers and school leaders.

For Coaches Ready to Lead

For experienced coaches ready to look at the bigger picture of the school to see what might be supporting or hindering the sustainability of the coaching program, and you want to make sure your school has all of the systems and structures in place, watch our workshop: Scaling Your Impact as an Instructional Coach. You’ll get a bird’s eye view of what’s needed to make coaching sustainable for you as an individual coach and for your school. When you’re ready to put that learning into action, join us in our online course for coaches ready to lead: Coaches as Leaders and put it all into practice – with support from Kim and our global cohort! This course is designed for experienced coaches, ready to lead.

You can find all the workshops on our coachbetter website at coachbetter.tv/workshops

Wherever you are in your coaching journey, we can support you!

For All Coaches

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