This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim’s amazing clients, Lana Yashchyna, 4th grade classroom teacher at the American International School in Kuwait. Lana is a graduate of The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program and when they recorded this episode she had just finished the program.

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 Kim and Lana talk about …

• Why coaching was so impactful for her as a classroom teacher
• How she decided to make the move from classroom to coach
• How she’s been building a coaching culture in her 4th grade team
• What prepared her to be ready to build a coaching culture in a teaching role
• Why coaching is so essential in a high pressure school environment
• If coaching is sustainable as a full time classroom teacher
• All the steps it took her to build a coaching culture on her team

This episode is a fantastic example of all of the ways that classroom teachers can influence a culture of coaching at the team level – and why this is ultimately not a sustainable combination of roles for the long term! If you’re curious about building a coaching culture at the team level – this episode is for you!

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Show Notes

Please tell us about your journey as an educator

Been in international schools for over 24 years. Started in Belarus, started teaching English as a Foreign Language at the university level. Started volunteering in East Africa and then moved to international schools. Loved working in East Africa, spent most of my career there, 20 years. Then when I was ready for a change, moved to American School of Moscow, which is where I found coaching. This is where I became so passionate about coaching. Then I moved to Kuwait.

As a classroom teacher, why do you believe in instructional coaching?

Started being a new teacher in a new setting. Need to become comfortable and trust people. Met an amazing team of coaches, AAS was really blessed with an amazing team of coaches. I learned how they work, I had never seen coaching in action before. The support they gave me, they guided me through the first six months of my stay in Moscow (during COVID). 

They were very open, they gave me all the support I needed. I got very individualized support and realized that’s what coaching is about me: me as an individual working with someone to go on my own professional journey – not lost in the newbie group.

I was looking for opportunities to grow and the coaching team was ready to support me, and point me in the direction of growth. They supported me with individual coaching conversations and coaching cycles, feedback was given to me. I felt so safe, so supported. I never felt so safe and so supported in my teaching life, in my career. That’s when I realized, this is exactly how I want to feel, and how I want my colleagues to feel: safe, secure, eager to learn, eager to grow, eager to bring it into the classroom.

How did you make this transition from appreciating coaching to wanting to be a coach?

After being coached I thought, I want to take this culture everywhere I go, if I leave this school.

The coaches I worked with guided me gently to join The Coach. It wasn’t easy because things started crumbling as soon as I started due to the geopolitical situation in Russia. That’s when I got a job in Kuwait.

I was told there was no coaching position – but I could start it on my own. I got inspired again, because after not being in school for 4 months after it closed, it was hard to focus on professional learning without being able to apply it. When I came to my new school, I knew I wanted to jump right in. I knew I needed to clear this work with admin to make sure they were on board.

I started by reaching out to leadership to have a conversation with them. They gave me the green light to start coaching in a small group. We have 8 grade 4 teachers in the team. I pitched it to the team and there were lots and lots of questions. 

When there is no coaching culture, and people haven’t experienced coaching, they have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns. I knew I had a green light from leadership, but I knew I needed to form relationships with my team. Helping them trust me, helping them understand that coaching is about working with you on your goals. It was a process and I found a few coaching partners who were open to being coached.

Clarity is very important, you have to be clear about what coaching will look like, what you expect it to be. 

Started having coaching cycles with 2 of my colleagues, and having coaching conversations with the others. My little group started growing. They started reaching out and requesting coaching.

So important to build relationships, helping people feel safe. All teachers want to change, all of them want to move forward. I have not met an educator who does not want to grow. They have different reasons not to show it, but most of them want to grow.

After working with 2 teachers, I realized that it’s growing, but that’s when I started realizing the pressure of time. After working with 5 on the team, I realized that’s as much as I can do. After building in all the steps of coaching (visits, planning meeting, individualized PD), I realized that I didn’t have any time to add any more support. I had to start thinking about how do I prioritize, how do I manage my time.

How did you get started? 

– coaching as a team, building team culture

After clearing it with leadership, I wanted to share with the team.

I started by sharing my vision, my experience, what it means to me. Sharing really openly, helped them understand. I explained what coaching is about, the difference between coaching and mentoring. I do have experience as a teacher, but it’s not all about just sharing my experiences. We looked at all of the different ways I could support them. I was focused on what a coach does and how coaching works.

A big part was confidentiality. I told them I would be gathering data. Gathering data and planning carefully helped me manage the workload.

The question was: where does the data go? Confidentiality was a big question. I will share the general information about how many meetings I have run and general areas of need (but no specifics). I want to prove that the need is there. To gather this information is important – i need to prove that it’s working, its’ beneficial and people wanted to join.

It wasn’t magic, people were still doubtful, so the first two supporters were instrumental. They worked with me for a few weeks and then they started sharing with other team members, because they found it valuable. Without any extra effort two more people came to me, one of whom was in a middle leadership position. This was an indicator that the coaching culture was growing. 

What prepared you to be ready for this?

The 3 C’s of the Coach are my superpower: Clarity, Consistency, Community. I was very clear about what coaching is about. I was consistent in my practice and building of relationships. I focused on building community and creating a safe space for my colleagues to learn.

Clarity: I was very clear about what coaching is about. You hear a lot of people talking about coaching and “everybody becomes a coach”. People have different ideas of what coaching is about. The first thing I had to do was clarify that for everyone on the team. I was very clear from The Coach, I was able to be clear in my head so I could tell it to others. I take coaching everywhere I go to try to bring clarity to what is coaching.  

Consistency: Sometimes there were days when I was trying to reach out to people, but I couldn’t. Being consistent at not forcing people, leading by example, being a coach, genuine concerns, genuine questions, genuine conversations. Consistently forming relationships, making people reel important and valued. Not much to ask, but sometimes a lot to deliver. Sometimes gets lost during the day. Offering support if needed, but without any pressure. Coaching was completely voluntary. People came to me when they were ready.

Community: Has grown and become a wonderful place to be. But now I feel contained. I want it to grow further.

Lots of practical things: recording, good records, how to organize stuff. The structure was amazing. It led 

What were some of the essential steps to your success? 

– clearing it with admin

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What’s YOUR level of coaching mastery?

All coaches go through various stages of coaching mastery. Once you identify where you’re at, you can begin to build the skills needed to move to the next stage.

This quiz is based on real-life case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program!

When you receive your results, you’ll also get your matching case study from the STRIVE Case Studies to see where you fit in the stages of coaching mastery.

Ready to tackle your challenges and move on to the next level in YOUR coaching practice?

The STRIVE Model of Coaching Mastery quiz will help you identify your level of coaching mastery by matching you with case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program so you can easily see where you fit!

You’ll go straight to the Quiz, and get the Case Study Document via email.

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Show Notes continued…

Tell us about how coaching is so valuable in this school culture (high pressure)

Individualized support is essential. We have a lot of whole-school PD, but if we start asking people questions about those sessions, the responses are not always connected to teacher professional goals. Those sessions are great, but they’re not always what teachers need or want. Individualized support from a coach means your specific needs, goals for growth are considered and applied.

People consistently highlight that the support I provided was individualized. I made their instructional practices more data-driven. We looked at their actual classes and the data, and that’s what helped them improve their instructional practices.

It’s not only about the teacher growing, it’s transfers to student growth, student engagement and student achievement as well. When you’re looking at data together, that transfers to the achievement in your classroom. We’re here for the children. We can see the connection, if teachers are happy and growing hte culture of continuous learning and growth spreads everywhere.

Coaching empowers teachers. As they gain more knowledge and skills, their confidence grows. Helps them navigate the pressures. They have a safe space to share when they are struggling. Helping them to deal with the pressures and the stress. Growth will be accelerated if people are happy.

Coaching gives an understanding that the educational landscape is always changing. Giving your teachers an opportunity to see that and be able to adapt to the new things as well. Change is never easy, but if I have the tools as a teacher, that’s when I can flourish and grow.

Is this model viable / sustainable for schools (teacher as coach at a grade level)?

– no

There are pros and cons to combining. It depends on the size and the capacity of the people. Depends on enthusiasm and energy. Requires a lot of extra time, energy and enthusiasm. Some schools can not afford to hire anyone, so this model is a starting point. In a school with no coaching culture, it’s a good start, this could be a kickstart model.

Advantages: as a grade 4 teacher, I have an in-depth knowledge of everything that’s going on. I can relate to all their experiences. I can build up a relationship very quickly. Support is very relevant and individualized. Continuity because I’m always there. But I’m contained in that age group and that grade level – there’s not as much interaction with other grades.

The pressures of time, me trying to prioritize my tasks. Organizing, tracking time in Google calendar, keeping records, making sure I follow up was quite taxing. Means increased workload because you are trying to juggle two responsibilities.

Found a conflict: being a colleague and being a coach. I had to clarify and make sure I divided these two responsibilities, they are two different roles. Being objective when you’re giving feedback and still keeping that relationship. That’s really difficult. There should be two different conversations: as a colleague, or as a coach. You might be having a coaching conversation but it’s not actually coaching.

What have you uncovered about ALL of the work that goes into building a team community culture?  

• Fostering trust and building relationships – comes slowly & takes time & continuous effort
• Psychological safety – essential in the pressures of an educational environment
• Team building – providing a lot of opportunities to build the team (organizing the team room, creating a shout out bulletin board, informal get togethers) – creating a community, creating sense of belonging
• Leading by example & modeling the culture you want to see in your class, in your community
• Collaboration, being able to express your views, feel vulnerable in the community
• Engaging others to help others feel part of the process, working together, not just expecting people to follow along
• Foster ownership of the team and team decisions, this is a shared journey
• Clarity of understanding coaching: what it will look / feel / sound like – being really clear about where the data will go and how it will be used
• Preparing for meetings – being able to fit my ideas to the needs of my coaching partner, a lot of research, organizing all that thinking
• Ongoing professional sharing with my coaching partners – once a cycle ends, the work is not done – always having my coaching partners in mind
• Keeping documentation from meetings and continually sharing resources

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Ready to Learn More about Building a Coaching Culture?

If you’re ready to dig deeper into what a coaching culture looks like in a school or organization – 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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