This #coachbetter episode is a case study conversation with two amazing educators: EAL (English as an Additional Language) Teacher Lindsay Manzella and INS (Individual and Societies)Teacher John Stephany. Lindsay and John worked together at NIST (Thailand) at the time of recording, where they developed a unique model for co-teaching and coaching to support all learners in John’s classroom, where Lindsay was supporting EAL students. Both Lindsay and John have had training in coaching so they have come to the co-teaching experience with a foundational understanding of how coaching works.

In this episode they talk about:

• How Lindsay and John work together
• Why John, as an MYP INS teacher finds coaching so valuable
• Why Lindsay, as an EAL Teacher, finds coaching such a powerful support to her work
• What works well in their partnership as well as what can be challenging
• How this model might work in other schools

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Show Notes

Lindsay: been an EAL teacher for 20 years, worked in 3 international schools, started in NYC public schools, took a coaching course and when I learned about coaching, I started to think about how I could incorporate what I’m learning in my work in collaboration with teachers.

John: 30th year of teaching, last 8 international, prior independent schools, mostly in Memphis, and then DC. Teach English & History. Happened to be finishing up a coaching program.

How do you work together?

Lindsay: We were in an arranged marriage situation, placed on the schedule together. Found out a week before school started that we were going to work together. Have a lot of experience collaborating. Had two teachers I’d be continuing working together, plus 2 new teachers. 

John: We were not teaching besties before this started. I’ve had other adults in the room while I’m teaching, but I never learned how to fully utilize them. Lindsay shared a menu with me of things she offers as an EAL teacher, and one of her “sides” was “coaching” which I was really interested in.

Lindsay: John’s teaching INS, he teaches one section 5 times per cycle, I’m scheduled to be with him 4 of those times, plus a planning period that we put on our schedule to collaborate and prepare.

John: I was a little shook because she is very organized and that’s an area for growth for me. I was nervous about the amount of work this co-teaching and co-teaching was going to be. The irony is that I was worried about all this extra time, and now it’s the class that I worry the least about. It’s now the class I’m the most relaxed about, because I know it’s going to be great.

Lindsay: We do the work we were going to do, separately, but we do it together, so its even better.

John: Adding the scope of 2 highly experienced professionals

Why do you feel coaching is a valuable experience as a teacher? (John)

John: In the end, you want to help students learn. It adds so much value on student learning outcomes. At the end, have I taught what I wanted to teach and how do I know that. Having another professional in the room is another set of eyes. What makes it even better, is having a coach with a coaching mindset.

You can only do so much self-reflection, LIndsay helps me be more purposeful in my reflection of my practices. It’s not a one-off PD, where they don’t know the kids I teach, the situation of the school, the kids, the time. She’s invested. She’s in the classroom with me. 

Helps me get better as a teacher to improve student learning outcomes

Lindsay: I didn’t come in as an expert, we reflected together that we weren’t meeting the goals John had set, so we collaboratively brought together resources and selected the approach that would work best. I rarely just give him a strategy, we define it together.

John: Having a coaching mindset with co-teaching is key. I’ve had a lot of training, but no one has ever taught me how to work with another adult in the room. The coaching mindset makes our collaborative time more effective because she’s thinking about how to improve our delivery of curriculum, but I’m thinking that I can get feedback on areas where I want to grow – without worry about evaluation from an administrator.

Why do you feel coaching adds to your work as an EAL expert? (Lindsay)

Lindsay: the big thing about our collaborative relationship is that we’re equals. In a lot of schools the EAL person is just an aide or a helper. I know what’s going on, I’ve helped to plan the lessons, I have input into the language that we want to have happen.

The difference is that we’re working together all the time, They’re OUR students. One of my responsibilities is keeping us focused on our goal – being purposeful in the development of our work.

John: Coaches know how to build community. A coaching mindset helps us have an onramp to those more difficult deeper conversations.

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Show Notes continued…

What works well? What can be challenging?

John: Lindsay is accessing planning from different people, so it extends the depth and breadth. The challenge is trying to consolidate all of this because we have so many different teachers

Lindsay: working with multiple teams and multiple teachers, I can be a connector or cross-pollinator. The person who’s in the coaching role needs training as a coach, and has to feel comfortable in that role. Not every EAL teacher wants to be a coach.

John: Time can be a challenge, giving it time to be purposeful and following a coaching cycle. Time for filming, discussing, etc. School has to have a culture of growth mindset where asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength

Lindsay: We have to build a lot of trust, it needs to be opt-in. Sharing resources is not transformational, but our coaching conversations allow us to define and make decisions together.

John: Collaboration has to understand the other person’s role in the classroom. Schools need to understand that they’ve spend time recruiting all these specialists, if they’re not understanding each others work, you’re leaving resources on the table.

What do you imagine this could look like in other school settings? What you would recommend to other educators and school leaders considering this model?

Lindsay: Train the teachers in coaching, especially one where they have practical application, do it together. What if all of your EAL teachers were not assigned by grade level, and some were coaches for all students, and others were pull-out for specific students. Seeing which teachers want to opt-in for trying it out. Give everyone coaching training.

John: Build this organically. Go slow. Mandating leads to pushback. Make it something that people become curious about. This maximizes yoru PD budget – any enrichment I’ve done that I share with Lindsay can be shared with others

Lindsay: imagine if every support teacher you had, if they were all trained as coaches, how much more effect could they have on students. They’re already in classrooms, collaborating and co-planning, they can take what they’re doing to reach more students and take it to another level. 

John: Teachers coaching on their teams

Lindsay: EAL teachers usually work with only 1-2 subject areas, but there are a lot of teachers that work with EAL students without any support. EAL teachers could rotate through and work with other teachers (like music)

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