This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim’s amazing clients, Nikki Hume, an elementary art specialist, and her coaching partner Amber Shortridge, a kindergarten teacher, both at the International School of Manila in the Philippines. While Nikki was in The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program she coached Amber as one of the steps in Phase 3: Grow Community.

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 

• How Nikki started her journey to instructional coaching
• What made Amber interested in being coached as a classroom teacher
• What their work together looked like and why it was impactful for Amber
• The coaching skills that Nikki developed throughout this process
• The outcome of their work together
• What Nikki and Amber think teachers and leaders need to know about coaching
• How Nikki grew so much in her coaching practice during The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program

Coaching and structured professional growth are very different, and this episode deeply unpacks the power and outcome of a true coaching experience. If you want to better understand the impact of coaching and see and feel what that looks like in person, this episode is for you!

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Show Notes

Please tell us about your journey as an educator (for each of you)

Nikki: started in my hometown, Portland, OR. Was an early years teacher for a long time. Partway through, became a kindergarten teacher. Got to be part of lots of different committees. Next went to Prague for 10 years. Have been in Manilla for 6 years. At some point switched to Art.

Amber: I didn’t want to be a teacher. Went with my church on a volunteering trip and taught in a  school and had a moment where I felt like I wanted to be a teacher. Trained in Canada. When I graduated there weren’t that many jobs, so went to England and became a long term supply teacher, upper elementary. A friend introduced me to international schools, went to the Philippines, went back home to Canada for 3 years, DR Kinshasha for 4 years, then came back to the Philippines 3 years ago. Moved to kindergarten and discovered that this is my preference.

Nikki, what made you curious about coaching? How did you decide to start exploring the role more deeply?

Started in Prague. Had some middle leadership opportunities as a curriculum team leader, which built my capacity for MLL. CESSA was looking at service learning, and that’s when I got my first taste of what it meant to coach. Got trained in service learning and came back to work with teachers and teams. It was my first taste of coaching because it wasn’t me doing the work for them, it was supporting them in doing the work. At the time we were switching over to have Math and Literacy coaches. Very informally working with the others who were curriculum team leaders. Then switched to art. Over the pandemic years, when our jobs changed, I went to a webinar from Kim about coaching, which sparked my journey the last two years. When I was hired, it was because of my Reggio inspired learning experience. This year, I’ve been able to test out a 1:1 coaching cycle with Amber.

Amber, what made you interested in being coached? How / why did this opportunity appeal to you as an educator?

During COVID Nikki and I had connected, and we had a friendship. When I moved to kindergarten, I was already naturally going to Nikki because I knew she had previous experience. As part of my goal in reflecting after my first year of teaching, when I looked at the way teachers were engaging in play in the classroom, I could see the way my students were engaging in play in the classroom, was limited due to my own experience. I started gathering data. I could see the difference and I wanted my kids to engage in play that was meaningful.

Coaching is really what I want because the previous year my goal was play and I didn’t feel like I was growing. I wanted someone to see me in my room and give me specific feedback about what I was actually doing. Observing and modeling made this experience so powerful – to actually change my practice. The experience was so authentic.

Please tell us how the coaching cycle got started. What did your work together look like? What did you do?

We’re friends and we’re colleagues, we had a relationship, I felt comfortable going in and asking her to participate. I really wanted to make sure it was authentic and during our first conversation, it was so exciting that Amber really wanted to do this with me.

We sat down and talked about Amber’s goal. There was a benefit because I teach her students. It was so cool to go down to the classroom and observe in their environment. From that first observation, the kids were already curious about why I was there. Amber says Ms. Nikki helps teachers learn too. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

There were little things along the way where I noticed that I might do things differently with other teachers if we didn’t have such a deep relationship or so much experience with her students as a teacher.

We were able to go through her data, reflect and then identify if the data was what we needed. It was so good to go through the coaching cycle and practice all the steps. Amber made it so easy because she’s coachable – that’s a gift to me.

Our biggest challenge was we’re both teaching full time, so balancing my coursework in the course, teaching full time, coaching Amber, and being responsive, so I ended up leaving too much space between sessions / check ins.

When you’re coaching someone individually you have to be intentional about setting the next meeting. It’s helpful when your coaching partner has an idea of what they want to be coached around. Amber was doing the work in the in between times. Every time we met she would have so much data and evidence of what she had been doing.

How did this work feel for you as an educator, Amber? What made it meaningful or impactful for you?

This is my third year teaching kindergarten. My first year my goal was play, and my second year I had to pick a different goal because it couldn’t be the same goal. I went through the process of setting a goal, meeting with someone in administration, talking through the goal, reflecting on the process. There were elements that were the same as coaching, but at the same time, But in the end, I didn’t feel a noticeable shift in my practice in a way that I felt that I was actually achieving the goal. This is the FIRST year that I actually feel like I made progress on my goal. 

That’s the difference between coaching and a professional growth process. You’re having someone ask the questions, not giving me answers. It was what we do with our kids, as an adult without it being condescending, I felt valued. That guided inquiry process that valued me and guided me towards growth.

I never felt judged at any time. This was so eye opening.

I feel like I’m finally meeting my goal. For two years I kept trying, and it wasn’t failing, but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. That is the difference between coaching where you’re being asked the questions to dig deeper into my reflection, not just giving me answers. It really is what we do with our kids. Doing it with me with an adult without it being condescending or patronizing where I felt valued. That guided inquiry process that honored me, but also guided me towards growth. 

The other thing too is that we do have a relationship of trust, but I think also your strength is that you are able to, with, you have no judgment in the way that you speak in like the way that your face, like nothing. 

I never felt judged at any time. Even when you were modeling in my classroom at the end of the day after coming to see the way that I was gathering data and how I was engaging in play and talking with children, like there was no judgment and it was like eye opening.

It blew my mind, I could see now where I’ve been going wrong in the classroom during play to best understand and connect with my learners and help them connect with what they’re actually learning in play. 

Nikki, how was your work with Amber different from the professional interactions that you’ve had with her in other capacities? What did you have to consider / be intentional about in this process?

There was a moment between the modeling and the debrief that I wasn’t sure how I might navigate that conversation. So I decided to start with the question Kim always starts with: tell me about what’s been happening. I wanted to be open and flexible, but also have a purpose for this meeting and a “next steps” time. This was when I really had to put on my coaching hat.

I realized I didn’t have to do anything but listen. Very different than when you’re a teacher on a team working with people, facilitating a conversation. I use the mentality of “I can’t do the work for you, I can only coach you through it” – compared to my teacher hat or leadership hat.

There were moments for me where I had to take a breath and step out of the teacher role and be the coach. That conversation was the first time that I noticed the three stances, and in that single conversation we went through all 3 stances, because of what we were talking about. These were key takeaways from my learning in the course, but getting to go through it in real time was impactful for me, that’s what I needed to learn was how to navigate those stances.

You have to think about those things, they don’t just happen. I was being intentional about selecting the questions and I also had a backup plan. That’s a lot to manage with multiple people at the same time (or as a teacher) Coaching requires so much organization.

Feedback was something I wanted to work on – and I want to keep working on this, I’m not as intentional as I should be. Sometimes I didn’t feel like I was doing it in a way that helped me. I have a lot of wonderings around that, and it’s my area I still need to grow in.

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Show Notes continued…

What was the outcome of the work? Was it worth it? Would you do it again?

Amber:

When we were doing the reflection, I got emotional because it had been a goal for so long. It feels good as a teacher to be successful at something. It was so wonderful to see that the upskilling process doesn’t have to be a really scary thing.

Thinking about power dynamics. There’s something about a coach, they’re there on the sidelines, your success is their success. In an admin role, that’s something that’s really hard to balance.

Finally third year in, I am so happy that it feels good to be successful in a way where you also feel valued and growth mindset is really part of the process naturally and authentically

Nikki:

A coaching mindset is so important, but it’s not enough. Coaching is so impactful, because not only was it impactful for you as a teacher, but also for your students. The outcome of the coaching was put right into the learning for the students.

In our schools, our evaluation processes tend to not be as impactful, but because we’re both colleagues, we had the connection of doing the work together on the ground all the time.

The outcome for me was that I got to see a colleague grow and be part of that process. It made me want to feel that in a process where maybe I’m not that colleague’s friend.

Amber:

I’m big on data and I had this Google Form that I was using to gather data about play. In this area I didn’t know what the right data was, when you have a lot of data and you don’t know what to use it for, it’s very complicated. Having Nikki model this in the classroom allowed me to understand the actual data I need to track – lots of data vs the right data and having a coach hel[ you know what is the right data and how to gather it most effectively.

8. Based on this experience, what would you like other educators or leaders to know about coaching and the value of developing instructional coaching programs in schools?

Nikki: 

If teachers themselves could advocate for coaching, administrators might hear them. I think there are teachers that don’t think they need to be coached, and often those are teachers who get put on probation or moved to a different grade level. If a coach was really able to work with that person would that be different.

If you haven’t had inquiry experience, how do you know what that’s like. If you have a coach, who can help you unpack the inquiry experience so you can start building a culture of inquiry.

Let’s look at some situations where a coach might be impactful: a younger teacher with not so much experience, a seasoned teacher who doesn’t want to change. Working with a coach can personalize the learning experience.

I want teachers to advocate for themselves that they want coaching.

I would advocate to administrators to just try it and see if it’s impactful to your community or not.

Amber:

We should connect and see if we can have this conversation with admin together.

We need people in the classroom who are comfortable modeling in a way that’s not judgey. What helped me shift is that you were willing to be here with me. A coach is showing, an administrator is telling. 

Nikki: 

An administrator’s role is so important and what they do is so important – but coaching is not one of those things.

Amber:

This is about the different hats that we wear. They’re asking us to do the process on our own, we need the coach to be there with us to help us see the things we don’t know.

This particular coaching cycle happened because Nikki is in The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program right now. Nikki, what are some of the key learnings that you have taken away from your experience in The Coach, and through the practice of your coaching skills during this cycle?

If you’re even thinking about taking The Coach course, do it. Don’t hesitate. For one the content the way it’s organized, you can’t get that anywhere. There was more than I could even go through in the entire year. But everything that is provided was useful for growing. I have said I’m a lifelong learner so I am constantly looking at ways I can evolve and change but also say somewhat constant as an educator, but this course pushed me in ways that I wasn’t expecting. I already had a certificate for coaching, I just flourished by getting clarity about what coaching is. If I could say one thing: it was getting that clarity and then able to think about what I have in my toolbox. 

Going through the coaching cycle and then having people in the cohort to talk about it with was so impactful to talk about it with. I came to almost every call because I didn’t even know that was going to be an option. To have the option to meet with my mentor when I needed to or when something was urgent. The group calls were major. 

Overall, I’m so appreciative of Kim and the other mentors for really never being judgemental. You know that we’re all on our own journey and you were able to very easily differentiate for us and things were really clear. I felt like I could trust you because you were doing your coaching job. You were modeling that for us too in those calls and that was really helpful for me, because I could see how you would speak to someone else in our call. I’m seeing it as I’m doing it and practicing it.

I can’t say enough about it. It’s more than 5 stars, it’s 10 stars.

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