We sometimes hear instructional coaches describing their schools as having a lot of veteran teachers. At times, this is framed as a barrier to getting coaching going. After all, veteran teachers don’t need coaching, do they?
When implementing Student-Centered Coaching, we’d argue that the support we provide is for all teachers, whether they are new or experienced. That’s because our purpose is to support teachers to reach their goals for student learning, not to fix or critique their work as teachers.
Here’s a great example. Megan is a middle school math teacher with lots of experience. I recently asked her how her year has been going, and she quickly shared that she is struggling to move her students along to meet her grade level expectations. She feels like her students have changed over the past few years and she is wondering how she can better engage them as learners. Hearing this felt like an incredible invitation to do some really great coaching work, and all it took to uncover this opening was me asking how her year has been going.
Strategies for Engaging Veteran Teachers
We always strive to be asset-based in our coaching, and this means we must honor the wealth of experience, deep content knowledge, and well-established teaching practices of veteran teachers. If we frame our work around moving their students along as learners, then we can tap into the richness they bring to the conversation. Here are some strategies for doing just that.
1. Build Trust and Respect
- Approach coaching as a partnership rather than as being about ‘fixing’ them.
- Acknowledge the experience and contributions that veteran teachers bring.
- Listen actively to their concerns and insights.
2. Differentiate Support
- Recognize that veteran teachers have diverse strengths and needs.
- Provide choice in how they can engage in coaching.
- Respect their teaching style while helping them refine it.
3. Use a Strength-Based Approach
- Be open minded and flexible about what good teaching looks like.
- Get to know their teaching style and build on it when co-planning.
- Identify and celebrate their strengths.
4. Celebrate Student Growth
- Acknowledge progress and successes, no matter how small.
- Share student success stories that highlight the teacher’s influence.
- Provide opportunities for veteran teachers to share how they partnered with a coach and what the impact was on their students.
Questions to Get you Started
Here are some questions that are useful when engaging with veteran teachers.
- What challenges are you having when it comes to student learning?
- How can I support you to reach your goals for student learning?
- How would you like to work together so we can tackle that challenge? (coaching cycle, mini coaching cycle, informal planning, unpack a unit, engage in shared learning, etc.)
- If you’d like to deeply impact student learning, would you be open to a coaching cycle?
- Would you be willing to share what we learn with other teachers in the school.
In Closing
First and foremost, working with veteran teachers really comes down to grounding in the fact that our work is about student learning. Then providing choice in how you get there is where the magic happens.