The Importance of Intentional Conversations with Michele Mattoon

When you’re working on building a coaching culture and a coaching program, you know that you need systems and structures in place to make it sustainable. In this post, we're highlighting three elements of your coaching culture that you may want to examine - so you can both measure the impact you’re making and define the systems and structures needed to continue to grow.  This is a highlight from one of Kim's favorite episodes from a previous season, featuring Laura Lipton. If you’re a longtime #coachbetter listener, you know that Kim often references Laura’s work, particularly the Continuum of Practice for Instructional Coaches.  Since we’re focusing on coaches as leaders right now, we want to share this clip where Laura talks about the big picture of what makes coaching work from a school-wide perspective. Find the show notes for this episode here.

27 Feb 202422min

This #coachbetter episode is part of our series featuring coaching conversations with one of Kim's amazing clients, Cary Hart, who is a graduate of all 3 of our Certificate Programs: COETAIL, The Coach, and Women Who Lead. HUGE thank you to Cary for being willing to record one of her coaching sessions to share with all of you! In Kim and Cary's conversation, you’re going to hear how having a coach from outside of your school community can take a very complicated situation, with a lot of layers, detail, and complexity, and through targeted questions, paraphrasing and intentional focus, surface a simple and systemic solution. The challenge Cary presents in this call is one that, if you’ve been a tech coach in particular, will be very familiar to you, so some aspects of the solution here might be immediately applicable to your school setting, too. You'll notice the ways that Cary was able to share the different dynamics of her challenge, and through Kim's paraphrasing, questioning, and identifying the root of the issue, they were able to move onto a deeper discussion of potential solutions that address all of the layers to this challenge that Cary’s been struggling with.  Find the show notes for this episode here.

20 Feb 20241h 6min

In this #coachbetter episode, Kim talks about scaling your impact as an instructional coach.  If you’ve been a coach for several years, you know that you can’t keep working exclusively 1:1 with coaching partners - it’s a ticket to burnout! The reality is that there will never be enough time in the day (or coaches on staff) to support every teacher at the 1:1 level. Once you start finding yourself booked out and busy, with a schedule full of coaching cycles, it’s time to start scaling your impact and start working with groups or teams. This way you can leverage your time and support teaching and learning in even more classrooms than you are already! If you are ready to make this shift, this episode is for you! Find the show notes for this episode here.

13 Feb 20248min

In this #coachbetter episode, Kim talks with Ellen and Bruce Eisenberg, founders of The Professional Institute for Instructional Coaching. As founders of The Professional Institute for Instructional Coaching Ellen and Bruce come with a wealth of experience in building sustainable instructional coaching programs in schools around the world.  On this call they are talking about the research behind instructional coaching, how to collect data to measure your impact, the enabling conditions that make coaching work and the systems and structures that need to be in place to make coaching sustainable. This episode is full of big-picture thinking about what it takes to make coaching successful and sustainable in schools. If you are curious about the systems and structures that make coaching successful, this episode is for you. Find the show notes for this episode here.

6 Feb 20241h 31min

This #coachbetter episode is part of of our new special series, #coachbetter Celebrations. To celebrate our 5 years of the podcast (and over 200 episodes), each month we’re highlighting a short clip from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season.  This is a highlight from one of Kim's favorite episodes from a previous season. If you’re a longtime #coachbetter listener, you know that Joellen Killion is her instructional coaching superhero, and Joellen's episode from a few seasons ago was a masterclass in all things instructional coaching.  Since we’re focusing on coaches as leaders right now, sharing this clip where Joellen explains how coaches can directly advocate for the work of coaching would be well worth repeating. Find the show notes for this episode here.

30 Jan 202419min

This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of our amazing The Coach graduates, Nicola Milward.  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. At the time of recording, Nicola was Instructional Coach at IPS Hilversum, the Netherlands and she had just graduated from The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program. In this episode Kim and Nicola talk about how Nicola built the coaching program at her school from scratch - starting with pitching the position of instructional coach, all the way through multiple years of implementation. They talk about what coaching looked like when it first started, how it changed over time, what challenges she faced, and her “aha’ moments in her coaching practice and in The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program. Find the show notes for this episode here.

23 Jan 20241h 2min

In this #coachbetter video, Diana talks about the Essential Conditions for Instructional Coaching to be successful. This episode is so powerful because the success of instructional coaching as a program or a culture goes well beyond what one individual coach can do. As experienced coaches, we need to look at the bigger picture of the culture of the school to see what might be supporting or hindering the success of building the coaching program. Diana will share some specific prompts to help you think about which of these conditions your school already has - and the ones you might need to work on developing. Find the show notes for this episode here.

16 Jan 202412min

This is a very special #coachbetter episode! This is the podcast launch party for Kim and Christina's new book: Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership: A Guide for Educators, Allies, and Advocates.  Kim and Christina are interviewed by four of their early readers of the book: Alexandra Gustad, Rania Saeb, Sarah Plews, and Uzay Ashton, all amazing educational leaders in their own right. These four women, along with their other early readers (they had 15 readers of the book before they submitted their manuscript) gave them vital feedback and encouragement along the path of completing the book. Kim and Christina are so grateful to all of their readers, editors, and supporters as they completed this project over the last year.  In this episode they are sharing some of the behind-the-scenes stories of writing the book, what readers can expect to get out of the book, and their hopes as they put this work out into the world! Find the show notes for this episode here.

9 Jan 202444min