# Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?

- Link: https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/
- Published: 2024-04-27T09:51:04-04:00
- Author: Jeff Bradbury

![Harold Ramis Quote](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/
01/Harold-Ramis-Quote.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating
Positive Coaching Relationships?")

No matter if you are an Instructional Coach starting out in a new position, or a
school district seeking to create and develop an Instructional Coaching Department,
one of the first things that should be mapped out is the various relationships that
each member of your school district will have with your coaches.

In this post, we will be discussing these essential coaching relationships:

START HERE

 Inside this guide

 1.  [It is All About Relationships](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#it-is-all-about-relationships)
 2.  [The Teacher / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-teacher-coach-relationship)
 3.  [The Library Media Specialist / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-library-media-specialist-coach-relationship)
 4.  [The Building Administrator / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-building-administrator-coach-relationship)
 5.  [The Central Office / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-central-office-coach-relationship)
 6.  [The IT Department / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-it-department-coach-relationship)
 7.  [The Student / Coach Relationship](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#the-student-coach-relationship)
 8.  [Conclusion](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#conclusion)
 9.  [Teaching Is Often Chaos. But … Your Planner Doesn't Have to Be.](https://teachercast.net/instructional-coaching/creating-coaching-relationships/#teaching-is-often-chaos-but-your-planner-doesnt-have-to-be)

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## It is All About Relationships

**_Why are relationships so crucial to the success of an Instructional Coaching 
program?_**

The Instructional Coach and the responsibilities that are required upon the position
are unlike none other in the school district. For some school districts, the Coach
is a core member of a school building serving by the side (and being evaluated by)
the building principal. For other coaches, they serve at the side of Central Office
and are assigned to one or more school buildings.

For each of these types of organization systems, the Coach will need to create key
relationships with a variety of district employees as well as members of the student
population.

In this post, we will look at the relationships that a Coach will form with the 
following groups and describe how each of these relationships could or should be
outlined or thought of from both the coach and the staff members’ point of view.:

 * Students
 * Teachers
 * Building Administrators
 * Central Office Administrators
 * IT Department
 * Other Instructional Coaches

One of the key skills that a Coach will need to develop as they and the position
evolve in the school district is the ability to work with and within each of the
levels of a school district. The ability to speak at a variety of altitudes is a
vital skill that will set the tone not only for the coach, but for how the school
district will be able to utilize the Instructional Coaching position both in and
out of the classroom.

![The Coach and Teacher Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.net/
wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-Teacher-Relationship-Small.png?w=1200&ssl
=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The Teacher / Coach Relationship

Of all the relationships that an Instructional Coach has is the one between the 
Coach and the Teacher. The primary responsibility for Instructional Coaches is to
work with and be a team member of the classroom teacher in and out of the classroom.
The teacher needs to be able to trust their Instructional Coach and at times become
vulnerable with them to allow the coaching process to naturally happen.

In return, the Coach needs to be able to work with teachers of all ability levels,
background specialties, and grade levels to make sure that each teacher has a plan
to take their instructional abilities to the next level. The Coach needs to be not
just a “guide on the side,” but also a “sage on the stage.”

In reality, a Coach and a Teacher have the same job description, but from different
points of view. A Teachers job is to work with and improve their students. A Coaches
job is to work with and improve their adult learners.

### How can the Coach Support the Teachers?

Throughout the school year, a Coach has the opportunity to work with classroom teachers
in a variety of ways. The Coach usually starts building their teacher relationships
by having conversations, sometimes in the hallways, and sometimes in the classrooms.
Often these conversations turn into classroom visits and eventually a series of 
co-teaching opportunities begin to happen.

The Coaches job in these situations is to support the curricular needs of the teacher.
They are there to learn how the teacher teaches, how the classroom runs, and what
their goals are in working with their students.

From this point, the Coach and Teacher can formulate a plan of action for the Teacher
to learn how to create new and dynamic lessons for their students. This relationship
is all about the numerous ways that a Coach can provide 1:1 professional development
to the teacher in a safe and mutually respectable environment.

### How can the Teachers Support the Coach?

If the Coaches role in the Teacher/Coach relationship is to be supportive and provide
guidance when needed, then in return the Teachers role is to allow the process to
happen. When a teacher (new or experienced) first meets an Instructional Coach, 
it is natural for them to feel a bit taken back by the concept of having someone
else in their room “coaching” or helping them out. They may look at this as an opportunity
to allow the coach to instruct their students. Teachers may also feel the need to
push back at the concept of having a coach due to their many years of teaching experience.

In these situations, the best thing for the teacher is to allow themselves the opportunity
to meet with and work with their coaches little bit by little bit to gain the trust
needed to accept that the coach is there to support them and to help them grow as
educators.

![The Coach and LMS Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.net/wp-
content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-LMS-Relationship-Small.png?w=1200&ssl=1 "Does
Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The Library Media Specialist / Coach Relationship

In the world of Instructional Coaching, the one relationship that is mostly the 
strongest in a school building is the one between the Instructional Coach and the
Library Media Specialist (LMS). Often, it is found that the Coach and LMS are the
two most “techy” people in the building, and they are also the ones that teachers
will reach out to the most when something is broken or in need of fixing in their
classrooms.

When working as a team, it is important that both the Coach and LMS understand and
know their role in the building.

 * The LMS’s position is to support students by teaching them Digital Literacy skills.
 * The Instructional Coach’s position is to support the teachers by helping them
   learn how to bring digital literacy skills into their lessons.

I mention this because quite often both roles can easily become a two-headed “technology
teacher” if the situation is left unchecked.

### How can the Coach Support the LMS?

In most school districts, the coach is the team member most closely in contact with
central office and the IT department. For this reason, it is important for the Coach
to keep the LMS up to date on district projects and initiatives.

The Coach can also support the LMS by keeping them up to date on what is happening
in the classrooms. Quite often, a teacher might bring their students to the library
and on short notice request that the LMS support a certain curricular topic (last
minute). In working with teachers, the Coach can keep an eye out for any current
or future classroom projects and help support student activities both in the classroom
and in the library.

### How can the LMS Support the Coach?

The relationship between the LMS and the Coach can be thought of as both symbiotic
and cooperative. If a Coach finds themselves in a school where there is a long-standing
tradition of asking the LMS for digital learning support, the LMS can support the
Coach by directing any of these types of questions over to the Coach. This will 
not only help the Coach become familiar with what is happening in the classrooms
but also allow the coach to get into the classrooms and begin building relationships.

Additionally, the LMS is usually the best person for a Coach to practice their coaching
skills. In many cases, the Coach/LMS relationship is extremely close and concepts
such as “coaching” and “co-teaching” are out the window and in exchange, the two
team members simply lock into one of total and complete support for each other’s
goals and objectives in the building.

![The Coach and Principal Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.
net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-Principal-Relationship-Small.png?w=
1200&ssl=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The Building Administrator / Coach Relationship

The relationship between the building administrator(s) and the Instructional Coach
is one of the most crucial of all noted in this article. For some Coaches, the Building
Administrator is the immediate supervisor of the Coach and for others, the Building
Administrator serves not as an evaluative figure, but the leader of the building
and the one that controls the success of the coaching program.

As noted in the book Coaching Matters, the Building Administrator must first be 
a “[Coaches Champion](https://www.teachercast.net/captivate-podcast/attc-ep132-are-you-a-coach-champion-coaching-matters-chapter-5).”
This means that they must be in favor of having the Coach in their building and 
have a clearly defined idea of how the Coach is going to be used in the classroom.

No matter if the Building Administrator is a primary evaluator of the coach or not,
the success of the coaching program lies directly at their desk.

### How can the Coach Support the Building Administrator?

When we look at defining the various relationships that a Coach could/should have
with their building administrator, one of the most important ones would be as a 
resource provider. A building principal is the one that has a clearly defined plan
for how they would like to see learning happen in classrooms. The coach is simply
the vehicle from which their plan should be implemented.

As a resource provider, the coach plays a key role in helping the teachers understand
what it is they should be doing in their classrooms by working with and demonstrating
key concepts and aspects of digital learning skills to both students and teachers.

### How can the Building Administrator Support the Coach?

When a coach first arrives in a building, they are often looked at as an outsider.
They are members of the school building community, but they do not follow the same
schedule or have the same rules as teachers. This often puts the responsibility 
of creating meaningful relationships to start “the job” on the shoulders of the 
coach.

The process of building relationships and starting an actual coaching program is
in reality, less on the coach and more on the way that the position (and person)
is introduced by the building administrator. As we learned during our Coaching Matters
podcasts, the coaching position needs to be set up by the building administration.
Teachers need to understand what the expectations are of the coach just as much 
as they need to know the expectations they have in the relationship.

The building administrator can support the coaching process by working with a coach
as both a leader and mentor to share building and district goals. They can also 
go on classroom walkthroughs with the coach to point out what they see as positive
and what they would like to see addressed in the building so the coach can begin
to formulate a plan for improvement when working with teachers.

Above all, the building administrator needs to be the #1 advocate for the coach 
and the coaching program. After all, the coaching program is voluntary but when 
set up correctly, a vital program designed to provide teachers with 1:1 professional
development during instructional periods.

![The Coach and Central Office Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.
net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-Central-Office-Relationship-Small.png?
w=1200&ssl=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The Central Office / Coach Relationship

If the building administrator is responsible for setting the direction of an individual
building, central office administrators are responsible for setting the direction
for groups of buildings, entire grade levels, or individual curricular departments.

For this reason, to create a unified and supportive coaching program, central office
administration should have a strong relationship with their coaching staff to alert
them (first) of new district initiates, critical changes to technology applications,
and adjustments to the curriculum so that they can be ready to train staff and field
first-level questions when they come up in conversation.

### How can the Central Office Support the Coach?

Often, during coaching sessions, or professional development sessions a question
such as “why are we doing this” comes up from the teaching staff. When central office
takes the time not just to share updates but also explains the theory and philosophy
behind changes in policy it gives the coaching staff to stand up on the front line
and provide important context for the decisions, they often become the face of in
the classroom.

Central office administration should also allow coaches to have behind the scenes
access to key technologies that they will be teaching. As an example, coaches should
be given higher level access to applications that have district resource libraries
so they can help manage classroom technologies. This not only takes the burden of
doing this off the plate of central office staff, but also trains coaches to think
at a higher altitude than they previously needed to when they were in the classrooms.

![The Coach and IT Department Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.
net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-IT-Department-Relationship-Small.png?
w=1200&ssl=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The IT Department / Coach Relationship

If you look at a school district the way you look at a football team, the Coaching
and IT departments can be thought of as both your offense and your defense. As we
discussed in a recent [Ask the Tech Coach Podcast](https://www.teachercast.net/captivate-podcast/attc-ep116-tech-coach-offensive-coordinators/),
the coaching department represents your offense. They are responsible for moving
instruction forward. Coaches have a game plan that is set up by central office and
adopted by building administrators who are charged with supporting in classrooms.

The IT Department on the other side is your defense. They are responsible for making
sure that bad things do not happen to the network and digital infrastructure. When
devices break down, it is the IT Departments’ responsibility to repair and put back
into action.

### How can the Coach Support the IT Department?

When working as a unit, the Coach should be assisting teachers with the creation
of support tickets so that damaged technology gets cataloged quickly and put back
into the hands of students for future use. Coaches should have a strong working 
relationship with their building technicians and meet with them often to alert them
of what is happening in individual classrooms so that they are able to come out 
to the buildings with any additional cables or equipment needed to keep classrooms
up and running smoothly.

### How can the IT Department Support the Coach?

In a traditional school district, the Technician position is one that rotates between
multiple school buildings. They need to be able to quickly enter a school building,
identify what needs to be addressed and can take care of a building as efficiently
as possible.

They usually are entering a building with previous knowledge of a certain number
of issues in mind due to what support tickets have been submitted but are also aware
that at any moment they might be faced with several secondary challenges or requests
for additional services.

Much like the relationship with building and central office personnel, the Technician
should enter a building and before leaving, seek conversation with the building 
coach. This traditionally is the best way for a technician to learn about both major
and minor issues happening in classrooms.

The Technician, who often is in technical meetings that the coach is not invited
to, knows, and understands not just about their buildings, but about any issues 
happening across the district such as application issues, or Wi-Fi outages.

![The Coach and Student Relationship Small](https://i0.wp.com/www.teachercast.net/
wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Coach-and-Student-Relationship-Small.png?w=1200&ssl
=1 "Does Your District Have a Plan for Creating Positive Coaching Relationships?")

## The Student / Coach Relationship

So far, we have looked at several relationships that a coach must form during a 
school year. The one thing that all these relationships have in common is that they
are between two adults. However, there is one more important relationship that a
coach must form and that is with the student population.

Traditionally, a coach is focused on and dedicated to supporting teachers. They 
meet teachers outside of the traditional classroom and spend time planning and preparing
lessons. The next phase of the coaching program is when students come into play.

There is a fine line between a coach being a co-teacher or a mentor in the classroom
and being the building’s technology teacher. This is where it is important for a
coach to clearly define their relationships with students.

### How can the Coach Support the Students?

Understanding that their role in the school district is to teach teachers and not
students, the coach has the responsibility of supporting the students both during
the times they are in the classrooms and the times they are in non-instructional
meetings.

The coach is a believer in both Future Ready and ISTE (International Society for
Technology in Education) standards and keeping them in mind strives to support the
needs of the students when planning lessons and discussing instructional strategy
with building and district administrators.

In many ways, the coach is the ultimate advocate for what the student needs to learn
both on the micro and macro level, and thus why the coaching position exists in 
the first place.

### How can the Students Support the Coach?

Simply put, the students play a significant role in the success of any coaching 
program. They are the ones that show (directly or indirectly) a teacher how important
it is to include digital learning skills in traditional lessons.

When students are working on a video project and they say, “this is awesome, can
we try this again?” The teacher is going to then be encouraged to turn to the coach
and ask for them to come back for additional lesson planning.

## Conclusion

When building successful Instructional Coaching programs, several important decisions
must be made. Decisions that allow coaches to be successful in the classroom, successful
in setting up their schedule, and successful in being productive and equal members
of the leadership team.

To do this, it is vital for proper relationships to form for the coach at all levels
of the greater district organizational chart. Having strong relationships at both
the central and district level administrative levels allows the coach to speak not
only to, but for the district as they are usually the ones who are tasked with implementing
new initiatives and programs. The ability to know not only what is happening in 
the curriculum world but also in the greater technology world is also important 
and thus, it is important for coaches to be in constant communication with their
district and building IT staff.

When these relationships are set up and communication channels are put in place 
it is not the coach that is successful, but ultimately the students who are put 
in the best position to succeed.

![the impact planner blog post bottom image](https://i0.wp.com/teachercast.net/wp-
content/uploads/2026/06/The-Impact-Planner-Blog-Post-Bottom-Image.webp?resize=1200%
2C675&ssl=1 "the impact planner blog post bottom image")

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