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Check out this Graph designed by Lauren Vandever.

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Graphic is on the 2nd page. Already existed when I joined, so we might update this year.

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Allison Petersen - Coaching Role Graphic Template Link 

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Allison Petersen - Coaching Role Graphic Template Link 

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Check out this Presentation (4:3) designed by Allison Petersen.

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Lindsey Babczak - Coaching Role Graphic 

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Lindsey Babczak - Coaching Role Graphic 

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Morgan Davis - Coaching Introduction Letter

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Morgan Davis - Coaching Introduction Letter

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Coach Beliefs - Welcome Letter - Coaching Plan - Coaching Notes

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Casey Watts - How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach 

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Casey Watts - How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach 

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I learned early on from Chrissy Beltran, at www.buzzingwithmsb.blogspot.com , that formal introductions as a coach are CRUCIAL! It goes deeper than simply giving a hello with a handshake and a, "Yes, I'm the new instructional coach, it's nice to meet you." Otherwise, you go into the year with assumptions laid upon you. And even when you do implement formal introductions, people may still confuse the aspects of your job. In fact, after the first month or two of the introduction process (that I'm detailing in this post) and time building rapport with staff, some people still said, "Oh, so you help teachers with SeeSaw...," or, "Yeah, you're So-and-So's assistant...," or, "Now what do you do, again?" While this introduction process doesn't solve all of the problems that come with assumptions, it DOES provide a streamlined way of getting out all of the important information about your position to the people that matter most: teachers and students.
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As you might imagine, introducing yourself to teachers is definitely much more challenging than introducing yourself to students. But, the more jovial, kind, and direct you can be, the easier it is to clarify your role. Just about all of my ideas for introducing myself as an instructional coach to teachers came from Chrissy Beltran , as aforementioned. She has a great podcast and blog focused on all things related to Instructional Coaching. Her blogpost, How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach has loads of great information and tools that can be downloaded for your own personal use! After perusing all of her materials, here is the process I developed for my situation ( disclaimer- my position was new for my district and I was completely new to my district- this process will look different for different situations ):
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1. Share a Brief Intro: When the principals of each campus planned their first inservice with teachers, I ensured I was on the agenda to briefly introduce myself to everyone. And this is what that sounded like: Name, summary of immediate family members, brief statement about educational experience, and role as instructional coach ( to support students by supporting teachers). The teachers are there to gain information about the school year from their principal, so it is highly unlikely that they are going to be truly invested in what you share about your role. That's why it's important to keep this introduction concise. At the end of this brief intro, I passed out this double-sided card.

It provides more specific information about my role and invites teachers to a sort of "get-to-know-you" event. You can grab your free editable version here! Simply add text boxes and QR codes as you see fit. Then print on tag and cut apart! Voila! You could easily place these in teachers' boxes or directly in their hand as you walk about the school.
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​2. Get the Word Out: As soon as these cards are in the teachers' possession, it's time to talk up the event! Go door by door to introduce yourself and personally invite teachers. Post it on your school's social media outlets. Email teachers a day or two ahead of time as a reminder. And finally, have your school's office staff announce the event over the speaker system on the day of!
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​3. Host the Event: While my invitation says "Coffee with the Coach", I ended up changing it to "Cookies with the Coach". This was a come-and-go event. On the screen in the room I stationed myself, I posted what a coach IS and what a coach IS NOT. I provided a rolling cart of cookies for teachers to grab and take with them. On that bag, I stamped the phrase, "You've Got This" and also taped a coaching menu of my services to the back. Teachers could take a small bottle of water as well. In addition to giving them all the information about my role as a coach, this gave me an opportunity to get to know them better as professionals.
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Yes, all of this took TIIIIMMMMMEEEE!! (That's "time" in forever terms.) But it was time well spent and something I'll continue to do each year from here on out. Even though some teachers still didn't quite understand what all my job entailed, they knew who I was and my ultimate intentions.
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OF COURSE this is the best part! I wanted to be sure that students weren't confused or overly distracted when I came into classrooms. Here are the steps I took for this:

1. Send a Sign-Up: After a couple of weeks with students in classrooms, I sent out a link for teachers to sign up for a 20-25 minute "teaching break" that would allow them a much needed breather and me a chance to introduce myself to their students. I provided a plethora of dates and times from which teachers could choose. The schedule filled up quickly!
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2. Choose Your Lesson: Keeping in mind that it was only 20-25 minutes, I decided that I would do just a few things: introduce myself, introduce a "teacher time out", and do a brief activity. Just about every lesson was the same, but the activity was a little bit different depending on grade levels. My lesson went something like this:

I introduced myself: name, a few pictures of my family and animals, and an out of school hobby

I shared my job title, "instructional coach", and asked students to turn and talk about what they know about "coaches" and the things coaches do. I heard things like PE, soccer, sports, football, etc. I also heard students say that coaches help people get better and cheer players on. This allowed me to share with students exactly what I do as an instructional coach. We even made the connection of a football coach in action to an instructional coach in action and "on the field".

After clarifying my role, I told students that sometimes the teacher and I might take a "teacher time out" as we work together. (More about this technique can be seen here.) As I taught a pretend lesson, we practiced what this teacher time out would look like and sound like. Because I was giving the teachers a little break, I invited a student to be the pretend co-teacher with me, which they thought was hilarious.

I finished up my time with the students with a brief, fun activity. For older students, we did Chair Tag (5th and 6th grade) or, the favorite, Woosha Warrior (2nd and up). For younger students (PK-1st), we did a Mirrors Up challenge, where students mirrored my silly shenanigans. (See Responsive Classroom for these and many more energizers!)

3. Leave them with high expectations. Before it was time to go, I invited students to consider their job when they see me come into their classroom. Each class set similar expectations: Stay on task. Keep working and learning. Listen to the teacher. Etcetera. I also told students that they were welcome to say hello or greet me at appropriate times.
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As you can imagine, introducing myself to students was much more entertaining and a lot easier. In all honesty, taking this step helped in building relationships with teachers. When the students see me as a learner among learners, the teachers can better see me as a teacher among teachers.
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If you have a great way of introducing yourself to teachers and/ or students, let me know! Everything in this post is FREE and accessible! Scroll back up if you didn't already get your freebies!

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How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach (To Both Teachers And Students)

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I learned early on from Chrissy Beltran, at www.buzzingwithmsb.blogspot.com , that formal introductions as a coach are CRUCIAL! It goes deeper than simply giving a hello with a handshake and a, "Yes, I'm the new instructional coach, it's nice to meet you." Otherwise, you go into the year with assumptions laid upon you.

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Here's the link to her Canva template! https://www.canva.com/design/DAEECRHyB0c/4fSR4MqRhEPsZFB2xH76rw/view?utm_content=DAEECRHyB0c&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview

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Buzzing with Ms.B - How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach

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Buzzing with Ms.B - How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach

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When I first started coaching, I just...started. I was introduced during a faculty meeting, I gave a professional development day on shared reading, and I set up my room. When I met teachers, I said, "Hi! I'm excited to be here! Thanks!"

They had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.

Previously, they hadn't really had an "instructional coach". They had someone who filled my position, but this person was used as more of an administrative type person, so the teachers didn't have experience with coaching.

My principal asked me to start visiting classrooms so I could get to know the school and faculty, so I did.

Teachers asked what they were doing wrong.

I started planning with grade levels during PLC.

Teachers wanted me to make their copies.

I looked over data to figure out which students needed intervention.

Teachers said I should pull small groups and do it myself.

Basically, without a good introduction to my role as an instructional coach, there was a lot of misunderstanding as to why I was even on that campus.

And it made doing my job very difficult.

If I could go back and have a redo (don't we all want at least a couple of redos?), this is what I'd do instead: I'd explicitly introduce myself and my role to the faculty as a whole. Then I'd reiterate it in grade levels. Then, when I was approaching individuals for coaching work, I'd share it again.

Here are three different ideas for introducing yourself and your role as an instructional coach! The best part? These ideas will work even if you've already been working with a school. You can re-introduce yourself and your role to start the year heading in a different direction!

Choose a method that suits your personality and your approach. You want people to know who you are and what you're about right away!

ONE BIG IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure you and your principal are on the same page when it comes to your coaching roles and responsibilities. It's important to have a conversation before you introduce your role to your teachers. Need a checklist to be prepared for this conversation? Check out the Roles and Responsibilities checklist from The Coach's Book of Plans and Lists.

#1 Coaching Roles Presentation

For this idea, you'll need to "borrow" a few minutes during a faculty meeting to share about your role as a coach.

Prepare a PowerPoint or a Keynote presentation that includes an introduction to you as a person, as well as your instructional background.

Include the kinds of support you can provide to teachers, such as what a coaching cycle can look like and what you can do to help them work towards their goals.

Explicitly introduce which content areas, grade levels, or subjects you're going to work with, if you are limited in any way.

If you're unable to secure time with the faculty, you can host a little before or after school event (or you can park yourself in one spot and make yourself available all day for people to come by). I recommend hosting this event in your own room, if you have space, so people can start to become comfortable with visiting your space in a nonthreatening way.

Send out little invitations that include the day, time, and location of "Coffee with the Coach".

Prepare a nice coffee bar, and make sure that this bonus is noted on your invitation. ( In other words, a doughnut or breakfast burrito never hurt anybody.) You want people to show up on their own accord, so you have to provide that nice incentive.

As people arrive, make sure you have written out how you plan to introduce yourself.

It helps to have your services available in writing, too, such as on a Coaching Menu that you can hand out to people as they arrive.

You can get a Coaching Menu as part of my Coaching in Classrooms resource, or you can join my email list at the end of this post to get one for free in your inbox.

#3 Coaching Newsletter

Again, if you aren't able to get time with your entire faculty, sending out an introductory newsletter will at least get the ball rolling.

In your newsletter, include a bit about who you are (with points that will help people relate to you such as interest, hobbies, or family life) and your instructional background. Make sure to explain simply the services you plan to provide and the grades/content areas you are able to work with. Make it easy to contact you via a phone number or an email address.

You're unlikely to get many responses to it, but you want to make it immediately clear that you're there to support teachers towards their goals. It's important to be available and reachable!

No matter what method you choose, make sure you do these things:

Introduce yourself as a human. (begin making connections to people)

Introduce yourself as an educator (this builds credibility)

Describe the services you can and will provide

Explain how to contact you for these services

Assure teachers that you are there to work towards their goals of educating their students

The posts for the blog series this summer are:

I've put together a collection of free tools for instructional coaches:

Tips for getting started

Coaching services menu

Classroom sweep form

Coaching invitations (black and white)

Using the gradual release model to coach teachers

Coaching plan

Observation guide

Debriefing sentence starters

Thank you notes

You can get them all by entering your email address below!

Pin It

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How to introduce yourself as an instructional coach: The instructional coaching series

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When I first started coaching, I just...started. I was introduced during a faculty meeting, I gave a professional development day on shared reading, and I set up my room. When I met teachers, I said, "Hi! I'm excited to be here! Thanks!" They had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.

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How can I support you and your students? I would love to work alongside you! Choose from the choice board below or reach out for something more specific. Looking forward to learning and growing with you!

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How can I support you and your students? I would love to work alongside you! Choose from the choice board below or reach out for something more specific. Looking forward to learning and growing with you!

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Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA?

Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property.

What can I do to prevent this in the future?

If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware.

If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices.

Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store.

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Coaching Menu Shared by Hope Newton-Dougherty

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Coaching Menu Shared by Hope Newton-Dougherty

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Coaching Menu Choice Board- Shared by Marilyn Orta

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Coaching Menu Choice Board- Shared by Marilyn Orta

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https://sites.google.com/view/instructionalcoachingwithtonir/what-do-coaches-do

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Your coach will meet with you, and discuss a student-centered goal for your classroom. A coach will observe your classroom, and provide data to you about what we see. Coaches are not in your classroom to judge, only to observe. We will help brainstorm strategies to help you to build classroom culture, plan standards-based lessons with specific learning targets, as well as engage and assess your students.

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Instructional Coaching with Toni Rivera Ramos - What do coaches do?

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Your coach will meet with you, and discuss a student-centered goal for your classroom. A coach will observe your classroom, and provide data to you about what we see. Coaches are not in your classroom to judge, only to observe.

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Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA?

Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property.

What can I do to prevent this in the future?

If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware.

If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices.

Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. Check out the browser extension in the Chrome Web Store.

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Check out this trifold brochure designed by Lisa Roy.

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Tedra Hall - Innovative Learning Coach Role Graphic

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Tedra Hall - Innovative Learning Coach Role Graphic

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Beige Green Grow Daily Journal 8.5 x 11 Letter

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Andrea Shimko - Instructional Math Coach Role Graphic

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Andrea Shimko - Instructional Math Coach Role Graphic

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Andrea Shimko - Instructional Math Coach Role Graphic

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Mary Richards - Coaching Choice Board template

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Mary Richards - Coaching Choice Board template

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Check out this food & drink menu designed by Marilyn Mc Alister.

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Rick Krause _ MTSS Coach Leave Behind & Menu

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Rick Krause _ MTSS Coach Leave Behind & Menu

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Intro to Coaching Presentation by Jess Ashley 

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Intro to Coaching Presentation by Jess Ashley 