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I was somewhat concerned about some things like what it would be like to not see kids every day! I also didn't know what to do with my classroom materials - especially all of my books! I didn't know how long I would be out of the classroom, so I didn't know how much I should keep. I gave a lot of it away.

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One of the greatest challenges I have experienced is teacher buy-in. My entire career has been spent in one school, and now I am the Instructional Coach to teachers who have been my peers for my entire career. While I have always been one to share ideas and resources, I have been most surprised by teachers' reluctance to self-reflect and help themselves grow as professionals using my suggestions and feedback.

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The biggest challenge for me was re-branding the concept of Instructional Coach to a core group of teachers who did not need this type of support. Because this position was new to our area, I spent a lot of time building relationships and establishing my role as a non-evaluative,  collaborative instructional partner.
Successes: I love watching the seeds that I have helped to plant flourish. For example, because I am in and out of classrooms, I see teachers who are alike in their thinking. Therefore, I intentionally connect these teachers for collaborative partnerships. It is exciting to watch these partnerships organically continue, without any prompting.

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One of the best successes I have experienced transitioning from the classroom to an instructional coaching role is seeing the growth in other teachers through our local Vanguard Team via a coaching cycle. It has been amazing to support staff in a non punitive way and build relationships with teachers. One challenge I have faced is a lack of direction from leaders. The coaching role looks very different everywhere. Since I was the first in our building, I basically had to build expectations and responsibilities.

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I had always continued learning and had set myself up to eventually market myself in a new role but when I had the opportunity to come out of the classroom it wasn't planned (it was an opportunity from a grant we received). I knew I wanted the new opportunity but it was still a tough decision to make. That first day of school the next year when I *wasn't* picking up my 16th year of students was a tough one! I didn't quite know what to do with myself- we hadn't had any coaches before me so there wasn't any guidance.
A success, however, was that I was extremely excited for the new role and my enthusiasm came through to my colleagues.

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The biggest challenge I faced was transitioning within the same school I have been a teacher. Since I have only been in this school for 3 years, I knew it would be hard to build up trust with veteran teachers. Also, learning how to see the "bigger picture" and not just what's going on in my own classroom. It was very difficult to be a coach to teachers who have been here a long time. I'm still continuing to build up trust and show them that I am here to help them, not put more on their plate.

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Challenges: Some were logistics.  I had been a classroom teacher for nearly 20 years. What was I going to do with all of my things? It felt great to purge. I knew if I ever went back to the classroom, it would be a whole new experience and I would do things differently. Keeping those extra empty paper towel rolls no longer had a place in my life! I finally got rid of so many things I really had no use for -and some things I wish I still had for demo lessons!
But really, the unknown was quite a challenge. Becoming an instructional coach, or TOSA in our district, was a bit of an identity shift, and it wasn't the easiest. I had been a successful classroom teacher, and with the change, I didn't really know who I was, how I was making an impact, or where I fit in the education system. It was uncharted territory for me personally. I felt lonely and without a home (I support two sites). I missed my students and the community of families and colleagues I had created at my site. This part of the transition was quite difficult. Additionally, my TOSA position was somewhat undefined. Not only is our role unclear, the model was changing to become more of an instructional coach. The district didn't have (and still doesn't) have a super clear understanding of my job description. I definitely went through a bit of an identity crisis (for lack of better words).
However, on the upside, my experiences working with adults my last few years made my transition more than worth it. I had some amazing experiences mentoring new teachers (to our site, district, and profession). I felt good at it, and it filled my bucket. I knew I wanted to help educators make their job easier, curriculum more accessible to them, and to help them find the fun and joy in being in their classrooms again. I wanted to be able to reach more kids by working with the adults. I have spent my first year as a TOSA/Instructional Coach developing relationships, building rapport and credibility, and establishing trust. While the journey has felt like turning the Titanic, I know I have been successful with these things. Teachers turn to me for collaboration, share vulnerabilities with me, and are willing to take a risk with me, and I am so grateful everyday.

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One of the successes was seeing a new teacher grow from a coaching cycle and have that look of confidence after that first year of new year stress.  That is worth a million bucks.
A challenge for me was thinking that moving into the position of math coach I would be welcomed with open arms and accepted into the classrooms.  My position was transitioned from an interventionist to a coach so a lot of teachers did not understand why I was not pulling and working with kids.  Once my job was properly explained and teachers began to utilize me for what I there for this became a success in the end!

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One of the biggest challenges I found was because I was going into new buildings in various districts I did not know their culture. I always feel a bit uneasy the first few days in a new building because of this. I worked through this by meeting with the teachers and principal right away and asking how I could help them. I also got into their rooms quickly to just see what they were doing and left a positive note for them.

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The challenges were timing. I worked first with a small private school and wanted to assure I made proper introductions. I ended up spending so much extra time with each teacher (a very good thing in the end) that my first impressions amongst many was my tardiness.  The challenge became a positive as the teachers were so eager to have my support!

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Embracing the unknown. Still with plenty of room to grow, I knew what to do as a 5th grade ELAR/SS teacher. I had built good pedagogy, resources, and knoew how to work the curriculum to meet the needs of most learners. I had a solid team and we had it pretty solid when it came to planning field trips, events, and other activities for our kids. While I had earned my masters in curriculum and instruction, there was no course on "how to be a coach" or "what to do day to day as a coach" I was fortunate to be on campuses where I can make and mold to role to my own on how to best support my Ts, but once the dust settled after the first week there was a lot of "so now what?"

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One of the biggest challenges I felt like I faced when deciding to transition from teaching in the classroom to Instructional Coaching was that in high school, we are so highly specialized. My background is Social Studies. I knew that going into other content areas, I would really be at a disadvantage, and I knew that would be scary. I wasn't sure how that would go, and I knew how I had felt about trainers who had come in and pretended to understand my content when they clearly had no idea... So I decided from the start to own the fact that I don't know everything. I know some things. I know good teaching, but I don't know "your content" necessarily. But I can help you get better... And that has been a huge success for me. I think people trust you when you are upfront and honest, and they trust when they know you are in this with them.