In this #coachbetter episode, Kim chats with members of the team from the Association for the Advancement of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (called AAICIS), where Kim is currently serving as the Executive Director.   

The organization is celebrating its one-year anniversary by reflecting on its achievements since its launch in March 2024. The discussion highlights the unique support AAICIS offers to international school educators interested in or currently working in instructional coaching. The team shares how their all-volunteer, all-remote group has advanced coaching practices tailored specifically to the international school context.

(For more about how AAICIS got started, check out our episode from March 2024 "Introducing the Association for the Advancement of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (AAICIS)")

Listen to this episode to hear about all the work this amazing team has accomplished, including:

• Their successful launch in March 2024

• An update on their research (to dig deeper into this check out episode 262 with Jordan Benedict)

• Their free resources, and what’s coming next

• The support they provide for coaches, leaders and schools - and why this might be valuable for YOU and your school!

• How to connect with AAICIS

• Developments on their growing team

If you’re looking to join a supportive community of instructional coaches and leaders in international schools around the world who are as passionate about instructional coaching as you are, this episode (and AAICIS) is for you!

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coacbetter episode is about the importance of intentional and structured conversations. This is a highlight from one of Kim's favorite episodes from a previous season, featuring Michele Mattoon, Executive Director of the National School Reform Faculty.

Recently as part of one of AAICIS Leaders Speaker Series we had Jennifer Abrams share with our community about Stretching Your Learning Edges (Jennifer has also been a guest on the podcast if you want to check out that episode), and as she said on the podcast, Jennifer highlighted how as educators we are not trained in having conversations with other adults.

Having intentional and structured conversations, through the use of protocols, can really help us navigate difficult and challenging topics that, as Michele says, sometimes need “guardrails”.

Because instructional coaches work with so many different stakeholders, with so many different perspectives, experiences and opinions, it’s so important for us to know how to structure conversation for productive discourse and dialogue. Protocols are one way we can do that.

If protocols are new to you, make sure to check out the full episode with Michele. Once you start using protocols in your professional learning, and group conversations, you won’t go back. 

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim's amazing clients, Jen Kagohara, ES Tech & Design Coach, Taipei American School, Taiwan. Jen is a graduate of The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program and when we recorded this episode she had just finished the program.

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. 

We're so excited to share this episode with Jen with you because Jen has had many experiences that are shared by lots of the clients Kim works with. She’s relatively new to her school, which has hired coaches, but doesn’t yet have a coaching culture. Many coaches that Kim works with are in this exact same situation - in fact we have several other podcast episodes about this very topic, one is episode 70: 5 Steps to Move from “Having Coaches” to “a Coaching Culture”). Wherever you are in the process at your school, it’s always valuable to hear what this looks like in different school contexts.

In this conversation they talk about ...

• What coaching looks like in her school right now
• What makes coaching work and what are some challenges
• Jen’s growth as a coach throughout The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program
• Her big aha moments as a new coach
• What she’s planning for next in terms of her professional growth
• What she wishes she knew before she started coaching
• Her recommendations for new and aspiring coaches

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode, Kim introduces the domains of a coaching mindset.

Did you know that the number one indicator of student success is collective efficacy? (Donohoo, 2017). Research shows that when we believe in one another, student learning improves. 

How we can improve our collective efficacy through the lens of coaching – without hiring an instructional coach or a formal coaching program?

Because we all want to improve student learning. And we all can benefit from coaching. But not every school has the capacity or finances to build an instructional coaching program. And the great news is, you don’t have to have a formal coaching program to do it. All you need to get started is a coaching mindset. And every single person (students included) can work towards cultivating a coaching mindset.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is a case study conversation with two amazing educators: EAL (English as an Additional Language) Teacher Lindsay Manzella and INS Teacher John Stephany. Lindsay and John worked together at NIST (Thailand) at the time of recording, where they developed a unique model for co-teaching and coaching to support all learners in John’s classroom, where Lindsay was supporting EAL students. Both Lindsay and John have had training in coaching so they have come to the co-teaching experience with a foundational understanding of how coaching works.

In this episode they talk about:

• How Lindsay and John work together
• Why John, as an MYP INS teacher finds coaching so valuable
• Why Lindsay, as an EAL Teacher, finds coaching such a powerful support to her work
• What works well in their partnership as well as what can be challenging
• How this model might work in other schools

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is a highlight from one of Kim's favorite episodes from a previous season, featuring Anne Marie Chow, who at the time was Middle School Vice Principal and English teacher at United World College Southeast Asia, East Campus in Singapore.

We're excited to be sharing this highlight today, because not only is Anne Marie amazing (listen to her full episode here) but if you’ve been watching or listening to #coachbetter this season, you know we’re talking a lot about measuring your impact (see links to previous episode below).

Because instructional coaching is a non-teaching position, it’s so important for coaches to be proactive about measuring and sharing the impact of their work. It’s a role that’s both challenging to find the budget to hire for, and one that’s easy to cut if school leaders don’t see the intended outcome. The more coaches can do to collect and share data around their work, the easier it will be for school leaders, and teachers, to see the value of coaching.

This episode highlights the experience of coaches at UWC Singapore and the actual types of data they are collecting. If you’re an instructional coach, curious about getting started collecting data, there are some great ideas here - and hopefully this clip will inspire even more ideas that will work just right in your school context.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim's amazing clients, Melissa Car, Grade 1 classroom teacher at St. Mary’s International School in Japan. Melissa is a graduate of The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program and when we recorded this episode she had just finished the program.

In this conversation we talk about 

• How Melissa started her journey to instructional coaching
• Why she thinks coaching is right for her school, right now
• How her school leaders made the decision to implement a coaching program
• The vision for the coaching program at her school
• Her “aha moments” in The Coach
• The successes she’s already had with coaching - as a classroom teacher
• What schools and teachers should consider when begining an instructional coaching program

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode, Diana is going to share 5 tips to redirect a coaching conversation.

Sometimes our coaching conversations take an unexpected turn. This can be really challenging because we know that it’s important for our coaching partners to take the lead in directing the conversation.

But what happens when…

• it seems like your coaching partner is straying away from the goals you set at the beginning of the cycle or your work together? Or
• when you notice something during a classroom visit that you are hoping will attract the attention of your coaching partner, but it doesn’t? Or
• You realize there is a gap that needs to be addressed that your coaching partner doesn’t realize yet?

It can be tricky to know if you should find a way to address these issues and potentially redirect the conversation - let alone actually try to do it!

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy these:

• Coaching Case Study: The Power of Intentionally Slowing Down Coaching Conversations with Sasha Robins [Ep 238] 
• My "Secret" Coaching Assessment
• One Question That Will Transform Your Coaching Practice
• Coaching Call: Shifting your Coaching Mindset from Problem Solving to Improving Student Learning with Vicki Heupel [260]

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)
• The Landscape of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode, Kim talks with Jim Laney, Head of School & Sara Brodhead, Director of Teaching and Learning at Kaohsiung American School in Taiwan. Sarah has now moved on to Hong Kong International Sschool, and Jim, who’s still HoS at Kaohsiung, is a repeat guest on the show - check out his earlier episode where we talk about how instructional coaching supports at all levels.

Kim has been working with KAS for the last two years to support their brand new middle leadership team in developing their instructional leadership capacity and applying a coaching mindset to their work. In that time, KAS has also hired two new instructional coaches, and this conversation developed from our work together.

In this episode, Jim, Sara and Kim talk about..

• the development of the new middle leadership and instructional coaching roles at KAS
• the distinction between supervision and evaluation and the professional growth that coaching can provide
• their vision for the new instructional coaching roles
• the structures they are putting in place
• measuring the impact of their work
• how we can help other school leaders and educators see the value of instructional coaching 

This conversation highlights the huge impact an investment in teacher professional growth can have in our schools.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you’ll enjoy this one: Instructional Coaching Supports at All Levels with Jim Laney

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)
• The Landscape of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode we’re talking about what coaching looks like in schools where it’s been implemented well. 

This is a highlight from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season, featuring Ji Han, Associate Director of School Evaluation and Support at the Council of International Schools (CIS).

Ji has such a wide experience with coaching in so many schools, hearing her description of what coaching looks like when it’s working well can provide a powerful vision for school leaders, or coaches advocating for instructional coaching. 

We're sharing this specific clip because it addresses several of the most common questions we hear when we speak with school leaders about coaching, they wonder:

• If they should mandate coaching to ensure that every educator takes advantage of that support.
• If leaders should do the coaching (perhaps part of Professional Growth Plan)
• How to celebrate the success of coaching if it is confidential

 Ji clearly articulates how coaching can grow, when we ensure that we have some essential structures in place: coaching is invitational, coaching happens with a peer, and we see coaching as an experience for all teachers, rather than viewing it as a way to “fix” teachers (or a deficit model).

These are three big components that come up on the show all the time, so if this is interesting to you, please be sure to check out the other episodes:

• Untangling Instructional Coaching, Evaluation & Appraisal with Samantha Olson-Wyman and Stephanie Cifuentes
• What is coaching and why is it important?

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let’s Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Read more from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)
• The Landscape of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)