Instructional Coaching Connection: Building Relationships to Better Support Teachers

Connection is the true essence of coaching.

Instructional coaching has the potential to be one of the most transformative tools to help our teachers, but how do we approach this relationship? And how can coaches become better resources for those they serve?

The coach’s role should be akin to a central processor in a school, and their experiences, decisions, behaviors, and interactions will flow along certain pathways to educators. These pathways all have distinct functions while retaining their connective nature. The goal of the coaching connection is to help coaches learn to use these pathways to best support the teachers they partner with.

In this book, Dr. Nathan Lang-Raad shares resources and ideas for enhancing coaching pathways like sincerity, culture, communication, emotional intelligence, and leadership. Using templates for every pathway, Lang-Raad gives instructional coaches a wide variety of strategies for conceptualizing and transforming their coaching skills.

“The book is built around the pillars of empowered, effective relationships at work and in our lives. In wise and accessible ways, Nathan writes about fundamentally important topics, such as the power of purpose; the importance of establishing rapport, being visible to each other, balancing collaboration and independence; the necessity of listening, empathy, and communication. What especially impresses me is that throughout this book, Nathan’s important ideas are simply and beautifully stated. Nathan’s voice embodies the respectful, warm, supportive approach he proposes for coaching conversations. . . This book will help you be much more effective as a coach. More importantly, it will help you become a better person—a person who has better relationships. And when the time comes to take stock of your life, I believe you’ll find that those relationships really matter.” —Jim Knight