How Can a Specialist Teaching Coach Help You?
A key part of being a teacher is being a learner yourself but what happens when you stop being a learner? As a teacher one use of coaching is to regain your view on the world as a learner. Another is to become a better teacher. This article looks at the “awkward” side of coaching, that of not being at your best, and shows how you can regain control and be the teacher you know you can be.
Let us explore some of the symptoms of what happens when, as a teacher, you stop being a learner.
Teaching is a “full on” job and can leave you tired, if not exhausted at times, meaning you can find yourself on the treadmill that is preparation, teaching, assessment, and reporting all too easily if you do not take time for yourself. You may feel that there is no option but to work harder and longer in order to get it all done. Instead of going out with friends and family do you find yourself staying in to mark work or plan lessons? Things get sacrificed as more and more of your time is taken up with the job of teaching and before you know it there is little room for anything else. Holidays and weekends become “catch up days” rather than a chance to recharge the batteries. At some point the pressure begins to invade your sleep and you may even lay awake planning lessons or reviewing the day you had and how to do it better next time.
You may come to realise that you are no longer a learner and just a teacher! There is no doubt that your teaching will suffer as a result of this.
Once you get into this position it is difficult to get out. The quality of your teaching and relationships with students suffers, as does the learning of the students. You may begin to experience behaviour problems from students in your lessons perhaps because you have lost your sense of fun. More and more things trigger your escalating need to be in control as you struggle to cope. Your capacity to deal with change becomes limited and you can find yourself doing more of what you are comfortable and familiar with rather than what needs to be done or try anything new. You rely more and more on routine and have less and less capacity for innovation. Simple questions can become challenges and interpreted as criticism as your confidence fades.
You may recognise yourself exhibiting these symptoms (or even colleagues) occasionally but what if it gets to be too much?
Once in this state lesson observation may not go as well as they used to adding to your growing frustration. Pressure can grow from the leadership of the school to maintain standards that were once easily within you reach as a teacher but which now form an almost impossible target. Achieving the standards required is increasingly difficult as you struggle to find the time and the energy you need. As your performance falls the number of lesson observations and the number of occasions your work is scrutinised increases causing further pressure. Offers of help are seen as threats and an effort to undermine your position even further. Ultimately there will be a price to be paid and this normally means your health and relationships suffer as you struggle more and more to do what once was well within your reach.
Where do you look for help?
There is a balance to be achieved if you are to be an effective teacher and continue to learn yourself. Achieving this balance is much easier when you work with somebody, somebody who can help you regain your perspective and help you to start being a learner and therefore an effective teacher once again. Finding a way out of the cycle is easier than you think, you just have to make the first step, that of realising the position you are in.
Arranging for help is not a sign of weakness, it is actually a sign of strength, of wanting to fight back and regain your perspective, life, and health and once again enjoy your teaching. The alternative is to accept that you cannot do anything about your position and let the consequences lead where they may.
Working with a specialist teaching coach can be the best way for you to regain the balance you need.
Here is a genuine review written by a teacher when they looked back having received coaching from ace-d. It demonstrates the challenges they faced and how they successfully found a way to regain their perspective and once again enjoy their teaching.
“When my Deputy Head announced that I was to work with Kevin, I was sceptical to say the least. What he had to say was great, in theory, but I never imagined that it would work in practice. I guess, that not believing that my current situation could be resolved by anything, other than me resigning from my post, made it more difficult for me to try out the strategies. Initially, they didn’t work. And they won’t, unless you change attitude. ‘It is not what you do, but how you do it that makes the difference.’
Thanks to Kevin’s coaching, ten months down the line, I have a different approach to teaching. I work smarter, and when I started to believe in the strategies, and wanted them to work, they did, to my surprise. It felt good. All of a sudden, I got respect. I learnt that it was ok to say no; that I had a right to be heard and that not everything requires 100% effort. Most importantly, I started to respect myself, and my own time. It is about balance. It is about ‘What’s best for me?’ I have begun to change my work/life ratio, and am still working on it. More to the point, I have discovered that I like it when I am not working; as in itself, it isn’t the only thing that defines who I am.
I am thrilled that I gave the coaching a chance, and am grateful for the new perspective that I now have of teaching.”
As you can see there is an alternative, you do not have to put up with decreasing amounts of “me” time or time with family and friends. Nor do you have to face mounting pressure alone. You can once more become the learner and the teacher you once were by taking control.
Is the time right for you to explore being coached?
However you go about making this transformation it is much better to work with somebody who has the strategies and experience to guide you successfully through the challenges you will undoubtedly face. As you saw in the example from a teacher who went through this process there comes a time when you want to take back control, when you change your attitude to your situation. A time when you want to be with family and friends without feeling guilty about the work waiting for you when you get back. A time when you don’t want to get that sinking feeling on Sunday evening because of the week ahead anymore.
Are you there yet or do things have to get worse before you do something about it?
You may think that only you know the answer to this question but my advice is to ask those around you, your friends, and your family what they think.
How do you find the right coach and how do you arrange the sessions?
Successful coaching does not have to involve a direct meeting with the coach nor does it mean an added burden to cope with or fit in. Arranged correctly coaching is a supportive process. Coaching can be arranged across the internet at a time to suit you and in an environment you prefer. Of course the key aspects are finding a coach who understands you and your situation and who you feel comfortable working with and can develop confidence in. Reputable coaching services will always provide an initial discussion for free during which you and your coach can make a decision about the partnership. It is important it is the right partnership for both parties if it is to be a successful experience.
Whatever you decide ace-d will be there for you when the time is right for you. For more details of the ace-d coaching arrangements please get in touch or explore coaching on the website http://www.ace-d.co.uk
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