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The Making Schools Work Podcast
Join us each week as we talk to different SREB team members and educators across the country to find out the latest in school innovations. From classroom instruction to school leadership, we are going to examine what it is that makes schools work!
The Making Schools Work Podcast
From Resistance to Reflection: 6 Coaching Moves That Help Teachers Grow
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Instructional coaching works best when it is grounded in trust, curiosity and real classroom practice.
In this summer highlight episode, Ashley Shaw looks back at three coaching-focused conversations from the first two seasons of the Making Schools Work podcast. Together, these clips explore how coaches can move beyond labels, listen more deeply, build teacher ownership and use reflection to help teachers make small changes that lead to stronger learning.
You’ll hear from Becca Silver, Kanisa Williams, Jason Adair and Jen Zelina as they discuss what coaches need to know about resistance, role clarity, teacher support, microteaching and meaningful reflection.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Why coaches should stop thinking in terms of “resistant teachers” and start thinking about teachers experiencing resistance
- How listening helps coaches understand what teachers actually need
- Why coaching has to feel supportive, not punitive
- How districts and schools can protect the coaching role so coaches can focus on instruction
- What it means to move teachers from buy-in to ownership
- How microteaching and reflection can help teachers make small, high-impact instructional changes
Practical Takeaways
Good coaching is not about fixing teachers, catching mistakes or forcing compliance. It is about helping teachers feel supported enough to reflect honestly, think deeply and make meaningful changes in their practice.
Across these conversations, one theme comes through clearly: coaching is most powerful when it is human and evidence-based. Coaches need to listen for what is underneath resistance, approach teachers from a place of potential, protect time for meaningful coaching and ground reflection in what students actually did and learned.
Subscribe and Follow
Subscribe to the Making Schools Work podcast wherever you listen, and follow along this summer as we revisit some of the most practical ideas from our first two seasons.
The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with states and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce.
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