After teaching a while you get little tricks you use over and over again. One thing I have used since my first year has been the “high five” at dismissal. It lets the kids know there’s no hard feelings and nothing is personal. After all, we are there for 6.5 hours with the kids to do a job and so are they with us. Then there are the interpersonal skills we use with other teachers. To avoid offending, we ask questions, we tell stories. For me now, I work with teachers that have less experience than me so one thing I struggle with is how to tell them everything will be okay without sounding like a know-it-all.
Coaching kids, in my opinion, is a lot easier than coaching teachers. Teachers are grownups with a lot of baggage from a longer life. You might trigger something in them by saying something as simple as: “What do you think caused your scores to be so low.” Even though your intent is simply to coach and to encourage and to foster better scores so everybpdy wins, many teachers still get offended.
Kids, on the other hand absolutely love to be coached. Since they haven’t really been hurt yet in their lives, they are open to your suggestions. I get my kids excited about a state standards test every year and they are thrilled when they score 90% and above. Why is it so hard to get some teachers as excited about that goals?
The key when coaching anyone is to try many many approached until you find one that works. Don’t give up on people. I have found most people will come around and appreciate you for being patient and try again and again.