Random Acts of Coaching

Yesterday kicked off Random Acts of Kindness week, a movement to make kindness the norm around the world. I personally love the Random Acts of Kindness calendars for home and the workplace and was browsing them for ideas to bring a bit more kindness this week to my own little neck of the woods. This week, I’ll be catching up with an old friend, donating new titles to our local free little library, letting people merge ahead of me in busy traffic and being more generous with smiles and laughter. 

As I thought about how these random acts of kindness with no expectation in return can make such a difference in our daily lives, I wondered how the same could be brought to our work as literacy coaches and leaders. How might random acts of coaching support a positive culture of learning? Here are a few ideas to bring random acts of coaching to the teachers we work with:

• Add coaching to your emails: Your email signature can be a powerful coaching tool. Link to the books you are currently reading, add a powerful quote to ponder or even share a new resource each week. Teachers will come to expect these nuggets and even look for them.
• Sprinkle QR codes throughout the school: Link QR codes to helpful articles, videos resources and more. Post them around the school for teachers to find them in unexpected moments. Need inspiration? Head to this document for a collaborative list!
• Create a small book display in your coaching space and update often: You might use your own collection or team up with the librarian for themed or new texts to showcase. And if you coach virtually instead, update your website with what you are currently reading and what’s on deck each week.
• Add writing prompts to your door: This might be my favorite. Print out innovative writing prompts and slip them into a sheet protector adhered to your door. Change the prompt each week and encourage teachers to share it with their students as well. Here are a few prompts to get started!
• Sticky note ideas: Grab a sticky note, jot an idea or resource on it for fellow teachers and stick it where they will find it: on their desk, chair, in their mailbox or even the faculty room. These surprise sticky notes might be just what they need to support their instruction and brighten their day.
• Print an article: Sure, it’s easy to email an article for teachers to read, but in our busy days, those emails often get pushed to the bottom of our Inbox or even worse….deleted. So, why not print out a short (incredibly useful!) article instead and place it in teachers’ mailboxes? It’s more likely to get read or at least browsed.
• Get social: Up your social media coaching this week. Yes, I made that a thing. =) You can tweet or post ideas and resources for those teachers that follow you or better yet, create a professional account and post a daily nugget for teachers to look forward to.

There are a few of the ideas I’m starting with this week. What ideas do you have? Add them in the comments below and let’s start a #randomactsofcoaching movement!

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