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The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation
Hands-on resources for new and seasoned school coaches This practical resource offers the foundational skills and tools needed by new coaching educators, as well as presenting an overview of the knowledge and theory base behind the practice. Established coaches will find numerous ways to deepen and refine their coaching practice. Principals and others who incorporate coaching strategies into their work will also find a wealth of resources. Aguilar offers a model for transformational coaching which could be implemented as professional development in schools or districts anywhere. Although she addresses the needs of adult learners, her model maintains a student-centered focus, with a specific lens on addressing equity issues in schools. The Art of Effective Strategies for School Transformation offers a compendium of school coaching ideas, the book's explicit, user-friendly structure enhances the ability to access the information.
368 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2013
464 people are currently reading
1446 people want to read
About the author
Elena Aguilar
12 books137 followersElena has trained thousands of educators across the United States and abroad in transformational coaching. She is the author of four highly acclaimed books: The Art of Coaching, (2013) and The Art of Coaching Teams, (2016) Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators (2018) and the Onward Workbook (2018), and the forthcoming Coaching for Equity (August 2020). She is a regular contributor to Edutopia and ASCD’s Educational Leadership, and she was a blogger for EdWeek Teacher for many years.
Elena Aguilar is an author and the President of Bright Morning Consulting. Her expertise derives from twenty five years as a classroom teacher, instructional coach and leadership coach working in diverse school environments. In her role as a consultant, she has partnered with leaders in public and private organizations across the United States and abroad. Elena is also the co-founder of Kenya Big Picture Learning, and she’s on the advisory board of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Elena holds a BA in history and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her teaching credential from California State University, Hayward, and she also holds an administrative services credential.
Elena lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, son, and two cats. When she’s not coaching or writing she enjoys traveling abroad, photographing birds, hiking, drinking coffee and reading fiction.
Elena Aguilar is an author and the President of Bright Morning Consulting. Her expertise derives from twenty five years as a classroom teacher, instructional coach and leadership coach working in diverse school environments. In her role as a consultant, she has partnered with leaders in public and private organizations across the United States and abroad. Elena is also the co-founder of Kenya Big Picture Learning, and she’s on the advisory board of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Elena holds a BA in history and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her teaching credential from California State University, Hayward, and she also holds an administrative services credential.
Elena lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, son, and two cats. When she’s not coaching or writing she enjoys traveling abroad, photographing birds, hiking, drinking coffee and reading fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
June 30, 2017
I just attended The Art of Coaching conference with Elena Aguilar, which was great. This book is an excellent tool for educators and transformational coaching is a very good approach and addition to the field of coaching.
July 21, 2014
I don't think I can say enough good things about this book. I wish I'd had it in my hands when I began my work as a coach last year. This will definitely be a book I refer to again and again.
January 15, 2016
Definitely a must-read (and re-read) for coaches. Focus on Emotional Intelligence, transformative, equitable approach such as the SMART-e goals where e=equity.
May 10, 2024
I did not love this book. I have many friends who praise it, so I had high hopes. However, I found it a little bit limited and prescriptive. Perhaps it is really only written for people who have made coaching of teachers their career, specifically coaches of teachers in American public schools in low-socio-economic areas. That specificity of examples and advice felt hard to connect with, even though some of the descriptors applies to me.
February 9, 2016
Awesome read - her beliefs are very aligned to TFA/eliminating educational equity and her practice is logical and replicable. Love this and plan to share it with my team!
January 12, 2016
One of the best professional development books I've ever read. Even if you're not an instructional coach, it has a plethora of strategies for leaders and teachers as well.
January 20, 2023
I read this quickly, in one go. I will acquire my own copy so that I can mark it and return to it. I really respect her tone, posture, and approach. I respect how she names the fact that her own mentor told her, "No one can learn from you if you think that they suck." Indeed, it can be much more challenging to hold that humbling reminder close when working with adults rather than children because we are inclined to expect children to be more malleable, with significant room for growth and transformation. Aguilar reminds us that adults can be transformed too. She is vulnerable and shares her own early career stories, but what I appreciate about this book is that it isn't just a series of anecdotes. Each of her stories is purposeful in illustrating a core coaching strategy. She even offers potential solutions and responses to common issues that confront instructional coaches of both teachers and administrators.
Another quote that struck me was, "When I get attached [to what 'should happen'], there's usually a part of my own ego that's getting sucked in." It's essential to be humble and open to different possibilities -- "success" and "progress" can look like so many different things and humility as a coach is absolutely essential.
That said, "The process of coaching requires both backbone and compassion. The coach must be courageous enough to be gently irreverent with the client to test the client's view of the world. However, coaching can work only when the coach cares deeply about the client and is able to cast aside his own ego to support the client's efforts" (Patricia McNeil and Steve Klink, 2004, p. 185).
The compassion piece comes far more easily to me personally than the irreverence. I'd like to grow in my ability to push adults as much as I can naturally push children.
She calls coaches to identify our coaching beliefs and stand inside them to see which ones give us the most energy, power, clarity, and groundedness. To ask:
- Does the belief bring you a sense of relief?
- Do you feel more empowered when you stand in the belief?
- Does it open more paths for action? Does it point to new directions?
- Does it align with your own core values?
- Does it allow you to fulfill your vision as a coach?
She offers a few different frameworks and even sentence stems, but the most helpful parts of the book for me were glances into her own conversations with clients -- the kinds of questions she asked, how she responded to their answers, and all the reflective preparation she did in advance to avoid going in with assumptions (e.g. Despite the principal telling her that a given teacher has classroom management issues, she observes with a far more expansive mind, looking for far more factors at play than that).
She reminds us that the way we pose our questions determines the nature of the answer and the way we define the problem dictates how we define the solution.
She reminds us to protect confidentiality and only offer the principal the teacher, time, topics, and tasks. That's a challenging line depending on how the coaching role has been defined. But again, she emphasizes the importance of clearly defined roles, which are unfortunately often not a given.
Never assume that my own knowledge and experiences are directly transferable to their situation.
Notice body language and name it as appropriate to build self-awareness and connection. I'm noticing that... are you feeling better about the situation? What allowed that shift to happen?
Some confrontational coaching questions I found helpful to remember include:
- Would you be willing to explore your reasoning about this?
- Would you be open to examining the assumptions behind your reasoning?
- I'd like to ask you about.... Is that okay?
- What's another way you might...?
- What would it look like if...?
- What do you thin would happen if...?
- What sort of an effect do you think...?
- I'm noticing (some aspect of your behavior)... what do you think is going on?
- What criteria do you use to...?
- How did you decide... or come to that conclusion?
- What might you see happening in your classroom if...?
All in all, this is a nice resource and I see why it's referenced so often. It's thoughtfully organized and full of practical advice alongside the philosophical underpinning behind them. Sure, much of it can seem like "common sense," but many are hard to implement consistently in action even if it's up there in the mind. There's some research embedded into the prose, but most of it is in the references section -- this is clearly designed more for practical use.
Another quote that struck me was, "When I get attached [to what 'should happen'], there's usually a part of my own ego that's getting sucked in." It's essential to be humble and open to different possibilities -- "success" and "progress" can look like so many different things and humility as a coach is absolutely essential.
That said, "The process of coaching requires both backbone and compassion. The coach must be courageous enough to be gently irreverent with the client to test the client's view of the world. However, coaching can work only when the coach cares deeply about the client and is able to cast aside his own ego to support the client's efforts" (Patricia McNeil and Steve Klink, 2004, p. 185).
The compassion piece comes far more easily to me personally than the irreverence. I'd like to grow in my ability to push adults as much as I can naturally push children.
She calls coaches to identify our coaching beliefs and stand inside them to see which ones give us the most energy, power, clarity, and groundedness. To ask:
- Does the belief bring you a sense of relief?
- Do you feel more empowered when you stand in the belief?
- Does it open more paths for action? Does it point to new directions?
- Does it align with your own core values?
- Does it allow you to fulfill your vision as a coach?
She offers a few different frameworks and even sentence stems, but the most helpful parts of the book for me were glances into her own conversations with clients -- the kinds of questions she asked, how she responded to their answers, and all the reflective preparation she did in advance to avoid going in with assumptions (e.g. Despite the principal telling her that a given teacher has classroom management issues, she observes with a far more expansive mind, looking for far more factors at play than that).
She reminds us that the way we pose our questions determines the nature of the answer and the way we define the problem dictates how we define the solution.
She reminds us to protect confidentiality and only offer the principal the teacher, time, topics, and tasks. That's a challenging line depending on how the coaching role has been defined. But again, she emphasizes the importance of clearly defined roles, which are unfortunately often not a given.
Never assume that my own knowledge and experiences are directly transferable to their situation.
Notice body language and name it as appropriate to build self-awareness and connection. I'm noticing that... are you feeling better about the situation? What allowed that shift to happen?
Some confrontational coaching questions I found helpful to remember include:
- Would you be willing to explore your reasoning about this?
- Would you be open to examining the assumptions behind your reasoning?
- I'd like to ask you about.... Is that okay?
- What's another way you might...?
- What would it look like if...?
- What do you thin would happen if...?
- What sort of an effect do you think...?
- I'm noticing (some aspect of your behavior)... what do you think is going on?
- What criteria do you use to...?
- How did you decide... or come to that conclusion?
- What might you see happening in your classroom if...?
All in all, this is a nice resource and I see why it's referenced so often. It's thoughtfully organized and full of practical advice alongside the philosophical underpinning behind them. Sure, much of it can seem like "common sense," but many are hard to implement consistently in action even if it's up there in the mind. There's some research embedded into the prose, but most of it is in the references section -- this is clearly designed more for practical use.
July 25, 2018
Maybe because I’m a tech coach, I found this book of little relevance once if read through the first part of the book.
The author opens the introduction with a description of an amazing experience she had of being coached herself and then goes on to assume that somehow she can distil this entire complex process down to its fundamental elements in a way that can then be replicated/reproduced by other would be coaches...?
“I found it hard to identify what Leslie “did” as a coach. I couldn’t identify the specific “coaching moves“ she made, I couldn’t figure out how she was thinking or how she made decisions about what to ask me. She was an amazing coach, and I wanted to be just like her.”
While this is a noble sentiment, the assumption behind it appears to be fundamentally flawed; in much the same way as you can’t replicate a great teacher’s practice by analysing the fundamental elements, with the intention to rebuild it in any other classroom with any other teacher, I can’t see how the same approach could be assumed to work with coaching either.
“In the following years, as my coaching practice developed, I explored the complicated processes that result in effective coaching and learned how to see the elements that made up Leslie’s coaching. This book is an attempt to make what goes on in an effective coach’s mind visible—to make a coach’s thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, core values, and feelings explicit so that they can be replicated by others. Coaching is an art, and just as the process of producing a piece of art can be broken down, so can coaching.“
As a former artist I also know that this is a very dubious assumption, you cannot take a great piece of art and break it down into its “ingredients“, based on the notion that somehow anyone can then follow these instructions to recreate any great piece of art. The key to a great piece of art lies in the artist and the complexity and uniqueness of their life skills and experiences—not in the fundamental processes and procedures that they use to construct their artwork. The author appears to presume that any great piece of artwork is fundamentally at its core no more of an undertaking than an elaborate ‘join the dots’ approach to creation and creativity. To me, coaching, like teaching (and art) is as much about gifting as it is about processes and procedures, if not more so.
The author opens the introduction with a description of an amazing experience she had of being coached herself and then goes on to assume that somehow she can distil this entire complex process down to its fundamental elements in a way that can then be replicated/reproduced by other would be coaches...?
“I found it hard to identify what Leslie “did” as a coach. I couldn’t identify the specific “coaching moves“ she made, I couldn’t figure out how she was thinking or how she made decisions about what to ask me. She was an amazing coach, and I wanted to be just like her.”
While this is a noble sentiment, the assumption behind it appears to be fundamentally flawed; in much the same way as you can’t replicate a great teacher’s practice by analysing the fundamental elements, with the intention to rebuild it in any other classroom with any other teacher, I can’t see how the same approach could be assumed to work with coaching either.
“In the following years, as my coaching practice developed, I explored the complicated processes that result in effective coaching and learned how to see the elements that made up Leslie’s coaching. This book is an attempt to make what goes on in an effective coach’s mind visible—to make a coach’s thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, core values, and feelings explicit so that they can be replicated by others. Coaching is an art, and just as the process of producing a piece of art can be broken down, so can coaching.“
As a former artist I also know that this is a very dubious assumption, you cannot take a great piece of art and break it down into its “ingredients“, based on the notion that somehow anyone can then follow these instructions to recreate any great piece of art. The key to a great piece of art lies in the artist and the complexity and uniqueness of their life skills and experiences—not in the fundamental processes and procedures that they use to construct their artwork. The author appears to presume that any great piece of artwork is fundamentally at its core no more of an undertaking than an elaborate ‘join the dots’ approach to creation and creativity. To me, coaching, like teaching (and art) is as much about gifting as it is about processes and procedures, if not more so.
February 22, 2025
The Art of Coaching wasn't exactly tailored to my needs as a part-time coach. The book is geared towards full-time instructional coaches who work intensively with a smaller group of clients. In contrast, I support over 40 teachers, giving additional support to those new to our building. As a result, the coaching process described in the book felt a bit too involved for my capacity.
Despite this, I found the book incredibly informative. Aguilar delves deeply into the mechanics of coaching, covering crucial topics like enrolling clients and building trust. She explores various frameworks for analyzing teaching situations, such as adult learning theory, systems theory, and change theory. The book also outlines different coaching approaches, including cathartic, supportive, and prescriptive methods, and highlights key aspects of coaching conversations. Additionally, there's a very useful rubric for instructional coaches to self-assess.
While the book wasn't a perfect match for my specific needs, its detailed exploration of coaching aspects makes it a valuable resource.
Despite this, I found the book incredibly informative. Aguilar delves deeply into the mechanics of coaching, covering crucial topics like enrolling clients and building trust. She explores various frameworks for analyzing teaching situations, such as adult learning theory, systems theory, and change theory. The book also outlines different coaching approaches, including cathartic, supportive, and prescriptive methods, and highlights key aspects of coaching conversations. Additionally, there's a very useful rubric for instructional coaches to self-assess.
While the book wasn't a perfect match for my specific needs, its detailed exploration of coaching aspects makes it a valuable resource.
March 2, 2022
Tons of useful information in this book for anyone who is in a position where they have to train/coach/work with other adults. While the book is definitely written for a school setting, I believe the information is applicable for business and other work environments. While some of the conversation starters or sentence stems felt a little awkward to me, I think overall they are great ways to stimulate reflective conversation so the coaching essentially happens itself. I have been trying to use some of the strategies she taught in my current occupation and am finding it difficult but also rewarding.
October 10, 2022
Aguilar synthesizes quite a few useful ideas both about the metacognitive processes that a coach should be going through as they prepare to work with teachers and administrators, as well as practical methods of pulling out teacher and administrator hesitation - or at least outlining experiences in a way that one can begin to acknowledge and evaluate beliefs that turn into classroom or larger organizational practices.
I generally distrust education books that focus on case studies - but Aguilar has chosen her examples very carefully to highlight a valuable toolset for anyone involved in instructional coaching, instructional change or organizational change.
I generally distrust education books that focus on case studies - but Aguilar has chosen her examples very carefully to highlight a valuable toolset for anyone involved in instructional coaching, instructional change or organizational change.
December 12, 2020
Never again
I did not like this book. I struggled with the way it was written, and after watching a supplemental video of Aguilar, I realize that she writes exactly the same way as she talks. Her style of communication is much too rambling for me. She uses so many words to say so little, and the little she is saying had no value to me. As a new instructional coach, I can guarantee that I will steer clear of any resources from Aguilar in the future. I regret ever reading this book and sincerely wish I could have my time and money back.
I did not like this book. I struggled with the way it was written, and after watching a supplemental video of Aguilar, I realize that she writes exactly the same way as she talks. Her style of communication is much too rambling for me. She uses so many words to say so little, and the little she is saying had no value to me. As a new instructional coach, I can guarantee that I will steer clear of any resources from Aguilar in the future. I regret ever reading this book and sincerely wish I could have my time and money back.
June 27, 2020
Excellent book that distills the complex coaching process, provides examples, and offers up lists of resources, strategies and questions for a coach or administrator to use in supporting teachers and educational leaders. It helps to provide various coaching lenses, cautions the coach about various pitfalls along the way, and focuses on transforming schools to establish equity and make sure all students are thriving.
December 5, 2021
I found a lot of the beginning of this book to be helpful, but I waned in interest later on. A lot of it also felt like common sense to me. Though obviously, I think it was good to explicitly lay out the kind of conversational, planning, and social skills needed as a coach, as this is a book about coaching.:) I just don’t think it fit the same kind of peer coaching role that I am currently in, so it wasn’t all applicable. But it is valuable and well-thought-out information backed by experience.
July 21, 2017
I was given this book at a professional development event for teachers who mentor student teachers in their classroom. The book has an extremely specific target audience--full-time coaches of teachers and administrators. It seems like a good book for that, but I found most of it hard to apply in the context of being a full-time teacher hosting a student teacher in your own classroom.
July 24, 2018
This book presented knowledge, theory, and research backing the coaching practice in education organizations. I feel like I was able to deepen my learning through the strategies presented in this text. I've definitely added to my teacher tool belt! Coaches, administrators, and teachers would benefit from this book.
April 2, 2019
There are so many things that are relevant in this book for anyone who works with education professionals at any level. I should have taken Ms. Aguilar's advice and selected the portions of the book relevant to my practice, instead of reading front to back. Still, I learned a lot about the different lenses coaches need to use as they are helping individuals transform their practice.
April 8, 2020
I read this book for class but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The book walks through many practical skills in order to be an effrite instructional coach. I have wondered how people become good coaching and this book is a great one to read for anyone who is interested in school leadership.
April 18, 2021
Coaching could be the best way to help address seemingly intractable problems in education - allowing us to see beyond our current status and access infinite possibility. As a school leader, this book gives me so much hope that we can truly help teachers grow through what they go through. (Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Elena...)
June 30, 2021
This is an excellent book with a lot of great advice for planning instructional coaching. I read it to prep for interviews and there is a page in the book where it lists questions that could be asked during interviews and also provides the interviewee with questions to ask their prospective employer. I will definitely return to this as a resource.
January 22, 2022
In this wonderful book, lots of effort has been put. I salute the author for developing a simple yet effective roadmap for coaches who aspire to make transformative change.
On another note, a new thing I got to learn is the relation between belief and behavior. And how comes first!! I am not going to reveal that so that subsequent readers would discover!!
On another note, a new thing I got to learn is the relation between belief and behavior. And how comes first!! I am not going to reveal that so that subsequent readers would discover!!
February 7, 2022
I think this would be a great resource for coaches - especially those thrust into the role with little definition and guidance. As an administrator, especially one with a background in supporting teachers, there was less helpful to-dos, thoughts, and guidance than I've found in some of Aguilar's other works.
June 12, 2022
A transformative resource. This is one that can be read and then referred back to again and again. Each chapter begins with a helpful list of when that chapter’s information may be the most useful. This book felt so incredibly timely.
Whether you are an instructional coach or mentoring pre-service and/or in-service teachers, this books is an incredible resource to add to your repertoire.
Whether you are an instructional coach or mentoring pre-service and/or in-service teachers, this books is an incredible resource to add to your repertoire.
May 28, 2024
I found The Art of Coaching to be very supportive of many aspects of my job. One of the helpful aspects of this text is that it's not necessarily intended to read front to back. Each chapter begins with is title and Read this when:. It then specifies when the chapter will be helpful in your position as a coach.
July 26, 2024
One of the best manuals for coaching. The examples are based on the author's experience, but I think it can be applied to any type of coaching.
It provides with meaningful lessons as well as behaviors, reflections and coaching type questions both for coachee and the coach itself. Hands down to this book.
It provides with meaningful lessons as well as behaviors, reflections and coaching type questions both for coachee and the coach itself. Hands down to this book.
April 17, 2018
Excellent book that has been tremendously helpful in my literacy coach role. Have referred to it often all school year. Practical, informative and at times completely validating. Highly recommend this book!
September 12, 2019
I think the biggest take away for me as I coach student teachers is to not get attached to an outcome. The second biggest was the importance of always working on being a better listener and to prepare for debriefings thoughtfully.
July 31, 2020
There's a lot to unpack in this book. I appreciate the specific examples and resources Aguilar provides to illustrate coaching for school transformation. Because this book covers all sorts of coaching situations, not everything is applicable to teacher mentoring. But overall, well worth the read.
August 5, 2020
This coaching book was a little based on butterflies and rainbows. The anecdotes and stories of working with teachers/administrators did not reflect my own experiences as a Literacy Coach so the book didn't resonate with me.
November 30, 2020
Amazing coach and transformative ideas and approach. Only thing that kept it from 5 stars is that there are passages that need editing incredibly badly--just poorly or unclearly constructed. However, I am a huge fan of the book and its approach.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews