COACHING CHEAT SHEET*

INSTEAD OF THIS

TRY

SOUNDS LIKE

Telling or advising

Presenting options or
possibilities

What has worked in the

past?
A few possibilities are
Which best practice are
you considering?...
Yes, and

Saying:

Imagine the coachee

ALREADY has done this or
accomplished this

What did the team say?

Have you thought about..

Did you.
Can you

Focusing of on the
problem

The coachee wants to

perform well
Presume the coachee
wants the best for staf
Looking at solutions

How did he react when

you shared your ideas?
What data is helping you
to consider a change?
What questions do you
have?
What needs are you trying
to meet?
What do you need to
move forward?
What kind of impact might
this action have?
What do you/we need to
do to make this work?

If the coachee is using

judgmental words like:
weak, poor, wont work

Ofer up a reflective
question that requires
an expectation, goal, core
value

What guidelines are in the

handbook or policy
manual?
What expectations were
given by the ED?
How will/did you meet
your goal?
Knowing that relationships
are critical in establishing
trust, how do you plan to
build the relationship?

Giving non-specific
feedback- good job,
great, wonderful

Providing the reason WHY

the idea /action was good,
great, ..

The lesson plan clearly

addresses every
component of the rubric

Identify the VALUE of the

idea

The power of your idea

is

*derived from various resources

When coaching, stay away from describing your teaching experience or things that you have
done.

If you get stuck and are searching for words to say OR you realize you are firing question
after question- STOP----- pause---- and PARAPHRASE.