Must-Have Instructional Coaching Literature

By Dr. Joanna Lein

If you’re looking for a few texts to kickstart your instructional leadership practice, we suggest starting with these easy-to-read but information-packed texts. Below we’ve offered a few details to help you decide where to start.

Get Better Faster by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo

• Provides a practical coaching guide, which includes a clearly defined scope and sequence
• Provide descriptors of specific, narrow instructional practices to use with teachers
• Written for instructional leaders who coach novice teachers
• Use like a manual that you carry with you use during classroom observations, to prep coaching debriefs, or to diagnose an issue

Instructional Coaching by Jim Knight

• Gives a strong overview of instructional coaching for teachers of all experience levels
• Emphasizes the importance of partnership for long-term coaching success
• Includes specific communication techniques, the big 4 instructional categories, and research evidence
• Provides a variety of vignettes about coaching

Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar

• Explores a variety of lenses that coaches use when they are working with a teacher
• Discusses the importance of self-work for coaches
• Provides helpful vignettes and narratives to explore the nuances of coaching