Can Real-Time Teacher Coaching Be Effective?

            In this article in The Learning Professional, consultant/author Jacobé Bell says that for instructional coaches to have a positive impact on teaching and learning, they need to:

• Build a trusting relationship with each teacher;
• Have a shared commitment to student success;
• Create low-stakes spaces to practice;
• Provide timely support when teachers are trying something new. 

Bell believes that under the right conditions, coaching can sometimes happen while teachers are working with students. “The coach’s intent is not to take over, but to make teaching practices visible and more transferable during live instruction,” she says. “When done well, active coaching creates a scaffold that supports teachers as they try on new practices, building their confidence and competence until they can execute those moves independently.” She describes two approaches:

• Preplanned in-the-moment coaching – In a planning meeting, the coach and teacher identify possible challenges in a lesson and plan how they’ll collaborate – perhaps tag-team teaching, a short demonstration or segment taught by the coach, prompts at a particular point in the lesson, the coach monitoring 4-5 students’ work and giving the teacher real-time feedback.

• Spontaneous in-the-moment coaching – These coaching interventions are responsive, based on what the coach sees during the lesson, says Bell, and “are often subtle, quick, and highly situational” – for example, the coach makes a suggestion (“This might be a good time for students to turn and talk”), uses an agreed-upon signal (a circling gesture to suggest that the teacher should circulate and look at students’ work), modeling an instructional move (when a student gives a vague answer, saying, “What in the text makes you say that?”), and redirecting students (“I see that Table 3 is using whisper voices”). 

            Moments like these can make teachers feel like they have a supportive thought partner as they build their teaching repertoire in real time, says Bell. “Jumping in is most effective when the coach asks the teacher ahead of time how they prefer the coach to do so. Without this clarity, in-the-moment coaching can feel intrusive or undermining, and not all teachers are comfortable with support that is clearly visible to students.”

            In that vein, Bell suggests that coaches ask themselves three questions to decide when and how to get involved during a class:

• Is the need urgent? “If yes,” she says, “I use whisper, signal, or reset strategies. If no, I let it play out.”
• Is the skill easily teachable? “If yes, I model the skill quickly or script the next line for the teacher to say. If no, I let it play out.”
• Will it stall the lesson? Should it be saved for the after-lesson debrief? “If yes, I take notes and let it play out. If no, I whisper, signal, or use strategies.” 

[See my 2015 Kappan article, “Should Supervisors Intervene During Classroom Visits?” summarized in Memo 606. K.M.] 

 “Coaching in the Moment: Real-Time Practices That Accelerate Learning” by Jacobé Bell in The Learning Professional, June 2026 (Vol. 47, #3, pp. 18-23)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1146 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.