How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach (To Both Teachers And Students)

Side-stepping the Assumptions

I learned early on from Chrissy Beltran, at www.buzzingwithmsb.blogspot.com, that formal introductions as a coach are CRUCIAL!  It goes deeper than simply giving a hello with a handshake and a, "Yes, I'm the new instructional coach, it's nice to meet you."  Otherwise, you go into the year with assumptions laid upon you.  And even when you do implement formal introductions, people may still confuse the aspects of your job.  In fact, after the first month or two of the introduction process (that I'm detailing in this post) and time building rapport with staff, some people still said, "Oh, so you help teachers with SeeSaw...," or, "Yeah, you're So-and-So's assistant...," or, "Now what do you do, again?"  While this introduction process doesn't solve all of the problems that come with assumptions, it DOES provide a streamlined way of getting out all of the important information about your position to the people that matter most:  teachers and students.
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Introducing yourself to Teachers 
(scroll down if you're Really interested in introducing yourself to students)

As you might imagine, introducing yourself to teachers is definitely much more challenging than introducing yourself to students.  But, the more jovial, kind, and direct you can be, the easier it is to clarify your role.  Just about all of my ideas for introducing myself as an instructional coach to teachers came from Chrissy Beltran, as aforementioned.  She has a great podcast and blog focused on all things related to Instructional Coaching.  Her blogpost, How to Introduce Yourself as a Coach has loads of great information and tools that can be downloaded for your own personal use!   After perusing all of her materials, here is the process I developed for my situation (disclaimer- my position was new for my district and I was completely new to my district- this process will look different for different situations):
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1.  Share a Brief Intro:  When the principals of each campus planned their first inservice with teachers, I ensured I was on the agenda to briefly introduce myself to everyone.  And this is what that sounded like:  Name, summary of immediate family members, brief statement about educational experience, and role as instructional coach (to support students by supporting teachers).  The teachers are there to gain information about the school year from their principal, so it is highly unlikely that they are going to be truly invested in what you share about your role.  That's why it's important to keep this introduction concise.  At the end of this brief intro, I passed out this double-sided card.  

It provides more specific information about my role and invites teachers to a sort of "get-to-know-you" event.  You can grab your free editable version here!  Simply add text boxes and QR codes as you see fit.  Then print on tag and cut apart!  Voila!  You could easily place these in teachers' boxes or directly in their hand as you walk about the school.  
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​2.  Get the Word Out:  As soon as these cards are in the teachers' possession, it's time to talk up the event!  Go door by door to introduce yourself and personally invite teachers.  Post it on your school's social media outlets.  Email teachers a day or two ahead of time as a reminder.  And finally, have your school's office staff announce the event over the speaker system on the day of!  
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​3.  Host the Event:  While my invitation says "Coffee with the Coach", I ended up changing it to "Cookies with the Coach".  This was a come-and-go event.  On the screen in the room I stationed myself, I posted what a coach IS and what a coach IS NOT.  I provided a rolling cart of cookies for teachers to grab and take with them.  On that bag, I stamped the phrase, "You've Got This" and also taped a coaching menu of my services to the back.  Teachers could take a small bottle of water as well.  In addition to giving them all the information about my role as a coach, this gave me an opportunity to get to know them better as professionals.  
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Yes, all of this took TIIIIMMMMMEEEE!!  (That's "time" in forever terms.)  But it was time well spent and something I'll continue to do each year from here on out.  Even though some teachers still didn't quite understand what all my job entailed, they knew who I was and my ultimate intentions.  
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The FUn Part:  Introducing yourself to Students

OF COURSE this is the best part!  I wanted to be sure that students weren't confused or overly distracted when I came into classrooms.  Here are the steps I took for this:

1.  Send a Sign-Up:  After a couple of weeks with students in classrooms, I sent out a link for teachers to sign up for a 20-25 minute "teaching break" that would allow them a much needed breather and me a chance to introduce myself to their students.  I provided a plethora of dates and times from which teachers could choose.  The schedule filled up quickly!  
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2.  Choose Your Lesson:  Keeping in mind that it was only 20-25 minutes, I decided that I would do just a few things:  introduce myself, introduce a "teacher time out", and do a brief activity.  Just about every lesson was the same, but the activity was a little bit different depending on grade levels.  My lesson went something like this:

• I introduced myself:  name, a few pictures of my family and animals, and an out of school hobby
• I shared my job title, "instructional coach", and asked students to turn and talk about what they know about "coaches" and the things coaches do.  I heard things like PE, soccer, sports, football, etc.  I also heard students say that coaches help people get better and cheer players on.  This allowed me to share with students exactly what I do as an instructional coach.  We even made the connection of a football coach in action to an instructional coach in action and "on the field".
• After clarifying my role, I told students that sometimes the teacher and I might take a "teacher time out" as we work together.  (More about this technique can be seen here.)  As I taught a pretend lesson, we practiced what this teacher time out would look like and sound like.  Because I was giving the teachers a little break, I invited a student to be the pretend co-teacher with me, which they thought was hilarious.
• I finished up my time with the students with a brief, fun activity.  For older students, we did Chair Tag (5th and 6th grade) or, the favorite, Woosha Warrior (2nd and up).  For younger students (PK-1st), we did a Mirrors Up challenge, where students mirrored my silly shenanigans.  (See Responsive Classroom for these and many more energizers!)

3.  Leave them with high expectations.  Before it was time to go, I invited students to consider their job when they see me come into their classroom.  Each class set similar expectations:  Stay on task.  Keep working and learning.  Listen to the teacher.  Etcetera.  I also told students that they were welcome to say hello or greet me at appropriate times.  
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As you can imagine, introducing myself to students was much more entertaining and a lot easier.  In all honesty, taking this step helped in building relationships with teachers.  When the students see me as a learner among learners, the teachers can better see me as a teacher among teachers.  
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If you have a great way of introducing yourself to teachers and/ or students, let me know!  Everything in this post is FREE and accessible!  Scroll back up if you didn't already get your freebies!