Chapter 7 by Jane A. G. Kise is called Differentiated Coaching, and looks at how to use personality types to determine the coaching approach to use with a teacher. This is fascinating to me as team leaders at my school recently completed the Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and we had a session with Marc Frankel of Triangle Associates on what the MBTI tells us (more on my type in a future post).
One thing that became clear in looking at the results of team leaders here which is reiterated in the chapter is that some personality types are not represented amongst educators. Ms. Kise talks about the importance of knowing personality types to address teacher beliefs which affect teacher practices. This reminded of me of my masters thesis which shared research that shows that beliefs are directly tied to practice.
Learning style is important in coaching because it affects teachers’ natural style, 
how they relate to data and information, and how they make decisions. Using learning style with teachers has the following components which Ms. Kise explores further in the chapter: hypothesizing type, identifying beliefs, identifying the challenge the teacher wants to overcome, and developing a coaching plan.
This post is part of a larger series based on the book Coaching Approaches & Perspectives edited by Jim Knight. This post is based on sections of Chapter 7: Differentiated Coaching. Visit the Coaching category for other related posts.
Book Citation: Knight, J. (Ed.). (2008). Coaching: Approaches and perspectives. Corwin Press.