Friday, May 22, 2015

Temperature Check

Recently I had a difficult conversation with a student teacher, and there are a few lessons I learned that could be useful in other coaching situations and in life. In my recent situation, the student teacher hadn’t yet developed some important proficiencies. I knew it and she knew it. And talking about it – and our plan for moving forward – wasn’t easy. I found that I was constantly doing a temperature check. Is the conversation productive? Are we both listening? Are we open? Are we thinking together?  The climate felt much more comfortable when I acknowledged the situation, saying, “This is a hard conversation.” Those words instantly deflated the tension. Her shoulders dropped and she was more ready to both talk and listen.

In today’s schools, there are many potential high-pressure situations: discussion of test scores, implementation of new curricula, evaluations and merit pay can all escalate emotional temperatures, and these topics sometimes factor into coaching conversations. When a coaching conversation gets tough, it can help to stop and say so. Pressure is released like letting the air out of tire. You can feel and see the difference.

Another fix-up move when a conversation gets hard is the simple question, “How are you feeling?” The question can serve as a temperature check for both of you. And the process of asking and answering is usually a pressure-releaser.

During tough conversations, keep checking the temperature. Acknowledging and asking about your colleague’s feelings can diffuse a difficult situation.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

End-of-Year Read-Aloud suggestions on Facebook:



The power of “not yet”: A TedTalk with Carol Dweck:



Challenging the five-finger rule for picking just-right books:



A blog post about being a critical friend:



5 tech tools that support PD (scan to find the tools you’re most interested in reading about):




That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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