Friday, July 24, 2015

Read the Room

During one of my previous lives in a district-level position, my supervisor caught me by surprise when, after a meeting with a group of decision-makers, he cautioned me that I needed to take better care to “read the room.” What he meant was, I needed to attend more to how people were responding, using their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, in addition to the words that were said.

The reason I was surprised by my supervisor’s suggestion is because I thought that attending to these features was something I’d refined while coaching. I thought I had learned to proceed with caution, listen for openings, and recognize what was hidden. I thought I had learned to be totally present and give others my full attention. I thought I had learned to use all my senses to guide me through a conversation. As I reflected on my supervisor’s suggestion, I realized that in my district position I often felt I had to fight for what I believed in when it came to literacy instruction. I had gotten into the habit of being on the offensive, and it had impacted my “listening” skills.

There are so many roadblocks to reading the room. If my focus is on my own thinking and opinion, I will miss too much. But if my focus is on another, I will notice her eyes, her smile, and her posture. Her messages will speak loud and clear to me, even if she is silent. And in that listening, I’ll find a way forward. If the conversation is an instructional coaching one, that way forward will improve teaching and learning.

Although subtle, the ability to read a conversation with all of our senses is a valuable coaching talent. As with any talent, it takes time and practice to develop. The good news is, we probably have many opportunities daily to practice this talent. Any conversation, in any context, can help us develop the full-body listening skills that will make our coaching stronger.


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

Fun ideas for reading nooks (classroom construction is underway!):




A Vote for Tried-and-True Running Records (in case you have a few literacy battles of your own to fight!):



Graphing content-area word walls: What’s the coordinate?



And, if you are drawn in (like I am) to all the conversation about Harper Lee’s recently-released book, here are a couple of sites to check out:

Memories of Harper Lee: a podcast



An in-depth look at Harper Lee and Go Set a Watchman:




That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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