How
well do you align your attention with your senses during coaching? Scanning through the table of contents of the
Guide to Stress-Free Living,* the section on “Joyful Attention” caught
my attention! Welcoming joy into my life
is an intentional goal these days, so I thought I might pick up some good ideas
from the book. What I realized, as I read, is that not only does our joy
increase when our attention is aligned with our senses, our effectiveness does
as well, and this benefit can be had in almost any situation.
The
book includes an exercise where the reader is invited to spend some time
looking very closely at a photo of a single, white daisy. What is the
configuration of the pedals? How regularly are the spaced? What differences are
there between the jagged edge of one pedal and the jagged edge of the adjacent
one? The author prompts the reader to look so closely and carefully that they
could distinguish that single daisy from all others in a bouquet or field. And
it is in recognizing the novelty of that single daisy, the author suggests,
that joy is found. Although we find comfort in familiar, we find joy in
uniqueness, in the small surprise of difference.
What
does that look like for coaches?
In
the classroom, coaches and teachers align their attention with their senses
when they are fully present. There are
so many distractions these days with technology, wipe-downs, masks, and memos,
that it can be hard to be fully in the teaching moment. You can watch for this as a coach: the magic
of learning happens when the teacher is noticing the response of her students,
fully tuned-in with eyes and ears and heart.
Draw attention to these moments and what made them happen.
When
you are observing in a classroom, aligning your senses with your attention
helps you gather data. Noticing the novel nuances keeps your mind in the game
and provides specifics for a debrief conversation that can challenge the
thinking of even the most experienced teacher.
Did that typically-distracted student rivet his attention during a
portion of the lesson? Did a hush fall
over the class when the teacher shared a relevant personal connection? Was there a busy buzz in the online chat
after a certain question? Was there a period of energy during whole-group
discussion that somehow connected the physically-distanced students? Focusing
closely while you are in the classroom delays interpretation, giving you the
opportunity for later deliberate consideration. Describing the details of a
moment like one of these at the beginning of a debrief can launch a fruitful
discussion and teacher-learning that is generalizable. Learning that is tied to a single, focused
moment in a lesson can be boundless.
Aligning
your attention to your senses during planning and debrief conversations is
similarly fruitful. Hearing the quick pace of footsteps as teachers join you in
the PLC room could signal the importance of a pause to breathe deeply before
jumping into the work. Noticing averted eyes when following-up on a previous
commitment might mean you should schedule a later time to check in about it. If you hear energy in a teacher’s voice when
she talks about a certain topic or student, tune in on that topic.
And
how does all of this relate to joy?
Maintaining a steady focus on our own agenda may bring some
satisfaction, but life can pass you by. By
hearing, seeing, and being in an experience, we savor life. The newness in
every situation sparks interest. Intentional attention pulls you away from
distractions and into the joy of the details. Attending to the novelty in a
situation will connect you at a deeper level.
According to The Guide, when you focus on the details of the
present, you stop carrying the loads of the past and future in your head, if
only momentarily, producing greater joy.
*Sood,
A. (2013). The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living. De Capo Press.
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
Slow
down and show care:
Building
a climate where reading is valued and enjoyed:
When
to opt out of graphic organizers:
Crash
course videos about the writing process (target audience: College comp
students, but accessible for younger students as well). Here’s #1:
Coaching
with Instagram:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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@vscollet for more coaching and teaching tips! You can
also find me at VickiCollet.com
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