Seeding Ideas

Today is the first day of spring – that time of newness and growth, of birth and planting. As tree buds begin to burst, I’ve been thinking of how coaching is like planting seeds. We seed recommendations, questions, and opportunities. We provide starting points.

For teachers to be invested in the work of change, they have to want it. Change is an inside job. If we simply state what the change should be and how it should occur, there may be little investment on the part of the teacher. To become engaged, there needs to be investment. Once there is investment, the teacher will want to see return on that investment. Planting seeds of ideas is better than transplanting fully-developed plans.

Seeding Recommendations

When we seed ideas by recommending, it helps to drop a few seeds in the ground and see which ones take root. When I talked this week with a teacher who wants to improve classroom management, I asked her to list some of the things that work for her students. Since we were having a standing-up conversation in her room, I stepped toward the whiteboard and quickly jotted down her ideas as she spoke, occasionally prompting, “And what else?” Once she had a pretty good list, I added a few more ideas that I thought might be useful. Then I asked, “Which of these do you think would be most helpful to focus on?” She selected one, and it is already beginning to take root.

Seeding ideas and then seeing which will grow can be a valuable coaching approach. The process of exploration and discovery sparks curiosity and the teacher begins to develop the will and the energy for the challenge. Rather than pointing out a gap, the space between the now and the new creates a stretch that initiates intrigue and draws the teacher in.

Seeding Questions

When we seed ideas, we provide a starting point but not a complete solution. We generate more questions than answers. Because answers aren’t yet clear, there is work for the teacher to do, and the work creates buy-in. Teachers feel motivated to take up the challenge. My recent conversation with Angela about student engagement was seeded with the question, “What might be some of the reasons why students seemed less enthusiastic by the end of the lesson?” Angela generated several ideas and decided to focus on pacing, especially paying attention to how much modelling or explanation is needed before moving on. Planting one question and then opening space for thinking and response encouraged Angela to stretch her intellectual muscles and take up the challenge.

 Questions create a vacuum between the known and the needs-to-be-known, a motivating tension that needs resolution. The weight of the thinking is on the teacher, as she is expected to fill in the blanks. By asking, “Why?” and “What would it take…” coaches ask questions that let teachers take ownership, find answers, and become intellectually engaged. Questions generate possibilities. As teachers develop a serious case of curiosity, they build energy and will for the task.

Seeding Opportunities

Whether through recommendations or questions, coaches seed opportunities for instructional growth.  Recommendations and questions may shine a light that illuminates a need. Full effort comes when teachers see a need, discover an opportunity, and challenge themselves.

When coaches provide a starting point but not a complete solution, teachers create their own openings and define their plans for growth. When coaches provoke thinking, teachers see the opportunity for themselves. The process of discovery creates a forward pull. Seeding ideas nurtures instructional growth.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Daily practices that bring culture into instruction:
 
https://ncte.org/blog/2018/01/culturally-responsive-teaching-todays-classrooms/
 

Or listen to this podcast about PLC conversations that increase collective responsibility:
 
https://barkleypd.com/blog/creating-plc-converstions-that-increase-collective-responsibility/
 

Research-based reading instruction – what every child needs every day:
 
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Every-Child,-Every-Day.aspx
 

Ways to more “aha” moments in coaching:
 
https://www.growthcoaching.com.au/articles-new/3-ways-to-more-aha-moments-in-coaching?country=au
 

Steps to personalized mindfulness in schools:
 
http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol13/1310-mosca.aspx
 

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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