Coaches: Lighten Up!
If
you are on a traditional school year calendar, you are in that time of year
when there’s a change of pace. As a longtime educator, I’ve always thought of
summer as the time to rejuvenate,
refill, and recharge. It can also be a time to lighten up, to add more fun
in the day-to-day. And the truth is, if we can cultivate this joyful habit now
and carry it into the school year, our coaching work, and the teaching work we
support, can be lighter and more fun-filled, too.
Life
is meant to be challenging, but challenge and fun are not mutually exclusive. Challenge
can be invigorating when managed so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. Part of
our humanity is a need to improve, to change and grow. And we can have fun
while achieving big things! Do you have a summer goal that you could be playful
with?
Maybe
you are trying to exercise more, get your house organized, or be a better
meal-planner. Pause and name a goal you’ve been considering (pause). Is there a
fun way to work toward that goal? Can you be serious about your goal without
taking yourself too seriously? Could you approach your goal with the attitude, “This
is going to be fun!”
Often
goals are accompanied with heaviness, with pressures (from both within and
without) to hurry to the end, to do it the fast way. Timelines, checklists, accountability meetings
and the like could be helpful – or they could weigh you down. We can lighten up
by discovering our own, unique path toward our goal. What’s the way that feels
most like you? What would make the process more fun? Finding that
way forward, the one that feels comfortable and natural for you, will be more
sustainable. That journey may take a bit longer, but you’ll be more likely to
not only achieve your goal, but to maintain the result you were hoping for. You
can become the version of yourself you were hoping for and choose to have fun
along the way! As you work toward your summer goal by following your unique,
joyful path, you’ll notice how nourishing it feels. Finding the fun path could
become both a personal and a professional habit.
As
you think about next year’s coaching work, can you contemplate a more joyful journey?
What’s the right path for you toward that next milestone? Can you achieve it in
a way that’s not pressure-filled and heavy?
My
first year in a district coaching position, much of my time was filled with
meetings with other district-level people. This didn’t suit me at all! So the
next year, I built my schedule around facilitating professional development, having
conversations with teachers, and observing in classrooms. Not only did this
schedule suit me better, it also aligned with research-proven practices for
effective coaching. I was soooooo much happier! What’s your happy path forward
for coaching?
As
you plan for work with teachers, you can also think about how to help them find
their happy path – their own, unique “right” way to move toward the goal. There
is sometimes so much heaviness and seriousness around the work we do in
schools, It is so important! But what if we just decided to lighten up? Goals
can be achieved without the pressure and heaviness that is emotionally draining
and mentally tiring.
Remember
when you were little and wanted to play school? Remember how much you enjoyed lining
up your dolls or stuffed animals (or siblings) and pretending to be the
teacher? It was so fun, right? Now you and your teacher friends do this in real
life! How can you help teachers bring back that sense of fun, all the while
working toward worthy goals? Can you help
them ease up a little on the perfectionism and pressure? Can they be playful
and not perfect? How can you, as coach, let it be fun? As teachers find the
path that feels most natural and joyful to move them toward the goal, they can
become a version of the teacher-self they want to be.
There
will always be some discomfort in growth (more about that next week), Discomfort
is necessary and useful. But lightening up and finding the fun path forward
will help teachers achieve their goals.
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Come spend 2 days (Aug. 1 & 2) in Northwest Arkansas with Jim
Knight, Vicki Collet, September Gerety, Afton Schleiff and a host of other coaches at the NWA Instructional Coaching Conference. Be:
Ignited.
Illuminated. Inspired.
For the cost of the included
lunches ($35), you can take your coaching to the next level!
As a coach, I know how hard it is to
find PD that is just for you. Well, this is it! I'm excited to have
received a grant to sponsor the conference, and I hope you'll join us!
Register here:
https://tinyurl.com/CoachingConf2023
Check out this flier for
details and reach out to me (collet@uark.edu) with questions and suggestions.
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This
week, you might want to take a look at:
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