Choosing Hope

For the eighth time, I’ve chosen a word-of-the-year to guide my intentions. Having just one word has made it easier to stay the course. Of course, that word has to be well-chosen, and it’s best if it can carry me in many directions. That’s why I love my word for 2025: Hope.
 
Teachers need hope, and instructional coaches are in a position to help teachers build a path of hope. Since choosing my word, it has, of course, been popping up everywhere! I was delighted to find a section on hope as I read from Brené Brown’s book, Dare to Lead. Brené says that hope is the antidote to anger, fear, or despair, which might be masked as cynicism. This is good to know. That dubious, cynical teacher might be masking self-doubt. Her skepticism could come from a place of anxiety. Her sarcasm might represent discouragement. Digging out of that place and into a place of hope creates better outcomes for both the teacher and her students. As coaches, we can cultivate hope.
 
The four parts of the pathway to hope are goal, pathway, agency, and self-efficacy. Let’s think about each and how it might grow hope (in the teachers you work with and within you).
 
Goal
The idea of choosing a goal is all around us at this time of year, and it’s usually how we head into a coaching cycle. Choosing a goal gives us a focal point as we move forward. We know where we want to go. Let’s make sure goals come from a place of progress, recognizing our strengths and building on those rather than focusing on deficiencies. A strengths-focused goal sets us on a path of hope.
 
As coaches, let’s make sure the goals teachers set are achievable. When my principal first introduced the idea of a stretch goal, I was not a fan, and I’m still not. For me, a goal that I know is beyond my reach is discouraging. The SMART acronym works for me: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. These are good guides for a coaching cycle goal.
 
Pathway
Once we know the destination, we can choose the pathway. I’m a hiker, and when I’m at the trailhead, I take a careful look at the posted map. I think about the time, energy, and strength that I have as I consider the options for getting to where I want to go.
 
There’s more than one route to achieving a goal, and coaches can help teachers see those paths. Offering multiple suggestions for teachers to choose from helps them select a route that suits their pace and supports teachers’ agency.
 
Agency
Agency is choice with authority. Help teachers see that they can make choices about instruction, even if there’s a scripted curriculum to follow. There is so much space between the lines, and teachers sometimes assume the worst about how they are expected to use provided resources. Instead, help teachers see possibilities, with the required curriculum (if you have one) as a starting place.  
 
As the lead learner in the classroom, teachers are authorized to make decisions. They have the charge, so they need the choice.
 
Efficacy
Self-efficacy is needed to feel hope. Coaches can boost teachers’ confidence by highlighting strengths, supporting asset-based reflection, and celebrating progress. Because it won’t be a straight path forward, we need to encourage risk-taking and normalize challenges. Teachers might need to switch to Plan B and Plan C.
 
As teachers make progress toward a goal, determination and tenacity increase. Letting go of doubt generates optimism and an assurance of good things to come. Coaches help teachers persist in the face of setbacks. With clarity and kindness, our conversations teach hope.
 
As I pursue my one word goal for 2025, I’ll keep in mind the value of goals, pathways, agency, and efficacy as I cheer myself and others on.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

“One little word” resolutions for students:
 
https://ourclasswrites.com/2012/01/08/one-little-word-one-big-idea/
 
 
Strategies for Public Speaking: Big, Loud, and Slow:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/big-loud-and-slow-six-strategies-for-better-public-speaking/
 
 
This 3-minute video has 8 activities for closure:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/8-closing-activities-to-wrap-up-a-lesson/
 
 
A well-balanced diet – choice and parameters in reading and writing:
 
https://ccira.blog/2018/08/28/a-well-balanced-diet/
 
 
Or, as the new year gets underway, you might consider: Is balance the right goal for life?
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/the-big-fresh-january-23-2016no-balance/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: JAN2025 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!