Practice This: Enhancing Strengths

As we enter into the summer season, there’s a shift in the day-to-day tasks for coaches. Hopefully we’ll make time for rejuvenation and pause. The better we refill ourselves, the more we have to share with others.
 
Summer can also be a time to coach ourselves, practicing stances we’ll take with us into our coaching work later. One approach for coaching ourselves this summer is to set goals that focus on enhancing our strengths. We can reinforce and refine rather than attempting to do away with a chronic trouble. When we identify strengths and frame goals as positives, our motivation increases.
 
Summarize Strengths
 
When taking this approach, it’s helpful to begin by summarizing strengths. Instead of a list of lacks, catalog things you’re good at. For practice this summer, this list can include a range of physical, intellectual, social, and emotional attributes. Divide a blank sheet of paper into 4 quadrants and label with these 4 categories; then begin listing your strengths. For example, I’m including hiking in my physical section, theorizing for intellectual, listening in the social section, and self-efficacy in emotional. Of course, adjust categories so that they make sense for you.
 
Identify Focus
 
Once you’ve got an index that includes many of your strengths, review the list and put a star by a few you’d like to enhance this summer. Next, think about how you can take these assets to the next level. Build a goal based on previous wins. How will you boost them? It’s helpful to write out a concrete statement. For example, my short-term hiking goal is to walk at least 1 mile at least 4 times per week, with each walk including an incline (my long-term dream goal is to hike the Alps with my siblings!).
 
Identity Shift
 
When we focus on strengths, we are becoming more of our best self – the person we envision ourselves to be. We reflectively ask, “What went well?” and “When have I had success in a situation like this before?” Building on strengths makes it easier to see goals as an identity shift rather than a to-do list. We visualize and celebrate successes and cultivate an attitude of becoming. Even if the changes are tiny ones, we are re-forming and transforming ourselves in positives ways.
 
Strengths-Based Coaching
 
This summer, as you take a strengths-based approach to reaching your own goals, you’ll be developing a stance that you can take with you into your coaching work in the fall. Strengths-based coaching amplifies assets, building on the valuable skills and experiences teachers have had that can be leveraged for growth in teacher practice and student learning. You will look for what’s working well – routines, relationships, strategies, and content expertise – and use these as a foundation for your coaching work. You will look for possibilities, not problems, as you work side-by-side with teachers, acknowledging their voice, agency, and expertise. It may not be your only or always approach, but strengths-based coaching can be a helpful tool – especially when you are establishing new coaching relationships and when teachers are experiencing doubt or lack of self-efficacy. And this summer is a good time to practice strengths-based coaching on yourself!

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
10-Minute Podcast: 5 awesome things for teachers to do this summer:
 
https://www.coolcatteacher.com/5-awesome-things-for-teachers-to-do-this-summer/
 
Fun with words:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/vocabrity-fun-with-words-for-middle-school-students/
 
Kindergarten relationship skills that predict college success:
 
https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/kindergarteners-with-these-two-skills-are-twice-as-likely-to-get-a-college-degree-according-to-a-19-year-study.html
 
 
Handling negative coaching responses:
 
http://cultureofcoaching.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-do-you-handle-angry-or-negative.html
 
AI and writing instruction:
 
https://community.theeducatorcollaborative.com/processes-problems-and-possibilities-where-2025-finds-us-with-ai-in-writing-instruction/
 
 
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: FDNS25 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!