When
coaching, the answer to a question always depends on who’s asking. We make our coaching personal by considering
context: What we know about the teacher, her students, the curriculum, and
more. So ‘who’s asking’ matters.
This
week, I learned another side of the ‘who’s asking’ question from a very wise
teacher. Beth and I were talking about
her experiences working with a coach.
She described how, in the past, she was often defensive when her instructional
coach suggested areas for improvement.
Providing justification or a different explanation seemed like her
natural response when she was confronted with what felt like criticism. After the fact, she said, she’d realize that
the coach had good intentions and that her suggestion was actually a good one,
but it was hard to fight that instinctive, self-protective response.
So
Beth figured out how to change the game from defense to offense. Now she leads into a coaching conversation by
asking, “What suggestions do you have?” or “What did you notice that I should think
about?” If her coach has observed a
lesson, she acknowledges the benefits of another set of eyes in the classroom.
Beth says something like, “I bet you noticed some things that I missed because
I was so busy teaching. Tell me about
it!” By taking this assertive approach,
Beth finds that she is not as defensive when her coach makes a suggestion. She is open, because she is the one asking. What a smart teacher!
My
plan is to make Beth’s brilliant insight part of the conversation with the
teachers I’m working with. If I share
Beth’s example, I think they’ll be able to identify with her experience, and
many of them will give it a try. This is
a new and exciting idea for me! If you
try it, let me know how it goes by commenting on this post. I look forward to trying this myself and to
hearing about your experiences!
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Perspectives for school leadership
success:
Ideas for ending the school year on a
high note:
Book quilt: A celebration of favorite
books:
TedEd Videos for mathematical
problem-solving:
Spotlight on project-based learning:
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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