Coaching Vulnerability

According to Brené Brown, vulnerability is about showing up and being seen when there are no guarantees. Being vulnerable builds connections and leads to progress. I hope so, because next week I’m taking what feels like a big, vulnerable step in my coaching work.
 
It’s been a long time since I taught a class of 7^th graders (which used to be my most feared age). But I’ll be doing it on Tuesday, hoping to build connection with their teacher, Ana, and move our coaching work forward
 
I’ve written about Ana before. This year, I have the opportunity to coach her as part of a special project. Slowly, slowly, I think I’m building her trust. When she finally let me observe one of her “rowdy” classes, I felt I was moving in the right direction. But this week, when I suggested I observe the class that she says is “such a mess,” I saw panic in her eyes. So I backed off and said I’d reach out later.
 
When later came, I felt like asking to observe that class would risk our relationship. So instead, I offered to teach. I had just submitted a conference proposal for a teaching strategy that I hadn’t tried with middle schoolers, so I said it would be really helpful to me if she’d let me borrow her class to try it out. She quickly agreed.
 
So, today I’ll prepare for a lesson that I hope builds relationships and opens opportunities. I’ll send the lesson plan to Ana for her feedback, since she’s the expert on her class. I’ll ask her to watch out for certain things that I really want to know about as I teach the lesson. We’ll talk about it afterward, hopefully leading to insight for both of us.
 
When coaches model in another teacher’s classroom, we make ourselves vulnerable. We show that we are risk-takers, just like we hope the teachers we are working with will be. Vulnerability strengthens relationships. As we model risk-taking, we invite change. We can model the vulnerability and openness that we hope to see in the teachers we work with.
 
I’m hoping that being vulnerable myself will encourage Ana to be more vulnerable. As an early-career teacher, that may be hard for her. It seems she is always trying to prove or defend herself when no explanation is necessary. So, I’ll be vulnerable and be seen. I’ll be my real, slightly-nervous self when we talk before I teach her 12-year-olds. That’s the age I taught as an early-career teacher, so it does make me shake in my shoes!  I’ll show up as my imperfect self and do the best I can. It will surely give us something to talk about!
 
I’ll let you know how it goes.

This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Ways to use ChatGPT to save time as a teacher:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-ways-chatgpt-save-teachers-time/
 
 
Emoji book talks in middle school:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/emoji-book-talks/
 
 
How to eliminate overwhelm (in this 25 second video!):
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPNb7pemWfs
 
 
Teaching children to fail well (with Brené Brown):
 
http://time.com/4025350/brene-brown-on-teaching-kids-to-fail-well/
 
 
Why kids need book clubs – and how to make them happen:
 
https://ccira.blog/2024/10/29/building-novel-connections-how-to-center-book-clubs-in-todays-literacy-classrooms/
 
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: NOV2024 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!