Organizational Awareness and Your Emotional Intelligence Quotient

School systems have two organizational structures: the formal one that is included on the charts and the informal one that is represented in everyday relationships and interactions.  Awareness of both of these organizational structures improves your effectiveness as a coach. 

Formal organizational leaders (administrators including principals, APs, and superintendents) hold the purse strings for allocation of not just money, but also time.  Depending on the administrator’s leadership style, they may be the solo decision-maker about many aspects that effect teachers and students. Decisions about staffing, scheduling, and curriculum many be made by those in formal leadership positions – or they may be jointly made with teachers and support staff (and sometimes student input).  Even when administrators take sole responsibility for decision-making, others within the organization have influence. Knowing who those people are – or being one of those people – increases your impact.  This week’s post talks about the importance of giving attention to formal organizational structures, especially as the end of the school year approaches.

Organizational awareness is an emotional intelligence skill that enables you to understand how you and your role relate to the school and district system. Some coaching roles are school-bound; others are district-level positions. It’s important to know who makes decisions about your position and to keep those people in the know about the goals you achieve. Often, coaching positions can be done away with when staff allocation decisions are difficult. This is unlikely to happen, however, if decision-makers are well aware of the direct impact coaches are having on student achievement and if they have heard vivid stories to back up that data.  If this hasn’t been an ongoing process for you, the end of the school year is an opportune time for you to report. 

As you report in formal and informal ways to administrators, ensure that your impact is understood by connecting your efforts with the goals of the larger systems that govern your role.  Is there a goal to improve high-school students’ graduation rates?  Demonstrate how your work with teachers on highly-engaging instruction supports that goal.  Is there a desire to increase teacher retention?  Describe how your work supporting novice teachers contributes to that cause.

You put your organizational awareness to good use by reporting to those with influence in your organization.  Matching your message to their mission will ensure that you continue to have the opportunity for impact in years to come.  

This week, you might want to take a look at:

5 end-of-year tasks for instructional coaches:

http://buzzingwithmsb.blogspot.com/2017/05/5-end-of-year-tasks-for-instructional.html

What are you and the teachers you work with willing to shift to empower students?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYBJQ5rIFjA

Questions to support teacher and student reflection:

http://kanelandcoaches.edublogs.org/2019/05/06/end-of-the-year-reflection/

End the year by sharing a book about documenting memories and encouraging your students to do so:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/closing-the-year-and-making-space-to-remember/

A podcast on instructional coaches and principals as partners:

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zf3nj-711551

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Coaching with Empathy

One of the keys to effective coaching is establishing trust. Once trust has been established, the conversation shifts and deeper topics arise.  In fact, when more challenging questions or problems surface, it might be a signal that trust has been established.  That’s a good sign!  Now you can really get somewhere!  But this trusting relationship may mean things are going to get tricky.  Problems will be shared that don’t have quick, easy solutions. 

When your mentee trusts you, challenges that she brings up might be emotionally charged – things she has felt recurring frustrated with.  Don’t miss the emotions that are wrapped up in the situation.  If you are blind to the emotions, they will trip you up.  When a teacher shares a challenge, she is likely looking as much for empathy as for a solution. The two can go hand in hand.

Empathy means we can truly understand and share the teacher’s feelings about a situation.  Our mentees will benefit if we can tap into our own emotional experience as well as our professional knowledge.  It takes humility to fess up to having been in a similar situation, but that vulnerability enhances the connection and increases the effectiveness of coaching.

When facing a challenge, teachers may feel that they are in this alone. Everyone else has it together, no one else has had a student like this, no one else has struggled in teaching this concept or using this teaching approach. Your mentee may be looking for validation that it is okay to struggle, that it is okay to try something and fail. In truth, good teachers often fail, because they are willing to take a risk and try something new.  Maybe something that puts a lot of control in the hands of students, which has no guarantees of success!  Demonstrating empathy means saying, “I know this feels like shaky ground.  I’ve been there.  It will be worth it.” 

Once emotions have been addressed, the more rational parts of our brains kick into gear.  After making an emotional connection, the teacher you are coaching will be more ready to problem-solve. 

So how do we demonstrate empathy without taking over the conversation with our own story?  Here are a few ideas:

1.    Emphasize that your coaching conversation is a safe place.  “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”  This recognition gives a teacher the go-ahead to express feelings without fear of judgment.

2.    Mirror the emotion.  Initially, the teacher may recognize empathy when you mirror the emotion in non-verbal ways, through intonation, facial expression, and body language.  I’ve found that when I initially match these features, I can later help the teacher relax as I adjust my own non-verbal emotional cues.

3.    Name the emotion.  Listening with your heart helps you recognize how your teacher friend is feeling.  Your response might sound like, “That must be so frustrating (or other emotion) for you!”  I memorized a helpful mantra from Cognitive Coaching: “So you’re feeling  _____________, because ____________.  But what you want is ____________, and you’re looking for a way to make that happen.”  This response works when the teacher is ready to move toward solutions.   

4.    Along with naming the emotion, you might briefly share your own similar experience. Empathy comes from being able to relate. Without shifting the focus away from the teacher’s concern, you can briefly relate your own experience using the 3 F’s: Feel, Felt, and Found.  “You’re feeling _____________. I have felt that way when ___________.  What I found was _______________.”  Don’t compare their problem to yours (mine problem was bigger!), just connect with the emotion, and perhaps share how the emotion resolved. I often save the 3^rd “F” for later, but if you feel the teacher would benefit from hearing the resolution or a recommendation, offer it.

Empathy is different from sympathy, which might feel like a pity party. Empathy is willingness to walk alongside someone in their struggles. Empathy establishes an interpersonal connection that makes coaching possible. Expressing empathy helps the teacher begin to think creatively about solutions. Once empathy for emotions is felt, the teacher will be more ready to turn to action.  To bring out the best in others, begin with empathy.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Building emotional literacy (pre-K, but important for older students, too):

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/pre-k-lesson-emotional-literacy

Reasons and resources for teaching empathy:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/empathy-classroom-why-should-i-care-lauren-owen

Ideas for end-of-year learning:

https://www.middleweb.com/29647/make-end-of-year-learning-meaningful-fun/

The research is in – learning is social:

https://www.edutopia.org/video/what-social-brain

This podcast with Jim Burke considers, “How can we teach our students better?”:

http://talkswithteachers.com/89-jim-burke-english-companion/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Keep on the Sunny Side

How’s your emotional intelligence?  Your “EIQ” is an important coaching tool because people have confidence in mentors with strong emotional intelligence.*  Because of this impact, we’ll spend the next few blog posts exploring aspects of emotional intelligence, taking a close look at ourselves.

One facet of emotional intelligence is self-management.  Being able to manage our own emotions is a step toward recognizing and responding to the emotions of others. And if we want others to listen to and have trust in us, we need to be in tune with how they are thinking and feeling.  That’s the logic chain for starting here in our talk about emotional intelligence. Disciplining our own emotions makes us better coaches.

Let’s drill down even further to think about a specific emotion: our degree of optimism.  Having a positive attitude improves relationships and increases chances of success.  What’s your outlook on life?  Do you tend to see the glass as half full or half empty?  Where are you on the pessimist/optimist continuum?  What’s your optimism quotient?  This is something that can certainly vary from day to day and situation to situation, and it is something over which we can have control, even though it sometimes requires us to retrain our brains.  Victor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, famously said, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Optimism is an attitude, not a situation, and there are things we can do to cultivate that attitude.  Let’s consider a few:

Smile.  Smiling provides an instant attitude adjustment. It actually gives you a chemical boost that improves your outlook.  To bring an honest smile to your face, think of a happy memory.  When you catch the ends of your mouth turning down, use a different set of muscles – pull those corners up!  Try it right now and see.  Can you feel how the shape of your face is linked to your attitude?

Feed your brain positive messages.  A smile is a quick fix, but our brains need ongoing support to maintain a positive outlook.  We can nourish our brains frequently with a photo that makes us smile or by pinning an inspiring quote to the computer screen.  For a boost of positive energy, we can listen to a song with an encouraging message, to music that uplifts.  For sustained nourishment, we can read a book or watch a movie that has a hopeful outcome. Filling your brain with positivity will make optimism a more natural state for your brain.

Replace negative thoughts.  Maintaining optimism requires vigilance.   When you catch yourself with a negative thought, put your brain on pause for long enough to reframe the message you are telling yourself.  How can you see that situation differently?  By being more aware of the valence of our thoughts and intentionally flipping the switch when negative notions creep in, we retrain our brains toward positivity.  Optimism becomes our modus operandi.

Focus on the good in yourself and others.  As coaches, we sometimes have a tendency to dig for the deficits – the things that need changing.  But it certainly helps our attitude if we first find the good in a situation. If that situation is a lesson you’ve just observed, building on what went right can be a powerful coaching tool.  It also strengthens relationships and improves your own attitude.  As we find the good in people and situations and choose to make that our focus, our outlook and attitude tend toward positivity.

Keeping on the sunny side of life is good for you personally and good for your work as a coach.  It’s an aspect of personal emotional intelligence that needs continuous nourishment.  Educators have a job that requires emotional energy.  As a leader, it’s important that you keep your optimism quotient high!

*Chun, J. U., Litzky, B. E., Sosik, J. J., Bechtold, D. C., & Godshalk, V. M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and trust in formal mentoring programs. Group & Organization Management, 35(4), 421-455.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

This oldie-but-goodie about being optimistic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEhj-rQSAU

Coaching Bingo to spice up your end-of-year repertoire:

https://blog.teachboost.com/how-to-build-and-advance-partnerships-bingo

Ideas for wrapping up the school year:

https://www.middleweb.com/34768/keep-students-engaged-until-summer-begins/

Recognizing the miracles we work (and their limits) at the end of the year: 

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2019/04/30/for-teachers-of-children-living-in-poverty.html

How to program your brain for positivity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmx_35rQIRg

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Increasing Mindfulness about Teaching

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a teacher about how important it is to be mindful of the language we use in reference to our students. Ann said conversations about the impact of a deficit mentality had raised her awareness; she was more tuned-in to subtleties in her own language and that of others.  “It’s like when I went to the dentist this week,” she said.  I was curious what she meant, so Ann explained.

“The dentist said my teeth looked like I’d been clenching,” Ann said. “She asked if I clenched during the day.  I said, ‘no,’ but I began to wonder.  Was I clenching? All day long,” Ann continued, “I’ve been catching myself with my jaws closed tight.  ‘Drop your jaw,’ I say to myself. ‘Drop your jaw.’  Since the dentist asked me about it, I’m noticing it all the time.”

Ann’s dentist example hit home for me. I notice different things after someone has drawn my attention to them.  The same is true for the teachers we work with.  One year, after looking at the gap between girls’ and boys’ writing achievement, my school took a close look at the research on boys’ literacy.  We read Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys and Misreading Masculinity.  We watched a powerful documentary called “Raising Cain” and read lots of articles.  And, probably most importantly, we talked about what we were reading and how it matched (or didn’t) what we saw in our boys as readers and writers.  We became intensely aware of how our responses encouraged or discouraged boys’ interests.  We became more mindful of our words and actions.

I’ve also seen increased mindfulness change teachers’ questioning practices. I was coaching a teacher who wanted to improve discussions in her classroom.  After observing, I mentioned that Janae had a habit I’d seen so many times before – one that was hard to break, but made a big difference in getting kids to talk to each other during class discussions: She was repeating students’ answers.  She hadn’t even noticed that she did this, but after our conversation, she was suddenly intensely aware of it.  She caught herself in the act and began to change the pattern.  Instead of repeating a students’ answer, she encouraged students to listen to each other.  If a student’s answer was hard to hear, or if she felt the other students hadn’t paid enough attention, she sometimes asked the student to repeat his answer instead of repeating it herself.  As students listened to each other more, they began talking more to each other during whole-group discussions. Changing the pattern of interaction was a matter of increasing Janae’s awareness so that she would be more mindful of her own words.

Increasing mindfulness can be a powerful coaching tool, but we have to be selective about what we draw attention to. If Ann’s dentist had asked her about clenching, the angle at which she held her toothbrush, how frequently she swallowed, and how much sugar she was eating, the impact of the conversation would have been diluted. We can’t be mindful of everything all at once. And it has to be something we care about, or we won’t pay attention. As you work with teachers this week, think about what is worth calling attention to. How will mindfulness help them achieve their goals?  Like Ann’s jaw-dropping reminder to herself, teachers will work on things they care about when they are aware of areas in need of attention.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Creating language mindfulness about student equity:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr19/vol76/num07/How-Our-Language-Feeds-Inequity.aspx

Teaching social-emotional skills: Better than a forced, “Sorry!”

https://offspring.lifehacker.com/what-to-say-to-little-kids-instead-of-say-sorry-1819288365

Giving students opportunities to talk about their differing views:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/importance-high-quality-discussions

Tips about conferring during writer’s workshop:

https://ccira.blog/2019/04/16/worried-about-conferring-just-listen/

Do you hold meetings or gatherings?  I love the implications of this article:

https://www.mindful.org/the-art-of-gathering/

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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Coaching a “Different” Teacher

The theme running through my work yesterday was that of the “different” teacher.  It started in the morning when a mentor teacher described the soft-spoken student teacher she’s working with.  “At first, I thought she was just too quiet,” Ruth (the mentor) said.  “But then I watched how she waited for students to pay attention.  I saw how the kids settled into her quiet tone.  I realized she didn’t have to be like me.”  Another mentor chimed in, “I have to keep telling myself, ‘She doesn’t have to be a mini me.  She can do things her own way.”

In the evening, I was talking with Jeff, a teacher who reminisced about his own experiences as a secondary student.  He described the direct-instruction teacher he had in middle school who stayed in his mind because of the skills that were developed through that teacher’s insistence.  Jeff contrasted that impactful teacher with another whose teaching took a more social approach, including lots of discussion and small-group work.  He described how both teachers, with such different instructional methods, were ones he remembered as effective.  They lived on in his mind because of their impact on him as a learner.

Later, I opened Ralph Fletcher’s book, What A Writer Needs, and read about characteristics of a teacher as writing mentor.  He talked about what a writing teacher does when he encounters a student whose writing is drastically different from his own. “A true mentor will not try to penalize the student or clone a duplicate of himself,” Fletcher says (p. 16).  Let’s translate that into coaching terms:

As coaches, we may encounter a teacher whose approach is dramatically different from our own, and different from the “species of excellence” that we believe in.  Should we try to remake that teacher to become more like ourselves?  Or, can we be open to the possibility of something new that works equally well?

We’ve all heard of the “reading wars” – a supposed debate between one way of teaching reading and another.  It turns out there’s more myth than truth in that battle, once you look at research and expert opinion.  Ronna Flippo, in her book, Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground, found that experts from divergent perspectives agreed on many common best practices, and that these practices are supported by a substantive body of research.  Similarly, if we strip away differences in style, we may find that, hidden underneath, the same best practices are used by different kinds of teachers.   

Fletcher says writing mentors need to be “forever alive to the possibility of something new and distinctly original.”  Similarly, as coaches, we can be curious about a teacher who seems different, pay close attention, as Ruth did, to students’ responses, and help teachers uncover the best practices in their own instruction so that they can use them with more intention. 

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Planning to include collaborative learning – mix-pair-share and jot thoughts:

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v8.1.htm

It’s not the end of the year yet, but teachers might be ready to start thinking about these ideas:

https://www.weareteachers.com/end-of-year-assignments/

I’ve always thought we should have mentors, not just mentor texts, for our writing, and this post gives some great suggestions for making that happen:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/mentors-for-process-and-habits/

If you are in a dual role (coaching and teaching), you might find some helpful insights here:

https://yourinstructionalcoach.com/2016/04/18/guest-post-from-teacher-to-coach-the-more-things-change/

Only a teacher understands the absolute boredom that ensues when monitoring standardized tests.  Here are a few things to do during those hours:  J

https://www.weareteachers.com/17-more-things-you-can-do-while-actively-monitoring-a-standardized-test/

and

http://loveteachblog.com/2014/03/04/16-things-you-can-do-while-actively/

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Create Teachers as Extraordinary!

Today I conferred with a teacher who said she really struggled with classroom management. Although I could have simply agreed with her (Yes, you really are bad at that!), I don’t think it would have won me any ground with her.  Instead, I told her the truth in a way that built her up:  “At the beginning of the lesson,” I said, “I saw you come in really firm.  I heard resolve in your voice. You asked for students’ feet to point toward you.  You waited for full attention.  You acknowledge students who were ready.”  I said all these things in a slow, assured tone. I made sure it sunk in.

Then, talking a little faster, in a voice that was a bit quieter, I acknowledge this hadn’t been the case throughout the entire lesson.  “As the lesson went on,” I said, “you did seem to get caught up in the details of the lesson and lose some of that confident expectation.  Maybe you were thinking harder about what to do next and less about students’ participation.  I think you just need more experience with using this new teaching approach.”  The tension was easing from Cynthia’s shoulders as I continued talking, and she began to smile.  “Early in the lesson, I saw the stance and tone of someone with great classroom management,” I said.  “You’ve got this!”

Cynthia talked a bit more about her concerns, and I slipped in a few classroom management tips, but the rest of our conversation focused, as it should, on students’ learning.  As far as classroom management goes, what was really lacking was her confidence (students can smell fear!), so I bolstered that.  In Cynthia’s mind (and my own), I created her as an extraordinary teacher – who just had a few minor rough edges to smooth.  I wasn’t sugar-coating the conversation; I was describing what I had seen when I chose to look for the best in her.

There has been so much research about how teachers’ perceptions of their students influences student achievement.  I haven’t done the research (yet!), but my hypothesis is that the same holds true for the coach-teacher relationship.  When coaches choose to see teachers as extraordinary, teachers rise to the occasion.  It seemed to work with Cynthia today.

As you contemplate your own view of a teacher you are working with (maybe one you’ve viewed as struggling), consider how you might recreate her, instead, as extraordinary.  What values does she have?  In what ways is she important? What virtue would she benefit from being recreated with?  (Pause and think about those questions and that teacher for a moment.)

I’m confident that we can see something extraordinary in every teacher, and we can help them see it in themselves.  And extraordinary people are usually open to becoming even more extraordinary!

p.s.  Life skills tip:  You can practice this with your significant other.  It might have been a while since you thought about what makes him or her extraordinary.  Try focusing on those attributes and see how it affects your interactions.  J    

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Creating a comfortable classroom:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/building-a-comfortable-classroom

Take time for reflection while there’s still time for adjustment before the school year closes:

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/questions-to-ask-yourself-as-the-school.html?cmp=eml-enl-tu-news1

Tips for using mentor texts effectively:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/mentor-texts-and-important-reminders/

Leveraging teacher leaders to boost coaching impact:

https://blog.teachboost.com/leveraging-your-teacher-leaders-as-peer-mentors

Sketchnoting for you and your students – try it during read alouds:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/sketchnoting-as-a-response-to-reading/

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Sounds Good!

“Sounds good!” is a simple statement that might roll off your tongue without much thought.  Maybe your friends suggest stopping for ice cream, a family member proposes an outing, or someone recommends a movie to check out.  But what does this phrase mean as part of a coaching conversation?

When coaching, we can intentionally use the phrase, “Sounds Good!” as an affirmation. A teacher shares a plan of action, and we confirm it.  Perhaps a plan for assessment; perhaps a plan for small-group instruction, or a specific question to launch a discussion.  When coaching a capable teacher, a simple endorsement like, “Sounds good!” can boost confidence and support a strong teacher-coach relationship.  

Affirmations come when a teacher shares a planned-for practice or a recent success.  When a teacher describes her plan to include partner talk at three specific places in a lesson, an affirmation might be warranted.  When she describes positive results from a recent assessment, affirmation can be a verbal pat-on-the-back.  Affirming applauds advances that have been made, and recognizing advances leads to more!  As one success leads to another, these positive feelings can promote a winning streak in teaching.

“Sounds good!” is a catch-phrase that we might say almost flippantly, without much thought. But finding authentic opportunities to use this key phrase and making it a coaching mantra can have a positive influence on us and those we work with. Try keeping this phrase at the ready this week.  Evaluate when and how you use it as a coaching tool. Your thoughtful use of this verbal catch-all might help you move along in a coaching cycle.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

How self-monitoring and self-control relate to classroom management:

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/an-identity-of-success/

Teacher-student relationships can be foundational for promoting students' deeper thinking:

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/13/why-teacher-student-relationships-matter.html

Mentor texts by genre, technique, topic, and activity (thanks, Allison & Rebekah!):

https://movingwriters.org/mentor-text-dropbox-project/

Connect ELA strategies to the real world:

https://www.middleweb.com/39801/connect-ela-strategies-to-lives-beyond-school/

Why confidentiality is important in coaching:

https://blog.teachboost.com/why-confidentiality-is-important-in-coaching

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