The Power of Coaching

Here's a blog by Isabelle on The Power of Coaching where she speaks of our ACPS model. As a coach, I feel a humble and insatiable curiosity for new learning, certainly not power, when I go to work each day and work with my colleagues, my partner teachers and coaches. But it is indeed powerful work, which is what Isabelle speaks of in this blog. I often wonder, who is getting the most out of my coaching interactions with teachers... me or them? Coaching has allowed me to slow down and reflect on the art of teaching, the metacognition of the words we speak and the actions we impose or engage in with our colleagues and students. I work and strategize to give this reflective pause to the teachers that I work closely with on a weekly basis. I recognize how hard it is for teachers to pause, though. It is hard for teachers to step outside of themselves and look at themselves, their students, their practice, their PLC engagement... and the interconnectedness of these to our world. As a coach, I want to capture my thoughts and understandings and reflections so that when I return to the busyness of the classroom, that I am able to maintain this ability to pause and reflect, to dig deeper and to not fear failure. I want to not lose sight of the joy of learning with those around me, both students and adults. I want to seek out coaching so I might maintain my insatiable curiosities on what might work, what's possible that I cannot see in the busyness. I want to not forget how it feels to experiment and research new ways and I will remember that I do not have to do it alone. I appreciate the power of coaching and as I go deeper into year 3 of this coaching model, I find many teachers are understanding our roles and seeking partners for collaborative work. What awesome work and how lucky I feel to be a part of this journey. How humble I am to be working with teams of teachers that are amazing in what they do and yet still seeking to be better all of the time. I hope that they feel the power of coaching, too.

Interview With Superintendent Pam Moran On Instructional Coaching

Pam speaks so eloquently on what we as coaches strive to do in our day to day work. We are learners, we are partners, and we are on teams that study, research and plan for and with teachers. Yes, we are the educators that work to clear paths for teachers to more easily find their way through all the distractors of today’s education world and maintain a focus on why we teach. It's about the kids, their learning and our work at crafting instruction to help them LOVE learning, while learning. It's about making the learning irrisistable and it's about keeping our passions alive as educators.

Generational Divide in Education - Sayville, NY, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

Great blog post on what I know and believe... :) Thanks, Tom!

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will."

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will." Curiosity is the key... As an educator, I think that this is an easy quote to follow. As lifelong learners

Google Searching or Cracking the Code

So... I fight with my family about Google all the time. They are irritated at me for not being irritated at Google when it picks up key words and does my thinking for me... or predicting ... or searching. I am very trusting and they are very skeptical. Maybe I should worry about my digital footprint more than I do. Oh well... I have to confess that I have made the statement "google is making me stupid" but I don't really believe it. Instead, I love how I can find almost anything that I'm thinking about via a google search. Not to mention images, translations, news, etc. I will say that it makes the art of skimming and scanning a serious hobby!! So... what I want to remember from what I've learned today is pointers from this article. Yes... I've argued w/ a certain family member about checking link-backs to websites for some type of verification or proof of who they are and what they are about (learned about this from Alan November). So... yes, it's here in this article as well. I've learned that I do know some things worthy of sharing... even if they don't want to agree... :)

Top Ten Lists for Problem Based Learning Projects

Edutopia's Top Ten Lists... I'm totally enjoying Edutopia's top ten lists this fall...I think my favorite one to remember besides "GIVE UP POWER to EMPOWER (not being a helicopter teacher)... is meeting with the team managers for communicating.

Students Asking Questions

Harvard Education Letter

I think of the inquiry lessons that I worked on with a colleague 2 years ago. The lessons were centered on student questions within the context of a plant unit. ie - Does candy grow from a seed? I provided the students an opportunity to explore seeds of all sizes through images and loads and loads of real seed. We explored where a seed comes from... and I fondly remember planting a "jolly rancher" candy as part of our work together. I remember how challenging it was for me to "plan" for these lessons, not knowing what questions the students would ask each day in the course of our work and I tried to predict what they may want to pursue. With that memory... I wanted to archive this article to think more about questioning... and inquiry... and structures that may support questioning or not.