Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
04 -- 08 December 2017
Hats off to you!
Here's the past week's amazement:
- Thank you, Mrs. Fisher for finding substitutes (all the time) and dealing with "no-shows" and last-minute fill-ins;
- Another PTC is in the books, and although the attendance wasn't very high, thank you teachers for preparing and making every parent and student feel as if they are your only student;
- Student Council -- your holiday decorations are appreciated;
- Blended Learning Team -- Thank you for taking time to learn and plan, so you can take risks in your classroom to increase the level of engagement and find a better way to teach standards;
- Thank you, Coach Halac, for sending out the updates each night after your games and for holding your student-athletes to a high standard -- if you're not receiving his post-game reports, send him an email, and he will add you to the list.
#nobetterplacetowork
Pope's Professional Learning -- Sharing to Build Capacity
Jim Knight's _Better Conversations_ PART 2
10 HABITS
Empathy -- It’s a vulnerable choice, and sometimes it's better not to have a response or to acknowledge you don’t even know what to say -- just make the connection, “I’m glad you told me.”
3 Types
Empathy Toward Self -- self-interest gets in the way; Fear
Affective Empathy -- understand other’s emotions; can feel it but not at the same level
Cognitive Empathy -- understand perspectives and needs
Listen -- Listening happens in 2 levels: Level 1 = being physically and mentally present ; and Level 2: be an active listener: commit to the conversation, let your partner have the floor, pause before speaking to consider impact of your words, and don't interrupt
Foster Dialogue -- be comfortable with ambiguity and balance advocacy and inquiry by following Freire's Conditions for Dialogue (as cited in Knight, 2015, p. 88): Humility, Hope, Faith, Critical Thinking, and Love
Ask Better Questions -- be curious, ask open questions and avoid judgment of answers
Make Emotional Connections -- understand the critical variables that stand at the heart of emotional connection
Bids -- anything that says, "I want to be connected to you," a look, a question, a touch, a gesture, etc.
Turning Toward -- reacting in a positive way to show acceptance of the bid
Turning Away -- ignoring a person's bid to connect with you
Turning Against -- negatively reacting to a person's bid to connect with you by becoming belligerent or argumentative
Be a Witness to the Good -- what is your story? share the positive experiences - concrete examples of what is happening and how it encourages and or inspires others
Find Common Ground -- notice and remember the similarities we share other people
Control Toxic Emotions -- negative emotions impact us in two ways: they silence us and keep us from saying something that needs to be said, or they prompt us to say something we will later regret
Name it -- recognize the emotion
Reframe it -- see it from the other person's or group's perspective by listening, learning, and taking a balcony view
Tame it -- count to 10 or wait 24 hours before responding, paraphrase what you have heard, avoid assumptions and learn to break the cycle
Redirect Toxic Conversations -- rely on conversational norms, and use effective strategies to squash toxic feelings (and gossip): redirect through interruption or naming, correcting or diverting the behavior; using strategic silence
Build Trust -- use the following ingredients: character, credibility, reliability, competence, stewardship, and warmth
From the 10 habits, I know that I need to work on being a witness to the good and to ask better questions. In a recent conversation with Jo Prusha from Benton Community, she mentioned that CPU has a lot of great things happening, yet people from this district are not readily celebrating the good. Change is always difficult, and being a witness to the good is a better way to deal with the roller coaster than just letting the fear control the culture.
The need for improvement with asking questions is central to being a coach. Good questions lead to co-constructed conversations. I will be using the iPad and SWIVL to help me improve my questioning and coaching conversations, in general.
What habits resonate with you?
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
Monday, 04 December
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Tuesday, 05 December
- Teacher Clarity: Learning Interventions and Success Criteria @ GWAEA -- ALL DAY
Wednesday, 06 December -- Data Team MTGs -- 9 AM START
- STAFF ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE TODAY -- Yellow sheet in Libolt's mailbox; Scale and assessment in your assignment folder (which should already shared with Mr. Libolt)
- 1:00 - 2:00 PM IC/ Program Lead MTG
- 2:00 - 2:30 PM IC/Program Lead/Principal TRIAD MTG
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Thursday, 07 December
- 12:30 - 1:15 PM IC/Principal MTG
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Friday, 08 December
- 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM Chaperone Cadaver Lab Field Trip
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
- 1:00 - 3:30 PM IC Team w/ Program Leads Data Mtg @ Primary
ARCHIVE LINKS
Click on the link to access 2015-16 prior weekly communications.
Pope's IC Weekly Communication Archive & Index 2016-17
Click on the link to access 2016-17 prior weekly communications.
Pope's IC Weekly Communication Archive & Index 2017-18
Click on the link to access 2016-17 prior weekly communications.
Contact Information
Center Point - Urbana CSD
Email: epopenhagen@cpuschools.org
Phone: 319-849-1102+91015
Twitter: @Epopenhagen