Week 8: APRIL 26- MAY 2

Outside and Inside Theory and Wisdom

This week we'd like you to think about the idea of outside and inside theory and outside and inside wisdom. Outside theory and wisdom is anything that comes from outside of you! Anything you read, anything you hear from someone else, anything you listen to that is created by someone else. We often look to outside theory and wisdom to inform us when we are trying to learn and also trying to solve problems. Outside theory and wisdom can be very helpful. It is also not the only thing that we need, indeed, in order to put outside theory and wisdom into our practice and our work, something inside of us has to also resonate with that theory.

On this course we are asking you to work with the teachers in a way that they access their own inside theory and their own inside wisdom.

Inside wisdom is the messages that come from our own inspiration, our own quiet place, our own heads, hearts and bellies (yes - wisdom can come from the belly!) Inside wisdom comes to us when we are not thinking about it, and when we are thinking about it. It comes when we are walking, writing, drawing, thinking, sitting, sleeping - it comes when we least expect it and it comes not (usually) from strategic, logical thinking, but from intuition and inspiration.

Wisdom quotes. YOUR TURN!

Choose 1 of the following tasks to either write, adapt or choose a wisdom quote and explain how it is connected to collaborative coaching and how it informs or inspires you. Write your quote and explanation in your journal and then post your quote and your explanation in either the main whatsapp group or your zoom-meeting whatsapp group.

OPTION 1 Inside Wisdom: Write a wisdom quote of your own. Something that you created that helps you focus on some aspect of coaching that we are working on.

Example: coming soon

OPTION 2 Blended Wisdom: Take a famous saying or quote and adapt it by adding to it or modify it in a way that helps you think about some aspect of collaborative coaching.

Example:

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."

(proverb)

Adaptation of proverb

"I can lead a horse to water, but I can not make him/her drink. Can I make him/her thirsty? What would happen if I tried to make him/her thirsty? What sort of thirst would a horse have? How could I learn about how to make a horse thirsty? What if the water is not potable? What if the horse becomes thirsty, but wants milk, not water, to quench his/her thirst? How much of my values am I imposing by trying to make the horse thirsty? Am I thirsty to make the horse thirsty? Will I be able to deal with the horse’s thirst if he or she truly becomes thirsty? Any one want a drink???? "

- Mary Scholl and Wagner Veillard

Mary: This quote helps me think about questing and about non-directive planning. So often we have situations where we think we are stuck. The horse won't drink the water and I can't think of any way to get around it and it seems so definitave - the horse won't drink the water. Questing and non-directive planning are about exploring our situations from many angles and about brainstorming. The questions in this adaptation of the quote help me think about how, as a coach, I want to open up and explore the situation with the teacher. And I also think these questions, especially the last one, bring humor into the situation. Often when I start to joke around my brain loosens up and I can find new questions and solutions that I'd not thought of before.

OPTION 3 Outside Wisdom: Choose a wisdom quote that teaches you and helps you think about some aspect of collaborative coaching. Write the quote (and who it wrote it or said it) and explain how it teaches you and why it helps you - specifically - in either presence, listening, empathy, questing, or non-directive planning.

Example:

"We each carry some portion of truth. To reconcile we must listen for, discern and acknowledge the partial truth in everyone"

G.K. Hoffman

I (Mary) really like this quote because I think it creates a wonderful expectation that the teachers have their partial truths, the supervisors have partial truths, the administrators have their partial truths and in order for us to move forward, we all need to listen for and value the truths each person has. I think our cultures often create an expectation that the supervisor's "truth" is more important than the teacher's "truth." In our Collaborative Coaching Conversations we seek to really listen to the teacher's truth first and foremost. This doesn't mean that the supervisor's truth isn't important, just that it is partial and i think the onus is on the supervisor to deeply understand the teacher's partial truth first!

EXPLORE

Please do the following:

Journal

Read the quotes posted on the whatsapp groups:

• Which ones speak to you? Why?

• What , insights do they give you about Collaborative Coaching?

• How was it for you to choose and offer your quote and explanation?

Journal: Review and Reflect

Review the Arc of a Collaborative Coaching Conversation below. So far we have focused on the UNDERSTANDING half of the conversation and the EXPLORE part of EXPERIMENTING. This week we are looking, for a second time, at the Non-Directive Planning stage .

Write in your journal:

• How am I feeling about the arc of a Collaborative Coaching Conversation right now?

• What am I appreciating about it? What is challenging?

• What would I like to learn more about?

• How are my answers and questions today similar or different to my answers from week 7 (last week?)

• What do I need in order to explore my questions?

NON-DIRECTIVE PLANNING and Creativity

Last week we looked at non-directive planning and closing as the final stage in the Collaborative Coaching Conversation. In our zoom sessions and in your whatsapp comments a number of people were curious about how to help their teachers think creatively about their problem. I heard a number of you say that the stages make sense, but the way of supporting teachers in their creativity and in their own brain finding the solution was still challenging. This week we are going to learn a bit more about creativity and practice using your "creativity muscles" might be helpful. Roger Von Oech, a business consultant from California, wrote two books about the creative process. In them he created ways for readers to understand, value explore and develop their mental flexibility, their ability to choose what kind of thinking they are doing based on the situation and the need, given where they were in the creative process. He realized that people who are successful in creativity usually engage in four main roles which are characterized by 4 distinct ways of thinking.

Journal:

1. Do you see yourself as a creative person? When are you most creative? Least creative? How might Von Oechs ideas about the creative process inform your understanding of your own creativity?

2. What are your initial thoughts and questions after reading these ideas about creativity?

3. How do these roles inform you in your role as a coach in the non-directive planning stage?

4. What thoughts and questions do these questions about non-directive planning come up for you after thinking about the creative process?

WATCH

This is a 40 minute video of a collaborative coaching conversation that Mary had with Jonathan, a teacher in Costa Rica. It is a SAMPLE - not a perfect model. As you watch, take notes in a way that you enjoy taking notes. These questions might be useful: What does Mary say/do and what impact does that have on Jonathan? What do you notice? What thoughts/questions arise in you as you watch the video?

After watching the video and taking notes, please do the journal assignment below.

**** PLEASE NOTE If you can watch the video, please do. Many of you do have enough internet and electricity to do this. If you don't, you might be able to watch part of the video. That is okay too. If you cannot watch the video, or if you prefer reading you can read the transcript (click here for the transcript.)

Journal:

1. If you were to create a title and 2-3 sentence summary of this video, what would it be?

2. What are 2-3 words or phrases that come to your mind after watching this video, parts of the video, or reading the transcript?

3. Read through the notes that you took. What strikes you about what you wrote or noticed?

4. What tools/stages from the Collaborative Coaching Conversation did you notice? What impact did they have on Jonathan and his thinking?

5. As you were watching/reading were there times that you wanted to jump in and say something? What was it that you wanted to say? Why?

6. What is most important to you from your watching/reading/thinking in relation to this video?

EXPERIENCE

This week we would like you to have at least two conversations with teachers or peers who are educators (in person via Skype or WhatsApp or Zoom) in which you coach them using the stages and tools that we have been studying in ways that seem to serve the speakers needs. Remember this might not be a linear process and you may or may not use all of them.

Tools: presence, active listening, empathy, questing, exploring, non-directive planning (brainstorming, prioritizing, choosing and implementing and reflecting)

In order to have these conversations your speaker will need to have a problem or challenge that they are facing but haven't solved. You might be talking with teachers about teaching online. You might be talking with friends or family about how they are handling their experience of lockdown, or about something that is completely different. What is most important is that it is something on the speaker’s mind and/or heart.

Right after the conversation take a few notes to help remember the tools you used and how you think they impacted the speaker.

REFLECT

After your coaching conversations please fill out your coaching journal and your skill journal so you can keep track of your own thoughts, feelings and learnings in this experience!

FILL OUT REFLECTION FORM: (to be posted in your whatsapp group)

PRACTICE

ZOOM meeting: (May 1,2 3)

MOVING AHEAD.

As we move into week 8, we'd also like you to take a look at the final assignment that is coming up. We'll be working on it in weeks 10 and 11, but if you want to read the assignment you can find it if you click here