Week One

Week 1: February 29 - March 7th

Saturday, February 29th posting

THEME: Listening (1)

Readings/Videos

This week our video and readings will be about listening and about professional ethics. With each video and reading we include some questions that help guide your reading. These are just for you, to offer some options for you to engage the reading. You do not to write to us about your answers, but if they are interesting insights about coaching you may want to include them in your coaching journal. In the reflection form we will ask you to write about how you are learning in response to videos and readings, but really about how you are taking these into your coaching tasks and learning from that experience.

1. WATCH the TEDx Talk A Case for Active Listening: Jason Chare at TEDxTokyoTeachers: 20 min

   • As you watch listen for what he means by “unconditional positive regard” and the importance of “reflecting feelings” and write in your journal what you understand these two ideas to be.

   • After you watch, consider that teachers and supervisors sometimes say “I’m not trained as a counselor.” What do you think about how Jason positions listening as a counseling skill we can all learn and use?

2. READ ”How to Listen” from a book called Time to Think by Nancy Kline. Consider the following questions before reading and then answer them in your journal after reading.

   • What are 2-3 ideas that are really important to you from this article?

   • What are the conditions that you think help listening be effective?

   • After reading this article, what’s one idea that you would like to put into practice this week?

3. READ a section on Ways of Listening from Chapter 3 from the book Evocative Coaching.

   • Who is the best listener in your life? What makes that person good at listening? How does that listening make a difference?

   • What are the components of mindful listening? How do you cultivate mindfulness in your everyday live?

4. FIND 2-3 quotes, sentences or phrases that connect to you and write why are these relevant to you and your experience.

Professional Ethics for this course

Read the handout provided.

Coaching Task

This week we have 2 tasks for you.

1. PRACTICE: From the readings, the video and the work we’ve done in our workshops that relate to listening, choose 2-3 aspects of listening and practice them with at least 3-4 different people in your daily life. Write about this in your coaching journal.

2. THINK about the upcoming task of finding 2-3 teachers that you already have a good relationship with and who would be willing to work with you for the next 10 weeks. They must be willing to have coaching conversations with you at least once a week for 30-40 minutes, for the entire 10 weeks.

   1. What kind of questions might you ask them to let them know what you need from them?

   2. What do they need to know from you about what will be expected of them?

Reflection form:

FILL OUT this REFLECTION FORM. AFTER you have done the reading and coaching tasks above. We expect the work of thinking about these questions deeply and then writing what is most important to take about an hour to an hour and a half, let that expectation guide your effort and focus for this section.

Zoom meeting:

One meeting on the day your group meets which is on one of the following days: March 5,6,7

We will send the link to YOUR whatsapp group when we are ready for you to enter the room! Please wait and come right after we send the link. Please don't join the zoom room earlier as others may be using it. THANKS!