Coaching Training Brain Dump - Day 2

See my Day 1 Notes here.

Day 2 of our training started off with a great activity/icebreaker for full-day trainings.  Our trainer had everyone write down 3 facts about themselves:

• One fact that is true of pretty much everybody in the room
• One fact that is true of several others in the room, but definitely not all
• One fact that you think is fully unique.

Throughout the day, it was used as a "brain break" but also a great way to get to know the people on our team.  Everyone would stand up.  If a fact was read that wasn't true about you, then you would sit down.  After the third fact was read, there was usually only one person standing.  However, it was interesting when there were still 2-3 people left after all three facts.  The person who wrote it then gave a little more detail on their third fact so we could get to know them better.

Overall Notes to Remember:

• How people see you will influence how they react to you
• Change management is NOT:
• "I've got it figured out and I'm here to implement"
• "I already know where people need to go and I just need to get them there" 
• Coaching is a DANCE - It's give and take
• As a coach, it's important to continually reflect and ask myself: "Did I spend most of my day in Expert Mode, Collaborative Mode, or Cognitive Mode?"
• As a coach, it's important to reflect on the levels of concern my fellows are at.  If they are all stuck at level 2, am I really doing my job of moving them forward?
• Book to check out - Mentoring Matters
• Sentence Starters and Coaches Sentence Frames 
• One of the challenges of coaching is accepting what you given
• Our bias is to try to change their mind
• You can't argue with it because it's what they said
• We should try to take whatever is said and find whatever is positive in what is said, and then say that back (positive presuppositions) 

Tuckman Model

• Developed in 1965; outlines four stages/phases in the sequence of group development
• When groups come together, there is some sort of life cycle or pattern
• Step 1 - Forming
• "Who we are and what we do has not been decided yet"
• Step 2 - Storming
• Checking the boundaries, exploring the expectations, set the stage for what is going to be normal.
• "What are the limitations of this relationship", "I'm not sure what to expect from each other"
• A lot of people don't want to do this phase and try to go around this phase.  However, this is the phase where we build the relationship.  It requires authentic testing of the perimeter that leads to bonding.
• This is NOT a stage we should avoid.  We should embrace it.  The more you avoid it, the more it will prolong it.
• Every storming moment is one to establish the coaching relationship.
• "What you accept is what you should expect"
• Step 3 - Norming
• Norms are:
• observable behaviors over time that we come to expect
• time-based.  Something could be normal "right now" but may not be normal forever.
• not written down.  Norms exist whether they are written or not.
• the expectations you accept over time.  Once they are established, we become a change agent.
• Step 4 - Performing
• The gaps are understood and relatively predictable
• The group knows what to do when dysfunction emerges.

Innovation Framework - SAMR

• Four levels:
• Substitution
• Augmentation
• Modification
• Redefinition
• SAMR helps to classify lessons as a certain level
• Important because: if you are coaching change, you need some way to describe the process.
• Baseline --> Next Step --> End Zone 

Tools in Coaching Toolbox

• Paraphrasing
• Why paraphrase?  Trying to find the thing in the negative that is a positive
• When absolutes are given, don't accept it at face value - it's probably not directed at that one thing
• Acknowledge and clarify - affirms that you are listening
• Ask for permission when paraphrasing
• "It sounds to me like you said this... Do I have that right?"
• Organize their thinking for them
• "It sounds like you have 3 priorities... 1,2,3"
• Don't always go and rephrase what they said.  Instead, say, "I  heard you say _____, can I say ____" 
• Always ask their permission because you are projecting onto them what you are thinking
• Shift the level of abstraction (level up or level down)
• Shifting your statement to a more broader abstraction or a more narrow focus - so you can fully understand what they are trying to say
• Examples:
• How’d the lesson go?
• I don’t know, the kids don’t seem engaged
• 'It sounds like some of the kids aren’t as engaged as you want
• The district keeps rolling out all this software
• It sounds like this particular rollout was unexpected
• Inquiring / Questioning
• Purpose: To ask questions that don't set up a dichotomy (either/or)
• Example: Was that a good lesson? (Yes or No)
• Example: Were all your students engaged? (Yes or No)
• Yes or No questions limit reflection
• Examples of inquiry-provoking questions:
• How did you see students responding during the technology phase?
• What are your thoughts around how this lesson fits into what you think of as the norm?
• What are some thoughts you have about next time?
• Probing
• When you hear absolutes, the next best thing is to probe it
• Press them to define their own terms
• "What did you mean by _____? " 
• Don't challenge it, just try to understand it.  "Accept it, and Probe it"
• When they are using language that makes it seem they are compelled (or forced) to do something, then probe to understand better
• CBAM Level 2 Personal Concern
• "Must - Should - Have to"
• "We have to use this new template"
• "What do you mean you have to?"
• "They said we have to use this"
• "Who are they"
• The Third Point
• When you are coaching, establish something outside the two of you to talk about.
• "I'm here to talk about..."  (the lesson, the app, the strategy, etc)
• (I'm NOT here to judge you or evaluate your teaching)
• Helps keep everyone's affective filter low' helps to avoid making it personal
• Be the COACH, not the expert
• Refer to a source outside yourself
• Authority outside the room
• "Michael Grinder says..."
• Anchor to a text or document
• "Based on the standards..."
• "Based on the textbook..."
• Anecdotal evidence (slippery)
• "I saw a teacher who did..."
• *Only use if they have invited examples; can sound like a judgment or comparison
• Notes from pre-meeting, observation form, etc
• "If we refer to the form we wrote..."
• Student response 
• "What did you notice about how the students responded to the iPads?"

Protocols

• A protocol is just a predictable set of topics with some sort of time attached to it
• This is important for office hours - have some sort of form for them to fill out.  Top three concerns, what you've done, what you want to do. 

Adult Motivation

• What motivates adults to learn and be coached?  What makes them easier or harder to work with?
• Past Experience
• Beliefs - Growth Mindset
• Self-efficacy - the belief that you can do what's next because of what you just did
• Anchor it in what they just did - that will build their self-efficacy
• "Because you were able to _______, you will be able to _______"
• *One of our goals is to raise efficacy 
• Note: Patronizing will both them as much as it will both you.  Don't do it/say it if you can't defend it.  Don't just flatter people in the efforts to raise their self-efficacy.
• It's not patronization if it's evidence-based  "I saw _____, so I know you will be able to _______." 
• Attribution:
• Internal/External
• Unstable/Stable
• If you attribute your success too often to unstable/external, you will have low self-efficacy. 
• Our job is to drive the conversation to EFFORT (internal/unstable).  Get them to attribute their success to their own effort!