teacher

Are we talking the same language?

 in Guest Post  tagged Amanda Clegg / coach / education / Karpman Drama traingle / language / progress / teacher

Returning guest poster, Teacher Coach Amanda Clegg shares more real life coaching experience in today’s guest post.

Are we talking the same language?

By Amanda Clegg

"Are we talking the same language?" by Amanda Clegg

Coaching is taking us from where we are to where we want to be. But what if you want to change, but are finding it difficult to trust in the process and also your coach?

This was one of my current challenges as a Teacher Coach. I am working with George* who has received three lesson observations graded as inadequate or requires improvement in the last academic year.

George has tried to evade our coaching meeting for the last 2 appointments citing coursework marking as the reason. He even cancelled all the pre-booked meetings on the school electronic diary system with no reason. It was difficult to decide how to approach this from a coach’s point of view. I was busy too with lots of marking to do myself and at this time of year I could benefit from some extra time.

However, the internal voice began chattering away saying:

– How rude!

– If you let him get away with this now, then he will always make excuses!

– Maybe you can’t coach him- he is too difficult!

– Maybe he is one of those people they tell you about on training- not all people are suitable for coaching- you can only be coached if you want to be.

– Maybe you will be letting him down if you let him off coaching this week.

– Maybe he is just trying it on

– Maybe he doesn’t think you are any good and not worth the time.

I have a personal rule which is not to respond immediately wherever possible when I feel annoyed by something or someone. It has always served me well. I might write an email or plan in my head what to do at the time, but I always leave time for further contemplation. Sometimes just the act of banging out an email on the uncomplaining computer keyboard and saving it to send the next morning make me feel a lot better. I rarely ever need to send the email because after calming down, I think of a better cause of action.

I was reminded of a saying one of my own trainers often used.

“The mind works like a parachute, it works best when it is open.”

“The mind works like a parachute, it works best when it is open.”

This situation was not about me, it was not personal and why was I starting to question my own competence. I was also reminded of the Karpman Drama triangle. If we were to enter into a coaching relationship, I needed to remind George of what coaching was and was not. I could not collude with him in deciding coaching was not important. What message would that give to George about the sort of coach I am and also what coaching is about? If George ultimately decided not to have coaching then again that would be a decision rather than the vagueness of coaching when we have time or the inclination. I considered looking at the Cycle of Change work that has been done by Prochaska and Diclemente, but decided this might be a bit heavy. It is however sat in my toolbox should I need George to decide if he wants to stay as he is or decide to make a change.

I saw George the following day and asked him for an alternative time to meet, but it had to be within the same week. He gave me a time the same day, much to my surprise. Glad I didn’t send the email telling him how arrogant he was and didn’t he think I was busy too etc.

In our meeting, George told me he felt he needed to work on “progress” as this was where he felt he was inadequate. I asked him to tell me where he thought he was in terms of progress on a scale of 1 to 10. George was unwilling to commit to a number, going on to describe his current feeling about work as not enjoyable. He felt the fun had gone from teaching. This was not always the case and we were able to go back to a time when George felt he was well liked, respected and was doing a good job. George suddenly had a smile on his face and his physiology changed. He sat upright and lifted his head.

Gently guiding him to look into the future, we looked at what life was like in April 2019, five years from now. After a couple of moments, George was describing the life he wanted with great detail- the house is finally finished, the two children are at secondary school, his wife is back at work, they would both be 40 and having a family party and so the picture went on.

I was wondering what type of employment George would be doing as this was never mentioned. I asked him what he would be doing during the week and he looked at me quizzically and said “Teaching, it is what I love”. The smile had stayed put and he accused me of tricking him light heartedly. I felt glad that I had not let him brush me aside as I was sure we would be able to work together now. George had shared a moment with me and let me see what he could see for his future.

I reminded him that coaching was confidential between us and he said he believed me, but that it didn’t matter really. I felt it important to reiterate I would not be talking to anyone else about anything we discussed.

I asked him what he would like to focus on for the remainder of the session and he returned to “progress”. Then out of the blue – came a question which changed the course of our session and reminded me about one of the fundamentals of coaching. I asked George to define progress.

George found it incredibly hard to describe progress. I wondered what George had taken from the sessions we had received over the year from the senior management on being able to demonstrate progress. How did George interpret the Ofsted Framework?

It was so hard not to jump in and “tell” George my definition of progress. I was literally sitting with my hand in my mouth to stop myself. As George talked, I drew a circle and divided it up into sectors writing one of his key terms in each area. He looked at what I was doing and it spurred him on to more descriptions.

Our “Progress” wheel.

Progress wheel

I was glad I had asked the question as it became very apparent George defined progression in the same way I would define transitions. A useful little question I will not forget to use in the future!

George has taken what we called the Progress Wheel away to look at which areas in particular he would like to consider in more detail next week.

Thanks to George in helping me continue to learn.

*George is a fictitious name for a larger than life character.

About Amanda Clegg

Amanda CleggAmanda Clegg has been a science teacher in state secondary schools for almost thirty years. She was a member of a Senior Leadership team for 15 years before being asked to lead a private sixth form college through their initial ISI inspection. The college achieved an outstanding judgement. Amanda now works as an Educational and Coaching Consultant in Oxfordshire and Swindon. She is currently acting as temporary Head of Science two days a week in a local secondary school, as well as being an Associate trainer for Creative Education, co-author of a GCSE revision guide and an Associate Lecturer for UWE on the PGCE programme.

www.akc-edconsultancy.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/AKCConsultancy

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/akcconsultancy

email: cft-acleggsupanetcom

Twitter: @Teachercoach1

 

 

 

 

Co-Coaching

 in Guest Post  tagged AKC Consultancy / Amanda Clegg / Co-coaching / coach / education / goal / teacher

In today’s guest post Amanda Clegg shares some of her experience and observations about some of her recent coaching work.

"Co-Coaching" A guest post by Amanda Clegg

Co-Coaching

by Amanda Clegg

A teacher comes into a staffroom and says “I can’t…”

It doesn’t really matter what the end of the sentence is because you have probably already heard it many times before and it is not a joke!

I have found during thirty years in teaching and senior management that as a profession we are rife with self limiting beliefs. We are ready to talk ourselves down and often think we are not as good as the teacher in the neighbouring classroom etc.

I was coaching a teacher prior to the summer and she confided that she spent most of her waking hours every summer worrying what the GCSE results day would bring. This was a good teacher who was well organised and had no evidence to suggest she needed to worry at all.

The results were fine and whenever we see each other in the corridor this term, our mantra is “no evidence”.

A Co-Coaching Programme

I was asked to set up a co-coaching programme in a local secondary school. The Head teacher was clear that every teacher should be coached. The challenge was to support all teachers to deliver good and outstanding lessons consistently and that meant working with individuals to address their own particular strengths and challenges. This was to be an important part of the school commitment to continuing professional development.

In many schools up and down the country, teachers who wished to develop their practice in an area (or if their line manager felt they needed to) are given brochures of relevant courses. Research carried out in 2003 observed that:

‘there is a much better chance of learning from someone in the next classroom than from someone 20 miles away’ (Reynolds D. (2003) News & Opinions, TES 20 June)

This agreed with research in 1995, by Joyce and Showers, who reported that:

‘Training courses and workshops fail to make a long-term impact on classroom practice’ (Joyce, B. and Showers, B. (1995) Student Achievement through Staff Development. White Plains, New York places: Longman)

Regular coaching by staff working side by side in the same school with the same students should make an impact and it does.

The school in question has 60 teaching staff including the senior leadership team. Staff were asked to apply for the role of teacher coach by letter. The post would have two periods of extra non-contact time and a small monetary increase. Ten teachers applied for the role and all were interviewed and appointed. Coaching would be 1-1. The school had dabbled with coaching triads and buddies in recent history but these had not had the desired impact and quickly faded.

Teachers are ‘fast listeners’

I ran two twilight coaching training sessions for the newly appointed teacher coaches (6 hours in total) where we looked at what coaching was and was not. We practiced active listening, the GROW model technique, selected appropriate questions and developed a Coaching Protocol for staff to sign. The coaches also invited each other into their class for an observation and then conducted a coaching session with each other.

The Senior Team also wanted to be coaches and so I trained them using the same materials.

The most difficult aspect for all teacher coaches was to avoid suggesting what to do, giving ideas and solving the problem for the coachee. Teachers are “fast listeners”- usually solving the issue that is been presented before the person has stopped talking! This desire to solve the problem can stop us hearing what the issue exactly is.

We also need to stop letting others delegate their thinking to us. How often does someone bring you a problem to solve which is well within their capability? What do you do?

Are you hooked in and solve the problem?

Or do you ask what they could do to solve it?

Get Out Of Jail Free Card image (c) Mark StrozierIf you are hooked in, then this person will keep coming back with issues for you to solve. If your advice is ever wrong they have their get out of jail free card – Mr X told me to do it.

.

Coaching can help if you let it

Last week, I hosted a fellow teacher from a different subject on a learning walk. Our focus was the quality of marking and feedback. Steve had commented in a 1-1 coaching session, that he felt his marking was not up to scratch. He carried around a feeling of guilt that he did not spend sufficient time on this area of his job, but also struggled to see how he could do more of this without it impacting on his lesson planning time. When I asked him what he could do about this feeling, he proposed a visit to see what happened out in the wider school.

Afterwards in our coaching session, he talked to me about what he had seen and how it made him feel. He realised that his marking was great and the students were getting good value from his efforts. The smile on his face was tangible; our fifteen minute foray across the quad to a different department had worked. He was able to let this feeling of being inadequate go and also began to think of the next steps for his own department in terms of marking and feedback.

The key principle I had to negotiate with the Head teacher was that coaching was confidential

In order to achieve the open, honest conversation about teaching and learning that was required, the process must be non judgemental. It was vital that the Senior Team or Head of Department did not require coaches to tell them how a particular teacher was doing with their coaching. Coaching must provide a supportive, open door approach in every classroom where teachers are encouraged to be innovative and take some risks which they would not necessarily do in a judged lesson.

It was agreed that the coachee is responsible for all the records of the meetings. The Coach can only be asked by the Senior Team to confirm how many coaching meetings have been held.

The Assistant Head teacher allocated the staff to the teacher coaches. I became the coach to the Senior Leadership team and also to the teacher coaches. Next academic year, I fully expect that I will not be required and the teacher coaches will take on my role. This is my goal – not to be needed!

Feedback so far – after term one

The co-coaching program has been in place for a term now and I have completed a brief feedback with the teacher coaches. It is pleasing to see the resulting comments summarised below:

  • Having support has helped. Taking to others about their teaching has also made me reflect greatly upon my own.
  • People are changing their attitudes and practise. They are thinking things through before reacting.
  • Time to reflect for coachees and giving the opportunity to focus on an area for improvement has been a luxury.
  • Staff are valuing the input and attention; goal practice is being shared
  • Staff have more confidence within their own teaching ability. Coachees now realise that lots of teachers have similar problems but just have different ways of dealing with things; this has led to independent success and cross sharing of ideas.
  • Identifying and raising people’s self limiting beliefs and challenging these has been beneficial.
  • It is great to have the chance to talk confidentially about things and not worry about it being repeated.
  • The chance to discuss aspects of pedagogy is great
  • Having someone who is non judgemental to talk to is great
  • More useful than anything else we have tried. I wish we had done this years’ ago.
  • Very beneficial – has opened a lot of conversations up and got people into different areas of the school and lessons.
  • My coachees are thinking about how to be outstanding consistently and willing to try new things
  • Wider relationships which are cross curricular. There is an openness to learn and teachers are talking about T&L
  • The coaching process is leading to meaningful, practical sharing of good practice and identification of areas for development which I believe is leading to a genuinely reflective process and better T&L. I feel we are both learning and improving our practice as a result.
  • I am hugely happy with the process and feel I am benefiting enormously

What types of goals are being set?

I asked coaches to summarise the types of areas their coachees were working on. It was great to see both the diversity but also the congruence of the goals.

distribution of goal areas from "Co-Coaching" A guest post by Amanda Clegg

As with any new intervention there are teething issues, but these seem very minor in comparison to the positive comments and benefits above. I am looking forward to term 2 and also setting up the co-coaching programme in another school.

About Amanda Clegg

Amanda CleggAmanda Clegg has been a science teacher in state secondary schools for almost thirty years. She was a member of a Senior Leadership team for 15 years before being asked to lead a private sixth form college through their initial ISI inspection. The college achieved an outstanding judgement. Amanda now works as an Educational and Coaching Consultant in Oxfordshire and Swindon. She is currently acting as temporary Head of Science two days a week in a local secondary school, as well as being an Associate trainer for Creative Education, co-author of a GCSE revision guide and an Associate Lecturer for UWE on the PGCE programme.

www.akc-edconsultancy.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/AKCConsultancy

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/akcconsultancy

email: cf********@*****et.com

Twitter: @Teachercoach1

 

Youth of Today

 in Guest Post  tagged beliefs / leadership coach / leadership trainer / Liz Scott / perception / perspective / proportion / teacher / world view / youth coaching

How many times have your clients shared experiences like the one Liz Scott shares in today’s guest post?

"Youth of Today" A guest post by Liz Scott

Youth of Today

By Liz Scott

What do you think of the youth of today? Are they loutish, rude thugs? After a quick search on the Internet, a quote from the Daily Mail confirmed this view: “British youths have been branded as the most unpleasant and potentially violent young people in the world.” Youngsters get a bad press so it’s easy to start believing these stories.

There’s a man I know, called Jack, who often complains about the youth of today. He’s in his 80’s and talks of a time when young people were respectful and polite. Nowadays all he ever sees are children dropping litter, spitting in the street or putting their feet on the seats of the buses. He finds youngsters frightening and intimidating.

The trouble is that once we start to believe a story like this then we ignore anything that contradicts it. It means that when we look in a newspaper we tend to disregard the stories about youngsters doing good deeds; instead all we see are scary, violent youths.

The other day Jack went shopping and he had a particularly memorable experience with a youngster. He was in the local shop and was chatting to the lady on the till whilst waiting for his change. He said goodbye to her and leaving the shop he started to walk home.

Out of nowhere a young lad, in a hoodie, tapped him on the shoulder. It made Jack jump out of his skin. As the lad lent forward Jack could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The lad reached into his pocket and terrifying thoughts erupted in Jack’s head; ‘Was he pulling out a weapon?’ ‘Should he call for help?’

The teenager took out a two-pound coin and handed it to him. “Here Mister, you forgot your change,” he said, and then giving him a big smile he sauntered on his way.

We are all a bit like Jack. We get stuck in a way of thinking and put the blinkers on. We are expecting the worse and are completely dumbstruck when our view of the world is challenged.

For Jack it was the young people, for you and me it is something else.

Do we really see the world as it is? It’s easy to over-dramatise a story and take it out of proportion. Maybe, now and again, we should challenge our view of the world and try to see things from a different perspective.

About Liz Scott

Liz Scott is a leadership coach and trainer. She is currently working in schools helping to develop coaching cultures; coaching helps bring back fun and passion into teaching and learning. www.lizscottcoaching.com

Find Liz on Twitter at @smartcoachliz

 

Mentoring

 in Guest Post  tagged business coach / business coaching / calm / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / education / executive coach / focus / hypnotherapy / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / Meeta Sengupta / mentoring / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / teacher

How do you describe what you do so that your ideal clients easily understand?

In today’s guest post, originally published online at The Times of India, Meeta Sengupta describes mentoring for teachers in India.

Mentoring a guest post by Meeta Sengupta

Mentoring

by Meeta Sengupta

Everybody needs a pat on their back. From time to time, everybody needs to be able to talk to somebody more knowledgeable, more experienced and more philosophical. Sometimes because one needs a little encouragement, sometimes to renew the faith in oneself. Often one needs a more experienced hand to help us decide direction. More often than not, it is simply because we need to know that somebody is listening and somebody cares. In this competitive world, it is a relief to find some one who is objective and invested in our success.

Mentors help us with our existential questions, but do not answer them for us. They are there for us both as a sounding board and with handy advice when we tackle our classic stage of life questions: What should we do next? How should we do it? What pitfalls can we envisage and try to avoid? Mentors have the experience and the networks to help us reach farther than we can on our own. They are essential for fledgelings, or for any change or ‘lift off’ stage of life. Mentors are our booster shot in life.

Indian culture, and for that matter many other traditional cultures have mentorship built into the warp and weave of life. Our Guru Shishya parampara was not merely the relationship between teacher and student. The Guru is a mentor, often for life. One relies on the gurus, goes back to them in times of need. Sometimes just to rest, sometimes to lean back, often just to feel safe from the battering that one may receive at work. One comes back renewed, refreshed and ready for the next challenge – and if the guru is skilled, one does not even know how it happened. Then, just the thought that the door of the guru is always open is a resource, a source of strength.

As teachers, we are often mentors to our students, though maybe not to all of them. For those who we mentor, a little nudge here, the right questions asked at the right time, a little mental exercise, a challenge set and achieved – these are some of the tools we use everyday. Students may not even realise they are being mentored. The most elegant mentoring is subtle. Parents are mentors too – but their emotional engagement in the child’s success impairs their mentoring. There is little room for strong emotions in mentoring.

Teaching could be a lonely place, and teachers, more than any other profession need a mentoring network to keep them on track. Much of teaching, in practice is about talking to students, holding one’s own in the staff room and looking invincible. That is exhausting – we know it. All leaders know this, and just like in the corporate world, teachers too need renewal and support.

The best teachers are those who set up self renewal mechanisms. They have senior teachers as mentors. They build relationships full of affection and respect inside their classes. In the staffroom they are able to give and receive advice with no loss of face, because it is between peers. The feedback loops here are constructive and therefore effective. Some people seem to do this naturally, others watch and learn. The ones who watch, learn and then pass it on are those who build institutions.

Mentoring should be a part of the formal role of seniors in organisations and must be kept separate from the reporting relationships or from appraisal networks. This is very difficult in small places. In schools senior teachers and head teachers should have formal mentoring responsibilites – a duty of care in addition to the duty of sight. Formal mentoring would mean allocating time and resources to regular sit down sessions, phone/email conversations and interventions. A mentor has a duty to look out for their charges. Informal mentoring networks look easier but depend too much on personalities. Those who are shy or reclusive often miss out on the potential for growth. Mentoring networks, whether senior or even peer networks do not happen automatically, they need building and nurturing

We seek mentors for advice, but when they give it, it can be difficult to take. Traditional and untutored mentoring can be oppressive too. It is a skilled mentor who guides but does not stifle. It is an extremely lucky person who finds a good mentor. It is a wise person who seeks many mentors and learns from each. And, it is a silly person who takes their mentors for granted. Mentoring others is hard work and takes time away from one’s own life and interests. The rewards are few – satisfaction and the joy of making someone else successful. Within corporates the worth of mentoring has been appreciated and forms part of the formal role, but even then much depends upon the goodwill of the mentor. It is often a one way street. All the more reason for the person receiving support (I am not fond of the word – mentee) to respect the time and effort put in by the mentor in their success. The input is such a treasure that thanks are inadequate, often payment inappropriate.

Does everybody deserve a mentor? We may think so, but would the mentors agree? There is a story in hindu mythology that speaks of a time when Shiva, the most perfect performer would not perform until he found the perfect audience – Vishnu. So it is with mentors, as with gurus. They know that some people benefit more from their inputs. With some people stronger bonds are created, and with the common cause comes a more successful partnership. Mentors seek that, because that is their main reward.

Finally, can mentoring be taught? Is it a skill or a talent? Both of course, but more of a skill – thus the tools can be taught. Most people can give advice, not all can be mentors. Mentoring involves self discipline, objectivity and the ability to eliminate oneself from the discussion. At the same time, mentoring need not be a complex process – sometimes all it takes is a warm hug, virtual or real. From time to time.

About the Author/Further Resources

Meeta Sengupta is an educator and advisor specializing in business education, cross border skill development, and coaching and mentoring. She has worked in a range of sectors including commercial banking, investment banking, publishing, education and skills development. She has strong research, teaching and leadership skills honed through many years of experience in academia, corporate, and multilateral organizations. Meeta currently runs an enterprise that supports various projects across the sector including Words and More (writing by children), a knowledge sharing platform for educators and supports self –organised efforts of the educators in Higher Education as part of her role as chairperson of the North India chapter of the Higher Education Forum.

Follow Meeta on twitter (@Meetasengupta)