I will often underline key quotes while I’m reading professional books and mark the margin with a Q, which signifies a quote that resonated with me. After my recent reminder about the instructional core, from Instructional Rounds in Education, my first two quotes from are books I’ve revisited.
Masterful coaches inspire people by helping them recognize the previously unseen possibilities that lay embedded in their existing circumstances. ~ Robert Hargrove (2003), as quoted by Elena Aguilar in The Art of Coaching (2013)
It is no secret that I love Aguilar’s work (if you are new to my blog you can read about it in My Coaching Beliefs and Core Values among many other posts!). What I love about this particular quote is the way it defines the work of coaching to be about the strengths and possibilities within each coachee. Coaching is about facilitating reflection for individuals, providing support when needed, and helping people see new opportunities in their familiar landscapes.
Image credit: georgecouros.ca
If students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them. ~ George Couros, The Innovator’s Mindset
I am participating in the #IMMOOC which is a HUGE virtual book study and discussion about The Innovator’s Mindset and innovation in education. I first read the book months ago and even used a George quote in my first Quotes That Resonate post. I’ve written before about inquiry, and how young children are full of questions, but in a typical classroom, we see few student-generated questions (the older the students, the less questions). So many school experiences have been designed for students to follow the directions of adults, not their own curiosity. Through the inquiry work I led in my previous position, I saw a powerful impact on student learning. I hope that we are inspiring students to use their curiosity to drive learning, and I strive to do the same with teachers and leaders.
Teaching kids to write isn’t just something where you can turn down the lights, turn on some music, and say, “Write!” It takes really clear strategy instruction to lift the level of student’s writing. .. And that means teachers having opportunities to work on their own writing. ~ Lucy Calkins, “Remodeling the Workshop: Lucy Calkins on Writing Instruction Today” from Edweek (though I read it first in Kappan September, 2016).
If you know me in person, or have read my blog for awhile, you know that my love of writing is strong. Writer’s workshop training at Teachers’ College with Lucy Calkins changed the way I taught and coached. Calkin’s is an expert in the field of writing instruction and I appreciate her perspective on all things writing. Having worked at elementary, middle, high school, and college levels, I can say that many educators have not had formal writing instruction themselves, nor training on how to teach writing to children. In addition, many adults I have worked with have a great fear of writing. I see adults struggle with and also embrace the writer in themselves through a district-wide blog that celebrates our learning community.
The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world…~ Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Wow. Just wow. Talking about resonating with me. Reading these statements further cemented in my mind the need for criminal justice reform in our country. I already had this belief after the Serial, Undisclosed, and Making of a Murderer opened my eyes to the frequent miscarriage of justice that happens to poor, minority, and/or people with intellectual or physical challenges. So many statistics, with research cited, in this book are prompting me to question our national practices. I appreciate when a text makes me question, makes me happy, makes me angry, and makes me want to take action.
These are a few quotes that have been resonating with me. What’s resonated with you lately?
Previous posts about quotes that resonate:
Reflections on Leadership and Learning 
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