Mentoring

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I have written many posts on coaching.  I was a literacy coach in a previous position.  Most recently I left a position as a director who oversaw the instructional coaches at each of our district school sites.  I am passionate about coaching and my beliefs related to instructional coaching.  But today I’m transitioning into some reflections on mentoring.

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In my new district, we are recreating a new teacher induction and support program (formerly known as BTSA here in California).  The new induction standards call out the role of mentor (formerly know as a Support Provider under BTSA), so that is the term we are using.

According to dictionary.com a mentor is

a wise and trusted counselor or teacher

The same resource has 11 different definitions of a coach, but none of them relate to the support of teachers.  The two closest definitions, that we in education have hijacked, are:

a person who trains an athlete or team of athletes;

a person who instructs an actor or a singer

As I reflect on those definitions, I am struck by the differences and the possible ambiguity when this role impacts so many teachers and students.  Luckily, I have worked in systems that clearly defined the terms we used, so that everyone knew what we meant by “literacy coach” or “academic coach”.  My colleague who will oversee the new induction program has also worked with a committee of teachers and administrators to create a definition of our new “mentor” expectations.  Our expectations for mentors are actually very similar to that of the coaches I’ve worked with in the past.  Our mentors will be asked to teach model/ demo lessons, observe classroom instruction, and provide feedback on lessons.

We are tapping into the knowledge, experience, and expertise of our veteran teachers to serve as mentors to our newest colleagues who will just be entering the teaching profession.  Most importantly, we hope to create an experience where new teachers feel supported and welcomed, and therefore more likely to remain in the professional longer than the average (where teacher turnover rates are sad and shocking).

Some of my most influential learnings as a teacher and a leader have come with support from my mentors.  There are a few leaders who have served, and continue to serve, as my mentor throughout my career and I know that I am a better educator, a better leader, because of their wise and trusted counsel and support.

  • Does your school or district have coaches or mentors?
  • How is the role defined?
  • Have you had a valuable coach or mentor in your career?

*I’m participating in the #educoach blogging challenge and look forward to continuing the conversation with colleagues through comments, Voxer, and Twitter!

 

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April Reading Update

Posted on April 30, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Here are the reading experiences I had this month.

  1. Field of Prey by John Sandford – Before I left for a recent vacation I downloaded this book by one of my favorite mystery writers.  The books I read in March were not among my favorites and I wanted to experience some fun pleasure reading while soaking up the rays on the beaches in Hawaii.  Sanford’s Prey books never disappoint- this was another interesting mystery that I enjoyed!
  2. The Affair by Lee Child – Child’s Jack Reacher series is one of my favorites.  Every time I start another book I feel like I’m visiting with an old friend, albeit a violent, loner friend, but still.  This was one of favorites in the series because it flashed back to tell the story of how Reacher became the man we know him as in the current books.  I love when an author can flash back to shed new light on a familiar character.
  3. Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan – This was a random deal on Barnes & Noble in the mystery Nook section.  It was actually two short stories in one book.  I enjoyed getting to know female private investigators, especially since the two books I read before it had male main characters.  It was an okay storyline and I am willing to check out another in the series to see if I really like the characters and the style of writing.
  4. Explore Like A  Pirate: Gamification and Game-Inspired Course Design to Engage, Enrich, and Elevate Your Learners by Michael Matera – This is another great book published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.  I knew practically nothing about gamification before reading this.  Now I feel like I can have an educated conversation about it (and I plan to, regarding district professional growth opportunities!).
  5. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling- This is another audiobook I enjoyed in the genre of celebrity autobiographies! While I don’t love her current show, I appreciate her wit and her love of romantic comedies.
  6. A Wanted Man by Lee Child – This was not one of my favorite Reacher books, but I still enjoyed the overall experience and the twists and turns.
  7. Deep Down by Lee Child- This was a short story based on Jack Reacher.  It was a quick read and different from the normal books because of the lack of violence and suspense.
  8. Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Souers with Pete Hall – I wish I had read this book when I was a teacher or a principal!  It took me years of experience working in schools full of students who had experience a wide range of trauma to understand how to work best to support my students.  As a principal, I gave up self-care and became so unhealthy, which only added to my stress while dealing with a trauma-filled school.  This is a great read for any educator!  One line that resonated with me was, “forever changed, not forever damaged,” and is so important to remember as we work with students who have had traumatic experiences.
  9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – One of my favorite books as a child, when I reread it this month I realized I have no idea why I enjoyed it as a child!  This was such an odd experience for me, because I didn’t love it and couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why my younger self loved this particular story.  As a young reader I did not enjoy SciFi and the YA dystopian genre did not exist back then.  It made me sad to finish this book without loving it and thereby changing my opinion of a once-beloved favorite.

This brings my 2016 total to 30.

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Thinking in Numbers

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I began this blog back in 2012.  Since then I have written 230 posts.

For Question Week, I wrote one blog post in questions.

I have had two focus words: mindfulness and rejuvenate.

My blog is filled with 26 posts about reflection, in the Abecedary.

I have an Evernote file with at least 10 blog post ideas going at any given point in time.

When I do a search for the word “coaching” on this blog, there are 42 posts flagged.

I write 1-3 blog posts a week, usually.

Each morning I read anywhere from 3-15 blogs.

When I publish a post, my 2,589 Twitter followers see it (if they catch it fly by in their timeline!).

After returning from an 8 day vacation, I had too many emails to count, over 30 Voxer messages in the chats I am a member of, 3 loads of laundry to do, and 3 days to relax before returning to work.

What numbers make up your life right now?

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After starting this post, I read this great slice in numbers!

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Rejuvenate Update #2

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Rejuvenate is my focus word for 2016.  I try to spend time weekly building or maintaing a habit around my word and then reflecting on my progress.  Since my update in February, I created my beautiful question to go along with my word of the year: What opportunities am I creating for rejuvenation? Then I had the best opportunity for rejuvenation possible – an 8 day vacation in Hawaii!

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View of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head

Other opportunities I created to help rejuvenate over the last two months include:

  • Restorative yoga & breathing exercises
  • Essential oils used daily at home and in my office
  • Instagram- I choose to fill my feed with happy pictures that keep me smiling!
  • New coloring books for continued mindfulness
  • Learning about Auyredic properties and how to continue to use food and lifestyle to rejuvenate
  • Enjoying every sunset possible

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Yoga on the beach in Hawaii

 

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I love a sunset over water! 

 

What is your word of 2016?  How is it helping you?

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March Reading Update

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

This year I’m sharing the experiences I have reading.  This month I reached my #read16in16 goal, but there are plenty more books on my to-be-read list!

 

  1. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert -This book was on so many people’s end-of-2015 list of books they read and loved that I had to add it to my must read list. I’m so glad I did because I enjoyed reading it!  It was an easy read with multiple reminders to enjoy your creativity every day.  For me, that is writing and I am inspired to do that more, thanks to this book! I expanded on my thoughts in this post Find Your Big Magic specifically about the inspiration from this book.                 Big Magic
  2. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini – I loved listening to this audio book. My friend and I have always been fascinated by the secrets behind Scientology, and this book spills the beans on that and more!  I appreciated Remini’s honesty about how she loved her time in Scientology and the struggles to leave it and then accept her life without it.  Her life is nothing like I would have imagined, which reminds me not to judge a book by its cover, nor a celebrity by their tabloid persona.                                                                                     aclk.jpg
  3. Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz -This was an audio book I downloaded a long time ago, and just got around to listening to it this week.  I knew nothing about the story, so it was a pleasant surprise to listen, truly not knowing anything about the plot.  I enjoyed getting to know the flawed characters and the way the author connected to real-life events (from the 80’s). This is a sweet YA story!               search
  4. Eat – Taste – Heal by Thomas Yarema, Daniel Rhoda, Chef Johnny Brannigan –    This was recommended by my acupuncturist, as we continue to work with what my body needs to heal, to rejuvenate.  The information resonated with me, so reading this made a lot of sense to me at this point in my time.    I’m making an effort to focus on food to be the most healing for my body type as described in the book.                                     imgres
  5. Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris –   I have always loved NPH, from his days as Doogie Howser, M.D., to Barney on “How I Met Your Mother” to everything in between.  I truly believe he and I could be good friends if we ever met IRL. 😉  I listened to his book, which was adapted from the written version.  The written version is truly written as a choose-your-own adventure style.  Obviously that is harder to capture in an audio book, but the adaptations were cute.   I LOVE listening the real celebrities reading their own books- it truly brings the story to live for me.  This was no exception.  It was a quick, fun read about my future BFF!                    nph book
  6. City of Beasts by Isabel Allende – I read books by Allende in Spanish while in college.  I never knew she wrote YA books and recently discovered this in a used book store.  I actually held a physical book in my hands to read this (rare these days!).  This was not a quick-paced adventure, but a long, slow-moving story told in many details.  I liked, but did not love the experience of reading this.  What I did enjoy was the location (the Amazon), especially after hearing all about the Amazon from Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic.                                                                                                                     search-1
  7. Better Conversations: Coaching Ourselves and Each Other To Be More Credible, Caring, and Connected by Jim Knight – I began reading this book as part of a monthly book study on the #educoach chat.  While I was familiar with Jim Knight’s work around coaching, I hadn’t read one of his books in entirety.  I really enjoyed this book at this point in my life.  He provides concrete steps to help us all become better conversationalists by enhancing our listening and communicating skills.  He also encourages us to videotape ourselves and analyze our conversation through a variety of lenses; that is next on my to-do list!                                                                                aclk

 

Earlier 2016 Updates:

January

February

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Reflections on the value of a PLN

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

My first year of teaching I was blessed to work in a middle school where we worked on true interdisciplinary teams.  I was the Spanish and Civics teacher on the team and my colleagues taught Math, Science, and English; we all shared the same group of students and had a common prep period.  My Apollo team colleagues not only supported me, the brand new teacher straight out of college, but they also taught me the value of a Professional Learning Network (PLN).  We used our common prep period to collaborate on a wide variety of issues, but this was years before I was introduce to the DuFours’ work around Professional Learning Communities (PLC). At the time, my naive 21-year-old self had no idea how lucky she was to have a built in PLC handed to her during her first year of teaching.

team

Since that time, my PLN has evolved from the colleagues at my own site, to the colleagues I met at workshops and conferences within my district and across the country.  I am currently working in my fourth district in San Diego and that has been a blessing to my PLN.  With each successive move, I have carried with me amazing contacts who continue to challenge my thinking, enhance my practice, and encourage my work.  I am a better educator because of the people who are a part of my PLN, near and far.

When it comes to Social Media, Twitter is the main way that I have added people to my PLN.  I avoided using Voxer for a long time.  But every once in awhile someone I respect would mention a valuable conversation they had through a Voxer chat, and my interest would be piqued.  I recently joined a Voxer group associated with the #educoach chat.

One of the common trends I’ve noticed is that many of the participants appear to have jobs where they are very isolated. I don’t mean isolated as in rural versus urban setting.  I mean isolated as in they are the sole instructional coach in a building, district, city, or region. There are various positions that have been created without training or support. When I think about these people, a Voxer group dedicated to sharing best practices in coaching makes sense.  Not only do you have a built-in PLN to share ideas and ask questions, but you create a support system for yourself across the country.

I am so happy that these folks have found one another and are able to find the support they need and deserve.  This leads me to wonder about others… the people who are thrown into a coaching position with no training or support. I believe very strongly that any initiative (such as adding instructional coaching to a system) should be collaboratively planned, based on research and a theory of action, with supports and accountability measurements to check on the progress of said initiative.  While it may be time and labor-intensive at the beginning, I guarantee that the time spent up front will save you time in the long run.  With proper planning and support, you will have less turnover, less stress, and more productivity. I hope that the coaches out there with less structure and support are able to build their own PLN, to surround themselves with colleagues who can guide and assist their new learning.

Reflective thoughts to ponder:

  • Do you use Voxer?
  • How do you interact with and grow your PLN? 
  • Does your school, district, or system have positions that were created without a system of support? 

 

 

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Five: A Survey

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

I read a number of healthy blogs.  Many of the bloggers I follow are friends and colleagues. When one of them publishes a cute blog survey, others quickly follow.  I have now read 4-5 versions of this survey and finally decided to add my own thoughts, with a leadership and learning twist.  Feel free to play along in the comments with your leadership or personal answers!

Five Places I’m Dying To Visit

  • A school district with a positive culture and climate that has equity as a central focus, where students and adults thrive in a fun, supportive learning community
  • A school district (other than my own!) where the Superintendent is a true Instructional Leader
  • A university-based teacher education program that prepares teachers for the realities of teaching in an urban setting in the 21st Century (and ditto for leaders!)
  • A local EdCamp in my own district, co-created by an amazing team of teacher leaders!
  • An upcoming Learning Forward conference!

Five Tasks I Do Every Day

  • Journal for personal leadership reflection
  • Check and response to email
  • Speak to my colleagues
  • Read Twitter for educational inspiration
  • Smile- this work is fun!

Five Talents I Wish I Had

  • Change-easer- the ability to help educators navigate through complex change painlessly
  • Balancer – the ability to seamlessly find balance between work and personal life
  • Cheerleader – the ability to cheer for people all around our system- acknowledging their efforts, approximations, successes, and repeated attempts!
  • Sharer – the ability to share the great things happening in our schools with everyone around the world as they happen (Social Media makes this more possible than in the past, but it’s not a perfect system yet) and interact with others about our work
  • De-hoarder – the ability to help educators minizing their hoarding tendencies, limit the amount of paper we hold onto, and help others organize their work spaces and lives

Five Leaders I Wish I Could Work With

  • Elena Aguilar – a leader in coaching and supporting the work of coaches
  • Dr. Anthony Muhammad – A leader in the field of culture and climate
  • My friend and former colleague Shelley Burgess– anytime anywhere!
  • My friend and a member of my doctoral committee Dr. Leighangela Brady – a passionate leader focused on innovative ideas to personalize learning for all students
  • My friend and former colleague Pauline Leavitt – another passionate leader focused on the learning success of all students while creating a professional environment that supports her staff

Five Twitter Hashtags I Love

  • #LeadLAP – Lead Like a Pirate, created by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf – I can’t read their book!
  • #educoach – Created by Kathy Perret, Jessica Johnson and Shira Leibowitz – the chat takes place every Wednesday evening
  • #satchatwc – This is a west coast spin off of an east coast original chat.  I was once  a co-moderator.  Now I love spending my Saturday morning being inspired by the positive, uplifting topics!
  • #Read16in16 – This inspired me in 2015 and this year to blog about all of the books I’m reading and to share them with others.
  • #tcrwp – Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project – I’ve written about my love of this work before and it will always have a special place in my heart (the feed is FULL of classroom examples of amazing literacy instruction!).

Five Blogs I Love To Read

Five Phrases I Have On Repeat 

  • Voice and choice matter in student AND adult learning
  • What can we celebrate from that classroom/ meeting/ workshop?  What is going well for students?
  • What do YOU think?
  • Have you explored Twitter?
  • We are creating personalized professional growth pathways

Five Books On My To-Be-Read List

  • Explore Like a Pirate by Michael Matera
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Souers with Pete Hall
  • The Multigenerational Workplace by Jennifer Abrams
  • The Art of Coaching Teams by Elena Aguilar

 

What five things are important to your leadership and learning?

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Presume Positive Intentions

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

“If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will.”

– Abraham Lincoln 

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Teaching and leading are incredible jobs!  The days are long, but the rewards are great (when we have the patience to wait for them!).  As educators, we must be staunch defenders of our amazing profession; this vocation that called to us and that keeps us coming back despite the many challenges.  Too often, we allow the judgments and criticisms of others, or worse, our own negative self-doubt, to tarnish the work we do. To combat that, I am embracing the idea of presuming positive intentions.

I don’t know a single teacher  or counselor or support staff member who gets up in the morning determined to ruin the lives of children.

I don’t know a single administrator who gets up and skips into work, hoping to torture the adults or students with whom he or she works.  

I’ve heard many versions of the statements above.  By presuming positive intentions, I  can “shut out the mental noise of judgment,” as Carolyn McKanders says in this Learning Forward article.  I can take time to build relationships with my fellow educators so that when I don’t understand their actions, I can empathize with them instead of criticizing.

When I visit classrooms with fellow administrators, coaches, or teachers, I like to begin any debrief by asking, “What can we celebrate?”  So often we are quick to jump to conclusions and make statements that appear judgmental and negative after viewing just a few short minutes of someone’s hard work.  When we see a very small window of a much larger landscape, we are wise to remind ourselves and our colleagues to presume positive intentions.  Even if we, as visitors don’t know, understand, or agree with what we observed, when we begin with celebrations we come from a positive, strength-based stance.

If we can celebrate our work from within, some of that enthusiasm is bound to sneak out to the public.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to open a newspaper or magazine and read positive, uplifting stories about the incredible work being done in schools all across America?

I encourage you, as educational leaders, to presume positive intentions when working with your staff, your students, and your colleagues.  Help make the message positive! Tell OUR story OUR way (instead of the way many non-educator journalists often do).

 

 

 

 

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My Beautiful Question

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

As I wrote about earlier this week, we are now in the middle of Question Week.  One of the resources for individuals to consider is this article by Warren Berger, about forgetting a new years resolution and writing a beautiful question instead.  As I read Berger’s advice, it connected so nicely with Elizabeth Gilbert’s advice in Big Magic, which I reflected on here, as well as on my focus word of the year.

Rejuvenate 2016

Can I turn my focus word, rejuvenate, into a beautiful question that will impact my creativity this year?

Here are some initial drafts:

  • How can writing help me rejuvenate my mind and my soul this year?
  • How can I use my strengths and my passions to rejuvenate me?
  • How do I focus on rejuvenation throughout my day?
  • Is what I am choosing to do helping me rejuvenate?
  • Does this ____ (friendship, activity, task, event, choice) provide an opportunity for rejuvenation?
  •  What opportunities am I creating for rejuvenation?

Through my brainstorming, I was able to come up with a number of question that all get at the same idea, with a slightly different connotation.  I think my final question is the one that resonates with me the most.  It’s all about me- my choices, and the opportunities I create for myself.  I like the positive nature of opportunities and the empowerment of creating.  Therefore, my beautiful question for 2016 is:

What opportunities am I creating for rejuvenation? 

What is your beautiful question? 

Previous posts on rejuvenate:

Rejuvinate

My Word of 2016

Previous posts on questioning:

The Art of Questioning

Facilitating Learning by Questioning

Reflective questions

 

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Question Week

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Amy's Reflections

Mark 13-19 is Question Week, according to Warren Berger.

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I appreciate that the site’s goal is to elevate the art of questioning, because “asking good questions helps us identify the right problem and generate creative solutions”.  There are some fun resources for educators, parents, students, and companies about questions on the site.  In honor of question week, the remainder of this post will only use questions (in a bulleted list, because I never need an excuse to make a bulleted list!).

  • Why are questions so easy for young children?
  • When do we lose that natural curiosity?
  • How can teachers turn over the questioning to students?
  • How does asking our own questions impact our learning?
  • Are inquiry projects successful because student questions drive the learning?
  • If the person who talks the most, learns the most, who is doing the most learning in your classroom?
  • How will you share Question Week in your site or district?
  • When you visit classrooms, do you track the number of questions asked by teachers and/or students?
  • Who asks the most questions in your class or school?
  • What makes a good question?
  • What is the best interview question you have been asked?
  • Which type of question do you dread in interviews?
  • Where do you curate your own inquiries?
  • Why isn’t every week question week?
  • Could you write a blog entirely in questions?
  • Have you ever had a conversation using only questions?
  • Does this list feel as random to you as it does to me?
  • What questions are floating around in your mind right now?
  • Where do you go to answer your own questions?
  • How do you share your new learning?
  • Will you comment on this blog?
  • How will you share this post with others?
  • How can I thank you for reading and sharing my questions today?

 

 

 

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