1. COACHING TEACHERS The Art of Maryland State Department of Education
Division of Instruction
MD College and Career Readiness Conference 2015
4 minutes
Introduce yourself and have the participants stand up if:
They are an administrator
They are an instructional coach/mentor
They are team leader, on SIT or other
Ask what they hope to get out of this session
To prepare for this session, please go on the International Coach Federation web site and go to Frequently Asked Questions. There are lots of good replies to questions you may be asked.

2. Outcomes
Gain an understanding of role of coaching in building capacity in staff to implement the College and Career-Ready Standards
Evaluate your active listening and paraphrasing skills
Observe and evaluate the process of coaching
2 minutes
At this point it is important to clarify that in this 90 min. session, participants will have just a short introduction to the power of using coach-like behaviors to build capacity in others.
Create a word splash of what coaching teachers means to them. Highlight Being a Good Listener .

3. Discuss the many roles of a coach
Discuss the many roles of a coach. Educational leadership coaching involves guiding a staff member from where they are to where they want to be (i.e. a desired goal) through focused, thought-provoking questioning. Highlight being a good listener to point out that this session focuses on the importance of active listening and its impact on coaching.
Word Splash: What is leadership coaching?

4. Why the Brain Needs Coaching
“When coaches explain the brain to their clients, clients become more accepting of coaching, more aware of their own mental processes, and more self-aware.”
-David Rock
4 minutes
Changing old wiring is the role of psychologists. Creating new wiring is the role of coaching. If your have your own examples that would be great. If not you can use the following, “Coaching helped people in a leadership development program move from thinking and acting as a manager to thinking as a leader. The coaching client went from doing his job to seeking out opportunities for creating new opportunities to increase collaboration and student/staff engagement. Without coaching over time it is difficult to change either mental habits or physical habits.
Ask audience for their own examples.

5. Discoveries from Neuroscience
Neurons that fire together, wire together.
The brain is hard-wired.
Brain looks for patterns and creates maps.
Brain reacts through fight, flight, freeze.
Emotion drives attention; attention drives learning.
Coaching is all about getting someone to change. Since the brain is hard wired, it is very difficult to undo the existing hard wiring.
Coaching disrupts the hard wiring by intentionally setting new goals and supporting a valued colleague to make that goal a reality.

6. Coaching Mentoring Coaches hold the belief that the person being
coached is competent and capable of
generating their own solutions to their goals.
Mentors guide from his/her own experience. The purpose of mentoring is for mentors to share their expertise with novices, to help novices feel comfortable and secure.
2 minutes
Review slide and add that new teachers receive mentoring support that in many ways reflect the basic skills of coaching. For example mentors listen, paraphrasing and checking for understanding before going to problem solving, advice or teaching a new content strategy.
Stress: BOTH REQUIRE EXCELLENT LISTENING SKILLS!

7. Supervision, Mentoring & Coaching Continuum
Supervisor Zone
Mentoring Zone
Coaching Zone
Co-Creating the Relationship
Give Advice: Give the Answer
Give Advice by asking "loaded questions"
Teaching
Offering Options
Creating Awareness
Designing Actions
Planning and Goal Setting
Monitoring Progress
Celebrating Success
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
3 minutes ONY USE IF YOU WANT TO OR REPLACE WITH ONE THAT CHANGES THE SUPERVISORY
No matter what you’re doing (supervising, mentoring, and coaching) EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION is important in all zones.
Look closely at the continuum. Point out that under the coaching zone the International Coaching Federation Competencies are listed: Effective Communication, Creating Awareness, Designing Actions, Planning and Goal Setting, and Monitoring Progress and Accountability.
When you are working with others a good starting point is a soft coaching approach: listening first and checking to make sure you understand the other person’s situation.
Think about someone who you interact with. Do you have someone in mind? Are they coming to you for advice? What happens if you give advice, they try it, and it doesn’t work? The answer is often, Well I tried it, it didn’t work, it’s not my fault. One of the strongest reasons for starting with a soft coaching approach is to have the coachee take responsibility for actions needed to improve with your support.
Continuum Activity
The participants get into small groups. Each group will get a continuum “placemat” and word bubbles. The groups place the word bubbles on the continuum in the place each bubble belongs. The facilitator circulates and brings attention to the group for any answers that create problems or questions.
Brainstorm: What are some situations in which you might assume the role of a “coach”?

8. As Educational Leaders, we wear many hats!
Supervisor
Mentor
Coach

9. Assess your listening Complete the Assessment of Listening Qualities
Score the assessment
Share with your partner
12 minutes
Pass out the Effective Communicating Self-Evaluation handout – there will be one per participant. Read the instructions at the top of the handout. Make note that there are 30 questions and some of the questions are on the back of the page.
As participants complete the self-evaluation have them turn to the second handout- Scoring Index . Read the top of the handout before transferring scores then circulate to monitor the scoring. Most participants comment – I didn’t know I was such a poor listening.
Now that you have established that we could all improve our listening skills. Let’s look at what in involved in active listening

10. Survey: Rate your listening skills:
Rock Star: I am the absolute best listener.
Expert: I am a great listener.
Average Joe: I have moments of greatness, but I could use some practice.
Work in Progress: I think I need a little guidance.

11. Dwight demonstrates why active listening is difficult

12. Do you fall into Unproductive Patterns of Listening?
Read the handout on Unproductive Patterns of Listening
Note situations in which you have used these types of listening patterns
Discuss the noted items with your group
Each group report out examples
How can you change these patterns?
10 minutes
Effective listeners monitor and manage their own listening skills by focusing their mental energies on the other person’s verbal and non-verbal communication.
To listen with such intensity requires intentionally and avoiding unproductive behaviors that interfere with the ability to hear and understand another.
Pass out the Unproductive Patterns of Listening

13. Why is there a “Listening Gap”?
Russ Peterson explains why active listening is difficult.
The average person speaks at about words a minute, but can listen to words a minute.
Play youtube. (you will get lots of laughs) Now is true confession time. Does this happen to you? When
The average person speaks at about words a minute, but can listen to words a minute.

14. Listening Handle Distractions Paraphrase Value Skillfully Silence
Pay attention to verbal/nonverbal
cues
Set Aside Unproductive Patterns of Listening
Handle
Distractions
Listening
Paraphrase
Skillfully
Value
Silence
6 minutes
Now that you have established that everyone can improve their listening skills. Stress that being a good listener requires multiple skills. Have participants comment on the components of active listening.
Ask how to they handle distractions when you want to be actively listen? Solicit answers
Most people will say that they pay attention to both verbal and body language. Say that here is research that says that if the verbal and nonverbal clues are incongruent, then the other person will believe the nonverbal. As a coach it is key that you attending verbal and nonverbally to the other person.
The two hardest listening skills are allowing for silence. In the USA silence is often very uncomfortable. On way to fill the silence when if becomes awkward if to ask “What else or tell me more”. These two simple questions will allow for much deeper thinking.
The other hard one is listening without obligation to act. Solicit comments . . Give your own examples. Many times the other person will leave saying “Thanks so much, this really helped and in reality you haven’t said a thing. Has that happen to any of you?
Say when a person’s verbal and nonverbal cues are incongruent- the other person will believe the nonverbal cures over what is being said.
Stress that valuing silence is one of the hardest.
Say- as a leader do you actively listen all the time. You will get no for an answer. Discuss with the group when social listening is just fine.
Listen without the obligation to act

15. Put in your favorite quotes about listening.

16. Paraphrasing Three types of paraphrasing Acknowledging and clarifying
“You’re thinking that…”
“So, you’re wondering if…”
You’re frustrated because…”
Summarizing and organizing
“Sounds like you’re ready to move on…”
“I am hearing that you are dissatisfied with your classroom management.”
“ I hear 3 things: first, you’re going to…”
Shifting conceptual focus (most difficult)
Shift Up: “So, a major goal for you this year might be?”
Shift Down: “List 5 strategies that you might employ to reach your goal”
7 minutes
One way to know that you are really listening is the ability to feedback what you heard. This certainly is NOT the old “What I hear you saying is. . .” In some cases this is very off putting.
So before you do anything else as a coach, check to see that you listened fully and that you are checking to see if you got it right. There are at least 3 types of paraphrasing
Expand the Acknowledging and Clarifying with these examples:
You’re think that . . .
So, you're wondering if
You’re frustrated because
Summarizing and Organizing
Sounds like you’re ready to move on to . . .
I hear three things, first you’re going to . . Then you will . . Lastly . .
Shifting conceptual Focus – this is the hardest.
Shifting thinking to a higher or lower level.
If the person you are coaching is telling a long story that is mostly about nuts and bolts, detail then shift UP to goals, values, beliefs, assumptions
So, a major goal for you this year is
On the other hand if the person you are coaching is spending most of the time with big picture ideas the shift DOWN
A shift down can be examples, choices, actions,
So, one strategy you are wondering is

17. Practice your listening skills!
10 minutes
Say “Stand up and find a person you have not talked to today.” Establish who is going to be A and who is going to be B. Ask them to talk about what they want to get out of this session or this conference. Then ask what they have gotten out of their sessions so far. Enourage them to talk about any frustrations they may have experienced so far. (It is easier to when there is some emotion attached)
Person A talks for 3 minutes (Use a timer)
Person B paraphrases in 1 minute or less.
Then switch for another round.
Have a brief discussion of how that felt to be listened to and understood.

18. Coach as Communicator Active listening Thought-provoking questioning
Direct communication
3 minutes
Effective Communication surrounds and supports all of the other coaching competencies. Read the slide and say A coach spends more time listening than speaking. A coach listens 80% of the time and speaks on 20% of the time. So why is this of difficult?
Take a few responses from the group.

19. Supervision, Mentoring & Coaching Continuum
Supervisor Zone
Mentoring Zone
Coaching Zone
Co-Creating the Relationship
Give Advice: Give the Answer
Give Advice by asking "loaded questions"
Teaching
Offering Options
Creating Awareness
Designing Actions
Planning and Goal Setting
Monitoring Progress
Celebrating Success
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
3 minutes ONY USE IF YOU WANT TO OR REPLACE WITH ONE THAT CHANGES THE SUPERVISORY
Look closely at the continuum. Point out that under the coaching zone the International Coaching Federation Competencies are listed: Effective Communication, Creating Awareness, Designing Actions, Planning and Goal Setting, and Monitoring Progress and Accountability.
When you are working with others a good starting point is a soft coaching approach: listening first and checking to make sure you understand the other person’s situation.
Think about someone who you interact with. Do you have someone in mind? Are they coming to you for advice? What happens if you give advice, they try it, and it doesn’t work? The answer is often, Well it tired it, it didn’t work, it’s not my fault. One of the strongest reasons for starting with a soft coaching approach is to have the coachee take responsibility for actions needed to improve with your support.
Brainstorm: What are some situations in which you might assume the role of a “coach”?

20. Final Thought….

21. What are your Take-Aways?
Turn to a partner and…
Tell him/her a discovery, new learning or a surprise
Share one thing that you are going to commit to using
Be prepared to share out with the group
As time permits, have participants share either a discovery or a commitment.