When I went to ASCD last week, I picked up, “Evocative Coaching.” It was one of those books, you know, that you pick up and can’t put down. I read on the flight home and continued to read all throughout spring break. To sum it up? This quote about the book is why I think I loved it so very much:
Adults like to figure things out for themselves, building on what they already know and do well,
without receiving judgmental feedback that calls into question either their intentions or their
abilities. To facilitate that kind of learning, we have to turn the tables on the questions we ask, the
listening we do, and the reflections we make in our thinking and in our conversations. (Source: Here)
The book made me think about years of teaching, about working with students, about working with teachers, about learning, and about leading. It made me realize that when I was in the classroom, surrounded by kids, the way I loved to teach most of all? It was far more about leading than anything else. I was their guide, but I always wanted the answers, the ideas, the thoughts, the questions… to be theirs. I was merely a sign post on their journey to improvement, flexibly moving where I needed to, to provide just the amount of support necessary. I would take into account their strengths, and I would work to ask them questions to think about building on their areas of needed improvement. Then? I would get out of their way. Because real learning and changing only happens when you have the internal drive, confidence, and motivation to try it yourself. And it can only happen in the kind of space where there is trust.
The book has left me with so many questions. This? Is it why so many school initiatives across the country fail? We try to change teachers with a PowerPoint or a book study at the start of a school year. We wonder why change never takes place. We forget to acknowledge that teachers ARE learners, and treat them as collaborators in the process. Do we focus more on the process or just the end goal most of the time? Do our schools have the kind of cultures necessary where teachers can take risks or are we more focused on checking off boxes on an evaluation or on creating a score report?
Education is about awakening the strengths we all have within ourselves. Serving others. Collaborating, reflecting, and improving. It’s a journey, not an event. When we pour our hearts into something, to give others a chance to discover a pathway to improvement or to awaken a new understanding within them? That’s leadership. That’s learning. And that is what education is truly about.