I have experimented with creating a playlist in YouTube. This is a playlist about Connected Coaching as described in the Powerful Learning Practice online course – Connected Coaching.
I have added other videos I think relate to what I learned.
The great thing is you can share the playlist through social media or by embedding it in your blog or website.
As I complete 11 weeks in the Connected Coaching course with PLPNetwork I am coming to terms with the Wayfinding model, a term used to describe the Connected Coaching Model. Wayfinding, as I discovered, describes how a person orientates themselves and navigates through an area or space.
The Connected Coach therefore is the guide supporting the coachee in knowing:
PLP Connected Coaching – Wayfinding. Lani Ritter Hall
My concern, or biggest fear, when I began this course was how the model compared to the Growth Coaching model I had been trained in during my accreditation with Growth Coaching International. I soon discovered that the connected coaching model is a process that is not prescriptive. There are pathmarkers to guide us in our role as coaches; trustbuilding, questioning and facilitating design thinking. However the process is not linear. It may be messy and we may need to take detours and revisit based on the needs of the learner.
As the course delved into each of the pathmarkers and I practiced with co-learners and colleagues I gained some confidence in the techniques, but questions about if I would know when and how to use these techniques with learners still plagued me. You see, I saw myself as a coach – practiced in the techniques, or the science of coaching, but did a really understand the ‘art’ of it?
It wasn’t until I explored the strength-based, appreciative inquiry approach in leading my learners in new ways of learning together and explored where it is they need to go, that I have come to better understand the ‘art’ of coaching.
I learned that by focusing on my learners and their best interests that this took the pressure off me to ‘know the answers’. Instead by requesting their stories, paraphrasing to demonstrate active listening, making observations about successes, affirming their potential and following up by asking an appreciative question, this has the potential to lead the learner in developing self-awareness – where they think they need to go next.
As the stories unfold I am reminded of Ronald Heifetz’s metaphor of watching dancers from the balcony. As a coach I need to get to the balcony to see the big picture — notice patterns, detect direction, gain perspective, observe movement.
As I watch the dance I am supported in the knowledge that I am practiced in the technique of coaching, but now I realise if I focus on the interests of the dancers and not mine, that I have the heart, the tools and strategies that will help the dancers work out how to get where they want to go .
How might I reflect my new understandings now in my video I made of me as coach at the beginning of this course?
“Techniques cannot replace human heart and creativity in coaching.” James Raherty.
So I discovered as I undertook a course in coaching during 2012. Whilst my technique in the science of coaching was developed through attending the Growth Coaching International (GCI) course, it was through practice I found out that the art lay in opening oneself up to truly and deeply listening so that decisions could be made to integrate a variety of strategies to cater for the varying needs and motivational engagement of the coachee.
This has been emphasised during my participation in the online Connected Coaching course with The Powerful Learning Practice Network.
When I enrolled in the course I expected that I would learn about a model that I could absorb, practice and work with others to become skilled in. However, as the weeks passed by and I realised that I wasn’t just going to be able to follow some prescribed model in a linear fashion I decided to really give myself over to the learning experience and become reflective about what I read, heard, did, and experienced with my colleagues. I have begun providing reflections in the online discussions for the course however when I decided to provide reflections on my colleagues reflections I realised that I was learning more deeply.
My reflections in online discussions have provided me with some key learnings about being a Connected Coach (CC):
By taking an appreciative stance it allows us to persevere with ideas and concepts which can put the CC in a great position to help uncover strengths and passions for those we coach.
By taking risks and seeing all conversations, that may appear to be difficult or messy, as an opportunity to focus on the coachee and have their best interests at heart, then it frees the coach from having to be the expert. We might then be the enablers for others to realise their own potential.
Listening is a key to being involved in discussions. If others feel listened to, feel that their ideas are worthy then they are more likely to reveal more of their story. The use of a paraphrase to reflect back the coachee’s thinking followed by a positive question to promote deep and broad thinking can support the coachee to take new and positive actions.
Access to, and knowledge of when to use, powerful tools and strategies can enable the CC to establish trust with the coachee, generate possibility thinking, create collective understanding and identify priorities and actions.
Coaching is not linear. The CC uses a variety of approaches and models of coaching and reflects on their impact. The CC reflects on those powerful questions and strategies that best support the coachee in revealing their values, aspirations, strengths and possibilities. The CC analyses in what ways strategies helped coachees identify will and responsibility and if they do this with others then their learning about being a CC becomes broader and deeper.
What better topic to kick off my renewed energy in this blog than a post about the potential for digital learning technologies to transform learning.
As schools are planning for 1:1 access for their learners, the time is ‘ripe’ for teachers to harness the power of new technologies within contemporary pedagogical practices to re-imagine learning.
The SAMR Model developed by Dr Ruben Puentedura provides a practical developmental model for teachers to see the potential for re-imagining learning and teaching enabled by ICT.
Many of my colleagues have shared this model and discussed it’s potential. I feel the power is not simply for teachers to use this as a model to help them plan for the integration of ICT in their practice, but more as a reflective tool when evaluating their practice. There could be power in asking ‘How did the ICT act as an enabler for re-imagining the learning?’ Or, ‘How did I leverage ICT to plan for higher expectations of my students’ learning?’
I wonder if teachers are using the SAMR Model to reflect on their practice? Does this help them to plan for the integration of ICT to enable deeper and more powerful learning for their students?
I’ve been trying to work out how to assign posts to different pages created in the blog.
I read this information on Edublogs support and from what I can tell you can’t.
I thought I would be able to assign a Post to a specific page I created… mmm.
Consider what you know about the educational potential of blogs. What are your ideas for using blogs for supporting learners of languages?
Today I used the Chalk Talk strategy with teachers. Our question (in relation to education) was, Why Blog?
Look at what the teachers wrote. Convincing?
The very cool thing about blogs (aside from the fact that they are so easy to use and look spectacular), is that there are so many tools teachers and students can use within them.
Voki is one of those tools. Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. Voki could be used by language teachers to motivate students to express themselves in language classes. I have included a Voki on this blog – I have tried to ‘express myself’ in my native tongue! What do you think?
See a comprehensive list of free tools on the Teacher Challenge blog supported by Edublogs.
I read this interesting article in The Guardian newspaper (UK)Twittering Classes for Teachers . It may be of interest for those teachers who wish to extend their professional learning communities beyond the school walls.
Twitter has enabled some teachers to share information and questions quickly and efficiently. The power, as I discovered for the first time recently, is in the use of the #Hashtag when tweeting. The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.
Some teachers from research schools I work with, spoke of the power of the hashtag when they tweet about their class blogs. In order to share their blogs to a wide, global audience, teachers can include a reference to their blog post in their tweet along with #(keyword) eg.#comments4kids.
Apparently there are many teachers from around the world who use this tag to search for tweets by teachers and classes who wish to share their blogs and connect with learners anywhere in the world. So potentially teachers across the other side of the world can find a tweet by a class or teacher at St Luke the Evangelist Blackburn Sth, visit their classroom blog, comment on their posts and then begin a learning connection.
Some of our teachers have been following the search term, #vicpln for quite some time. If you search for this category in Twitter you will find a variety of Victorian teachers sharing ideas about using Web 2.0 technologies in learning and teaching. The Global2 blogging community have an official hashtag (#global2) for users to share news, blog posts and learning.
Try the search function in Twitter. Let me know how it supports your own professional learning and the learning of your students.
Before deciding to use blogs or any other contemporary tools for that matter, to support learning, it is important to determine what is the purpose of the learning. Is the purpose of the learning experience to share and reflect on what we have learned? Is it to investigate and research information? Or is it to exchange ideas with others, build upon them and develop new ideas?
Once the learning purpose is determined then the next step for teachers is to decide how the learning experience will be scaffolded to support the learner, and what tools will best support their learning.
Here are some different examples of blogging activities to do with students. When looking at these examples think about; What is the purpose of the learning experience? What is powerful about the learning? What are the implications then for teacher planning and practice?
Further resources to explore: