Evocative Coaching E-Book

Bob Tschannen-Moran

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 671

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

There?s a lot of conversation about how to make schools better.Unfortunately, the nature of those conversations often makes thingsworse. Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversationat a Time maps out a way to change that. By taking ateacher-centered, no-fault, strengths-based approach to performanceimprovement, the Evocative Coaching model generates the motivationand movement that enables teachers and schools to achieve desiredoutcomes and enhance quality of life. Viewed as a dynamic dance,the model is choreographed in four steps ? Story, Empathy, Inquiry,Design ? which are each laid out in its own chapter with powerfulillustrative materials and end-of-chapter discussion questions toprompt further reflection. Bringing together the best research and wisdom in educationalleadership and professional coaching, authors Bob and MeganTschannen-Moran have developed a simple yet profound way offacilitating new conversations in schools through Story Listening,Expressing Empathy, Appreciative Inquiry, and Design Thinking. It?san iterative process that moves beyond old ways of thinking, doing,and being. It?s an inspirational process that reinvigorates thepassion for making schools better, one conversation at a time. This happens when coaches: * give teachers our full, undivided attention; * accept and meet teachers where they are right now, withoutmaking them wrong; * ask and trust teachers to take charge of their own learning andgrowth; * make sure teachers are talking more than we are; * enable teachers to appreciate the positive value of their ownexperiences; * harness the strengths teachers have to meet challenges andovercome obstacles; * reframe difficulties and challenges as opportunities to learnand grow; * invite teachers to discover possibilities and find answers forthemselves; * dialogue with teachers regarding their higher purpose forteaching; * uncover teachers? natural impulse to engage with colleagues andstudents; * assist teachers to draw up a personal blueprint forprofessional mastery; * support teachers in brainstorming and trying new ways of doingthings; * maintain an upbeat, energetic, and positive attitude at alltimes; * collaborate with teachers to design and conduct appropriatelearning experiments; * enable teachers to build supportive environments andteams; * use humor to lighten the load; and * inspire and challenge teachers to go beyond what they would doalone. Each chapter provides a research-based theory to support thestrategies presented, and includes specific suggestions andanecdotes. The Evocative Coaching model makes coaching enjoyable bygetting people to focus on what they do best, and it inviteslarger, more integral conversations so that people talk about theirwork in the context of other things they care about. Resting onstrong, evidence-based practices, the Evocative Coaching modeloffers educators the help they need to meet the challenges ofincreased accountability and expectations. This model can also beused effectively by coaches and leaders in other organizationalcontexts. Table of Contents: * Chapter 1: What Is Evocative Coaching? * Chapter 2: Coaching Presence * Loop I: The No-Fault Turn * Chapter 3: Story Listening * Chapter 4: Expressing Empathy * Loop II: The Strengths-Building Turn * Chapter 5: Appreciative Inquiry * Chapter 6: Design Thinking * Chapter 7: Aligning Environments * Chapter 8: Coaching Conversations * Chapter 9: The Reflective Coach To learn more about Evocative Coaching and to sign up for theEvocative Coach Training Program, visit www.SchoolTransformation.com.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Figures

List of Tables

Dedication

Acknowledgements

PREFACE

About the Book

Additional Resources

PART ONE - INTRODUCTION TO EVOCATIVE COACHING

CHAPTER 1 - WHAT IS EVOCATIVE COACHING?

The Promise and Practice of Coaching

Evocative Coaching Defined

Why Evocative Coaching Works

What Makes Coaching Evocative?

The Dynamic Dance of Evocative Coaching

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 2 - COACHING PRESENCE

A New Metaphor for Coaching

Evocative Coaching as a Way of Being

Lessons from a Horse Whisperer

Fostering Trust and Rapport

Holding the Coaching Space

Conveying Coaching Presence

Coaching Presence in the Context of Hierarchy

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

PART TWO - THE FOUR STEPS OF EVOCATIVE COACHING

CHAPTER 3 - STORY LISTENING

The Power of Story

Evoking Coachable Stories

Mindful Listening

Quiet Listening

Reflective Listening

Imaginative Listening

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 4 - EXPRESSING EMPATHY

Understanding Empathy

Embodying Empathy

Access Points for Empathy

Distinctive Empathy Reflections

Elevating Readiness to Change

Celebrating Effort and Progress

The Golden Sigh

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 5 - APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

Appreciative Inquiry

Initiating the Learning Conversation

Illuminating the Best of What Is

Imagining the Best of What Might Be

Coaching with Strengths, Observations, Aspirations, and Possibilities

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 6 - DESIGN THINKING

Calling Forth Motivation and Movement

Coaching Tools for Design Thinking

Around and Around the Möbius Strip: Back to Story

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

PART THREE - EVOCATIVE COACHING IN PRACTICE

CHAPTER 7 - ALIGNING ENVIRONMENTS

Understanding Environments

Flow

Navigating the River of Change

Managing Clouds, Wind, and Thunder

Ripples in a Pond

Stories as Catalysts for Transformation

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 8 - COACHING CONVERSATIONS

The Great 8: Choreographing the Coaching Dance

Story Listening

Expressing Empathy

Appreciative Inquiry

Design Thinking

Summary

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

CHAPTER 9 - THE REFLECTIVE COACH

Coaching the Self

Hearing Our Own Stories

Self-Empathy

Inquiring into Our Own Professional Practice

Design Action-Learning Experiments

Professional Coach Code of Ethics

Conclusion

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

APPENDIX A - EVOCATIVE COACHING PRINCIPLES, QUESTIONS, AND REFLECTIONS

APPENDIX B - PRACTICE EXERCISES

APPENDIX C - CONTENT REVIEW QUESTIONS

APPENDIX D - THE IAC COACHING MASTERIES OVERVIEW

REFERENCES

RECOMMENDED READINGS AND RESOURCES

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

INDEX

Table of Figures

FIGURE 1.1 THE MÖBIUS MODEL OF EVOCATIVE COACHING

FIGURE LI.1 LOOP I: THE NO-FAULT TURN

FIGURE 4.1 . NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION MODEL

FIGURE 4.2 . WHEEL OF NEEDS (KEY DISTINCTION: NEEDS VERSUS STRATEGIES)

FIGURE LII.1 LOOP II: THE STRENGTHS-BUILDING TURN

FIGURE 5.1 FIVE PRINCIPLES OF APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

FIGURE 5.2 STUDENT ENGAGEMENT OBSERVATION TOOL

FIGURE 5.3 TEACHER VERBAL BEHAVIORS OBSERVATION TOOL

FIGURE 5.4 LEVEL OF QUESTIONING OBSERVATION TOOL

FIGURE 6.1 . IMMUNITY MAP WORKSHEET

FIGURE 6.2 . EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TEMPLATE

FIGURE 7.1 . RIPPLES IN A POND PROCESS

FIGURE 9.1 . CHARTING TALK TIME

FIGURE 9.2 . CHARTING COACH BEHAVIORS

FIGURE 9.3 . NOTICING EVOCATIVE COACHING STYLE POINTS

List of Tables

TABLE 4.1 . FEELING WORDS

TABLE 4.2 . REFRAMING CAUSAL JUDGMENTS

TABLE 9.1 . THE EVOCATIVE COACHING DANCE

TABLE AA.1 THE EVOCATIVE COACHING DANCE

Praise forEvocative Coaching

“Brilliantly illuminates the precious space that can exist between a teacher and a coach. As is clearly delineated in Evocative Coaching, that remarkable space holds the power to truly transform schools, one person and one relationship at a time.”

—Jim Loehr, Ed.D., best-selling author and co-founder, Human Performance Institute

“This practical and sophisticated book is worth reading. Evocative Coaching regards teachers as wanting to learn and coaching as skillfully getting out of the way of learning. To enhance trust, liberate creativity, and build autonomy, coaches choreograph story, empathy, inquiry, and design, providing value to any professional learning community.”

—Arthur L. Costa, Ed. D. and Robert J. Garmston, Ed. D., Professors Emeriti, California State University, Sacramento and co-authors of Cognitive Coaching

“Coaching is as much about the heart as about the head. Evocative Coaching brings together head and heart in ways that unleash the transformational potential of coaching in schools. It makes an extremely valuable contribution to the field.”

—Jim Knight, author,Instructional Coaching

“I have long subscribed to the belief that there is no such thing as teaching, only learning. Evocative Coaching turns that belief into a way of working with teachers that inspires their cooperation and engagement in the process of performance improvement. Evocative Coaching is horse sense for teachers, to paraphrase my recent book title, and it promises to make a real difference in the schools and school leaders who put its principles into practice.”

—Monty Roberts, author of The Man Who Listens to Horses,www.MontyRoberts.com

“Do you care deeply about empowering teachers, schools, and students to enjoy and benefit from the light of learning? Evocative Coaching provides a wise, practical, and content-rich guide for those of us who believe in the necessity-and the dream-of a future enlivened by successful education. I encourage you to get it, use it, and share it with others; it will make a huge difference!”

—Marilee Adams, Ph.D., author of,Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, adjunct professor, American University, School of Public Affairs

“Evocative Coaching makes a gift to our schools and the administrators, faculty, and staff. The authors’ diverse experiences and gifts combine to present a clear and coherent model and process for transforming schools. Their model will serve in many other relationships and situations as well. It really is about transformation ‘one conversation at a time.’”

—Ralph Kelly and Jane Magruder Watkins, authors of Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of the Imagination,www.AppreciativeInquiryUnlimited.com

“Evocative Coaching is a lovely and ambitious volume that offers a far-reaching synthesis of leading edge thinking when it comes to coaching in schools. Teachers, school counselors, and administrators will find both inspiration and practical tools for creating bold new conversations of discovery and learning. Read this!”

—Doug Silsbee, author,The Mindful Coach and Presence-Based Coaching

Evocative Coaching is a generous gift for all of us who work to support teachers to do the vitally important job of teaching, in the most skillful and enriching way possible. As well as providing a thorough and well-documented compendium of coaching practices, Evocative Coaching presents a unique blend of two proven practices—Nonviolent Communication and Appreciative Inquiry—along with some new moves that clearly demonstrate how to engage teachers in a positive, effective, no-fault approach to continual growth and improvement.

—Sura Hart, certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication, co-author of The No-Fault Classroom, The Compassionate Classroom, and Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids

“Evocative Coaching is the best book about how to assist individuals through coaching that I have ever read. A realistic and easy to use process that everyone can learn and use.”

—Cynthia Lemmerman, Ed.D., Ohio Department of Education, Associate Superintendent for School Improvement

Copyright © 2010 by LifeTrek, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tschannen-Moran, Bob.

Evocative coaching : transforming schools one conversation at a time / Bob & Megan Tschannen-Moran.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-54759-5 (pbk.)

1. Teachers—In-service training. 2. Communication in education. 3. School improvement programs. I. Tschannen-Moran, Megan, 1956- II. Title.

LB1731.T73 2010

370.71’55—dc22

2010003900

For Margaret Moore and Wellcoaches

Your support and collaboration have meant so much to me in developing my ideas and approach.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to play with you, and for stretching me to be my very best self.

—Bob Tschannen-Moran

For Wayne Hoy and Anita Woolfolk Hoy

Here is how I’ve invested the conceptual capital that you invested in me. It continues to appreciate through “the miracle of compound interest”!

I will always be grateful for your invitation to explore the world of Big Ideas and the simple yet profound notion that there is nothing so practical as a good theory.

—Megan Tschannen-Moran

GRATITUDES

This book, perhaps like most books, has taken on a life of its own. In the final month of writing, there were so many serendipities and surprises, so many discoveries and developments, that we came to speak of it as “the book that wanted to be written” and “the book that was writing itself.” It felt like we were working an enormous jigsaw puzzle. As one thing fell into place, something else had to move or be created. Just when we thought we had it all figured out, a new book, resource, or conversation would come along that would give us new ideas on how or where to put something better. It was a classic case of design thinking: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. And it could not have been more stimulating. Ideas were bursting in such rapid succession that we could hardly keep up with them ourselves. So we start by expressing gratitude for the creative process itself and for the encouragement of our editor at Jossey-Bass, Kate Gagnon. The entire Jossey-Bass team, including our copyeditor, Pam Suwinsky—whose work launched a whole new round of helpful and significant revisions—our production editor, Justin Frahm, and our editorial assistants, Julia Parmer, and Tracy Gallagher, were a delight to work with.

We also express gratitude for what the process of writing this book has taught us about coaching, adult learning, and growth-fostering relationships. As professionals, we both coach individuals and teach classes that have benefited and are benefiting greatly from the insights and understandings that have emerged through the process of writing this book. You, the reader, will be introduced to those concepts, as best we were able to articulate them, through the words, quotes, and pictures on these pages. For us, however, it was the process of writing and completing the book that taught us so much. Having written it, we are better coaches and teachers today.

There is such a wide range of factors that made this book what it is today that it is hard to know where to start. We each, of course, have formal background and training in our respective disciplines with mentors and teachers along the way. Both of us have been changed profoundly, however, both in our practice and in our understanding, by the exposure and training we have received in appreciative inquiry (http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu) and Nonviolent Communication (NVC; www.cnvc.org). These two disciplines, as you will learn, are integral parts of evocative coaching. We thank David Cooperrider and Marshall Rosenberg, who launched the disciplines of appreciative inquiry and Nonviolent Communication many decades ago, for introducing them into the world. We thank Jane Magruder Watkins and Ralph Kelley for teaching us appreciative inquiry and a cadre of certified NVC trainers, including Robert Gonzales, Sura Hart, Gregg Kendrick, Wes Taylor, and Jeff Brown, for teaching us Nonviolent Communication.

We have, however, been taught by our students perhaps more than by any of our trainers. There may be nothing more practical than a good theory, but there is nothing like having the opportunity to teach a good theory to people who really want to learn. That has been our experience with our students in the Wellcoaches training program and in the educational leadership program at the College of William & Mary. We thank them for the continuing ways in which they call us into greatness. In so many ways, they have become our teachers. We especially express our gratitude to the graduates of the William & Mary Educational Leadership program who contributed their stories to this book. Without their stories of coaching in schools, the principles of evocative coaching would not have been developed as fully and would not have come alive on the pages of this book.

We feel deep gratitude for the work of our colleagues and friends, Erika Jackson, Christina Lombardo Ray, Kate Kriynovich, Cynthia Lemmerman, and Janet Chahrour, who reviewed an earlier draft of this book and offered helpful suggestions, questions, and comments that served to deepen and enrich our thinking and to improve the quality of the final product. Erika also collaborated with us in designing the evocative coaching training program. She has always been willing to give tirelessly and generously of her energy and ideas. We are grateful for who she is and what she does.

We would be remiss if we did not thank our immediate families for their indefatigable interest in and concern for how this book was coming along. Our children, Bryn Moran and Evan and Michelle Tschannen, have grown up to be great friends and thinking partners. Megan’s sister, Maura Moran, has been steadfast in her support and in urging us over many years to get these ideas out into the world. Most of all, Bob’s parents, Bob and June Tschannen, deserve special recognition for their boundless support throughout our lives and for their unfailing enthusiasm for this project. We would not be where we are today without them.

Finally, we express gratitude to each other. When we first told our colleagues and friends our aspiration of writing a book together, some looked askance at the thought of collaborating with a spouse or partner. “Are you sure your relationship can survive that?” was the underlying question. Our relationship not only survived, it thrived. We have worked together since the beginning of our courtship and marriage more than thirty-five years ago. Although we each have our own individual, professional pursuits, we enjoy greatly the opportunities we have to stimulate each other’s thinking and energy around areas of mutual interest and concern. We love working together, and people tell us it shows. The book you hold in your hand is just one more expression of our shared interests in life and work. How can we be anything but grateful for that?

Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran www.EvocativeCoaching.comJuly 2010

PREFACE

Individuals have within themselves vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes, and self-directed behavior; these resources can be tapped if a definable, growth-promoting climate can be provided.

—CARL ROGERS (1980, P. 115)

This book is written for students, but it is not about students. Evocative Coaching was born of a desire to see students everywhere learning in vibrant, life-giving environments. It is designed to assist teachers to reinvigorate their teaching practices so that students can flourish. When teachers and schools come alive, the work of student learning is sure to follow. This book is about creating relationships that foster and support the ongoing learning of the women and men who show up every day to share their curiosity, knowledge, and spirits with students. Teachers know all too well the pressure of the bottom line of student achievement and success; in this book we describe a method through which instructional leaders—coaches, mentors, peer coaches, department chairs, supervisors, and others—can assist teachers to more fully meet that bottom line, not by increasing the pressure on teachers but by increasing their trust, self-efficacy, motivation, appreciation, resourcefulness, and engagement.

When one educational leader heard the title of our book, she responded with instant enthusiasm. “I like the word evocative,” she exclaimed. “I want to see if my people are willing to have ‘evocative conversations,’ to have different conversations than we are used to having. The word communicates that I want them to come up with stuff, to be active learners, to not just sit there and listen to me talk.” Her response captured what we hope this book will accomplish: we hope it will infuse those responsible for the work of schools with energy and mutuality in the search for transformation. Old models of telling and selling teachers on how to do things better in their classrooms have not proven to be effective. New models are replacing the old. This book represents new-model wisdom and practice, combining our two areas of expertise in adult learning and educational leadership.

After graduating from Yale Divinity School in 1979, Bob served churches in the inner city of Chicago and in downtown Columbus, Ohio, before becoming a professional business and life coach in 1998. Since becoming a coach, he has participated in four coach training programs, worked with hundreds of individuals and organizations, and become an active member of the faculty of Wellcoaches Coach Training School. Wellcoaches graduates are health, fitness, and wellness professionals who assist people to master the challenges of health and well-being, including nutrition, weight management, exercise, life satisfaction, stress management, and medical conditions. The Wellcoaches model enables people to discover a better way to change and Bob has had a significant hand in developing the curriculum for teaching that model, recently published in book form as a Coaching Psychology Manual (Moore & Tschannen-Moran, 2010). We have learned that it is tough to get people to change when you are trying to change them. We have also learned that people can change themselves, often profoundly, when they are trusted and empowered to do so. Evocative Coaching promotes working with teachers in just that way.

Megan’s work as a school leader began during the fourteen years we lived and worked in the inner city of Chicago. There she started and led a K-8 school for a multicultural and multiracial population of primarily low-income students. She did this on a shoestring budget with young teachers who were willing to work for very little money because they were inspired by the vision of “unleashing the power of education early in the lives of disadvantaged children.” They also valued the quality of the relationships among the staff, students, parents, and community. In the face of oftentimes daunting challenges, two ingredients—self-efficacy and trust—made the difference between success and failure. When we moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1993, Megan earned her doctorate at The Ohio State University and took on an active research agenda documenting the importance of those two ingredients for successful schools. She has published numerous scholarly articles on teacher self-efficacy and the role of trust in schools, as well as her book, Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools (2004, Jossey-Bass).

Evocative Coaching represents a synergistic combining of our two careers. Increasingly, as school leaders have read Trust Matters, they have asked us to assist them in evaluating their culture of trust, to foster high-trust environments, and to repair trust once it has been broken. Our efforts in response to these requests have, in their own way, led to this book. We have seen how existing models of supervision, professional development, and accountability work against cultures of trust. We have seen how they demotivate rather than motivate change. And we have seen how those models interfere with the performance and joy of teachers. It has been heartbreaking to see so many well-intentioned people dig themselves into ever-deeper holes.

Many educators have attempted to diagnose what’s wrong with current practice and to recommend solutions. Their efforts have not always met with success. Megan recently heard a well-known educational scholar speak about his attempts to bring about constructive change among a group of teachers he was working with. He was apparently encountering a great deal of resistance and was clearly frustrated. He suggested that if educators ever wanted to be considered professionals, they would need to begin to collaborate like professionals. “And that is not always nice,” he asserted. “When doctors collaborate, they don’t worry about being polite. Lives are at stake!” He then built on his medical analogy by saying, “The practice of medicine is not gentle. When doctors do open heart surgery, they slice open the chest wall and break the ribs in order to get to the heart.” Megan began to see why he might be encountering resistance with the teachers he was working with. If the energy and analogy he had in mind was to break open ribs in order to repair defective hearts, teachers might well be wary of his efforts!

Fortunately there are ways to broker change that people warm up to and that we have had the privilege of facilitating through a combination of our one-on-one coaching and group work. By using the principles and practices described in this book, paying careful attention to the process we call “Story-Empathy- Inquiry-Design” (S-E-I-D), and working in evocative ways with individuals and their environments, we have had the privilege of sharing in the joy of discovery, the passion born of self-efficacy, the cultivation of trust, and the invigoration that comes from shifting energy and direction. We believe in the ability of schools and school leaders not only to do better but to fulfill their destiny as agents of transformation and citizenship in society. If this book makes a contribution to that fulfillment, if it helps coaches and principals to assist teachers to reignite their passion and to discover better means to serve their purposes, if it assists coaches and other instructional leaders to have more evocative conversations with both struggling and spectacular teachers, then we will have accomplished our goal.

The quality of the coaching relationship must come before all else. Ours is not a “tough love” approach to coaching. We do not push and prod teachers to change behavior, let alone shame them into changing, as though they are children who cannot be trusted. We begin with the premise that teachers are capable adults who can be trusted to figure out a great many things for themselves; we inspire teachers to change and we partner with them in the change process. “First things first” means that coaches put people before projects; if we fail to get the people part right, we may as well forget about the project. Once we get the people part right, we can work the project hard, and teachers often respond in ways that far exceed our expectations. Even teachers who have not shown life for many years can be reawakened to the joy of teaching. When teachers are entrusted with personal responsibility, deep thinking, self-discovery, and self-efficacy, they find better answers and create better possibilities than any that could be handed to them by others. Teacher-driven visions, plans, and behaviors are the ones that stick.

When we turn people into projects, we lose connection to their humanity.

We are not the first ones to recognize and work with the relational context of learning partnerships. Many others have gone before us, including Costa and Garmston (Cognitive Coaching, 2002), Knight (Instructional Coaching, 2007), Kise (Differentiated Coaching, 2006), Barkley (Quality Teaching in a Culture of Coaching, 2005), and Lipton and Wellman (Mentoring Matters, 2003). There is overlap between evocative coaching and these other systems, but differences emerge through our application of principles gleaned from positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, Nonviolent Communication, social cognitive theory, and design thinking. As Kurt Lewin famously said, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” This book is chock-full of well-grounded, well-researched theories that support the work of coaching in schools. We believe that, with the help of these bodies of knowledge, our work evokes fresh insights and new approaches for improving schools one conversation at a time.

Although this book is written for instructional leaders tasked with improving the quality of teaching, Evocative Coaching is not about teacher evaluation. Evaluation is an important function, and schools need sound evaluation systems to fulfill their obligation to parents and taxpayers and ensure that teachers are performing adequately to warrant their continued employment. We appreciate the efforts of those who have worked to make those systems both fair and reliable in distinguishing between teachers who are meeting acceptable standards and those who are falling below those standards. We also know, however, that the action plans generated by evaluation processes often do not result in significant performance improvement. Teachers may be warned and written up, but that does not make them ready, willing, and able to change. Indeed, it can make them even more intransigent and resistant than before. Making evocative coaching an integral part of school communities can assist more teachers to do better more of the time. When evocative coaching comes into play, the bar is raised, complacency goes down, motivation goes up, and teachers live into the full measure of their calling. We have seen it happen, and we would like to see it happen more often.

This book is about how the evocative coaching process works and how to bring it into schools to support the professional development of teachers in individualized and small group settings. It is our hope that this book will advance the training and practice of coaches in all manner of educational settings. It is also our hope that the principles and practices of evocative coaching will become institutionalized in the cultures of learning that make up school environments. As a few individuals begin to make use of this method, a new energy may begin to infuse entire school communities, transforming schools one conversation at a time.

About the Book

To assist readers to gain facility in using the evocative coaching process, we have organized this book around the flow of coaching conversations themselves. In Part One, we focus primarily on the concept of coaching presence. How coaches show up for coaching is the single most important factor in the course and outcomes of the coaching relationship. How do we hold and carry our image of teachers and their potential? What are our intentions, orientation, energy, attitudes, focus, perspectives, and way of being with teachers? How do we understand our role and function? We explore the concept of coaching presence—our awareness in the moment of who we are, what is going on, and how to engage—and encourage its development through specific, teacher-centered practices.

Part Two describes the flow of coaching conversations using a Möbius strip model involving two turns, or loops, and four steps. The first turn, “the No-Fault Turn,” works with Story and Empathy to set the stage for the second turn, “the Strengths-Building Turn,” which forwards the action through Inquiry and Design. Each turn or loop of the Möbius strip is introduced with a brief interlude, before the steps of Story-Empathy-Inquiry-Design are described in detail. By the end of Part Two, readers will understand not only how these steps work in practice but also the large and growing research base that undergirds the use of these steps in our work with teachers. If we hope to promote teacher learning and growth, then the artful use of S-E-I-D is a requisite coaching and leadership skill.

Part Three seeks to make the artful use of Story-Empathy-Inquiry-Design more likely, natural, and compelling. In Chapter Seven we introduce the concept of aligning environments to bring systems thinking into the mix. Coaching never happens in a vacuum, and evocative coaches assist teachers to create the conditions that support their success. In Chapter Eight we compare the artful use of S-E-I-D to a dynamic dance, replete with choreography—the “Great 8 Movements” and “16 Style Points” of evocative coaching—for navigating our way through the two turns and four steps. Here we also highlight important considerations for coaches to attend to before coaching sessions begin and after they end. Finally, in Chapter Nine, we encourage coaches to become life-giving and self-renewing role models through daily mindfulness, self-care, and reflective-learning practices.

Additional Resources

The four appendixes support further learning, teaching, and mastery of the evocative coaching model. Appendix A lists the principles and sample questions that appear and are discussed more fully throughout this book. There, in one convenient place, we have brought them all together. We see Appendix A as a kind of ready reference guide for mastering the evocative coaching process in schools.

For those readers who would like to incorporate the ideas in this book into a formal training or university course, there are resources in Appendixes B and C that you might find useful. Appendix B includes practice exercises that invite students to practice and reflect on the skills introduced in this book. Instructors who are using this book for a class may want to use these exercises as classroom experiences and homework assignments to enhance student learning. The exercises are designed to bring alive the principles of evocative coaching. Appendix C provides content review questions that can assist instructors to assess student comprehension of key concepts. Individuals who would like to engage in a deeper level of self-study may also find these resources useful.

Finally, for those readers interested in seeking coach certification through an independent, international coach-certifying body and for those interested in comparing the evocative coaching model to an independent definition of coaching mastery, we reprint in Appendix D the nine Coaching Masteries™ of the International Association of Coaching (IAC), www.CertifiedCoach.org. It is our sense and hope that learning the evocative coaching process will equip people to pass the IAC certification exam.

As you begin to implement the ideas in this book, we invite you to visit our companion Web site, www.EvocativeCoaching.com, where you will find templates, related articles, and additional resources to support the evocative coaching process. There you will also find announcements and opportunities for coach training, utilizing convenient telephone and Internet technologies, so that you can better apply and engage the transformational principles and practices of evocative coaching in your own life and work. We look forward to hearing from you, staying in touch, and participating in your journey.

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION TO EVOCATIVE COACHING

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS EVOCATIVE COACHING?

You cannot teach a person anything. You can only help him find it within himself.

GALILEO

The Promise and Practice of Coaching

Teachers are capable adults who, with the right mix of understanding and engagement, are well equipped to improve the quality and outcomes of their instruction. Take, for example, Renee, a third-grade teacher who took her teaching to a new level through an evocative coaching process that appreciated her efforts, focused her attention, brainstormed ideas, and celebrated her progress.

When I met with Renee before my first observation, I was very clear that this process was not about evaluation and that it was solely my desire to be of assistance to her to improve her instruction. She said that she welcomed visitors to her room and thought the observation would be helpful, but she seemed anxious, e-mailing me twice to explain what I would be seeing during my visit. I assured her that she was not going to hear any judgments, either positive or negative, from me; that this was an opportunity for learning and that we were going to let the data do the talking from the observation tool she’d selected.

I observed two lessons: a reading lesson and a math lesson. Despite my assurances and calm demeanor, Renee began our conversation afterward saying, “I’m sure you’ve written, ‘What a horrible lesson.’” I reflected back her concern and frustration, but not her conclusion. Inviting her to review the completed observation tools, she immediately started comparing the two lessons. She was shocked to see the differences. In reading, she engaged with all of the students, and there was a lot of praise and encouragement, while in math, she neglected whole groups of students and there was much more scolding. After a few minutes, hunched over the data, she sat back and said with a sigh, “This is right. I do teach math differently.”