Notes from Professional Learning workshop titled "Better Conversations" presented by Jim Knight at Crown Casino in Perth on July 1, 2016.

1. Friday, 1 July 2016
Better conversations
Jim Knight @ Crown Burswood
- creative setting for growth
- Webinar on success criteria 7 success factor
- P.37 radical learners column links
7 factors
- understand how to work with adults - see unmistakable impact chapter 2
- Set a goal; identify phase; assess impact
- Coaches are successful when teachers are setting & hitting powerful goals. Need measurable
positive change. Keep refining.
- How do you determine a powerful goal? Meaningful to students. May be attitudinal.
Psychological safety in class.
- 92% read for pleasure outside of class. Socially significant goal.
- Behavioural: time on task.
Portals for coaching
Better teaching = better learning
Background in growth or cognitive coaching
Grow model starts with reality (not goal)
Playlist may be Marzano, Hattie, Wiliams
Cut it if is not working
Framework big 4
Planning establishes the destination for the class
Learning like a journey
Formative assessment GPS
Instruction as fuel for the drive
Stay engaged with quality instruction
Reduce friction by community building (classroom management. Triage - deal with that first)
Meet people where they are - simple. Use checklists to describe.
Instructional playbook
Gather data
Monitor progress towards goals
Where are we & what are we doing?
Focus on teaching > lots of free online forms
Email Jim for appendix to give feedback
Instructional time - how much time? Video can help reduce transition time. Can be revelatory to
teachers.
Engagement can be difficult. Are they authentically engaged? Have kids check. See online tool.
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2. Friday, 1 July 2016
Real learning index combines instructional time data with how authentically engaged. Multiple
time on task with instructional task.
How many of kids are engaged how much of the time? Potential for learning. Unlikely to be
100%. Could target 80 from 50. Real learning index.
Ratio of interaction; how often the teacher reinforces appropriate learning. Praise vs corrections.
Use of questions > open vs closed. Distinguish.
Teacher talk vs student talk
All are gross measures
Want to monitor electronically? Use the iPad. Paper and pencil now.
20 minute observation tools being used at some schools.
Communication
Will be tough to be an effective coach if you are not a good communicator
Not just about you as a change leader, but Change culture to trust, communication & learning.
Critical variable.
Leadership
Chapter 9 instructional coaching. Check book. 2 attributes: ambitious for change. Got their act
together- on time, reliable, follow up and don't drop the ball. Ambitious for what works for kids.
Highly responsive to teachers. Adjust from feedback. They know that the coach has the best
intentions.
See C plan assessment tool from yesterday
Process to adopt - more harmonious
Changing how we learn
Communication practices & beliefs
Reflection guide - go deep into the material online 10 different habits. Available for a team in
school. Slides will be on the website instructionalcoaching.com soon.
Better conversations
@instructionalcoach on Instagram
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3. Friday, 1 July 2016
Jim suggests we are living through a communication crisis, despite social media
Challenge to fight back with kindness
Make schools places where we go to be trusted; avoid being swept up in the crisis
Narrative about
hockey player
Gretsky
Devolving too
often to top-down
Won't buy in
Choice &
autonomy crucial -
Pink
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4. Friday, 1 July 2016
Survey: who feels like their opinion matters? Who comes at the bottom - voice counts the least.
US data. High engagement, but drops off quickly.
Radical learners blog - should teachers have a voice in professional development?
Only 45% of kids thought they were visible - their voices do not matter
See student voice - the instrument of change
Take care if your moral purpose is too twisted up with the need to be right. Determination to do it
your way/ get others to do it your way. People are capable of doing it their way.
Complexity of jumping from emotionally rich situations: teachers' experiences similar to
administrators
Peter Block Stewardship
Judgementalism: there are lots of ways of rolling your eyes that aren't rolling your eyes. Clear
false assumptions about other people.
Don't give advice unless it is asked for. We set ourselves up to be the one who knows. Plus we
don't practice good listening. Gottman says ask others if they want your advice.
We shut others down.
Thinking you are right is another moral judgement
Bohm On dialogue. Wise, brief book. Go Kindle.
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5. Friday, 1 July 2016
Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire. Dialogue as a way of humanising situations.
5 Conditions for good dialogue
- humility
- Hope
- Faith (conversation as a learning opportunity)
- Critical thinking
- Love
Our wellbeing should be nourished by conversation. Also having the other's best interests at
heart. What makes it happen is love.
Narratives around suffering in love - nourishing despite wife's death.
Tape measure & ripping off age. What have you got left?
Why shouldn't we try to have life-giving conversations. Eschew judgement.
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6. Friday, 1 July 2016
http://leadershipcoach.server291.com/presentations/BCWJim%20Knight.PDF
Undertake the conversation page 77. Watch the stereotypical responses. Journal. Look ahead
and look back. Useful using video to consider the conversation.
Jerry Seinfeld on Blackberry video on YouTube
Narrative around Boston teachers / relationship with daughter until 13. Chosen image re: throat
surgery. Listening. Take example of person in head; have a better impression of the listener.
Crucial. Helen vs Heather, for example.
You would not believe the listening I had today...
3 strategies
Commitment to listening
Who is the focus of the conversation
Pause to make sure you're opening up
Habits are unthinking practices: depends on situations. Dynamics are problematic. Do the best
you can. Video reveals all.
Do I genuinely want to hear the other person?
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7. Friday, 1 July 2016
Listening to other people eg son loves Sponge Bob Square Pants. Listening is important.
Record conversations to document listening practice > what can be learned with the forms? See
page 83 to look backwards. Take note of what happens to raise awareness. Looking ahead is
planing to be a listener page 80. All forms are online and can be downloaded http://
leadershipcoach.server291.com/presentations/BCWJim%20Knight.PDF
Dialogue
Both people are talking - back & forth. Balance advocacy. Ask questions in the way you share
things. Look at a checklist - how would you like to change?
Talked to people regarding listening - learning forward. Cathy Toll - literacy coaching. Work from
partnership perspective. Ask to hear their perspective. What do you know? Not manipulative.
Page 105 Ask better questions
Failure to connect can hinder your career. It can interfere with friendships. It can weaken your
relationships with relatives including your kids. It can even ruin your marriage (Gottman, p. 25).
Paul Eckman human expression researcher. Concealment example. From documentary human
face? https://youtu.be/6aVdqeZgv1k
https://youtu.be/6aVdqeZgv1k
John Gottman The relationship Cure 2001
To build healthy relationships we have to catch bids people make, and respond to them
otherwise the relationships are unavoidably damaged. Biggest turn away is when the phone
goes
Make emotional connections
Page 114
What do you work on first? How can you get better? Work on it with spouse/ kids. Too often the
people we most need to connect with are those we overlook. Example of coffee and scones.
Name it - deal with it by using the language.
2 questions
(Rank habits from most to least important)
People do something or don't do it - is it worth it & can I do it?
Central to a fulfilling life and personal success. Yes! Spend half an hour each day. One thing.
What are the benefits - what if a whole school takes time?
Building trust
An essential leadership strategy
Deal breaker to success at schools
Page 165
@kristiande
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8. Friday, 1 July 2016
Not touchy Feedly - hardest work
Practiced intentionally deliberately (what about soft skills like building trust in order to grow trust
for delivering actions).
Where trust exists - results will come.
Covey The Speed of Trust. Waves - rippling. Start with ourselves.
Young adults getting into relationships - stable, reliability built first, then build relationships
beyond team. Market = school.
Start with ourselves to grow the base.
Principals & agendas
How to build from yourself - teachers can do. Share with a colleague. Next step. Power of one/
two/ team.
1. Provide clarity (people are up on what they are in on; don't let them fill the void with their own
understanding)
Students & adults need learning intentions, success criteria and feedback.
What layer are we in at school as far as clarity goes?
What could be done to improve communication in your organisation?
2. Practice consistency - service level achievement
3. Value competency (not just social emotional stuff)
4. Create a safe place to fail
Currently, schools are feeling like it is less of a place they can fail/learn
5. Care for each other. Show genuine feelings. Ripples.
6. Foster contribution. Look for strengths & connection/ collaboration points.
7. Think.
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9. Friday, 1 July 2016
8. Developing a mid to
long term mindset
Commit to the blip & step forward.
They are my supervisor - up to me to
figure out a way to make this work.
9. Focus on the client.
Adult relationships can get in the
way of students' learning. Trust
issues/ connections & relationships
should not tarnish the deal. Kids
know when teachers don't like each
other and when alignment does not
exist. Feel there is no trust.
Can trust be rebuilt?
https://youtu.be/ErMWX--UJZ4
https://youtu.be/ErMWX--UJZ4
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