Latest / C3 Connecting, Coaches, Cognition / Crafting Powerful Coaching Questions with Connie Hamilton

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Crafting Powerful Coaching Questions with Connie Hamilton · C3 Connecting, Coaches, Cognition

• 0:17
  Welcome back to another episode of C3. I'm Courtney Groskin,
• 0:20
  and I'm here with... Sandy Heiser. Sandy, what's going on? What's new?
• 0:25
  Oh, you know, it's busy, busy. School's in full swing.
• 0:31
  You and I are getting ready to facilitate day five of cognitive coaching.
• 0:37
  Yeah, luckily that's a review day, so not a lot of heavy lifting for us to learn new content.
• 0:44
  I know, but we've got to study up. Yes, yes, we do.
• 0:49
  It'll be nice. It'll be nice to see our people again and reconnect with our
• 0:53
  group from that Cognitive Coaching Seminar Foundations.
• 0:58
  Yeah, we had a little bit of a break there. So now we're reconnecting and jumping
• 1:01
  into days five through eight.
• 1:03
  And we have a big cohort. It'll be nice to see them all finish this out.
• 1:08
  Yeah, it's been nice. We've gotten some good feedback from them about that they're
• 1:12
  using some of the principles of coaching in their daily lives, which is so nice to hear.
• 1:19
  Yeah, I'd say that's my favorite part of facilitating is the text messages I
• 1:22
  get from people saying, I tried it.
• 1:25
  We had a reflecting conversation. It was amazing.
• 1:28
  Yeah, I tried it. It works. What about you, Courtney? What is new in your world?
• 1:33
  Busy, busy time for sure. I just yesterday had the opportunity to take one of
• 1:38
  our new teachers out to another site so she could get to see some similar grade
• 1:43
  level classrooms and just get an idea and a feel for St.
• 1:46
  Vrain as a district. And I just love getting out into other people's rooms and
• 1:51
  getting new, fresh ideas.
• 1:53
  Oh, yeah. How fun.
• 1:55
  Well, today we're so lucky to welcome Connie Hamilton to the podcast.
• 1:59
  Connie is an author, speaker, and consultant who specializes in questioning,
• 2:03
  feedback, and instructional leadership.
• 2:05
  Best known for her book, Hacking Questions, Connie equips both new and veteran
• 2:10
  teachers with tools to sharpen their practice and raise the level of student thinking.
• 2:14
  Through her consulting work across the U.S. and Canada, she designs professional
• 2:18
  learning that is practical, research-informed, and teacher-friendly.
• 2:22
  Connie, thank you so much for joining us today on C3.
• 2:25
  Hi there. Thanks for having me. Can you tell us about your background in education
• 2:29
  and how you got your start?
• 2:32
  Well, it's a long story, but I'll keep it short. So I'll start and work backwards.
• 2:37
  So currently, I'm an author consultant. I spend most of my school days during
• 2:42
  the school year boots on the ground in schools when students are in session
• 2:47
  working with small groups of teachers in a coaching cohort.
• 2:52
  I call them SIFs. Prior to that, I was instructional assistant superintendent
• 2:59
  for instruction and curriculum.
• 3:01
  Prior to that, I was a principal at both the elementary and middle school levels.
• 3:06
  I was an assistant principal. I was a teacher at both those levels and an instructional
• 3:11
  coach through title, formerly chapter.
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  So I've had a lot of experience in different settings.
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  I taught in Texas. I'm originally from Michigan. And now I travel all over the
• 3:23
  country and Canada observing and talking with teachers everywhere and just taking
• 3:28
  in all of the goodness that is happening in our field of education.
• 3:34
  Yeah, I love that. Thank you for highlighting all the good things that are happening.
• 3:38
  And you've got such a rich background. I don't think there's a job in education
• 3:42
  you haven't touched on in some way.
• 3:44
  So you bring so much to the table when meeting with those teachers. Thank you.
• 3:49
  I think that broad perspective really comes in handy to look at that big picture.
• 3:55
  Yeah, especially within systems, working in a system and having that understanding
• 4:00
  of the different roles. I'm not sure that our classroom teachers are always able to grasp that.
• 4:05
  So having someone that can come in and kind of break down, you know,
• 4:08
  this is the thought behind this.
• 4:10
  It's not just coming from the top, but here's the different reasons and rationale behind that.
• 4:15
  It's really valuable to have that view and perspective on things. For sure.
• 4:20
  When we think about the power of a well-crafted coaching question,
• 4:23
  what do you see as the most important element that separates that and effective
• 4:28
  question from one that kind of just falls flat?
• 4:31
  Well, as you know, questioning is my jam. So I feel like coaching and the questioning
• 4:37
  process within coaching is really similar to student questioning in the sense
• 4:42
  that we're looking to create a cognitive journey.
• 4:45
  We're looking to have that aha and to really reveal the thinking process.
• 4:50
  So it's less about how do I get to the right answer?
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  How do I get to that end point for this specific lesson?
• 4:57
  And more about how do I embrace instructional moves that work and are likely
• 5:03
  to work again in another lesson?
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  And how do I create that metacognitive awareness so that I'm in tune to,
• 5:11
  whoops, this lesson is going sideways and it's time for me to pivot?
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  Just being aware of that instead of just following a system or a structure in place.
• 5:24
  And so those well-crafted questions focus more on the journey,
• 5:28
  the thought process. What are you thinking about in the moment?
• 5:32
  What do you want to be noticing in the moment? and less about what is,
• 5:37
  what should be, what should have
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  been, but more about how did we get there or how did we not get there?
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  And then how are we going to tweak that again the next time that we go to teach a lesson?
• 5:50
  Yeah, you're really providing that space for the thinking to happen on the coachee's part.
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  And that's something often, you know, at the busy pace of education,
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  we kind of miss. So by asking those intentional questions gives them that space
• 6:03
  and time to be reflective. For sure.
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  Many coaches struggle with balancing curiosity and leading a teacher toward
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  reflection. How can coaches frame questions that avoid being directive while
• 6:16
  still supporting the instructional growth?
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  So as I think about that, I think it's important for the listeners to know that
• 6:24
  my role is both of as a coach and a consultant.
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  And so I flip flop with those different mindsets, but I'm really intentional with those mindsets.
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  So I definitely see a value of staying in that coaching mindset to support the
• 6:41
  teacher through an awareness process, bringing things forward,
• 6:46
  thinking about their priorities, making tough decisions, and just helping them to think about that.
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  There's also a time and a place where it's helpful to contribute and be a thought
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  partner with that person to say, would you like some ideas or may I share some perspectives?
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  I remember being on the opposite side of a coaching conversation and not really
• 7:10
  understanding what the coach's role was.
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  And I don't remember, it felt like a million years into the conversation.
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  She said, would you like me to step out of the coaching role and move into the
• 7:23
  consulting role and offer some suggestions? And I was like, well,
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  yes, that's what I thought this was all about.
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  And so I've always kept that in mind that there are many times that teachers...
• 7:36
  Need more than simply reflection. Sometimes like our toolbox is just exhausted
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  and we're interested in some fresh ideas and that is what is helpful.
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  So I find that it's easiest to balance that process of staying in the coaching
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  mode initially to establish rapport and to connect with the teacher when the
• 8:00
  initial conversation is before the lesson occurs.
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  So it's when there is a lesson plan or a lesson is beginning to develop.
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  It just feels more like a draft at that point.
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  And so teachers are often more open in that moment to exploring opportunities
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  and thinking about their choices and rethinking some of their decisions and
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  being mindful about options that they have and talking about those options because
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  they haven't done it yet.
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  And everyone's interested in picking the thing that's most likely to be.
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  Support student learning. So that, how you set it up initially is communicating, what is my role?
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  I'm going, for me, I'm going to be serving as a coach to help you kind of think through things.
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  And then also, everyone will get the benefit of some glows and grows of when
• 8:54
  the lesson is over, we'll look at what worked, what worked well,
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  what data supports that, and then what are some opportunities that we can throw
• 9:02
  to fill up your toolbox that you can tinker with and try out.
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  So that's the consulting piece of it is that I'm not just here to listen and
• 9:11
  ask a bunch of questions, but also to be that thought partner so that there's
• 9:17
  some credibility established.
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  So balancing that when we're trying not to be directive is to be really mindful
• 9:26
  about where your headspace is.
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  So if you begin to ask questions that you're thinking, that's not what I was
• 9:32
  hoping that they would say, that's an indication that you're slipping into the
• 9:36
  consulting mode and perhaps without intention.
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  So thinking about just your own thought process, are you still curious about
• 9:46
  what it is that they are, how they're making their decisions and helping them to reveal it versus.
• 9:53
  Hmm, I'm curious if I can, like,
• 9:55
  well, do you think that you should put a formative assessment in here?
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  Like, right, that's an obvious, not a coaching question. It's a suggestive,
• 10:05
  a suggestion raised as a question. So we want to be really intentional,
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  and we want those questions to spark reflections.
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  And some of those questions that do that the best are things like,
• 10:18
  how will you know when it's time to pivot?
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  Or what will tell you that this is working? Or what?
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  How long do you think that it will take for students to, quote unquote, get it?
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  Or what might happen when you facilitate this specific instructional move?
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  So revealing some of those what ifs helps to highlight the fact that it's not
• 10:45
  a it's not written in stone path of how you get to that end point.
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  But it's that's the art. That's the pedagogy of our profession.
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  And it highlights that we have lots of decisions and those decisions can differ.
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  So really trying to make sure that we're mindful of providing that awareness,
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  tapping into the expertise that teachers have, but also knowing when it's time
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  to offer your own expertise if the teacher is showing signs of wishing for it or wanting it.
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  And I love how you so beautifully said, may I offer.
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  It's still honoring that coachee and not just jumping in and seeming like we
• 11:27
  have all the answers as the coach, because we certainly don't.
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  But you're still honoring them and saying, hey, let's partner together.
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  Can I offer you some suggestions?
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  And I like how you say that plural, right? So offering multiple suggestions,
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  then it puts that decision back into their hands.
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  So if you want to do some kind of a cognitive check for understanding,
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  well, some teachers use whiteboards, some teachers use a turn and talk,
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  some teachers use a stop and jot, some teachers use a kahoot.
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  You know, are there some of those that you've had success with in the past or
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  there's something that you are interested in trying?
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  So it just puts them back like, hey, there are still lots of choices and the
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  decision ultimately remains in your hands.
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  Yeah, and you're building on prior success. We know these things have worked for you before.
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  So what one do you want to bring forward? And it's just really building that
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  time to think through. And that's why the planning conversation is so important.
• 12:24
  I agree. In your experience, what types of questions tend to open the door for
• 12:28
  deeper teacher reflection versus those that shut it down?
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  So as I mentioned, when I go into schools, I work oftentimes with six teachers
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  and I see them, typically I see them three days a year.
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  And the first time that I see them, like, hello, my name is Connie. Nice to meet you.
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  So in my role, I don't have the benefit of knowing people in advance and kind
• 12:51
  of knowing their strengths already or visiting their classroom multiple times.
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  So this is particularly an area that I'm really mindful of because I have to
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  establish rapport quickly.
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  So there are a few ways that I establish rapport,
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  create a sense of safety, and then that sense of safety allows teachers to be
• 13:12
  vulnerable, which leads to deeper reflection and doesn't cause them to be defensive or shut down.
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  So the first is kind of a consistency in the way that I frame questions.
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  So every time I sit down with a teacher, I start off with, what do you want
• 13:28
  students to learn today? Or what is your learning target?
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  So we always start with that particular piece and how will you know that they've met that target?
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  And then we just kind of work our way through that. So because there's a bit
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  of familiarity in the structure of the conversation, there is less surprise
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  about some of the initial questions.
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  So when the follow-up questions are more specific, there's still some level of comfort.
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  So trying to be consistent and a bit predictive in the way that you pose questions,
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  when you are predictive in that way,
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  then those questions can then transfer to the teacher so they can begin asking
• 14:07
  themselves those questions when you're not there.
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  So there's multiple reasons for providing some consistency in the way that the
• 14:15
  questions are formatted. I hadn't thought of it like that.
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  With getting teachers to ask themselves those questions, if you are consistent
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  in your line of questioning, that's a beautiful gradual release process there. For sure.
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  And a lot of times the teachers will say, this is when I know that I'm having
• 14:30
  an impact, is when teachers will say, I could hear you in my head.
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  I knew what question you were going to ask me.
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  And last night when I was getting ready to see you today, I asked myself all
• 14:41
  those same questions and I'm thinking, jackpot.
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  Now we're really building the efficacy. see. So the next is building that deeper
• 14:51
  reflection. And again, that sense of safety is normalizing imperfection.
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  So assuming that everything is not going to go perfect.
• 15:01
  So posing questions like, what do you think is going to be the most challenging part of this lesson?
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  The most challenging part might be, what's going to be the highest cognitive demand for learners?
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  Where are they going to have the challenge? Or it might be an instructional
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  move like, okay, I have a lot of parts going at this particular time,
• 15:18
  and I want to make sure that engagement doesn't dip while I'm getting out these
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  materials and have these students that are going to take longer.
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  And it just may be a facilitation component.
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  And so bringing out a conversation about, okay, what's going to be the hardest part?
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  Now, when teachers identify that in advance, if the lesson turns out to be challenging
• 15:39
  in that moment, they've pre-identified that as a challenging point.
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  And so they don't have to be so defensive or explanatory about why it went wrong
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  and what they were thinking because we already talked about it.
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  And everyone is expecting that in the beginning.
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  And in my sense, in the small group, typically when a teacher is like,
• 15:59
  this part is going to be hard, everybody else in the room is like,
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  oh, yeah, that is going to be hard.
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  And so there's that.
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  Camaraderie. There's that collective efficacy that all comes in together that
• 16:12
  we all have been there and it's fine if things go awry.
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  And then that other component is establishing yourself as that thought partner.
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  And so when you contribute something that they take away, then it makes them
• 16:29
  want to meet with you again and again and again.
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  I really enjoy my time with Connie or Courtney or with whomever,
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  because I always walk away with something.
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  And if they aren't bringing it out in their own, if that coaching conversation
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  is just feeling like I got nothing, then that's the time to sort of shift and
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  say, would it be helpful if I shared some of the things that I've observed in other classes?
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  And then we can just launch from there. Stop me as soon as something really
• 16:59
  sounds exciting to you. And then we'll explore that piece.
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  And then I just sort of list it as a checkbox, not as a suggestion,
• 17:06
  but do you like this? Do you like this? Do you like this? Do you like this?
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  More like a menu. And then we can dive in.
• 17:13
  When you bring those things in, consistency in the way you frame questions,
• 17:18
  normalizing that imperfection and serving as a thought partner,
• 17:22
  it creates an atmosphere of we are all here to support one another. And it's not a gotcha.
• 17:27
  Whenever it feels like a gotcha or a judgment, that's when people get defensive
• 17:31
  and they tend to just say, I've had enough of this and they shut down.
• 17:35
  Yeah, it's really about that collective efficacy and how we can tap everyone
• 17:39
  and all the resources to bring together that ideal lesson or to improve our lesson.
• 17:45
  For sure. So you touched on it earlier, but especially working with new teachers,
• 17:49
  how can we adapt our questioning or maybe thinking about their emotional state
• 17:54
  when we're going into a coaching session?
• 17:55
  What are some of your tips and tricks with that? You know,
• 17:59
  I first tried to really read the person less on the experience because in my
• 18:08
  own experience, I've had brand new teachers who are overconfident.
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  They think they know it all already and, you know, I'm ready to do this and
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  I've had great teachers before and I got this teaching thing down.
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  And then I've had veteran teachers who are dynamic, but they still question
• 18:25
  their effectiveness. So I really look to see, like, where is their level of confidence?
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  Do they present themselves more as what we would typically think as a new teacher?
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  Or do they present themselves more as somebody who's really kind of perfecting
• 18:39
  this? And then I go from that perspective.
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  So teachers that are a bit more guarded, I tend to, well, I always focus on
• 18:47
  strengths, but I really lead hard on the strengths. You're doing this really
• 18:52
  well. This is definitely a strength of yours.
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  And so in this moment, how do you decide when it's time to.
• 19:01
  And the independent work? How do you decide when you're going to throw in a think-pair-share?
• 19:07
  What is it that you notice that says, okay, this is the time?
• 19:11
  Or what are you thinking about as you're framing those on-the-fly questions?
• 19:17
  What's going through your mind?
• 19:18
  So it's still this curiosity component. It's building on their strengths,
• 19:23
  and yet it's still revealing their thought process, And it allows them to shine
• 19:29
  and really share where they perceive their expertise.
• 19:33
  And then I watch for some of their nonverbals.
• 19:36
  Are they jotting down some notes when other people are sharing ideas or,
• 19:42
  I don't know, offering small little tweaks? Or when we are sharing raw data,
• 19:49
  do they really lean in on the data?
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  Or are they saying, well, this doesn't happen all the time, or that was an anomaly?
• 19:58
  Or, you know, how are they responding to those data points?
• 20:02
  And then I try to lean into that wherever they are leaning.
• 20:07
  I try to flip it a bit. So if they're leaning into being defensive,
• 20:11
  then I come in on this is what is working well, heavy, heavy.
• 20:14
  If they are focusing on what's working well and everything is dynamo,
• 20:20
  then I come into where do you think that students had this,
• 20:25
  where would you make a tweak or where do you think students struggle the most
• 20:28
  and how can we provide in that perspective?
• 20:32
  For teachers who are already more reflective of.
• 20:35
  And maybe kind of think of them as sponges and just gimme, gimme, gimme.
• 20:40
  In my experience, those teachers often tend to be a bit harder on themselves than they ought to be.
• 20:46
  They often verge on the edge of perfectionism.
• 20:51
  And so for them, it's important to me to make sure that they have a mental plan
• 20:57
  B and plan C so that we're normalizing that plan A doesn't always have to work.
• 21:04
  And empowering them in the moment to be noticing when is it time to shift to
• 21:11
  plan B or C and what am I seeing that tells me that C is better than B but I know A isn't working.
• 21:19
  And so that feels super empowering when you're like, I got a plan for that, I'm ready.
• 21:24
  And so I try to just kind of lean into where is that level of confidence.
• 21:31
  And then the last piece that you kind of talked about, emotions,
• 21:34
  sometimes people cry, you know, even especially after the lesson.
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  Sometimes it's because the lesson just really actually did flop.
• 21:44
  And everybody, anybody who saw it would be like, yep, that happens to all of us and no biggie.
• 21:50
  But of course, to the host teacher, it is a big deal.
• 21:54
  We take our profession so personally that it means a lot to us.
• 21:59
  And so when I see tears, I learned this through therapy.
• 22:03
  Cognitive behavior therapy. When you see tears, you acknowledge it,
• 22:07
  but we don't dwell on it. We're not trying to fix the tears.
• 22:10
  And so what I have observed from evaluators, other coaches, fear observers,
• 22:17
  when we see tears, we want to fix it. We want the teacher to feel good in that moment.
• 22:23
  And my take is, let's just lean into it. Like, it's okay to be emotional.
• 22:27
  What that tells me is that you care, but I'm not going to provide excuses like, oh, that happened.
• 22:34
  It's Friday afternoon. And of course they were this.
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  And it was after lunch. And we had a fire drill this morning.
• 22:42
  I'm not going to offer excuses because you know what?
• 22:44
  We have Friday afternoon every week. We have lunch every day.
• 22:48
  We have fire drills multiple times a year. And so when those things happen,
• 22:53
  because they will, we want teachers to be armed with, okay, let's be mindful.
• 22:59
  This is a moment when I'm going to need to shift because all of my go-to default
• 23:04
  strategies are not working right now.
• 23:07
  And so now we have to embrace the failure to.
• 23:12
  Dig into an analysis of why didn't it work when it usually does?
• 23:18
  And then what can we do differently?
• 23:20
  I find it a bit comical sometimes that you walk into a classroom and they have
• 23:25
  the bulletin board, F-A-I-L, right? First attempt in learning.
• 23:29
  And yet we don't practice what we teach. and so
• 23:34
  re-normalizing that teaching is not perfection and that we measure success of
• 23:41
  teaching of did students learn what they were supposed to learn or do we have
• 23:46
  more information about where students are in the learning journey so we can
• 23:51
  meet them where they are tomorrow.
• 23:54
  Yeah, thank you for so beautifully highlighting all the cognition that's happening
• 23:57
  on the coach's part and then how you get your coachee to think through all the
• 24:01
  A, B, and C. If this doesn't work, how do we shift?
• 24:04
  And that really just highlights all the decisions teachers are making.
• 24:07
  And then when coaches are coaching, all of the things that they're processing
• 24:11
  and taking in when they go to ask those intentional questions. Uh-huh.
• 24:16
  So if coaches were just beginning to refine their questioning practice,
• 24:20
  I know a lot of them after listening to this are going to dive in.
• 24:23
  What's one habit or strategy you'd recommend they start with tomorrow to become
• 24:26
  more intentional and how they frame their questions?
• 24:30
  I think the power in coaching and the ahas really come in the follow-up questions.
• 24:35
  And so staying with a specific topic, it's more of an inch wide and a mile deep.
• 24:42
  Sometimes when it comes to having an impact, we can touch on all the facets of a lesson.
• 24:48
  And then we feel like, yeah, we touched everything, but what did we actually accomplish?
• 24:52
  What are we walking away with? And so if we can just hone in on a specific aspect
• 24:58
  that the teacher is interested in growing their practice,
• 25:02
  then if that's differentiation or it's engagement or it's formative assessment,
• 25:06
  then we can feel okay to kind of ease off of two out of three of those things
• 25:13
  and just hone in on that one and allow the teacher to also focus in on that one.
• 25:20
  So the next time you come in for a session, we're still focused on that one
• 25:24
  area of instruction that we collaboratively agreed is going to be our focus.
• 25:30
  So if a teacher says, hey, I want to work on my questioning,
• 25:33
  I'm not going to come in and say, so what do you think about your formative assessment process?
• 25:37
  Or what do you think about engagement? Or how is your time management?
• 25:41
  That's a gotcha. And so we have to be clear about what it is that we're focusing on.
• 25:48
  And then those follow up questions.
• 25:50
  And a lot of times, it's really the metacognitive questions. How will you know?
• 25:56
  What will you see? What will.
• 26:01
  If you have this choice and this choice and this choice, and you don't know
• 26:06
  which one that you're going to make in the moment, what will cause you to pick A?
• 26:10
  What will cause you to pick B? What will cause you to pick C?
• 26:14
  Those conversations flow into so many more lessons than the single lesson that
• 26:20
  they're about to teach with the plan that you're creating now,
• 26:23
  because now they have articulated, when do I do A? When do I do B? When do I do C?
• 26:28
  And those things are likely to occur over and over and over and over.
• 26:31
  So we're developing that transfer of the metacognitive process of thinking about that.
• 26:37
  So diving deep on those follow-up questions about just being thoughtful,
• 26:42
  what kind of data would be helpful for you?
• 26:45
  That's another way that coaches can establish a value in the process of it's
• 26:53
  impossible for teachers to chart their questions, tally their questions,
• 26:58
  and categorize their questions unless they videotape themselves.
• 27:03
  So as an observer, as a coach or a consultant, I can serve that role.
• 27:07
  Would you like me to come in? And since we're working on questionings,
• 27:10
  I could just gather some data and just share it with you.
• 27:13
  And then here it is. It's just raw data. Now my questions become,
• 27:17
  what do you notice? What stands out to you? What do you like?
• 27:21
  What surprises you? So those then shift into really cool and valuable conversations.
• 27:31
  Are not part of my agenda. They're just part of the process.
• 27:36
  Well, that's great coaching, right? Yes, exactly. Well, I could talk to you
• 27:40
  all day about coaching and about crafting great questions.
• 27:44
  How can our listeners learn more from you and with you?
• 27:47
  My website is ConnieHamilton.org. Don't go to ConnieHamilton.com.
• 27:52
  That's a real estate agent in the Midwest somewhere.
• 27:55
  So ConnieHamilton.org. And I think what your coaches might find most valuable
• 27:59
  there is I have a page that's full of free resources.
• 28:02
  Everything is free. And one of them is called SIFT Data Descriptions.
• 28:07
  And it's pages and pages of different data points that observers can collect
• 28:12
  and a description of how you might collect that data.
• 28:16
  It's a great tool that you can download and bring to a coaching conversation
• 28:19
  to say, would any of these be helpful for you if I were to gather this evidence and data for you?
• 28:26
  So it's a good way to bring in data and then put that ownership in the hands
• 28:30
  of the teacher that you're having your conversation with.
• 28:34
  So ConnieHamilton.org is the easiest way to get in touch with me.
• 28:37
  We're going to see those clicks go up. I know a lot of coaches listening are
• 28:41
  going to be downloading that document and diving into collecting some data.
• 28:45
  We're going to move into the rapid fire portion of our interview.
• 28:49
  Roughly 10 seconds or less. What's one strategy every coach should have in their back pocket?
• 28:55
  Well, I mentioned in the pre-brief, what's part of the lesson is most challenging,
• 28:59
  either for student learning or for facilitation.
• 29:02
  And then in the debrief, it's if you could run this lesson again tomorrow,
• 29:06
  what's one thing that you would keep and one thing that you would adjust.
• 29:10
  It normalizes that teaching is iterative and that it shifts from the focus from judgment to growth.
• 29:17
  What a powerful question. If you had 60 seconds with a new teacher,
• 29:22
  what's one thing you'd tell them?
• 29:23
  I'm really big on strength-based coaching, so I would try to make it as personal
• 29:27
  as possible. This is your gift. This is your talent. This is your jam.
• 29:31
  But in the absence of knowing that ahead of time, if I had a room full of first-year
• 29:35
  teachers, I'd say, keep your eye on learning.
• 29:38
  Focus your measurement of success on a lesson with whether or not students learned,
• 29:42
  not whether or not they were busy, or if your lesson went the way that it says
• 29:46
  in the textbook, or in the podcast or on the website that you saw,
• 29:51
  but just focus on did students learn?
• 29:54
  If they did, your lesson is a success. Hopefully we have some new teachers or
• 29:57
  some coaches passing on that information.
• 30:00
  Well, I appreciate so much you joining me today and I can't wait to dive into
• 30:04
  more of your work. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed being here today.
• 30:08
  Connie shared so many insights and great tips on elevating your questions.
• 30:11
  How might you adjust some of the questions you ask your coaches and how might
• 30:15
  you build space and capacity to get them doing the heavy lifting and thinking.
• 30:19
  Thanks for listening to another episode of C3.
• 30:22
  Be sure to follow us on social media.