The Power of Reflection

The Assistant Principal Podcast

#224: The Power of Reflection

Show Description:

We are over half-way through the Good Enough October Challenge. Remember, the big idea here is that you don’t have to be a great leader, you just need to be good enough. Specifically, good enough leaders consistently help the people around them grow by doing four simple things:· Intentionally choosing to show up· Being fully present· Asking reflective questions· Listening to the answers. Choose, Be, Ask, Listen. If you do those things consistently, you will help the people around you grow, and that is leadership that is good enough, because better teachers = better outcomes for kids. Today we’ll recap where we’ve been and dive into my favorite part of the process – asking reflective questions!

Celebrations: SCATA

Recapping where we are in the Good Enough October Challenge

The Big Idea

Began with three perspective shifts:

· Perspective shift #1: They know more than you

· Perspective shift #2: You aren’t very good at coaching people

· Perspective shift #3: Reflection is enough

Choosing to show up

· We can choose to show up as our best self

· We can “not choose” how we show up, with varying results

· We all face barriers that can make it difficult to be intentional

· The choice we make is not as important as making the choice. (example)

· It is good enough that you make the choice.

Being fully present

· Say their name

· Look at them

· And think, “this is the most important person in the world at this moment.”

New Content

Asking reflective questions

· The role of reflection in growth (the cube of development)

· The three 5-minute coaching questions

· 5-mc demo

o You can hear her voice brighten when she reflects on what’s going well

o Hear the pause and then puzzling out the possible explanation for a student’s hesitancy to dig more deeply

o Differently: “I need to give them more time to find their voice… have I cut too much out of their time?” – this is something worth coming back to or at least listening for in the future. There might be a worthwhile discussion to be had about the value of content versus the value of voice. Also, I hope you could hear that this awareness was unfolding as we did the session.

o I don’t give much reaction, I could be more affirming, but there is a danger as too much affirmation can feel like we are approving and approving means we are judging, I usually err on the side of “nod and smile” and go light on affirmations.

o This five minutes created space for her to reflect when she otherwise might not have. The actual coaching session lasted 4:30.

o Note what Pam says about hew new colleague who had never been asked to reflect on a lesson!

o **After describe how she paused on surprise and though about different, even though she knew we were going to do this.

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· Check APP for additional demos

o Examples of Five-Minute Coaching #109

o Can Frederick Hike and Coach at the Same Time? #201

o

If you want to go deeper, you can ask these questions:

· Can you say more about that?

· What would that look and sound like?

· Why do you think that is?

Five-minute coaching is great for debriefing a teaching lesson. It can also be used for:

· Doing a culture check (extending “how are things going?”)

· Building trust

o Lean in and Listen with Alex Auriemma #177

§ What is your teaching super-power?

§ What’s the biggest difference between who you are now as a teacher, and who you were when you began?

§ If you could get students to do one thing differently, what would it be?

· Debriefing a meeting

· Or a presentation

· Reviewing a difficult conversation

· Asking your spouse of significant other about their day

Summarizing (The big takeaway)

Sponsorship:

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Close

· Leadership is a journey and thank you for choosing to walk some of this magical path with me.

· You can find links to all sorts of stuff in the show notes, including my website https://www.frederickbuskey.com/

· I love hearing from you. If you have comments or questions, or are interested in having me speak at your school or conference, email me at [e-mail] or connect with me on LinkedIn.

· If you are tired of spending time putting out fires and would rather invest time supporting and growing teachers, consider reading my book, A School Leader’s Guide to Reclaiming Purpose. The book is available on Amazon. You can find links to it, as well as free book study materials on my website at https://www.frederickbuskey.com/reclaiming-purpose.html

· Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.

· Remember the secret to good leadership:

o Be intentional in choosing how you will show up for others

o Be fully present

o A...