We are all created in the image of God. Even the maker of the universe himself seeks praise! And in his image, his people crave it too. Think about it. When someone praises you and tells you how well you’ve done, how do you feel? When there is a person in your life who you just can’t get that praise from, how hard do you work for it? People crave positive feedback and it transforms their attitude and actions. A simple, encouraging word can change a person’s entire outlook and perspective. This applies to any age person - from a three year old, to a middle schooler, to an adult - because it is a basic truth rooted in the way God made us. Angela Maiers makes an amazing case for the power of praise in her Ted Talk called “You Matter” which has sparked a movement and a hashtag #youmatter. If you haven't seen it yet, it is worth 20 minutes of your time! My perspective of positive feedback changed after attending a Writer's Stylus course with Kevin Washburn. (Side note: Here are 5 Reasons Why you should attend Writer's Stylus too). Before, when I worked with writers, I simply pointed out mistakes in their writing, which is what I thought was the purpose of conferencing with students. The page was covered in changes and corrections. No wonder my students felt defeated. Washburn calls his approach to providing feedback “coaching” because it truly allows the focus to be on uplifting the student writer. This style of conferring is student-centered with authentic praise as a key component. He provides a specific cycle of steps for each “coaching session” that helps to maximize the writer's strengths and provide them positive feedback and practical steps to help them improve. It helped me establish a new way of encouraging students in their writing, rather than just reinforcing their mistakes. Negative feedback can be detrimental to a learner. Yet, it is often all that students will receive from their teachers. Or all they receive is a bad grade without any notation as to the reason behind the score. After years of being told they are doing it all wrong, most students accept that they will never be good at anything. Writing is the perfect example. Every year I have students who enter my classroom and tell me “I am not a good writer.” And every year I strive to help them change their pre-established fixed mindsets. Carol Dweck’s book Mindset transformed my own resolve to help students see they had amazing potential because the reality is that they can all be good writers - but that starts with a mindset change. Positive feedback is the key to transforming a mindset because it provides a surge of energy. When a student sees that he is excelling in an area, even if it is just in a small way, he see the fruit of his labors, and - hopefully - will work harder to continue to improve. The teacher (or coach) plays a vital role in revitalizing this learner’s mindset. It takes another person holding up a mirror so that the learner can realize his capabilities and potential. The Gordon Ramsay Effect It makes me think of Gordon Ramsey - you know, the three michelin star chef who is known for yelling and cussing on his TV shows. Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and Master Chef are three of my favorite shows. Kitchen Nightmares is the best of the three. Ramsey goes into a family-owned restaurant that needs help, usually because the food is horrible, and gives them his honest opinion as to why the restaurant is failing. The man is brutal. He is blunt and often mean when he gives feedback to these families. And they rarely react well to his expert opinion, no matter how much they respect this man for his accomplishments. Throughout the show though, Ramsey builds relationships (sometimes via shouting matches) with the family and gets the root of the problem, which usually has absolutely nothing to do with the food. These relationships allow him to make an impact on these people, and when the end of the show arrives, there is honest praise leaving his mouth for the family. There are tears and hugs and smiles - and transformations. All because this man gave his honest feedback, built relationships, and showed them how to change for the better, and then gave them genuine praise. He changed their mindsets. Providing Positive Feedback While I don't suggest anyone approach feedback with Ramsay's volatile style in mind, there is a cycle and process that he follows that works when providing feedback.
1) Build Relationships Feedback is always better received by a student when they do not feel threatened or judged. The quickest way to win their trust is to humble yourself and show them that you are still learning too and that you don't know everything. Then, show them that you care about their ideas and opinions, even if they are not in line with what you might do yourself. Allow them to explain their thought process and listen to their concerns. 2) Provide Honest Feedback Start with authentic praise of elements the learner has done well. Positive feedback doesn't have to be contrived, fake, or untrue feedback. Instead of pointing out mistakes in a negative light, simply point out what they have done so far and praise them for their work. Then, guide them by explaining what they still have left to do. 3) Model How to Improve Often students respond to feedback with a defeated sense of “but I don’t know how to fix it.” Your job is to model the change and improvement for them. With writing for example, you can’t simply correct comma errors for a student - this helps nothing. But you can take the time to show the student three steps to determine where the comma goes in the sentence and model those steps for them during a conference. Now, when the student goes back to work, she will at least have a task to complete with steps to follow. I love how Gordon Ramsey will often step into the kitchen to cook with the families on Kitchen Nightmares and show them how to improve. He doesn’t just yell and say the food is horrible; he steps in and models for them how to make the food better. 4) Provide Support and Praise This becomes a cycle. Continue to meet with students to provide additional praise, feedback, and modeling. While we all wish that one instance of teaching or modeling is enough, it never really is. Continue to work with each student and encourage her to continue to craft until she can be truly proud of her work because it meets all the expectations. The more positive reinforcement she receives, the more she will take ownership of her work. But what if the student is completely off base? I know this is a valid question because I see it so often with students. There are two helpful tips when encouraging this type of student. 1) Focus on one key element for constructive feedback. Still start with providing genuine praise (find something! Anything!) and then give this student one element to improve upon. With each additional conference, you may be able to tackle something else. Don't overwhelm this type of student; he/she will shut down on you! 2) Ask him questions! Instead of telling him what to do, ask this student questions so he can quickly realize himself what he has done wrong or needs to work on. Allow him to reach these insights on his own, and he will be much quicker to embrace the revisions. A rubric is an ideal tool for this. Put it in front of the two of you and ask him if he has met the requirements on the rubric. (The Writer's Stylus course provides amazing rubrics for these types of conversations!) Try this tomorrow. Change your own mindset in your classroom and opt to offer genuine, positive feedback to students. When you see their faces light up, you will know you are making a difference in their lives! These are the books that have influenced my thinking on this topic. What have you read on this topic? Please share in the comments! Mindset by Carol Dweck Quite Leadership by David Rock Your Brain at Work by David Rock Choice Words by Peter H. Johnson Opening Minds by Peter H. Johnson Role Reversal by Mark Barnes ___ Allison Petersen @alcp
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I got a challenge today, and it sent my mind whirling! Maureen Devlin (@lookforsun) probably didn't intend much when she wrote me this tweet:
But it gave me an idea that sparked a fire! I truly love how blogging can be so inspirational! If I really do want to make take the ideas from the book Quiet Leadership, which I have written about in two previous posts, and turn them into habits, what do I need to do? This also aligns with David Rock's method of coaching, which explains how to instill new habits and ways of thinking into the person across the table from you instead of telling them what to do. David Rock says: "A new habit is a delicate and fragile creation, Through different conferences and books, (like @kdwashburn's Architecture of Learning), I have learned the basics of how the brain works. New ideas can only stay in your mind for a matter of seconds before they are gone. Your brain needs to make connections to existing information for anything to stick. And even then, you need to be dwell upon it, write it down, and think it through for the idea to be made into a true habit.
So, the first step to turn ideas into habits is to intentionally transfer them from working memory to long term memory. Here are some ideas on how to do that: 4 Ways Turn an Idea Into a Habit: 1) Mindmaps or Diagrams: Toni Krasnic (@conciselearning, www.conciselearning.com) explains the power of a mindmap extremely well in his book How to Study with Mind Maps. By creating connections in your brain between an old idea to a new one, you will begin to solidify the new concept in your mind. By using a visual tool like a mind map or any type of diagram, you can take a higher level idea and bring it down to something your brain can manage. I am currently doing this with my each of the coaching models David Rock presents in Quiet Leadership, and it has helped tremendously. Think about the potential with students - when they are having trouble understanding a concept ask them to draw a mind map of what they do understand and help them fill in the gaps! 2) Visual Reminders: One of the things I always find myself saying is "out of sight, out of mind" because it is a literal thing for me. If I do not have a visual reminder, I honestly will not remember to do something. I try to blame this on mommy brain, but really I just have too many things to remember to do. So the more I can do to create visual reminders (i.e. a checklist, sticky notes, images, diagrams, reminders on my phone, etc) for myself the more likely I am to stick to something. Also, the more colorful the better. Your brain is able to trigger memories of where things are placed on the page more easily. I will be pasting visual charts and quotes on my desk to remind me of details from Quiet Leadership. This is also true with students - they have been away from your class for 24 hours; they've done a lot in between. Help them by creating visual reminders that will trigger their memories as much as possible. This is why I often use Poster Sticky Notes to take important colorful notes. This way I can paste it back on the wall when they return the next day. 3) Planned Action: Habits don't become habits if you forget about them. You need to set up some specific actions to transform it from an idea to a habit. David Rock says "Do something tangible yourself to anchor this model into your thinking. Some possible ways could do this include, explaining it to others, creating your own diagram of the model, or doing some writing. Anything you can do to give the circuits holding this concept in your thinking some attention will make a difference" (172). Rock also recommends accountability, find someone to talk to this habit about so that they can help you form it more solidly! Peer accountability can be key in building student habits. For example, I am always harping on them to write their homework down in their planners. But what if the routine was to have your seat partner check to see if you had written it down correctly? Then, that forces both students to check the accuracy of what they wrote down, and they each have peer accountability. 4) Don't Give Yourself a Crutch: If you truly want to form that new habit, don't allow yourself to go back to the old way. Not even once or twice. You will slip back into your old ways in no time. For example, I recently decided that I wanted to go digital with my To Do Lists. I was really sick of losing sticky notes, but I always have my phone with me. So I started using the Any.Do app (after trying several others, I landed on this one and love it!). To make this true change in habit, I needed to stop writing down notes to myself. So anytime I attempted to take a note on paper, I stopped myself and went to my phone. This is still a work in progress, but I think I'm getting there! With students this means stretching them. They are going to most likely revert to their usual way of doing things because that is easier. You have to stretch them and gently remind them that this is the new way and they can't go back and lean on the old way instead. I recently taught a Study Skills class where I emphasized the importance of students transferring the information from a lecture or class into long term memory to help them study. Here is the link to the Prezi and Visual Posters for that class if you want to check it out. Try This Tomorrow: What habit are you working on forming? Any new ones at the start of the school year? I am so interested to hear! Please leave a comment. And try out these tricks to help you make them stick! --- Allison Petersen @alcp My last blog post was a reflection from the book Quiet Leadership by David Rock. As I continue to read, i am bombarded with insights and helpful information as a leader and as a teacher. These tidbits are too good not to share. At the end of each step or section, Rock summarizes his approach. I've collected these summaries and my other insights below for you as quick take aways. I highly recommend that you read this book - it is eye opening! All the statements below are direct quotes or paraphrases of David Rock with page numbers from the paperback edition included for your reference. QUIET LEADERS...
And these are only from the first 3 steps of David Rock's "Six Steps to Transform Performance at Work." More to come soon. Try this tomorrow. Put even a few of these leadership qualities to practice and see how they change your interaction with people. Even your family - it amazes me how much this book applies beyond leadership and expands into the classroom and at home with my husband and son. -- Allison Petersen @alcp Ok, seriously. You have to read this book. It's called Quiet Leadership by David Rock. I am 50 pages in, and I cannot stop underlining almost every sentence I read. (I always tell my students not to underline too much, and here I am NOT taking my own advice). At first, I bought this book to learn more about leadership. I was planning to apply the concepts to my new role as an Instructional Coach. It came highly recommended to me by Kevin Washburn, who does a lot of research in neuroscience and has great book recommendations along those lines. But as I have been reading it, I am realizing that it applies to many more elements of my life. David Rock uses neuroscience to discuss how to truly change a person's performance by changing a person's thinking. This also relates back to the idea of changing a person's mindset (Mindset by Carol S. Dweck), which is not easy. He explains seamlessly how the neuroscience and true understanding of how people handle situations can play an important role in influencing a person to change their perspective and/or behavior. There are so many elements of the book that have my mind whirling so far, but this one about how people tackle new ideas really stuck with me today. Rock explains how the brain handles new ideas: "Anytime we try a new activity, behavior, or way of thinking, we are literally forging a new pathway in our brain. We're creating circuits that don't currently exist. Doing this takes energy and requires extensive use of our conscious mind...Before we feel comfortable with a new idea or behavior we have to own it, we have to develop our own hard wiring for the idea. Getting to this point requires we go though a stage of mild discomfort, uncertainty, and often even frustration and fear" (52). As I read this section titled "The Challenge of Changing Behavior," I immediately thought out three places I have seen this happen lately: My Son - Cooper is almost 3 years old. Whenever he tries something new, from a toy to a game, he will react quickly with frustration that he doesn't know how to do it. Just today, he was playing with the water hose in the back yard, and it stopped working because the line had kinked. He almost started throwing a full blown fit over the fact that he couldn't get the hose to work. I had to talk him down and walk him through the steps to stretch out the hose. His natural reaction to something new is immediate frustration. My Students - This past year, I taught many students who held a firm fixed mindset about their abilities as students. So whenever I presented something challenging or anything that forced them to think, they would immediately give up. Analyze a poem? They would freeze. Stare at the wall and do anything to avoid the assignment. Give a hard test? Sulk through it, coming up to ask questions that they hoped would lead to me just giving them the answer. Their natural reaction was to shut down when presented when new challenges or anything that stretched their thinking. Teachers at a Workshop - We were fortunate to host Architecture of Learning on our campus this year. (Side note: You REALLY want to bring this to your school!!). Kevin Washburn puts best practice teaching strategies into a sequential order based on neuroscience and brain-based research. This workshop is very challenging and requires a lot of brainpower because participants begin embracing a new way of thinking when it comes to teaching. The teachers who came to this workshop were truly challenged by the new content; some of them were just unsure how to wrap their heads around it all. Being strong teachers who wanted to learn, they worked hard to understand, but the initial reaction to some of this new ideas was frustration and a need for clarity. They immediately wanted to discuss the new material with each other to better understand. Not long after that, the new ideas became energizing and exciting, but only because they began to "own" the ideas themselves and understand how the new concepts applied to their individual classrooms. So, knowing how common this is around me, I realized that these three concepts are going to be vital to me as a wife, mother, teacher, and leader: 1) New ideas require mental energy and evoke strong emotions. 2) The initial reaction will most likely be frustration and fear of the new. 3) People have to begin to "own" an idea themselves before they can accept it. David Rock goes into detail in the next sections of the book to discuss how positive feedback and encouragement can help as people try to tackle new ideas. Can't wait to share those thoughts soon! This is just a snippet of the great thoughts coming from reading this book. So I encourage you to pick it up - try out some of these new ideas tomorrow as you interact with the people around you. You will be able to understand their thinking better. Who doesn't want that?! --- Allison Petersen @alcp The school year is starting to creep up on us. Well, at least those of us that start in August. With a lot of thinking this summer about my new role as Middle School Curriculum Coordinator and some inspiration from my amazing PLN, I have been setting my goals for the upcoming school year.
I have the privilege of taking on more responsibility as an Instructional Coach this year, and I am really looking forward to it. But I felt like I needed to help define this role for myself. So I began researching and compiling an Instructional Coaching Storify with resources. This ASCD article, Ten Roles for Teacher Leaders was incredibly helpful in crafting my thinking. By taking the time to state my new role clearly, I feel prepared to also set specific goals to guide me throughout the year and provide a focus for tasks. I narrowed it down to one sentence, inspired by recent ideas from my PLN: Daniel Pink's book Drive and video What is my sentence? Jaime Vandergrift's (@jaimevanderg) recent blog post: What Defines You Matters. Jaime also recently joined Will Deyamport (@peoplegogy) and Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) for a video on the topic: Peoplegogy TV: Your One Sentence. My one sentence: My goal is to energize teaching and learning by fostering a learning mindset in teachers and students. The idea of a "learning mindset" came from several places. One is in recent discussions with Kevin Washburn (@kdwashburn) and his wife Julia, of Clerestory Learning. We discussed the importance of creating a culture among teachers that is one of growth and improvement with an open mind toward change. Also from reading books like Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Quiet Leadership by David Rock, and Choice Words by Peter H. Johnson. All highly recommended, by the way! So, the question is... How will I "energize teaching and learning and fostering a learning mindset among teachers and students?" These specific goals are helping me answer that question.
Formulating these goals has been an incredibly enlightening and rewarding experience for me as I see my role at school transforming. Putting in the thinking and research that is required to create these goals has been professional development in itself. Please Try This Tomorrow! Craft your "one sentence" and set your goals for the school year. Give yourself focus moving forward. Energize and prepare yourself now for the onslaught of busyness and craziness that is about to come. Please share your goals with me if you blog them! Can't wait to learn from you! Maureen Devlin (@lookforsun), who has a powerful blog Teach Children Well, recently posted her goals for the rest of the summer: Focus, Focus, Focus. Great read! __ Allison Petersen @alcp |
About AllisonAllison is an K-12 Instructional Coach. Her goal is to empower educators to grow continually. Recent Posts#5Tips4LMS Series
Cast a Vision Create Momentum A Problem and a Solution HIGHLIGHTED POSTS Re-Center on Vision Letting Go of Control The Power of Positive Feedback Inspiring a Love of Reading Turning Ideas into Habits The Truth About Writing This I Believe Essay Quiet Leadership Qualities Thinking About New Ideas Goals Provide Focus The Power of Twitter Use Storify to Organize Tweets Build a PLN Categories
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