What We're Reading Now
Coaches in the Real World
10 October 2011
Rachel read Atul Gawande's article, Personal Best, from the October 3rd issue of The New Yorker for a fresh explanation of the power of coaching to hone professional skills. Bonus feature: she got a glimpse of some leading-edge work happening right here at home.
Tags: coaching, rachel read
I'm not the most frequent reader of The New Yorker, but I do like perusing the cartoons and every once in a while, I'll hear about an article that sends me in search of an issue. Last week brought one such occasion, when Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Pam Moran mentioned that the teacher coaching program was included in a recent feature. That was enough to have me intrigued.
When I actually got my hands on the article, something good got even better. Author Atul Gawande is a surgeon specializing in endocrine surgeries, and it seems that one day after hitting a few balls on the tennis court, he got to wondering why professional athletes and singers have coaches. The existence of coaches for professionals runs counter to traditional notions of pedagogy that suggest that students are taught how to learn until they no longer need instruction. If that's the case, Gawande wondered, how is it that some of our most revered, talented people find it worthwhile to have a coach?
In talking with folks like Itzhak Perlman and the like, Gawande found that much of it comes down to outside eyes and ears — having a trusted sounding board to notice the things that are unseen and unheard (or mis-seen and mis-heard) from one's own perspective. And it makes sense; I like to think that musicians, athletes, surgeons and the like are devoting most of their active brain cells to what they're actually doing in the moment rather than to honing their self-awareness and observation. But how can that work in the real world?
That's where our local schools come in. Gawande was introduced to University of Kansas researcher Jim Knight, who advocates for coaching as a mechanism to support school teachers and who accompanied Gawande on a visit to a classroom at Walton Middle School. He observed classroom coaching in action, and heard Knight explain some of what makes for effective coaching. "Good coaches . . . speak with credibility, make a personal connection, and focus little on themselves." Perhaps more significantly, Gawande saw enough of an impact that he decided to find a coach for himself.
It takes courage and resilience to invite a coach to observe your work. Sometimes you'll mess up — and a coach will bear witness to that even as he helps you learn from it. But, as Gawande found, when you're really good at what you do and still want to make progress and hone your craft, a coach might be just the ticket. Athletes, musicians, teachers, surgeons, professionals of all sorts — what will you work on today?
As a footnote, reading this article made me even more grateful than usual for the leadership of our schools and the dedication of our community's teachers and school employees. Finding new ways to address the challenges of learning despite the constraints of budgets, the demands of standardized tests, and the diverse needs of students is a daunting task. How great to see ACPS leading the way!
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Natalie Brown
Oct 11, 2011
That explains, to some extent why our coaching clients are so appreciative of our work with them.
My husband had the opportunity within the DC public school system of acting as a Principal Coach for over a year and he found it very gratifying. It is unfortunate that despite the powerful improvements that were happening that DCPS chose to cancel the program. One thing coachig cannot provide is instant gratification.
Good read, Rachel.