Linda M. Gross Cheliotes - Coaching Conversations

• Linda M. Gross Cheliotes
• Marceta F. Reilly
• Foreword by Simon T. Bailey

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As a reformed businessman and author, when I think of coaching conversations, I think of the employer/employee or life coach settings. Many organizations have built coaching into their review processes, employees use executive or career coaches to help them succeed, and individuals turn to life coaches to get clarity of direction. We (myself included) have created a number of coaching resources for adults but often forget that, beyond content consumption, life and learning habits begin in the classroom and so should coaching conversations.

There is not much literature available to teach school administrators how to have these conversations in the classroom, where students need the same type of coaching and guidance as adults in the workforce. Linda M. Gross Cheliotes and Marceta F. Reilly have returned to this groundbreaking text to add to the research-based case for embedding coaching conversations throughout the entire school, not only at the highest levels of administration but from teacher to student in the classroom.

Having worked and written alongside these authors, I can attest to the brilliance, passion, and knowledge they bring to this project. They are tireless in their efforts to bring the latest and greatest coaching tools and practices to education administrators and teachers the world over. They are steadfast in their conviction that individual coaching conversations, when strung together, can transform an entire school. These schools, when strung together, will transform the entire system. As a result, our students will start to turn more toward education than away, and the concepts taught to them will take deeper root and have greater impact.

Readers of the second edition of Coaching Conversations can expect to learn the latest neuroscience behind how our brains respond to conversations, study examples of successful coaching conversations used in the classroom, and apply this learning through practical activities and questions. This text is designed not only to educate but to help teachers and administrators practice coaching conversations in their personal and individual contexts.

As an entrepreneur and a parent, I have seen firsthand how coaching conversations can shape the way students think about their education and the people around them. The ideas included here are so powerful, I know that if widely practiced, they can and will revolutionize our education system.

Simon T. Bailey

Coauthor of Releasing Leadership Brilliance

Coaching Conversations: Transforming Your School One Conversation at a Time provides a simple guidebook and framework for all school leaders and teachers. We will introduce you to effective coaching conversation skills that are critical for making systemic change. These skills will significantly increase your ability to engage and motivate the members of your school communities as you work collaboratively toward total school transformation. By investing a minimal amount of time to learn and practice the valuable conversational skills outlined in this book, you will experience a significant return on your investment.

The second edition of Coaching Conversations extends the concepts and skills emphasized in our original book. We have taken into account updated research, including the field of neuroplasticity and the brains ability to grow and change. Through our work with thousands of educators, we have also developed coaching conversation frameworks that may be utilized when the basic coaching skills are initially learned and practiced.

Michael Fullans research (2006) demonstrates the importance of motivating people to change and grow through relationships based on treating others with dignity and respect. We advocate that coach-like conversations focus on building relationships through committed listening, asking powerful questions with positive intent that result in deep thinking, and utilizing reflective feedback that holds each person to high standards, while at the same time preserving his or her personal dignity.

In this edition of Coaching Conversations, we have established the case for relational trust as one of the most important factors in moving the lowest tier schools to higher levels of achievement. Through ongoing, respectful coaching conversations, space is provided for personal and professional growth and change within a framework of relational trust.

Moreover, John Hatties (2012) compendium of influences on achievement (pp. 266268) demonstrates the very important role of teachers involving their students in coaching conversations. Students self expectations, engagement in classroom discussion, teacher clarity, teacher-student relationships, effective feedback, and using metacognitive strategies are among the top 15 influences on student achievement, yielding one and a half to over three years growth in student achievement during the course of a single academic year. Coaching skills fit very closely with and support the influential skills Hattie describes. In addition, we have personally witnessed the growth in teachers and students when their school leaders have extended the use of coach-like skills throughout their educational communities.