While facilitating a group of coaches, I explored the role of using empathy statements and supporting statements to respond to teacher statements that coaches might describe as “challenging.” Teacher: “The district has given us a new curriculum which causes a great increase in planning time on our part and now we have to attend these […]

In The Leader’s Guide to Coaching in Schools, John Campbell and Christian van Nieuwerburgh, share key coaching skills; several of which I think closely connect to listening skills. Being Present – “There are few greater gifts we can give another person these days than being present.” Giving full and focused attention is a powerful way […]

Listening has always been a critical skill for effective coaching. I’ve connected it with questioning skills. Too often when coaches are conscious of questioning, they can get too focused on creating their next question and not really listen as the teacher responds. The pause after a teacher speaks is the time to consider how I […]

In this week’s episode of the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast, Steve looks at using confirmatory paraphrasing as a strategy to build communication in coaching. Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes. Thanks for listening!

Having an opportunity recently to coach coaches renewed my understanding of the need to slow down and listen effectively as a coach. I believe that often a coach’s desire to be “helpful” has one looking for a solution or an improvement to move toward and thus missing hearing things that are important to the coachee. […]