Summer holds so many “little moments” that we don’t typically get during the school year. One of the “little moments” that I enjoy each summer is the time to read, learn, and reflect. Here’s what I’ve been reading …
1. Coaching for Equity (Elena Aguilar): This one makes me think – a lot. As I turn the pages and highlight “ah-ha” moments, I’m constantly asking myself, “How can I work smarter in service of others?”. When coaching, what we do and think matters. A triple highlighted quote from this book is found on page 69. It reads:
2. Cultivating Genius (Gholdy Muhammad): We believe it, and we say it every day. This work we do is about serving all students – every student – every day – no exceptions. Sometimes that means changing what WE do. Muhammad talks a lot about “shifts in pedagogy”. On page 56, he talks about urgent pedagogies. This is one that I want to remind myself of daily:
3. UDL and Blended Learning (Novak and Tucker): Once a teacher, always a teacher. I love learning as much as I can about how to best serve every student. Novak and Tucker state over and over again that we are “facilitators of learning”. Love that. They also talk about goals. On page 140, I found this great reminder:
4. Thanks for the Feedback (Stone and Heen): Feedback matters. It’s powerful. It’s what keeps us going. And, according to Stone and Heen, there is a “science and art” of receiving feedback well. There is so much good in this book that I could write a whole blog post on it (hmmm, that’s an idea). For now, however, I’ll share a thought from page 218 that reminds me AGAIN that relationships matter. We have to both KNOW and UNDERSTAND the people we are serving. The quote reads:
5. Blink (Malcolm Gladwell): Small moments. In other words, in a “blink” of an eye. In this book, Gladwell reminds us that structure isn’t the same as rigidity. That very thought reminds me that our PD plan has to be structured but not rigid. Ah-ha … bounded autonomy. I wrote this quote from page 111 in my notebook just last week:
6. Focused Schools: It’s tattered and torn because it’s always with me. Why? Because for me, it’s the glue that holds the work together. It reminds me that less is more. And it reminds me that YOU, as leaders, MATTER a lot.
