I'm at the end of 3 intensive days learning about cognitive coaching. Over the past few days one word that really resonates with me is the word self-directed. We talked about how teaching involves constant decision-making - in fact the figure we were given was that a teacher makes around 1300 decisions over the course of a school day and that most are "gut reactions" that we never stop to think about. The aim of coaching is to facilitate decision-making because in order to learn something new an alternation in thought is required. This is where the coach works: with the internal thinking process of the coachee, which in turn leads to a change in observable behaviours and enhanced performance.
Cognitive coaching empowers teachers to be self-directed. It gives teachers the skills to think of ways to solve problems. It helps them to consider the cause and effect and to improve their craftsmanship. It can help them to forecast future performance, set challenging goals and persevere in the face of barriers. I'm excited about what I have learned and I'm really looking forward to using these news skills when I get back to ASB in July.
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