Celebrating a Writing Superhero!

#celebratelu this week too, join in over at Ruth's blog

I'm now afforded new amounts of time.  So, I am joyfully writing on a Saturday!

At this blog, I intend to share new learning and leading.  My celebration relates to Ruth and the superhero's response to questions regarding how to reach struggling writers who just don't care.  I'm learning...

Another coach posed the question, "How do we reach students who just don't care?"

I immediately thought of seeking help from Ruth-she's one of my writing Super Heroes!  Cue the trumpets!

I really had no idea that Ruth has just launched her new book, Enticing Hard to Reach Writers.

Thankfully, Ruth quickly responded and offered recommendations from a few of the chapters to help us as we work diligently to reach and teach all writers.

From Chapter 5-think about how behaviors mask needs!  You'll need markers, a jar and masking tape for this one.

From Chapter 1-the importance of understanding how brains work (neuroplasticity-The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.)

From pages 79-80 a chart which outlines moves to make with hard to reach writers.  As I perused the list, I zeroed in on ways to simplify conferring (Chapter 18) for students who are having a difficult time talking about their writing or writing process, "Increase students' energy for writing by asking open-ended questions while conferring"  and  "Name strengths students have as writers."  Consideration for this advice assumes writing and conferring happen daily-a must.

I hope you'll consider reading this book...

So I must thank my writing superhero and celebrate her help.

What a Writing Superhero looks like.
By Natalie

I appreciate Ruth's tenacity and capacity to see this work through to publishing in the name of helping so many more teachers of writers and writers themselves to grow through life's challenges and CELEBRATE!

By the way, Ruth didn't ask me do write this, I just knew I had to!

Changing My View

Today's #Digilit Sunday is all about perspective..."Changing My View"

"Perspective has a Latin root meaning "look through" or "perceive," and all the meanings of perspective have something to do with looking. If you observe the world from a dog's perspective, you see through the dog's eyes. In drawing, perspective gives your drawing the appearance of depth or distance. If we say someone "has perspective," we mean she has a sensible outlook on life."     Source:  Vocabulary.com

I wanted to spend today sharing about how what I learned from the #educoach tweet chat on Thursday changed my view.

The chat was focused on responding to questions from Chapters 8 and 9 from the book, Better Conversations by Jim Knight.  I haven't read the book, yet.  So, I mostly lurked during the chat.  There were some resources shared that helped me to learn about having "Better Conversations".

The first is the idea of empathy...watch this short digital text on "Empathy" and I'll see you on the other side:

The big takeaway from this video for me is that "empathy fuels connection" and by being connected, I can make a situation better.  As I build relationships with the teams of teachers, I aim to better my connections.  One of the quotes I really related to was "I know what it's like and you're not alone."  I will also be more cognizant of trying not to "silver-line" things.  

The other source of learning I connected with from the chat was the video Kathy Perret shared in her tweet about body language that she learned from Elena Aguilar, author of The Art of Coaching which is officially on my TBR pile.

@artofcoaching1 shared a great TED Talk at a workshop this week on body language https://t.co/7kpSxnotDg #educoach https://t.co/VXpPR4NZxw

— KathyPerret (@KathyPerret) May 26, 2016

Take the time to watch this Ted Talk...body language has an amazing impact on perception!

I have realized that my body language is doing a lot of non-verbal speaking.  The way others see my body responding and the way I see myself has a lot to do with how I'm communicating.  If I want to have better conversations and a more empathic perspective, my body language must be considered in the conversations.

I connect this to #digilit Sunday as I change my views to better understand others while living, learning and leading in my role as an instructional coach.

A special thank you to Margaret Simon for hosting #digilit Sunday and inviting me to write on the topic to share with others.  Head there now and check out other responses to "Perspective".