November 22, 2023 Photo by Ann O'Doherty On the need for, and benefits of, gratitude Hello, and thank you for reading The Coaching Letter, I am grateful to you for investing your time in reading what I write, and I am extra special super grateful when you have the time to respond. I try to write something appropriate at Thanksgiving, and some years it’s harder than others. The situation in Israel and Gaza is so upsetting, and conflict continues in
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October 25, 2023 Screenshot of part of a data collection sheet created by Andrew Volkert for use in “implementing many small, frequent tests.” On organizational culture and intelligent failure Hello, I hope you are doing well. This Coaching Letter is about two things: culture and failure. I started writing this on my way home from a weekend in the DC area; I went to co-teach a class with my friend and colleague David Eddy-Spicer, which was very fun, not least
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October 12, 2023 Peter Liljedahl working with teachers & coaches in Manchester in April: One district’s work to create shared understanding of high quality equitable instruction. On why districts must create a shared understanding of high quality equitable instruction Hello, I hope this finds you well. First, a couple of reminders: we are running a repeat of the Educator Evaluation Convening that we hosted for the first time on September 22 (I think I was unclear about the
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September 26, 2023   Fig 1.—A school-based model for teacher expectations (Proctor, 1984). On expectations and equity Hello, I hope you are well and that you are feeling good about your life, your work, your family. I’m very sorry that it’s been so long since I wrote a Coaching Letter—late August and September are always very busy times, but this year more than most, I think. The fact that Rydell and I had a book manuscript due on August 31
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August 15, 2023 A science classroom during HQI Live! in Milford, CT. On popular misconceptions in education that we need to overcome Hello, I hope this finds you well. Almost all of you are gearing up for the start of a new school year—I wish you all the best. It’s so important, and it’s so much work, and it’s exciting, and it’s stressful... I know all the feelings, and I miss it and don’t miss it both at the same
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July 1, 2023 Woman looking at spreadsheets, by John Singer Sargent, courtesy of DALL-E Multiple ways I've been thinking about data lately. Hi, I hope you’re doing well and that the close of school went smoothly. Thank you for subscribing to The Coaching Letter, I am so happy that you do. I have had several conversations lately that make me think that the most useful thing I do in these Coaching Letters is communicate that despite my decades
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June 6, 2023 On becoming a better facilitator Hello, I hope this finds you well. Thank you for reading the Coaching Letter! You are amazing. I’m writing this on a day when the smoke in the air in Connecticut from the fires in Canada has been particularly bad, and my eyes are stinging. I’m just going to finish this letter, and then I’m going to go close my eyes in a nice cool, dark room. Thank you for all the
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May 22, 2023 What I learned from Peter Liljedahl (and what I'm going to do next) Hello, how are you, and thank you for subscribing to the Coaching Letter. You rock. This Coaching Letter is about some of what I learned from watching Peter Liljedahl in action over the course of four days in April, and what we’re doing as follow up. Peter is a professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and his book Building Thinking Classrooms in
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April 30, 2023 Friends, welcome to spring! Every year it feels like the view out my window shifts from brown to green overnight, and this year it felt even more abrupt because it happened while I was out of town. Thank you for the huge response to the last Coaching Letter on Ted Lasso—I was initially really disappointed at the lack of response, because I thought it was a pretty good Letter, and then I realized that I had a ton
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April 7, 2023 What Ted Lasso has to teach us about the holding environment I have had a very big week! I got my hands on the new book for the first time, which was very nice. I spent the week in the workshops we hosted with Peter Liljedahl, which was fantastic (we are in the process of adding photos and resources to this Google site, and if you want to get a better idea of what this looks like in classrooms, check out
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