The Coaching Letter
The Coaching Letter is written by Partners’ staff member Isobel Stevenson, who has extensive experience as both a leader and a coach. The Coaching Letter’s perspective is that leaders could be a bit more successful if they thought and acted more like coaches, and coaches could be a bit more successful if they thought and acted more like leaders.

Coaching Letter #163
Hello, I hope this finds you well. Sorry it’s been such a while since the last Coaching Letter—I’ve been busy. This CL is a continuation of the last one, because it too is about critical thinking; but it is also a standalone piece about critical thinking in the curriculum. 2. Critical Thinking in the Curriculum. I asked in Coaching Letter #159 about where the traits listed in the Portrait of a Graduate (which all the districts I work with either have or are developing) actually show up in the curriculum.
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Coaching Letter #162
Hello, I hope you’re well. We are between the two big spring break weeks in Connecticut—almost everyone is on break either last week or next—so if that includes you I hope you get some rest and some sunshine. Remember to register for our Coaching In-Depth on May 18 and the Coaching Institute in September; not just for coaches—I am on a permanent campaign to convince leaders that they would be better leaders if they had coaching skills (which is different
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Coaching Letter #161
Hello, I hope you’re well, and before I forget I need to advertise that there are a few slots left for our coaching workshops—Coaching In-Depth on May 18 and the Coaching Institute in September, both in Madison, CT, facilitated by me and my BFF Kerry Lord. Don’t wait, they will sell out. My colleague Rydell and I spent the last few days at the Carnegie Summit in San Diego. The summit is an annual event hosted by the Carnegie Foundation
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Coaching Letter #160
Hi, I hope this finds you well. With the end of the mask mandate in schools in Connecticut, it has been a crazy time, but that pales in comparison with all the other crazy stuff that’s been going on, like the invasion of the second largest country in Europe by its neighbor. I visited Ukraine when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and it is very strange and depressing to see the names of cities that I have
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Coaching Letter #159
Hello, I hope you’re doing well. We had a big storm here overnight, and it’s still very windy but not as bad, and raining. I’m usually pretty good about going to the gym when I don’t have an early work start, but not today; I don’t mind snow and cold but I draw the line at wind and rain. Instead I did Wordle and Bardle, and then I got hooked on a live feed of big passenger jets landing in
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Coaching Letter #158
Hi, how are you, thank you for reading the Coaching Letter, and thank you to those of you who responded to the last CL, on street data. This letter is about psychological safety, which is the condition of knowing that your thoughts and ideas are welcome, won't be judged or dismissed, and that you will be given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to have positive intent. I talk to a lot of educators who do not believe that
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