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ARTIFACT #20: BOOK STUDY CLUB REFLECTION PAPER

Artifact 20 recounts an experience in EDCS 605 when we were provided an opportunity to step
into coaching shoes by leading a book study session. The paper summarizes my efforts to try to
switch from presenting informational learning to setting up for something transformational to
happen. I tried to utilize adult learning theory and a professional facilitation strategy designed to
stimulate innovative thinking. It happened that our book study session ended up drawing some
surprising conclusions about the reading that made me realize it really can be very difficult to remain
a neutral facilitator when things happen that really move you.
This is not the original paper, but sections of it that pertain to IRA 6 and IDA F. Highlight and
comments have been added to help with finding pertinent passages.

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Norene Ajimine
SP2017 EDCS 605

Book Study Club Reflection Paper


If it leads to compassion,
you know its knowledge.
Otherwise, its just more information.
Nothing is irrelevant.
Nothing is wasted.
Everything is transformed.
-Gerald Grow

Facilitating a book study session of Jennifer Allens Becoming a Literacy Leader 2nd-edition
highlighted three aspects of coaching that I would like to focus on improving before I ever try to coach for a
living: 1) Attend to informational learning in a way that invites something transformational to happen; 2)
Provide a balance between literal and creational activities; 3) Keep close tabs of where I am in the process so
I can keep me out of it.
During a previous book study session, there had been high-interest on the topic how-to set up a
coaching room (Figure 1). So, I felt pretty confident that my bookmates would be willing to focus on
discussing the Literacy Intervention Room that Allen writes about in Chapter 7. However, at this point the
chaos in my head regarding how to lead that discussion did not sort itself out, so I went to define my
parameters a bit more. I found Three Things that helped. Thing One was a list called 30-Things You Should
Know About Adult Learners, which shaped the gist of what I wanted to offer: a pleasant environment that
encourages change, opportunities for active involvement, education that directly relates to needs, an eclectic
approach, and release of control over to participants. Comment [Office1]: Integration of adult learning
theory.
Though there are lots of specific facilitation examples to be found in the resource edited by Farstrup
and Samuels, What Research Has To Say About Reading Instruction (2009), I remained uncertain about
picking one because I couldnt see the big picture. So I went trolling in Google and hooked Thing Two: a
resource called Gamestorming (Gray, Brown, Macanufo, 2010) which provided a clear visual of what it was I
was trying to accomplish through facilitation (Figure 2):

Figure 2. Visual of facilitation process to stimulate transformative outcomes with collaborative groups. Comment [Office2]: Researching basics of
professional facilitation that is designed to stimulate
innovative outcomes.
Thing Three is a conglomerate, actually, of information on adult-learning theory from the Merriam article
(2001). In particular, Merriam credited Gerald Grow with a table that defined stages of self-directed learning
(1991). Curious, I looked Grow and his table up and really enjoyed moseying through his website, a place that
has the feel of someone who lives adult-learning. At first I thought his many references to Zen-ish things were
just eclectic, but then I realized thats what Merriam was talking about when it comes to the other things
adults seek in teachers. From Grows website, is a piece called Three kinds of Healing and Their Implications
for Teaching which expounds on this: Comment [Office3]: More on adult learning: these
things tend (I think) to set up for something more
transformative than informational.
In Western education, teachers are too often considered conveyers of information,
or, increasingly, managers of the systems that convey the information. But the
foundation of all knowledge is embodied knowledge, presence---a human being
who has gained knowledge and lives it. Students learn differently in the presence of
a person who embodies knowledge as a living, coping, caring human being. This
simple truth has almost vanished from American education . . . education is not only
about information and skills, but also about individual, profoundly interconnected
people, living their lives in deep contact with one another.
Figure 3 below is Grows table describing his model called SSDL, Staged Self-Directed Learning :

Figure 3. Gerald Grows model of stages in self-directed learning.

In Figure 4 below, John Miller of AgileSchools (2015), melds Grows SSDL with what teachers do in
classrooms with students. I include it here to represent what coaches do with staff:

Figure 4. From AgileSchools, linking SSDL to what teachers (and coaches) do.

The visual of Agile Learning Zones is important to sorting my thoughts on coaching because I think it
accurately encapsulates what Grow says about adult-learners being at different levels of readiness for self-
directed learning. My practice would need to be flexible enough to accommodate variations in coachability, Comment [Office4]: Adults probably have experience
in all four quadrants of SSDL (figure 4)---variation within
even within the same session/presentation. Together, Things One, Two, and Three created a super-saturated the adult audience includes how (in what quadrant)
adults will choose to interact throughout the facilitation.
level of chaos in my brain, so ideas finally began to crystallize regarding the three coaching aspects that I
would like to focus on.
1) Attend to informational learning in a way that invites something transformational to happen.
The facilitation strategy I eventually decided on was based on the Gamestorming strategy called Innovation-
Ambition Matrix pictured below (Figure 5):

Figure 5. Innovation-Ambition Matrix

The matrix features a pair of axes. At the intersection is an area in which to describe already existing
products, at the outer-perimeter is an area for goal-products of the future, leaving the middle section to
describe innovations needed for how-to-achieve those ambitions. I liked the feel of the axes because they
define areas in a way that imply growth and change. We used an adapted version of this to harvest
information from the reading, and synthesize the information in terms of how to create that dream literacy
intervention class described in Allens book (2016) (Figure 6):

Figure 6. This is the organizer used to separate Reality from Dream Literacy Classroom and helped us
discover we were already doing many of the strategies in our rooms today.
Comment [Office5]: This organizer used for the book
study was adapted from the innovation-ambition
I think the visual worked well enough to organize our discussion on bridging from what we have now to matrix (figure 5).

what we read about Allens literacy intervention room. To our surprise, we found we already do many of the
strategies employed in the Dream Literacy Room. It was also a surprise to find that major differences between
our practices lay in the highly selective exclusion processes the Dream Room utilizes. This sorting process
caused us to realize some truths about the Dream Literacy Class that were not appealing. From that
disappointment there arose in my own head some transformational thoughts regarding my own goals for
addressing literacy.

3) Keep close tabs of where I am in the process so I can keep me out of it. It is really tricky to coach
from a neutral position when you are involved in the actual aha-moment! In hindsight, I realize that something
was itching at me about that Literacy Intervention Room, but I couldnt quite scratch it. It was during the
process of group discussion that I realized a high guru of literacy needed to weed out sped/high-needs to set
up an exemplar classroom. Yo! It was like someone changed the dedication on the Statue of Liberty to Give
me your well-adjusted and financially middle-class. . .? It was a very healthy thing to have happened, actually,
as it has cured me of looking for somewhere better to be---but thats my journey. As a coach, I have to be very Comment [Office6]: Advocating for equity: our group
came to the rather shocking realization that the dream-
careful to NOT imprint my journey on the facilitation. Coaching is not Twitter, its not about developing a literacy classroom was highly selective when it came to
picking students who would be taught there.
following. In retrospect, I realize I unknowingly slanted the exercise from the start because of my selection of
the song If All the Raindrops were Lemondrops. . . That was not a neutral choice. It was tongue-in-cheek,
hinting at a story that is too good to be true. It would have been more balanced to offer a selection of lyrics
and/or also allow participants to choose their own song. Comment [Office7]: As a leader, Doing no harm
includes, I think, refraining from imposing my own beliefs
I will be need to be more careful than many coaches of keeping my opinions from coloring the energies on others. I can reveal truths and try to be persuasive---
but I have to be careful not to cross the line into allowing
of facilitation because when Im free to write/speak on my opinions these tend to be phrased strongly. I do not my opinion/s to tint the facilitation effort. . . this is going
naturally wield the neutral and empathetic coaching persona as described by Allen in her guidebook. Some of to be tricky. . .
Comment [Office8]: Honesty in reporting on
my bookmates do, however---here is how Denise describes herself and her image for coaching: assessments, results, etc., includes honesty in self-
reflection on my own personal performance.


Figure 9. How Denise describes herself and her image of how coaching bridges initiatives & staff.

Compare that to my own view of coaching:

Figure 10. How Norene describes herself and her image of how coaching bridges initiatives & staff.
This is a photo of construction workers on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Yikes! Denise and I actually had the same idea of bridging district initiatives to teachers, but obviously
we hold very different expectations of what that experience will feel like! I fully expect to occasionally fall flat
on my bottom and to deal with discordant energies---and truthfully, for me that is a part of the appeal. NOT
that I enjoy falling on my butt or dealing with upset people! I find it refreshing to work in a zone that feeds-back
to me on such a straightforward plane because doing so requires I match that honesty within myself. To me
this means developing genuine skill with influencing flows of energy, an authentic bank of knowledge on
teaching practices, and a willingness to let people know Ill need to research topics I dont know enough about.
I am not seeking to change who I inherently am, but I believe I am capable of stretching my reflexes
and habitual patterns. In lieu of naturally flowing empathy, Ill need to care enough about nurturing energy
flows to consciously and consistently speak with an empathetic voice. I might begin with being careful to seek
to understand those who trod back and forth across The Line in my head. After all, that Line of mine is set by
subconscious paradigms that reign only in my own head---though they feel like natural law, they really are
NOT! So, Ill need to have a care to check how my internal demarcation compares to what [those who cross
the Line] is actually able to do and/or is interested in doing. Ill have to learn to extend communication and
assistance regardless of my personal judgments, and to be willing to work in a zone where it isnt important at
all that anyone ever know I think theyve wandered across that Line.
I think that this book study project provided me with so much to consider in regards to shifting from
teaching to coaching. I appreciate this book study experience, and the very safe and congenial environment
my cohort has been to experiment within! I actually enjoyed the exercise of trying to set up for something
transformative. . . its a cool brain shift. To be able to promote that in others would be very, very rewarding!

Resources
30-Things to know about adult learners. Downloaded from: email from charlotte =]
Allen, J. (2016). Becoming a Literacy Leader second edition. Maine: Stenhouse.
Book club, Danielle (Figure 1). Downloaded from:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B6WFjbTwcL1ocjBYR3QxdGFqdnM
Book club, Denise (Figure 9, emoji). Downloaded from:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cBdxQlYDLIjRAHe0uVbM6OenvQOm1AcWfGf78s5mbqY/edit
Book club, Denise (Figure 9, bridge). Downloaded from:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PWOGb4re8RMbFAq4kjQOCFTDu-iNiU906AjJ3JtxvlU/edit
Book club, Norene (Figure 10, bridge). Downloaded from:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1im1J2wYbTGdfR02VSFe9VaEH__2y2MqgCspMidN77cQ/edit
Book club, Norene (Figure 10, lino post). Downloaded from:
https://goo.gl/HDJdUx
Gray, D., Brown, S., Macanufo, J. (2010). Gamestorming. Sebastopol, California: OReilly.
Grow, G. Healing and teaching: Three forms of alternative healing and their implications for teaching. Downloaded from:
http://longleaf.net/wp/personal-writings/healing-and-teaching/
Grow, G. (1991/1996). Teaching learners to be self-directed. Adult Education Quarterly, 41/3, 125-149. Downloaded from:
http://longleaf.net/wp/articles-teaching/teaching-learners-text/
rd
Farstrup, A., Samuels, S. (2009). What research has to say about reading instruction 3 edition. International Reading
Association.
Merriam. S., (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning: Pillars of adult learning theory. New Directions For Adult and
Continuing Education, 89.
Miller, J. (2016). AgileSchool. Downloaded from: http://blog.agileclassrooms.com/

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