In this #coachbetter episode, Kim talks with Angela Maiers, author, keynote speaker, early childhood educator, and founder of @Choose2Matter. This was another inspirational conversation about empowering educators and students to find their passion, joy, and enthusiasm in learning. They talk in-depth about the difference between learning and teaching and identify many tangible ways that coaches can build a growth mindset among their staff and school leaders to support a culture of coaching. Angela’s wide-ranging experience with educators, students, and businesses provides a wealth of strategies for tapping into the most essential part of us as humans, to embrace our vulnerability and recognize the amazing “get to do” opportunities we have every day as learners. If you’re looking for inspiration about how to make learning experiences just right for each individual, this podcast is for you!
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Featured Guest
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Show Notes
What is your ‘manifesto for professional learning,’ let’s explore your vision, rules, and values when it comes to creating learning opportunities?
As a writer and a speaker, our goal should be to change the universe. It’s not enough to provide content or strategies. It’s to remind people what matters most. We have an extraordinary opportunity to learn from each other every day. Embrace what it means to be an amateur. Learning is a “get to do” not a “have to do” I learned everything I know from teaching 5-year-olds.
How do we help other people feel this way?
Being a learner in a community of learners that is the most inspiring thing in the world. The gift of the internet has brought us is access to humanity. From Bangkok to Denver, the internet connect us. If it’s a small enough group, I get them to sit on the floor (or put the chairs in a circle). The get to do is the being in the same room with others who will help you grow as a learner today.
We have created a generation of consumers. The consumer mindset, puts us in a selfish place. You’re expecting your happiness, your entertainment to all be the responsibility of someone else, and if you’re not happy it’s someone elses fault. There needs to be an expectation of contribution. The deepest element of human DNA is to be needed by someone. The very first thing I do with learning communities is “show and tell”. We have so much to give to each other. The smartest person in the room is the room
At the core of what drives us, the enemy is our own struggle with significance. We see some people who think that they have it all together. We need to get the perfectionism out of what it means to be successful. The web favors the individuals who are brave enough to be vulnerable. Authentic contribution. Contribution not only has to be an expectation, it has to be a habit. You can find your voice in many different contexts: it doesn’t have to be writing or speaking. It can be images, audio, or other medium too.
It takes time to figure out who you are. If we start seeing this process as a journey, and not as an outcome that can be measured, that’s If we unveil our process to each other and our kids, that’s a whole new conversation about learning. We have to give each other the gift of our presence.
BOOK: Ron Berger A Beautiful Question, Another Beautiful Question: actionable & ambitious, one that should foster a change in perspective, and encourage you to take action
When’s the last time someone shined a light on your brilliance? It’s a gift we give one another. Keep a noticing notebook to shine a light on each person’s brilliance. Show them the notes you took about them. DNA level validation. We’re all just bigger 5 year olds. Every single person wants a gold star.
The joy of learning something new just perks you up. We’re in a constant stream of negative. Our brain is wired to pay attention to that, so when really amazing things come through, we tend to overlook it.
You’re not just using the web. You are the web. Be the web you wish the web to be. Stop being consumers expecting the world to change around you.
What went right today? What was your wow moment today?
Often PD is mandated because of what’s going wrong. That makes learning a punishment. It should be the most exciting treasure or treat. We’re positioning it wrong. As a school leader, small shifts in your language, can change the perception of professional learning. Collective intelligence build collective…
Learning is the most natural thing we do as humans. We complicate the heck out of it. And that’s a problem.
The conditions of learning
The conditions that must exist for learning to thrive. Think of a time when you failed learning something new or when you were successful. Brain Cambourne’s 7 Conditions of Learning: feedback, modeling, practice, demonstration, validation of approximation. Every failure can be tracked back to a condition of learning. It’s consistent. Customized to your own comfort level. Making learners aware that they are responsible for creating and expecting those conditions.
Additional resources
You can not lead without being a learning leader or a learning organization. What is learning. It’s about teh conditions that you create for learning.
We emphasize teaching theory, not learning theory. Most PD has almost zero conditions of learning. We have to experience true delightful learning ourselves. If we allow teachers to experience PD as a joyful relentless collaborative experience, most of the ways
The goal of teaching is to move learning forward. If learning isn’t moving forward. Our job is to be advancers of learning, not delivers of contenet. Our responsibility is to create the conditions for learning to thrive. Only we have the power to create and customize conditions of learning. Our indespensible quality is to create these condition.
The greatest predictor of how our students engage with the world, is how they see us engaging. If you are an excited learner every day. Stop trying to be interesting and be interested.
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