Building on Vitality

I recently read Bob Tschannen-Moran and Megan Tschannen-Moran's "The Coach and the Evaluator", an article for a 2011 issue of Educational Leadership. Click here (if you are a Wisconsin educator) and prefer to read the full-text PDF via Badgerlink.

Several paragraphs are about approaching coaching from a strengths-based perspective. Tschannen-Moran and Tschannen-Moran suggest that, "Strengths-based coaching conversations stay within three positive questions [bullets added for emphasis]:

• Where are the signs of vitality within a teacher's current practice?
• What can we learn from those signs about teacher strengths and capacities?
• How can we leverage that learning to invite new possibilities for teacher growth and change?" (2010, p. 16)

I've become a little obsessed with the power of these questions. It's not surprising because I'm also a little obsessed with the idea of approaching people as "naturally creative, resourceful, and whole", a concept from co-active coaching that Laura Gleisner introduced me to.


What do you think? How can these questions impact your coaching?