6 Comments

I love this post Matt. Your sensitivity to really listening to your son and having an "organic conversation that deepens engagement" is impressive That kind of deep and respectful listening, not just hearing, made your "course-correction" sweet.

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Thank you Regie for commenting. I think course-correction is my default mode of operating as a parent and a coach! :-)

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What an important post. The balance between listening and supporting students to keep going with their intentions, versus taking over and teaching them something else is an ongoing tension during reading conferring.

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Yes Hannah, I appreciate you noticing this tension. Conferring is a dance, just as coaches do, taking the lead when necessary, but giving back the reins as soon as possible. That's why I like Cognitive Coaching's preferred metaphor for our practice: the Hungarian horse coach, transporting someone to a desired destination: "To coach means to convey a valued colleague from where he or she is to where he or she wants to be."

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Great post, Matt. You self-corrected your miscue nicely aka pulling the fat out of the fire:) Check out the book Circe by Madeline Miller. Your son will prob'ly want to borrow it is my bet. Intrinsic motivation. Nothing else like it for father or son/daughter. Trust also, as you already know so well.

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Thanks Terry. Self-correcting is a teaching skill for sure, not just for readers, and not something one can script.

I actually borrowed Circe from my son and enjoyed it quite a bit. I appreciate you mentioning it.

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