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Garmston – Becoming a More Effective Presenter – November 2014

Becoming a More Effective Presenter

NESA at Doha

November

Robert Garmston, Ed.D. [email protected]

thinkingcollaborative.com

“Learning is a social event, and effective presenters provide the social glue that binds groups together in the learning environment.”

Kendall Zoller and Claudette Landry

The Choreography of Presenting, 2010


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Seminar Outcomes

• Extend personal confidence and competence

• Design sessions for greater success

• Overcome situational nervousness

• Give audiences more ownership for their learning

• Tailor openings for group, mood and circumstances

• Give state-‐of-‐the-‐art directions

• Maintain credibility while responding to questions

• Tailor presentations to four learning styles

• Apply presentation strategies to the classroom

• Convert resistance, hostility and negative energy


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Table of Contents Seminar Outcomes 1

Strategy Recording Pages 3

Clock Partners 5

Personal Goals 6

Openers That Focus and Energize 7

Openings for Problematic Situation 7

Building Personal Confidence 8

Event Design 11

Choose a Presentation Stance 12

Essential Platform Skills 13

Responding to Questions 14

Notes 15

Giving Directions: Staff Development 401 16

Investing in Teacher Quality 21

What Novices Overcome 23

Elaborating the Complexity and Elegance of States of Mind 24

Walk About Review 28

Selected References 29

Teacher Quality: A Declaration 30

I Don’t Do That Anymore 32


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Strategies (Also see in chapter 3, “Eight Strategies To Keep Your Audience Tuned In,” p. 96)


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Strategies (Also see in chapter 3, “Eight Strategies To Keep Your Audience Tuned In,” p. 96)


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Clock Partners Make appointments with four people, one for 3, 6, 9, and 12 on the clock. Record the appointments on this page.


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Personal Goals

As a result of this session:


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Openers That Focus and Energize Provocative statements

“I only have time to annoy you.”

Enrolment questions “How many of you would you like….”?

Anecdotes (Shorter than a war story)

Audience Concerns “Many of you may be concerned about parents put too much pressure on students to get into a premier school”.

Openings for Problematic Situations

(See also in chapter 4, “Choreographing and Opening,” p. 130 and “Developing an Opening Nonverbal Dance,” p. 136)

• Banned words

• What’s the elephant in the room?

• What’s the best and the worst that could happen today?

• Choreograph the acknowledgement of resistance (see p. 130, p. 136)

• Pace and lead the mood in the room

• Metaphor

• Present hard to hear news

• REM


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Adapted from Lemons to Lemonade: Resolving Problems in Meeting, Workshops, and PLCs

Building Personal Confidence

Robert Garmston and Diane Zimmerman Corwin Press

2013

In this chapter we describe ways to manage the mind-‐body connection by monitoring ones own internal states. These are always communicated in some way to the outside world and this is particularly true when we are in front of groups, all eyes and ears upon us. Readers will also find a number of experience-‐ tested ideas to keep themselves functioning at their very best when unexpected problems arise, making sound facilitation moves essential to the group’s success.

A presenter who is uncomfortable with public speaking is less effective because fear and anxiety affect not only the level of presenter confidence but the level of trust the group has in the him or her. A presenter’s quavering voice and excessive fidgeting or moving distract group members and split their attention. Some group members worry, “Is the presenter OK?” They miss what is being said and become uneasy about the presenter’s credibility. Groups begin to loose confidence in the session and over time the efficacy of the group is eroded.

What is a presenter to do?

Telling yourself to be confident and not to be nervous usually makes the feeling worse. However, reframing nervousness can help increase your feeling of security.

Believe that nervousness is there to support you. The Japanese martial art of aikido, literally translated as "the way of blending energy" (Crum, 1987), leads us to this understanding. From the perspective of aikido, all of life, including performance anxiety, is simply energy with which to dance. Nervous energy is a mental phenomenon with physiological results, and facilitators can achieve a desired state of calm through mental and physical preparation. As you gain experience, your need to consciously manage your nervousness will decrease. Mental rehearsal and practice help. In the last chapter we reviewed the trajectory from novice to accomplished—knowing how, when and why to intervene builds confidence. And of course, success breeds confidence.


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Connecting Mind and Body

The body and mind are connected. Treating one addresses the other. To reframe nervousness, try tested physical and mental techniques. As you practice these strategies, develop the personal patterns that best suit you.

l. Breathe.

The first principle of public performance is to monitor and adjust your oxygen levels. The 3 1/2-‐pound mass we call a brain consumes 30% of the body’s oxygen. When you experience stress, your breathing becomes shallow and you hold your breath for brief periods of time. The neocortex in your brain, the site of language and reasoning, needs a full supply of oxygen to function. Stress instead shuttles precious oxygen to the limbic system to ready the body for survival.

The study of aikido and neurophysiology intersect at this point. The word ki, in Japanese (ch’i in Chinese, pneuma in Greek and prana in Sanskrit) comes from the notion of breath. Breath is considered the fundamental energy that connects all things and is the source of all creative action. The Eastern martial arts share this view. By controlling the flow of ki, the martial artist allegedly can achieve extraordinary powers.i

2. Try Progressive Relaxation.

Tense and then relax the muscles in your body, one area at a time. For example, first tense your toes and then relax them. Next, tense your feet and then relax them. Work your way up through your ankles, then calves, and so on.

3. Walk.

Athletes walk and stretch before they enter the game. Walking and stretching warms up, not only your muscles, but also your psyche. Walking vigorously just prior to a presentation uses up adrenalin, increases oxygen in the body, and relaxes the large muscles.

4. Center Yourself Physically.

When you are centered, you become more in touch with who you are and depend less on outside approval. The centered state is simple, natural, and powerful.

To center yourself:

• Stand.

• Allow both your arms to drop naturally to your sides.


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• Spread your feet so that they are appropriately balanced beneath you.

• Take several long, deep breaths.

• With each slow exhalation, imagine the tension flowing out of your body from head to toe.

• Allow your spine to lengthen; mentally reach toward your hair and pull a strand of it up so that your neck is elongated and your spine is comfortably stretched.

• Imagine wearing a heavy overcoat causing your shoulders to relax.

• Now, from this position, sway slightly back and forth for 10 to 15 seconds, gradually decreasing the size of the sway until you reach center.

• Next, imagine that you are pushing both feet into the floor, then release that tension.

Your body will let you know when you have a centered feeling from which your can present at your best. Crum (1987) has additional methods for centering yourself.

The greatest source of stress is lack of experience. The next three strategies help overcome inexperience.

5. Over Prepare. Over Prepare. Over Prepare.

Redirecting butterflies begins with planning. Pay careful attention to allocating time as you develop the meeting agenda and provide appropriate strategies for group tasks during the meeting. Get very clear and specific about what you will say in your opening comments. If this is a special occasion and you feel particularly nervous, memorize the first seven minutes so that you can deliver the lines even if you close down mentally. In particular, be clear about how you will describe yourself and your role, the meeting outcomes, the opening inclusion activity, and any comments you will make about the agenda. Plan to stand still during the opening so people can take your measure. Anticipate potential problem spots in the meeting and be prepared with some intervention approaches.


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Event Design (See also chapter 2, “How to Design Effective Presentations,” p. 35)

Three Perennial Issues!

Who am I? • Mission

• Stance

What are my outcomes? • Now

• Not now

Who is coming and what filters do they bring? • Four audience types

• Disposition or mood

• Adults as learners


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Who am I? Choose a Presentation Stance Boss

Expert

Colleague

Sister/Brother

Novice

Who am I?

What are my outcomes?

What filters are here?


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Essential Platform Skills Congruence allows elegance – maximum results with minimum effort. (See also chapter 4, “The New Science of Nonverbal Skills,” p. 119) Choose voice

Frozen gesture

Attention first

Visual paragraph

Freeze body

Third point

Out there


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Responding to Questions

(See Chapter 3, “Respond to Questions and Maintain Your Credibility,” p. 103) TIPS FOR RESPONDING

1. Listen for syntax

2. Respond to table tennis responses

3. Use feel, felt, found for resistance

4. Use satisfy, satisfy, delay for broken records

5. Respond with paraphrases

6. Respond with a question

7. Separate the answer from new content

A PREPARATION STRATEGY

1. Write three questions you might be asked in your presentation, each on a 3 by 5 card. 2. Shuffle cards. 3. First player draws a card and reads it to the player on his or her right. 4. This person responds to the question. 5. First player reveals his/her reaction to the response. 6. The group brainstorms other ways the question might be responded to. 7. Repeat the cycle.


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Notes


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Giving Directions: Staff Development 401

Robert Garmston and Carolyn McKanders

Unpublished Article

We’ve trained hundreds of bright, competent people to make presentations on a range of topics and discovered that giving directions is more complex than we first thought. Here are some things we’ve learned by whispering in the ear of a novice just before they gave a direction and from interviewing them, and experts in the field about their thought processes.

Our first realization was that there are four domains for giving directions. First is the simple form that is used repeatedly with minor variations. “Turn to your neighbor and name the key points for you on this topic.” This pattern can be memorized after a few uses. Next is what a presenter says when introducing directions from a pre-‐prepared power point slide. Third is giving multi-‐step without a chart or power point. Fourth, and the most complex, is working from scratch designing directions for an activity when none exists.

Some aspects are common in the delivery of each of the types.

Getting Attention

Both Grinder (1993) and Zoller (2010) strongly advocate that attention should always be the first order of business. To gain the group’s attention, the leader combines these features as follows:

• She stands upright with head and body still in a posture of calm and centeredness with her feet aligned under the shoulders. Grinder and Zoller call this a credible stance.

• She may also use a gesture, frozen in space – which universally communicates be silent – more is coming. This might be a finger in the air, a palm directed at herself, or some other natural sign congruent with the message.

• She uses a credible voice to get attention, using a brief phrase like “Please look this way”. This voice form is one in which the tonal pattern is flat and tends to curl down at the end of sentences. This voice pattern universally is received as “This is important information, please attend.”

• She remains still, as in freezing the posture and holds the position until almost all members are silent and focused.

• When the group is attentive and still, she breaks eye contact, breathes, and step into another space. Again, with a credible voice—she give the next direction.

As groups tire, group members often respond less to verbal directions. During a working session we often use a hand signal to redirect attention from small group conversation to full group work. Once again assume a credible stance, stand still and now hold one hand in the air as a prearranged signal for silence. As group members notice the gesture they copy it signaling to those who may not have noticed that you need their attention. The visual nature


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of this strategy gets attention from those who process visually, and their silence alerts auditory processers to pay attention (Garmston & Wellman, 2002).

Using a Prepared Slide

Give an oral overview before showing slides with several steps so people know where this is going. Most often, directions are digested best when one line of the slide is revealed at a time, giving the presenter time to elaborate. Occasionally the first item will call for members to locate materials, or arrange for a new partner. When this is the case, have members execute the directions before showing the next steps. The last step in direction giving should be a check for understanding. “What questions might you have about how to do this well?” is well phrased. “Do you have any questions?” is not. Leave the slide on the screen while the group begins its work. Remove the slide when no longer needed for guidance.

Managing Multi-Step Directions

If there are subsets to the directions, the presenter will use a visual paragraph for maximum congruence. In this pattern she gives the first direction, pauses, breaks eye contact by dropping her head, moves to a new spot, looks up and gives the next direction. This pattern can be used for up to 4 stages in direction giving. Imagine the following statements (with expanded information for each) delivered with the visual paragraph after each of the first three directions. Figure 1 shows what might be said giving multi-‐step directions in a meeting or a classroom.

Directions in a Meeting Directions in a Sixth Grade Class

• First you will brainstorm • Next you will clarify • Third you will advocate • And finally you will rank what is most important to you.

• Open your books to page 32 • Put your finger on the right hand column of problems

• Answer the odd numbered problems • Place your paper in the basket when finished

Figure 1. Supporting Multi-‐Step Directions Visually


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Beyond Fundamentals

We were surprised to learn that the thinking processes that support direction giving are incredibly complex. At the simplest level, they include guidelines such as using declarative statements and a minimum number of words. Another level regards a direction giving map we learned when interviewing Bruce Wellman, a noted professional developer who seems to effortlessly give profoundly direct and effective directions. This is described in Garmston and Zimmerman (Lemons to Lemonade: Resolving Problems in Meetings, Workshops and PLCs.).

“When introducing processes in which the group is to engage, the facilitator employs the what – why – how pattern. While each is important for the group to do its best work, the how – the rationale for the process -‐is most important. When members understand the reasons for a process – how it will serve them, potential resistance is reduced and participation is more purposeful…

What – ‘The next step is to brainstorm.’

Why – ‘As you know, the purpose of brainstorming is to get as many ideas on the table as possible. Questions or comments derail the process leading to a more limited and less useful list.’

How – I will record the ideas on this chart paper. When you raise your hand I will give you a number to place you in a queue so you know you will have turn and not worry about being able to add your idea. If you have a question or comment, hang on to it. We will come back to it at the next step.’”

The fourth, and most difficult task in direction giving regards composing directions where none exist.

Designing Directions from Scratch

Some readers might like to think about how they would go about composing a direction to participants to explain their reasoning about the importance of consulting and coaching in supporting new teachers. When you think about how you do this you probably notice that you’ve gone allocentric – attempting to hear the instructions as your participants might hear them. Let’s assume that the group is familiar with the definitions as Wikipedia offers them –

Consultation -‐ to assist an individual or group of individuals to clarify and address immediate concerns by following a systematic problem-‐solving process.

Coaching -‐ to enhance a person’s competencies in a specific skill area by providing a process of observation, reflection, and action.

What we noticed when we examine our thinking was that we had to define reasoning. If we wanted participants to dialogue, engage and learn from one another we might use the word explore in the directions. Pairs: Explore the benefits of consulting and coaching for new


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teachers. We might wonder what difference the word “for” or “to” new teachers might make. If on the other hand, we desired a conversation that activated prior instruction with greater specificity, we might develop a scaffold that again, begins with what we meant by reasoning. Such a scaffold might look like the following. We would reword the directions to compare and contrast the importance of consulting and coaching.

Pairs:

1. Compare and contrast the benefits of consulting and coaching for new teachers

2. List the benefits of consulting

3. List the benefits of coaching

4. List the limitations of each

5. Compare and contrast your findings

6. Given the above, summarize your thinking about the relative importance of each

Now, with this first draft, we would seek to minimize words while maintaining clarity.

Pairs: Compare and contrast consulting and coaching benefits for new teachers

1. Make two lists. Record the benefits of each.

2. Record the limitations of each.

3. Identify what is same and different.

4. Write a matchbook statement summarizing your conclusions.

The Potentially Pernicious Pronoun

What separates the good presenter or facilitator from the expert, is the use of pronouns. For some, it is difficult to replace the habit of saying, “I want you to look this direction”, with phrases like “Please turn and look at me for next steps”. The difference? In the first the leader is asking members to respond out of relationship serving the presenter – appropriate in the lexicon for a primary teacher, but not a person working with adults. Since we presume an overarching goal of professional development is fostering a sense of equality in a training or meeting room, and supporting norms of autonomy, self directedness and self monitoring we advise careful scripting of pronouns in giving directions.

Who you are in relationship to the group should inform your use of pronouns. If you are a member of a group who has stepped up to facilitate the work may well be “ours’. If you are external to the group, referring to the work as “ours” may carry inferences interfering with the clarity of the groups work and its development. Compare these two statements. “Here is what I want you to do next.” –or-‐ “Listen carefully as I describe this process.” Again, the former tends to infantilize the group, the latter acknowledges them as responsible adults. Begin a list of phrases you want to incorporate when you give directions. You can start with


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these: “Your next steps are.”; “This process has three phases.”; “Take a moment to complete your thoughts and prepare to share your ideas with the group.”

The Final Step

Finally, to the presentation of the direction itself. We've learned to mentally rehearse just before we give the direction. Sometimes we have scripted what we will say. Other times we simply stand in the space in which we are about to speak and put the words in our head, before we talk. If during the directions we notice we have slipped and used an unintended pronoun, we stop, correct ourselves, and tell the group why. This transparency is valued not only because it equalizes the relationship – we are all learners here – but teaches principles of leadership.

Conclusion

Giving clear directions is a fundamental task for teachers, presenters, meeting facilitators and anyone who works with groups. Complexities still exist, even when working with pre -‐ developed directions on power points. The leader must still get the group’s attention, and orient participants regarding the task ahead. What-‐why-‐how is a fundamental part of this. So much of this is contextual, that giving directions, even for the most experienced of us, will always be a challenge.


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Excerpted from

Investing in Teacher Quality

Art Costa, Robert Garmston and Diane Zimmerman Teachers College Press

2013

Building Cognitive Capital: The Presenter Can Also Mediate Pick up most any book about the function of presenting and you will read about outcomes. This is appropriate as to present is to produce learning. A presenter’s goals are to extend and enrich knowledge, skills, perceptions, mental capacities or attitudes and to help these to be applied in people's work. Premier presenters are guided by clarity of instructional outcomes and the continual assessment of goal achievement. But presenters with an orientation toward mediation also have goals with a longer reach. We call these aims, as in an aim might be to go east, but there is always more east to travel. If we go east from San Francisco we can reach Chicago (a goal), but this is not as east as we can go. We can also go to New York, or even Spain. Presentation aims take into consideration that perception is reality that states of mind can be mediated through presentation design and execution and that transformational change can occur as a result of presentations.

To transform is to change. We speak of transformation as in the unexpected growth occurring in quantum leaps. Many times we’ve observed participants transformed in a two-‐day workshop, not because of the development of knowledge or skills, but by combining these ingredients with a focus on efficacy, consciousness, interdependence and craftsmanship. Just as in physics where a quantum leap is the discontinuous change of the state of an electron in an atom or molecule from one energy level to another, not passing through stages but leaping ahead without touching the intermediate phases, so too, do participants exit these workshops different from when they arrived. These changes are abrupt, do not follow a step-‐by-‐step pattern as we see in some learning models and can be counterintuitive like the wave-‐particle duality of energy.

The change, as readers are now familiar, is toward higher levels of consciousness, greater flexibility, enhanced craftsmanship and efficacy, and more intense interdependence related to the learning journey each participant travels. Conceptual tools that help a presenter assist others on this trip include presuppositions about the learners: that they are sufficient, capable, willing and wanting to learn. These presuppositions are valuable assets in that presuming capability one sees capability, when one sees it and acts as if it is present, participants respond as if it were so. Positive presuppositions are both a state of mind of the presenter and reflected in presenter language. (“As experienced educators. . .”)

The aims for activating energy sources are implicit intentions. They do not appear in brochures advertising the work, nor are they likely to be seen in the notes the presenter has designed to guide the session. Rather, they are achieved through the intuitive use of sound presentation strategies. Regarding energy, having participants stand, raise their arms and


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breath deeply are all ways of oxygenating the brain. Take efficacy, for example, and the matter of participant choice. Choice is provided in seating, in selecting learning partners during the session, in reviewing outcomes and determining personal value, in selecting topics in jigsaw activities, sometimes in a subtopic through the use of corners. In a corners activity participants are asked to move to a corner of choice representing a subtopic of greatest interest to them, subgroup into pairs or trios and explore why this topic is chosen and what individuals can do to direct their own learning regarding it. Choice is given when a presenter asks subgroups to indicate with raised fingers how much more time is needed on an activity. Locus of control is shifted to participants when presenters refuse to intercede with participant complaints and instead suggest ways the participant can resolve their own problem.

We hold learning to be a social process as well as a cognitive one. Therefore, many strategies support interdependence with members working in pairs, trios, quartets and sometimes sixes. We make it a point that members work with different people during the day, and if mixed roles are present, we see that many groupings are heterogeneous. The tasks range from simple to cognitively complex, often requiring members to paraphrase one another to check understanding, or collaboratively construct an artifact of their learning. From Michael Grinder (1996)we learned that an aggregate of individuals is not a group. What makes them a group is unison of responses so we engender strategies, particularly at the beginning of sessions to elicit group responses. From the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland Oregon, we have learned that seating in which members have at least a peripheral view of others, leads to group cohesiveness and collective responsiveness. We have learned that it is easier to change the behavior of a group than an individual because groups set norms with which people comply.

Flexibility-‐-‐perceiving from multiple perspectives-‐-‐is encouraged though story and metaphor. We know that story evokes a personal experience in which members search their personal experiences to assign their own meaning to what is being told. We sometimes tell a “pump priming” story to activate the resources needed for a learning experience. One example is a story about a zip line in which the presenter, with full body animation, describes the fear and apprehension just before letting go from the high platform and the immediate rush of excitement that follows as the presenter swings, and hollers and laughs his way down the line, illuminating members own reservoirs of courage as they execute a challenging learning task. Sometimes we use a “feel – felt –found” with a member who is seeing the negative in an innovation. We respond with “I know just how you feel (or I know teachers who feel like that). I felt like that when I started using the system, and now I’ve found, that it can be time saving, etc.”

We intone craftsmanship by the nature of our instructions to groups, and the nature of the learning tasks that often include a public reporting and critiquing. We have groups set personal goals and reflect on their attainment. A concept attainment lesson demands craftsmanship. And always, consciousness is king. From each learning activity we invite reflection on the process. Of what were people aware? What did they learn about themselves, the process and the group? Under what circumstances might this activity is useful or not useful in their work? We may periodically step to the balcony and invite attention to what is going on in the moment in the room.


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What Novices Overcome For both the novice facilitator and presenter, the inappropriate use of voice is a frequent failing. Novices should know how to use the approachable, rather than credible voice when giving directions, and the approachable for receiving information from the group. Do not give directions in a way that communicates the group is doing something for the presenter or facilitator. ("I'd like you to"). Instead, use -‐ -‐ "By doing this activity you will (benefit)..."

Five mistakes novice presenters make:

• Tell stories or jokes unrelated to the content. • Give too much content and or be too hurried. • Offer too few opportunities for pairs or subgroups to process content. • Act as expert or parent. Parents take care of groups. Groups take care of themselves.

Experts distance themselves from groups. • Answer the wrong questions, give answers that are too long, only watch the person who

asked the question, and provide no separation between answer and new content.

Five mistakes novice facilitators make:

• Talk too much -‐ a ratio of 20% facilitator and 80% group member talk is a reasonable starting place.

• Fail to activate and engage members in inclusion activities which connect members with others, the content, and the purposes of the session. Withhold knowledge about the freedom, responsibilities, and opportunities they have in the meeting. Stated positively, experienced facilitators work to engage efficacy, consciousness, and interdependence with group. This also applies to presenting.

• Paraphrase too little, too much, use too many words, use the wrong voice, and use the wrong pronoun.

• Don’t "own the agenda". A facilitator who owns an agenda knows the intended outcome for each item; is clear whether the group is informing, recommending or deciding, has appropriate protocols or strategies in mind, and has thought through time allotments, how to give directions, possible misunderstandings, or problems.

• Exclusively act as expert or parent or friend.


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Elaborating the Complexity and Elegance of the States of Mind

Excerpted from Cognitive Capital: Investing in Teacher Quality

Art Costa, Robert Garmston, and Diane Zimmerman Teachers College Press

2013

Efficacy Efficacy is a particularly catalytic state of mind because our sense of efficacy is a determining factor in the resolution of complex problems. Efficacious teachers have an internal locus of control. They produce new knowledge. They engage in causal thinking. They pose problems and search for problems to solve. They are optimistic and resourceful. They are self-‐actualizing and self-‐modifying. They are able to operationalize concepts and translate them into deliberate actions. They establish feedback spirals and continue to learn how to learn (Bandura, 1982). Effort and persistence, despite setbacks, are hallmarks of efficacy. The more efficacious we feel, the more flexibly we can engage in critical and creative work. Developing effective thinking, therefore, requires becoming increasingly self-‐referencing, self-‐evaluating, self-‐initiating and self-‐modifying. We have translated these terms in to teacher behaviors in the supporting boxes.

Efficacious teachers: To act with confidence, meet challenges and cope with situations that are new for them, teachers must feel that they are competent to control these situations—to overcome difficulties, become familiar wit the new and the unknown, and approach them with the expectation they will master them (Feuerstein, p. 80). Such teachers: • Have an internal locus of control; • Operationalize concepts and translate them into deliberate actions; • Pose problems; • Make causal links; • Produce new knowledge; • Are continuous learners seeking to modify themselves through feedback • Are optimistic and resourceful—self-‐actualizing and self-‐modifying.

Flexibility

Flexible thinkers are empathic. They are able to see through the diverse perspectives of others. They are open and comfortable with ambiguity. They create and seek novel approaches and have a well-‐developed sense of humor. They envision a range of alternative consequences. They have the capacity to change their mind as they receive additional data. They engage in multiple and simultaneous outcomes and activities. They draw upon a repertoire of problem solving strategies. As noted in Garfield’s study of peak performers (1986), they practice style flexibility, knowing


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when it is appropriate to be broad and global in their thinking and when a situation requires detailed precision. Flexible thinkers understand causal relationships allowing them to work within a rule-‐bound structure to re-‐engineer rules to help, rather than hinder their work. They understand not only the immediate reactions but are also able to perceive the bigger purposes. Like the queen in the game of chess, the most flexible person is the one with most control. Recognizing options and willingness to test them is the hallmark of flexibility.

Flexible Teachers are aware of and legitimize differences of opinions, tendencies, desires and styles without necessarily accepting them. Flexible teachers search for and value the differences between individuals an their unique behaviors. They are continually forming a distinct and acceptant self-‐perception in relation to others. Such teachers: • Are willing to consider change; • Adjust to others’ styles and preferences; • Tolerate ambiguity; • Seek / generate alternatives; • See through multiple perspectives.

Consciousness

Those who exercise consciousness monitor their own values, intentions, thoughts, behaviors and their effects on others and the environment. They have well defined value systems that they can articulate. They generate, hold and apply internal criteria for decisions they make and they can articulate their reasons and rationale for their actions and thoughts. They practice mental rehearsal and the editing of mental pictures in the process of seeking improved strategies. Consciousness means knowing what and how we are thinking about our work in the moment, and being aware of our actions and their effects on others and on the environment. Consciousness is the central clearinghouse for executive decision-‐making. It is the state of mind prerequisite to self-‐control and self-‐direction. Consciousness means that we are meta-‐cognitively aware that certain events are occurring, and we are able to direct their course. The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to give their attention to their intentions, to be oblivious to distractions, to concentrate for as long as it takes to achieve a goal. Expanding consciousness informs improvement and helps to expose blind spots or ideas not yet thought about. Developing effective thinking therefore requires the development of this priceless resource, consciousness (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008).

Conscious Teachers: The complexity of classroom life and the conditions in which teachers are called upon to react, make the ability to regulate behavior in socially and culturally appropriate ways critical for teachers. The regulation of behavior is a product of an individual’s ability to impose thinking on actions—to examine oneself, to assess the situation, and to decide how and when to react. Such teachers: • Are aware that certain events are occurring and are able to direct their course; • Monitor their own values, intentions, thoughts, behaviors and their effects on others and the environment;

• Have well defined value systems that they can articulate and generate; • Hold and apply internal criteria for decisions they make;


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• Seek improved strategies through practicing mental rehearsal and editing of mental pictures.

Craftsmanship Craftspersons strive for perfection and pride themselves in their artistry. They value precision and mastery. They seek refinement and specificity in communications. They generate and hold clear visions and goals. They aspire for exactness of critical thought processes. They use precise language for describing their work. They strive to make thorough and rational decisions about actions to be taken. They test and revise, constantly honing strategies to reach goals. In short they persist in service to their craft (Ames, 1997; Syed , 2010). Craftsmanship is about persistence in striving for mastery, grace, and economy of energy to attain goals. Creating internal measures of excellence and striving to perfect a craft means fidelity to an aspiration. It means knowing that we can continually perfect our craft, and being willing to work to attain our own high standards, and pursue refinement, practice and ongoing learning.

Craftsman-like Teachers: Teachers are required to cope with complex tasks, the likes of which have never before been experienced. Meeting a challenge means being ready to be involved not only in a familiar area but also in newer and more complex problems. Meeting a challenge relates to something that does not already exist, rather it is anticipating potential outcomes and strategies. • Strive to continually perfect their craft; • Set and work to attain personal high standards; • Pursue ongoing learning; • Seek precision, mastery, refinement and pride in their artistry; • Generate and hold clear visions and goals; • Strive for exactness of critical thought processes and communication; • Test and revise, constantly honing strategies to reach goals; • Attend to what they know and what they still need to learn.

Interdependence Interdependent people have a sense of community: “we-‐ness" as much as "me-‐ness” (Sergiovanni, 1994). They are altruistic. They value consensus being willing to influence and be influenced by the group in service of group goals. They contribute themselves to a common good, seek collegiality and draw on the resources of others. They regard conflict as valuable, trusting their abilities to manage group differences in productive ways. They continue to learn based upon their feedback from others and from their consciousness of their own actions and effects on others. They seek collaborative engagement knowing that all of us is more effective that any one of us. Interdependence means knowing that we will benefit from participating in, contributing to our work. According to Lev Vygotsky (1978) who’s work concerned itself with how learning unfolds within social contexts, suggests that interdependence grows intelligence:

"Every function in cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later on the individual level; first between people (inter-‐psychological), and then inside (intra-‐psychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the


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formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals."

Interdependent people envision the expanding capacities of the group and its members, and value and draw upon the resources of others.

Interdependent Teachers: A primary need of human beings is to share experiences with their fellow man. The need and readiness to share with others our experiences and to participate in their experiences is an adaptation necessity. There is great educational value in sharing the emotional and cognitive/mental treasury of behaviors with others. In some large schools and institutions, however, several hundred adults and children can live in the same building in the closest of physical proximity and not know one another or greet one another when they meet by chance. Interdependent teachers: • Know that they will benefit from working collaboratively; • Are altruistic and willing to change relationships to benefit the larger good; • Value consensus, while being able to hold their own values and actions in abeyance; • Lend their energies and resources to the achievement of group goals; • Contribute themselves to a common good; • Seek collegiality; • Draw on the resources of others; • Regard conflict as valuable and can manage group differences in productive ways; • Seek collaborative engagement knowing that all of us is more efficient that any one of us.


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Walk About Review

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Recollections

Insights

Applications


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Selected References

Atkinson, C. (2005). Beyond bullet points. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press. Garmston, R. (2013). The presenters’ fieldbook: A practical guide. Baltimore, MD: Rowan &

Littlefield. Garmston, R. (1998, Spring). Graceful conflict: When you care enough use the principles of

effective fighting. Journal of Staff Development, 19(3), 56-‐58 Garmston, R., & Wellman, B. (2013). The adaptive school: A sourcebook for developing

collaborative groups. (Rev. ed.). Baltimore, MD: Rowan & Littlefield. (This book comes with access to a website housing 150 facilitation strategies.)

Garmston, R., & Zimmerman, D. (2013). Lemons to lemonade: Resolving problems in meetings, workshops and PLC’s. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Garmston, R., & Zimmerman, D. (2013, April). The collaborative compact: Operating principles lay the groundwork for successful group work. Journal of Staff Development 34(2), 10-‐17.

Humes, J.C. (2002). Speak like Churchill: Stand like Lincoln. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing. Jeary, T. (1997). Inspire any audience. Dallas, TX: Trade Life Books. Reynolds, G. (2008). Presentation Zen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery.

Berkeley, CA: New Riders. Weissman, J. (2005). In the line of fire: How to handle tough questions…When it counts. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Zoller, K. & Landry, C. (2010). The choreography of presenting: The 7 essential abilities of

effective presenters. Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin Press.


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TEACHER QUALITY: A DECLARATION

1. Schools are communities composed of many talented, unique individuals. Individual teachers, while they have their own identity, pedagogical beliefs and cultures, are also members of a larger community of educators. This duality often produces polarities.

2. Recognizing these polarities, informed leaders foster not only individual but also collective efficacy, consciousness, flexibility, craftsmanship and interdependence—to produce self-‐directed persons with the cognitive capacity for high performance both independently and as members of a community.

3. Developing, protecting and liberating intellectual capacities is the most critical role of leadership if we are to develop fully educated students.

4. Leaders wear many hats. Of these, Consulting, Presenting, Facilitating, and Coaching can influence cognitive development. Mediating is the most powerful function for enhancing others cognitive capital and can be practiced in each of the hats. The skills of mediation are acquired, developed and practiced by the most effective school leaders.

5. Teachers, like all humans, have intellectual capacities that can be grown, transformed and refined throughout a lifetime. Such intellectual capacities are often hidden, sometimes repressed, and never fully developed. Under certain conditions teachers function with diminished capacity because of stress, mistrust, fatigue or other emotional factors related to school culture and organizational procedures.

6. Innate within all humans are the basic drives of: Efficacy, Consciousness4, Flexibility, Craftsmanship and Interdependence. These are the drivers of our thoughts, actions, decisions, interactions and relationships. They guide the moment-‐to-‐moment decisions of classroom teachers, which in turn produce the observable actions and behaviours. Conscious and skilful leaders by enhancing these drivers produce results in greater mindfulness of staff, students, individual teachers and the school community. Mindfulness fosters ultimate effectiveness in all human pursuits.

7. While this book is about teacher quality, it should be noted that these qualities are dynamical, interacting and being influenced by many environmental factors often the most significant being the school culture and social economic position of the community and students.

8. The quality of school leadership is one of the most powerful contributors to the development of teacher quality. Standards, test scores and rubrics, which propose to define quality but which are developed and imposed from outside the teacher’s involvement,


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comprehension and commitment, lead to short term, shallow results and ultimately to failure.

9. The ultimate purpose of any supervisory system must be to help teachers to become self-‐supervising, self-‐evaluating, and self-‐modifying. As British author, Jane Austin is quoted as saying: “We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”

10. The role of leadership is to help teacher develop cognitive capital and to gain the power of attending to developing and guiding themselves. In the same way teachers should be helping students to gain the power of attending to and guiding themselves as well.

Arthur L. Costa Robert J. Garmston Diane P. Zimmerman


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Order at Amazon.com

Dr. Robert Garmston, a high school dropout, whose childhood is characterized by rejection, abandonment, and abuse sees himself as having a core of badness and as someone who is unlovable. In his childhood, he spends more time in group homes and in running away than with his adopted family, the same family that tries to reverse his adoption. The adrenalin of risk, adventure, and fear drive him. He finds little to trust in others and lives each day from a state of wariness. Life is unpredictable for him; he has to take care of himself because those who are supposed to protect him are unreliable.

In spite of his youthful experiences, he earns advanced degrees and creates a human development program used throughout the world. As an influential educator, he mesmerizes audiences with his intellect. This book details the challenges of his childhood and his journey out of the despair of his drinking years into a university professor and esteemed innovator of educational programs. This is a must read for anyone working with youth. The story of resilience inspires hope in each of us.

~Carolee Hayes, Co-‐director, Center for Cognitive Coaching

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