Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight
Jim Knight is the founder of The Instructional Coaching Group, a professional development provider dedicated to offering PD for coaches, teachers, and leaders based on a partnership approach that creates better learning environments for all students. As a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning Jim has spent 25 years studying professional learning and instructional coaching. He earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools. Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description of instructional coaching. Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including the bestsellers Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Focus on Teaching (2014), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), and The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021). He has also authored articles featured in Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan.
Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight
John Campbell and Christ Munro
In this episode, I had the opportunity to have an insightful conversation with TLC 2024 breakout presenters John Campbell and Christ Munro who are leading experts in the field of educational coaching and leadership development. They have collaborated on various projects and publications, including their upcoming book "Growth Talk: Brief Conversations – Big Impact," which dives into their innovative approach to leadership, emphasizing how coaching skills can enhance everyday conversations in educational settings. Our focus is particularly on brief, informal interactions that can have significant impact.
This discussion equips listeners by providing practical tools and frameworks for more effective leadership conversations:
• The Learning Conversations Map:
- A framework to help leaders identify and organize different conversational contexts
- Two axes: leader's stance (facilitative to directive) and degree of formality (formal to informal)
• Focus on Brief, Informal Conversations:
- Emphasis on making short interactions more transformational and less transactional
- Recognition that a 10-minute conversation can be significant in moving things forward
• Practical Strategies:
- "What's wanted, what's working, what's next" framework for conversations
- Tuning listening skills to focus on desired outcomes and strengths
• Application in Educational Settings:
- Recognizes the complexity and time constraints in educational leadership roles
- Aims to make existing conversations more productive rather than adding new tasks
I hope this episode offers valuable takeaways for educators and leaders looking to improve their communication skills and foster growth in their organizations. As John Campbell and Chris Munro shared, these techniques can be immediately applied in daily interactions, emphasizing that even short conversations can be powerful tools for positive change in educational settings.
I’d love to hear your feedback about my weekly coaching conversations. Please consider leaving a rating or review and subscribing to our channel!
To learn how Better Conversations can make an impact on your daily life, click here.
A decade of research and hundreds of in-services later, The Impact Cycle provides an all-new instructional coaching cycle to help teachers and, in turn, their students improve in clear, measurable ways. Learn more here.