They'll get a Thank You note from me in the mail sometime in the next week or so. The Cognitive Coaching SM office, that is. It's all about deepening thinking. Paraphrasing does it, when the paraphrase supports taking thinking to the next level. But once in a while, a question is in order.
Ah, and there's the rub. Good questions are non-evaluative, they presume positive intent, and they deepen thinking. Try it. Try composing a question with all of those elements. It's achievable, and for me, also somewhat time-consuming.
I'm quicker than I used to be. At first a solid 15 minutes could maybe see a good question from my brain. Now I'm down to around five. Fine for desk-work, troublesome in a coaching conversation. They need to come naturally, be easily accessible, these thought-deepening inquiries.
So, as a Winter Break gift, our "Coach of Coaches" added these lovely 5"x7" (or so) laminated question cards to our libraries. I loved my question cards. They freed me up to listen more closely to the conversation, paraphrase better, and still question skillfully and timely.
Then they were gone. Almost as fast as I got them, they were of into Never-Never land. Forever among the missing. Oh, I searched, scoured, and sorted all my things. My work area is in fact now, much neater. Still, the cards were gone.
Guilt-laden, I got on line and ordered more for myself. If the school district was willing to invest $10.00 in me, surely I could match it. Well, somehow the order failed to complete, and those magical cards continued to allude my mailbox. Propelled into action, I started asking around. One thing led to another, and finally a conversation with the Cognitive Coaching SM administrative office landed these handy tools in my box today.
Free of charge. Free of hassle. Free of explanation. They just appeared. People are essentially good. Thank you Cognitive Coaching SM office. You rock!
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