“The gifts of those we serve are already there, and they are much easier to find if you choose to look.” George Couros recently shared this sentiment in his blog, and it resonates deeply.

Learning is truly a journey, and if you’re in education, I’m sure you feel this too. In today’s rapidly changing world, keeping up with new knowledge and evolving practices can feel daunting. Yet, moving our priorities forward together is essential. As I shared in my recent blog post, Leading Through Discomfort, I won’t ask teachers to do anything I haven’t done—or wouldn’t do myself.

Being a leader sometimes means sharing ideas or distributing tasks to grow new leaders, but it’s just as important to focus on more listening and learning while standing alongside teachers on their journey. Rolling up our sleeves and stepping into the “mess of learning” shows we’re learning with them, not just delivering information.

In my professional learning sessions, I prefer to focus on letting teachers “learn by doing,” as active participation is key to embedding and internalizing new skills. Yet there can be times during professional learning sessions, I have found myself doing more of the talking, driven by a sense of urgency to share as much as possible within our limited time frame. After some reflection, I remind myself—the goal is for teachers to experience learning, not just hear it.

When I catch myself taking over, I return to what’s familiar: leading with a coaching mindset, where I share insights, do more listening and learning, while giving teachers the space to discover, reflect, and apply learning on their own. This approach helps me become the kind of leader I needed—someone who encourages teachers to take the lead, share their perspectives, and bring their unique strengths forward.

At a recent department meeting, I made it a priority to step back, let the teachers take the lead and do more listening and learning. I began by sharing this quote: “The values, norms, and rules shaping our conduct as educators all emanate from this unwavering commitment to the well-being of the students under our care.” (Grading with Integrity by Guskey, Frey, and Fisher). I encouraged everyone to keep this idea in mind as they engaged in the discussion.

We split into two groups to explore the question: “What gives you the best insight into a student’s mastery of content and skills?” Each group had time to talk to each other and were provided time to record their group’s key takeaways in a shared Google Doc.

During this time, teachers not only shared a variety commonalities and varied perspectives but engaged in a cross-pollination of ideas, with new insights emerging organically. Through their conversations, they started delving into the purpose of various diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments, expanding their toolkits simply by sharing, listening and learning from each other.

To deepen the dialogue, I asked, “What patterns and trends do you notice between the two groups?” This conversation, supported by our shared digital space, will lay the foundation for our continued work on thinking about grading practices—driven by teacher insights and perspectives.

As I write in my book The Leader Inside, “Gifts live within exceptional educators, waiting to be unwrapped at the right place, at the right time, with the right people.” When we walk this journey alongside teachers, those gifts can shine brightly.

Diane Sweeney, in The Essential Guide for Student-Centered Coaching, says it beautifully: “When teachers believe that together they and their colleagues can impact student achievement, they share a sense of collective teacher efficacy.” This collective efficacy is strongest when teachers see that their entire team is capable of sharing their experiences and evidence of students mastering complex content, fostering creativity, and nurturing their individual potential.

So what if we did less talking and more listening? Less directing and more collaborating? Less instructing and more empowering?

Through this journey, we can go back to our teaching roots and remind ourselves that learning is a shared, infinite process—one that grows when we are actively doing more listening and learning, while leading with a coaching mindset that values discovery and growth.

“The gifts of those we serve are already there, and they are much easier to find if you choose to look.” – George Couros

3 Actionable Ideas to Implement Tomorrow

1. Initiate a “Learning by Doing” Activity: Begin your next professional learning session by inviting teachers to engage directly with a learning experience rather than explaining it first. For example, if you’re focusing on assessment strategies, ask teachers to analyze a sample student work or create a quick formative assessment. Then, facilitate a discussion where they share their insights and methods. This active approach empowers teachers to draw from their own experiences and collectively build new understanding.
2. Set Up Collaborative Reflection Spaces: Create a shared digital space, like a Google Doc, where teachers can reflect on a prompt such as, “What recent experience has deepened your understanding of student mastery?” Encourage them to read and respond to each other’s reflections. This space can serve as an ongoing dialogue that allows teachers to express and discover the “gifts” in their own practices and those of their peers, reinforcing the collective efficacy that Diane Sweeney describes.
3. End Each Session with a “Spotlight on Strengths”: Close each meeting or professional learning session by inviting teachers to spotlight a strength they observed in a colleague or themselves during the session. This practice fosters an environment where everyone feels valued and helps uncover the unique gifts present within the group. It aligns with George Couros’ insight on looking for the strengths of those we serve and reinforces a supportive, growth-oriented ecosystem.