Shifting Conceptual Thinking through a Paraphrase
Earlier this month, you practiced how Listening For can be paraphrased by acknowledging or clarifying what the person wants or by summarizing or organizing the thinking of the person. This practice will focus on the third kind of paraphrase – shifting conceptual thinking which has the potential to accelerate and advance the movement of another’s thinking.
Let’s take the same chart you used in the blog to practice this next level of paraphrase. For an example, let’s use one of the sample responses to offer a potential shift.
| Person Speaking | Acknowledge/Clarify or Summarize/Organize Paraphrase | Shifting Conceptual Thinking Paraphrase |
| “I’m working with Drew every day to improve his reading. His progress is so slow and I’m getting frustrated.” | “You want Drew to be a strong reader . . . | . . . because you recognize how critical reading is to his future success.” |
| “Who has enough time to meet in PLCs? We have so many things to accomplish and we aren’t accomplishing anything.” | “You are dedicated to your work as a teacher . . . | . . . and you are striving to find value in the PCL time.” |
So, you are seeing how you can take a paraphrase that acknowledges or clarifies or summarizes and organizes to provoke thinking by just adding phrases such as “because”, “and you want”, or “and you are looking for”, etc. which connects the person to a greater purpose or reason for what they care about. The thinking becomes future focused.
Here are additional opportunities for advanced practice. Begin with the middle column and then move to the third column by adding a phrase that advances thinking. For fun, check with another coach leader to see the possibilities for our language.
| Person Speaking | Acknowledge/Clarify or Summarize/Organize Paraphrase | Shifting Conceptual Thinking Paraphrase |
| “I’m overwhelmed with all we are expected to do at the beginning of school – get our rooms ready, meet the parents, develop lesson plans, etc.” | ||
| “I’m not sure how to teach this new science curriculum.” | ||
| “My team is not focused on the most important thing like student progress. All we do is gossip.” | ||
| “Our parent involvement is dreadful. Why don’t these parents care about their kids?” |
These two bookends – listening and paraphrasing are the foundation for your communication skillfulness.
How are you intentionally using these bookends to grow yourself and those you motivate and inspire?
