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Being Generational Savvy
ASCD Conference Sharing
Maggie Guggenheimer and Kathy Roney
In education, as many as
four generations
work side by side teaching,
and that means countless chances for
crossed wires, miscommunication, and perhaps
even mistrust.
To assist you in supervising, coaching,
teaching, and supporting adult learners
of all generations.
How educators can look past their own
generational filters to reap the benefits of
seeing through a new lens. Focusing on the
major contexts in which generational
differences play out—including recruitment,
coaching, professional learning, and succession
planning— you can gain tools and
recommendations for collaborating,
evaluating, and engaging in professional
learning that meets multigenerational needs.
It must be said that individuals, regardless of
generation, bring their styles, influences, and
particular perspectives and an identification
with class, gender, race, region, family,
religion and more. And, some broad
generalizations are possible about those born
in approximately the same years.
 Choose
the color of your generation
Millennials
(1982-2005)
Age 20-33
Gen Xers
(1965-1981)
Age 32-50
Boomers
(1944-1964)
Age 51-71
Traditionalists
(1922-1943)
Age 72 +
2005
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
1970
1965
1960
1955
1950
1945
1940
1935
1930
1925
Share “AH-HA”
moments after
reviewing the
matrix
 Graduate
students:
Generation X & Baby Boomers
 Undergraduate students:
Millennials
What does this generation exemplify in their
 characteristics,
 needs,
 technology ?
What does this tell you about your teaching
expectations?
• A coach who is easy with email communication
• A coach who is open to just in time, relevant support and access to
materials when needed
• A coach who acknowledges smarts in 20 somethings and doesn’t
patronize
• A coach who praises the present and sees a speedy path for the
coachee’s growth
• A coach who is willing to take as much feedback as is giving it
• A coach who is willing to collaborate and change (think co-creation)
• A coach who acknowledges the whole life of the coachee and isn’t
bitter when the coachee has a life and will be moving on
• A coach for whom constant face to face interaction isn’t needed
• A coach who understands and believes in the life-work balance
• A coach who gets the need to affiliate, but not totally commit to work
• A coach who isn’t afraid to answer the question “Why?”
• A coach who doesn’t take it personally when someone is blunt
• A coach who can be clear and discuss consequences honestly
• A coach who is comfortable with transparency
• A coach who is ok with not a lot of schmoozing and getting to business
• A coach who understands and doesn’t judge when someone just ‘does
the work’ to ‘get it done’ and that there are other priorities
• A coach who has high expectations for you and for them – for ‘us’
• A coach who connects with the deep values around education
• A coach who acknowledges prior experience and values it
• A coach who understands personal connection matters
• A coach who thinks in ‘affiliation’ to a greater goal – thinking ‘we’
• A coach who is mindful of language and respect given through language
• A coach who gives of him or herself – willing to do something additional
• A coach who understands it is jolting to be on the bottom of the pecking order again
and the difficulty of being a “rookie” or paying one’s dues and proving one’s self all
over again
• A coach who can acknowledge the challenges of a 2nd career person seeing this
system as strange because it is experienced based vs. performance based
• A coach who is very clear and understanding of the need for clarity of protocols AND
knows that the coachee can also ‘read between the lines’
A Boomer took over as principal and immediately
decided to ban computers from her leadership team
meetings. Instead, she purchased journals for all team
members. She believed computers distracted users from
'the work.' Most team members, who were under the age
of 40, found the switch unreasonable. They used their
computers to communicate, send files to one another
and note the tasks discussed in the meeting.
A Millennial first-year teacher arrived at his first
teacher team meeting with colleagues who all
taught the same subject in his high school. The
experienced teachers were prepared to share their
resources and unit plans with him, particularly on
a student research paper they had historically all
taught during the fall semester. The new teacher,
feeling on equal footing, said he had a different
approach to the research unit assessment that he
felt would be more engaging and stated he would
move in a different direction. His 'announcement'
didn't go over well with his veteran colleagues.
 Prefer
in-person to on-line interaction
 Eager to be cut loose
 Curious and driven
 Mix of ethnicities,
…