 Okay, Val, I need you to be my principal. And so as my principal, you can stand up, that's good, stand up. As my principal, I'm gonna walk towards you and just innocently you're gonna say, oh, I saw you were in Eve's classroom, how's it going? Okay? So are you with me? What's going on? I just came out of, thanks, Dave, it was great to be with you, I appreciate it. So now I'm walking down the hall and Val's coming toward me. Hey, I saw you working in Dave's classroom. Oh, hi, I saw you working in Dave's classroom. Just to say it twice to get it across. Did I see you working today in Dave's classroom? Yes, I was in Dave's classroom. I just left there, actually. Good, thank you very much. What happened in Dave's classroom today? Dave was teaching a lesson on writing. What were you teaching? Writing, he was actually doing a personal narrative lesson today. And did you happen to notice what the students were doing when he was doing that teaching? Yes, actually, students in the classroom were working on their own personal narratives. That's great, but what were they, when they were working on their own personal narratives, what were they demonstrating? She's doing it the right way, not the wrong way. Here, I was just expecting her to do it the wrong way. She's giving us the good model first, which is right how we teach concept. We offered the good model first. Keep going, keep going. What were the kids doing? What were the kids doing to demonstrate that they were learning? Well, they were working on personal narratives. It was obvious that they had just started. So many of them I found were asking each other questions about what they were gonna write about. And I think there'll be some differences tomorrow. I wouldn't wanna make any decisions today or judgements in any way, shape, or form. They were just starting. It's neat to watch when they're starting. Did you watch how Dave differentiated any of his strategies? No, I'm just kidding. So now do you see how that conversation, so let's do this conversation with you asking something just simple like, how's Dave doing? Okay? Thanks, Dave. It was a great being with you today, I appreciate it. Okay, Val. How's Dave doing? How's Dave doing? Oh, see, her whole demeanor changes, right? Now, coaches caught like that down the hallway with the question, how's Dave doing? Might respond like this. Oh, Dave is fabulous. He was just on today. He differentiated for his students, met with kids individually. He's so awesome. I'm so glad we have him on staff. Okay, now I'll ask the question again. Same question asked, how's Dave doing? How's Dave doing? You know, I would love for you and Dave to have a conversation about that. I'd love for you to talk to him because I know he would be very eager to share that with you. Okay, I'll just write that on my list of things to do. Yeah, number 345. See the difference? One, that first one would have been just as bad as for me to walk up to Val and say, Dave, boy, we got a real problem. It's no different. It's no different. It's both are judgments. Both are evaluative. And the minute I get trapped as a coach into answering that question, how's Dave doing? And I am effusive about Dave's expertise, how well he's doing. I have violated the fundamental rule about being judgmental and evaluative. Just as if I would have walked up to Val and said, I've got some very serious concerns about Dave's ability. It's no different. And coaches, friends, and principals don't know how to differentiate those two situations. They often view that sort of superlative, excitement, effusive, positive as being okay. They know not to say Dave's not doing a good job. They know that. But you know what? The minute you say Dave's good, you may as well have said, Teresa's bad. That takes a little explanation and a little work, and it takes the coach and the principals sitting side-by-side to have this conversation, to talk about it, and to look at each other and say, I commit never to put you in a place where I am asking you to make a judgment, and I hope you will allow me to say, off limits when you ask me that question.