Do Not Steal their Learning

Steps to a Coaching Classroom: Newsletter 9

”I might not be able to pay teachers more money, or give them the public recognition they deserve for the amazing work that they do, but I can teach them about a coaching approach. And that will be my contribution to a better world.”, Martin Richards, Founder of C4E Coaching for Educators.

In the previous article #8 we looked at 4MAT as a set of open-ended questions you can ask yourself when you are planning a lesson. We also looked at open-ended questions that open students’ hearts and minds so they are teachable (very useful for any first lesson - a guide for supply teachers).

In this article, we are going to explore a coaching structure that's perfect for teaching any lesson where you want to guide the learners towards new knowledge, without stealing the struggle - and their learning - from them.

GROW, a beginner’s coaching structure

This structure is one of the most commonly taught on coach training courses. The four letters are reminders of the four stages of the coaching process and help new coaches to remember which kind of open-ended questions to ask:

• GOAL - What do we want to achieve?
• REALITY - What's the reality that we perceive?
• OPPORTUNITIES - What else is possible?
• WILLINGNESS, or WAY FORWARD - How ready are we, and what paths lead us towards our goal?

See if you can identify the four GROW stages in the following teaching conversation between the teacher and some students where first the Goal is established, the Reality is identified, and then there is an exploration of the Opportunities and finally a bold step into a new world of different numbers.

The Square Root of a Negative Number

I am teaching a Maths class at a Secondary School. The students know how to find square roots of whole and real numbers, now we have come to questions where no ordinary solutions are possible.

I enjoyed learning this when I learned it at school. This was a ‘watershed moment’ in my understanding of Maths.

The solution I am going to share with the students opens the door to a whole new kind of number, upon which much of the electronics industry relies. Without this kind of number, no radio, no TV, no mobile phones.

It gives me great joy to witness the ah-haaaa moment when students get this concept, and the temptation to help them - by giving them the answer - can be very strong. If I tell them the answer too soon, there is a risk that I will steal the learning moment from the students. They may remember what I tell them directly, but if they struggle a bit, they will feel they have earned the new knowledge, and own it. I recall how my teachers taught me new things, often they would make us work for it.

What’s needed here is some self-discipline and a few open-ended questions.

The students understand that the ‘square root’ is the number that - when multiplied by itself - will give the target number. In brief, the students had already found answers to the square root of target numbers such as 81, 100, 9000 and similar numbers. They had also used calculators to look up the square root of 80, 1000, 9.5 and similar integers and decimals.

Now they are looking for the square root of negative numbers such as; -81, -100 and -9000. Their calculators are displaying the word ERROR. And so are their faces.

I, the Teacher, ask, What’s the problem?

The Students say, looking at their calculator, It says ‘ERROR’

So what’s the problem?

We can’t answer the question.

What are you looking for?

A number that gives us -81 when multiplied by itself.

How will you know when you have the right answer?

When it doesn’t say 'ERROR'

What’s special about ‘square root’?

It’s what you need to answer the question.

Do you mean ‘the number that when multiplied by itself will give the target number’?

Yeah.

And what have you tried?

Nine.

And what have you not tried yet?

Ah. Minus nine!

And what do you get when you try minus nine multiplied by minus nine.

Eighty-one.

And...

Is that it then?

What’s the target number?

Eighty-one.

Is it?

No, it’s minus eight-one. So minus nine isn't the answer.

No it isn't.

So what is? Can't you tell us?

Not yet. What else have you tried?

Nine, and minus nine.

And what have you not tried yet?

Decimals!

And what do you get when you try a decimal?

Like nine point zero?

Give it a try. What do you get?

Eighty-one. But not minus eighty-one.

So what have you not tried yet?

Can't you just tell us?

Yes, but that would be stealing the learning from you!

We have tried everything!!!

You have tried whole numbers and real decimals. So what do you need?

We need something else!

Are you ready to hear about a different kind of number?

There's a DIFFERENT kind of number???

Are you ready to hear about a different kind of number?

Yes.

Then I am ready to tell you about …

I could simply have told them what they needed to know, but until you read the above dialogue, and perhaps used your calculator to find the square root of a negative number, become frustrated and felt within yourself the need to know, there would be no point telling you that the letter i squared equals negative one. If that nugget of knowledge is described in a text without the context of needing to know, it is not seen as important, and is easily forgotten. But, if you ache to open the door to a new world of numbers, finding the key is a triumph, and you own the right to open the door and enter.

Twelve GROW Questions, 81 coaching conversations

When learning the GROW structure, it's useful to have lots of questions to hand, perhaps written down. Make yourself a GROW resource by writing one question from each GROW category on a playing-card sized piece of paper. If you have three examples of each of the four stages of the coaching, you can then shuffle the cards, pick one from each category and form eighty-one different sets of GROW questions.

In this video, Martin describes and demonstrates the GROW Model in a real-life situation.

Below are three sample questions for each category, you can mix them at random. You will need 12 pieces of card. A single sheet of paper cut into thirds and quarters will do fine.

Goals

• What do you want to be different when we have finished here?
• Specifically, what do you want to achieve?
• If you could have one wish granted, what would you wish for?

Reality

• How much can you personally affect the results?
• What's happening right now?
• What have you done about this so far?

Opportunities

• Suppose you had already reached your goal... how did you get there?
• If you had more resources, what would you do differently?
• What could you do to make a difference?

Willingness / Way Forward

• Who needs to know about your plans?
• What actions can affect the results?
• On a scale of 1-10, how willing are you to move ahead?

3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12 and 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81

The above set of 12 coaching questions will give you 81 different combinations to use in conversations. All 12 questions fit nicely on one sheet of paper. If you have 30 students in your class, each will get 4 questions, so you will need 120 questions, i.e. 10 copies of that sheet.

TIPS for Using GROW in the Classroom

You can use coaching in a more direct manner, holding space for coaching conversations between pairs of students, using the GROW questions as support.

As ever in coaching, let the coachees, i.e. the students, do the work.

When I train students to use GROW to support each other, I use a professionally produced pack of 40 cards that have 10 open-ended questions for each of the categories. Shuffling the cards allows me to create ten thousand (10 x 10 x 10 x 10) different combinations.

Preparation: We begin by talking about situations when the students might need to support each other or ask for support from a peer. We collect a range of suitable topics on the board.

After getting an agreement with the students to be respectful of each other and honour confidentiality, so they are willing to ask each other GROW questions, I issue a set of four cards to each student. For a class of thirty students, I need three packs of cards to do this.

Pairs: The instructions are:

1. Choose a topic that's important, but not intimate or private.
2. Go slowly and gently. Respect confidentiality. Share only what you are comfortable with sharing with your partner.
3. Look your partner in the eyes (or at a spot between their eyes if that's easier).
4. Ask the question from the card, slowly, and allow your partner time to think, feel and notice what the question means to them. They might answer in writing for themselves, or speak to you.
5. Listen, in silence, to their answer (if they choose to say it out loud). Maintain eye contact as long as it feels comfortable.
6. Repeat any keywords you hear, back to your partner. Pause to allow your partner time to think, feel and notice what the keywords mean to them. They might answer in writing for themselves, or speak it to you.
7. Repeat the above steps with the other three questions.
8. Note for yourself, anything that's useful to share with the class. Other notes are for yourself.

After I have given out the cards to the pairs of students, I invite them to choose a topic and give them ten minutes to ask questions. There's usually enough 'beehive' noise that nobody can hear what other partners are saying.

Often Student A will interview Student B, then B will interview A within ten minutes. If they need more time, I continue until there are enough pairs who have completed. You know your class, you know the 'lull in the conversation' that you are listening for.

For the greatest effect, I precede the pairs activity with a live demonstration of GROW coaching with a volunteer in front of their classmates. This requires a high level of trust in the confidentiality agreement. The results - deeper conversations between the pairs - are worth the effort of doing this, but the whole procedure; Preparation, Demo, Pairs, Debrief, takes at least an hour, otherwise, it takes 30-40 minutes.

Debrief: The debrief takes the form of checking in with solutions and realisations for the student who was answering, and then the challenges for the student asking the questions.

• Who has found a solution, or a step in the right direction? (no need to describe it)
• Who feels happier, clearer, lighter... (what else)?
• What were the challenges of asking the questions?
• What made this easier for you?

Summary

• Many teaching conversations easily fit the GROW model, especially ones where you want to avoid stealing the learning moment.
• The GROW model can be introduced to teenagers in one lesson, and serve them for many years afterwards.
• All the questions you need to guide the coaching conversation can be printed on one sheet of paper. If you ask for them, I will send you a printable sheet with all 40 question cards, plus ten Tips to remind the coach how to adopt the right mind-set.
• The instructions that support the coaching pairs can also be written on one sheet of paper.

Call for Certified Coaches

If you hold a coach certification and are interested in supporting the development of coaching in schools, you are welcome to join the C4E Roster (see six C4E coaches below) by joining one of our Roundtables here: www.coaching4educators.org

NEXT

In the next edition of this newsletter, there will be examples of the questions you are afraid to ask, yet need to in order to develop as an educator.