Lessons from the Military Mind

Steps to a Coaching Classroom: Newsletter 19X

"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

In the previous article, I wrote about believing in your students and getting them to believe in themselves. In this article, I demonstrate how a potentially difficult situation is deftly handled by an experienced leader, and I give you some ideas for values activities in Maths lessons.

The Head was a Military Man

I was visiting a College in Sweden. The students were 16 - 19 years old.

The Headteacher, an ex-military man, was proudly taking me on a guided tour of his place of work when we came across three older boys huddled together in front of an open locker, watching a video and laughing.

I’ll pause here to ask you to reflect for a moment on two questions:

1. What do you believe about the Head, and those three boys?
2. What do you think is going to happen??

The boys saw the Head approaching and stiffened. One of the boys hurriedly tried to hide the video player in a locker.

“What are you doing?”, the Head asked in a strong, commanding voice.

“Nothing!” the boys replied in unison.

“What message are you sending to the younger ones?” the Head asked, indicating the other students who were filling the hallway on their way to their next lessons.

The boys lowered their heads.

“You are seniors. I expect better of you,” the Head continued.

The boys offered explanations and excuses, all of which the Head waved away.

“Put it away. And show me how you want to be.”

The boys brightened and, making profuse promises that it will never happen again, went back putting books in their bags.

I asked the Head where he had learned to do that.

“In the military,” he said. “No need to embarrass them more than they had embarrassed themselves. They needed a way to make it right.”

Notes: For me, the Head showed that he believed in the boys wanting to be proper grown ups; they had just lost their way for a moment. He gave them the opportunity to use their creativity to find a way to show how they really wanted to be, and relied on their wholeness and so he did not need to ‘fix’ them through punishment.

Values Exercises in English and Maths Lessons

When I was a new teacher, teaching Mathematics, I felt bound by contract to do just that - teach Mathematics. And yet, there was a need in almost every lesson to pause and give a lesson about behaviour, paying attention, being kind and inclusive, waiting one’s turn etc etc.

Later, when I taught English, I felt that I had much greater freedom to engage the students in meaningful discussions about life, as long as they spoke in English. Almost any topic would do, but ones that were connected to the actual day-to-day decisions they had to make were most useful.

I gave them scenarios like:

• “You have homework to do. A friend calls and invites you to play basketball. What do you do?”
• “What if you had to decide between going out with one group of friends to the cinema, or another group of friends to play basketball. How would you choose?”
• “A friend is struggling at school. Do you help him with his homework?”
• “At exam time, that same friend is still struggling. Do you help him with a written assessment?”

Sometimes, I would include actual situations that the school was struggling to manage (graffiti on walls, fires in waste-paper baskets, blocked toilets etc) where I was expected to give them some guidance. I would start by eliciting their ideas, perspectives and solutions first.

Later, when I returned to teaching Maths, I found that I had learned from the freedom of teaching English and used Four Corner Activities to reveal their challenges and successes with Mathematics.?

In the Four Corner Activity the teacher asks a mix of factual and perspective questions, with a selection of four answers, often with a dash of humour. Each of the four corners of the room represent one of the answers, and after the teacher has asked the question and pointed out all four answer-corners, the students run and stand in the corner that corresponds to their answer. The students can try to stand in two corners if they wish.

• What is the product of seven and nine? A) Sixty-three B) Sixteen C) Over a hundred D) Give me a Clue
• Is Algebra difficult? A) Yes B) Not at all C) I always need help D) I sometimes need help
• The cosine of 30 degrees is: A) Not known to mankind B) about a half C) exactly zero point five D) 0.73737
• The lesson yesterday was: A) Helpful B) Challenging C) Interesting D) Don’t know, wasn’t there

Usually, I maintain a rapid pace when asking my prepared questions, as soon as I see what I need to know, I move on. Other times, we stop and discuss if, for example when everyone gets a factual question wrong, or when there’s an interesting spread of opinions. I don’t allow too much discussion, it is, after all, a Maths lesson.