Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle, (42) Tip #42, Notes

Post date: Nov 12, 2018 5:59:14 PM

Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle

TIP #42 SIX WAYS TO BE A BETTER TEACHER OR COACH

• 1. Use the First Few Seconds to Connect on an Emotional Level The best teacher, coach, or mentor sees something special in the student, makes the student feel understood and earns the student’s trust. Effective teaching is built on trust, and when it comes to trust, we humans are consistent: We decide if we’re going to trust someone in the first few seconds of the interaction. This is why good teachers use the first few seconds to connect on an emotional level, especially on the first encounter. There are lots of tools for making this connection—eye contact, body language, empathy, and humor being some of the most effective— but whatever you use, make sure you prioritize that connection above all else. Before you can teach, you have to show that you care.

  2. Avoid Giving Long Speeches—Instead, Deliver Vivid Chunks of Information Master teachers and coaches stand alongside the individuals they’re helping. They don’t give long speeches; they deliver useful information in small, vivid chunks. Focus on delivering short, targeted, customized messages to each player, one at a time. Not only do players catch on more quickly, but the process also forges closer bonds of communication. When you’re coaching, picture the person’s brain lighting up, the wires sparking fitfully, reaching to make new connections. The question is not what big important message you can deliver. The question is, what vivid, concise message can you deliver right now that will guide her toward making the right reach?

  3. Be Allergic to Mushy Language Use language that is concrete and specific. All good teaching follows the same blueprint: Try this concrete thing. Now try this concrete thing. Now try combining them into this concrete thing. Communicate with precise nouns and numbers—things you can see and touch and measure—and avoid adjectives and adverbs, which don’t tell you precisely what to do.

  4. Make a Scorecard for Learning Don’t ose sight of the larger goal: learning and developing competencies for the long run. The solution is to create your own scorecard. Pick a metric that measures the skill you want to develop, and start keeping track of it. Use that measure to motivate and orient your learners. As a saying goes, “You are what you count.” Top soccer coaches track the number of smart passes their team makes during a game, and who use this number—not the score—as the most accurate measure of their team’s success. The players catch on, and try to exceed themselves each game. Regardless of what happens on the scoreboard, this number gives them an accurate way to measure their real progress.

  5. Maximize “Reachfulness” Reachfulness is the essence of learning. It happens when the learner is leaning forward, stretching, struggling, and improving. The point of this rule is that good teachers/coaches/mentors find ways to design environments that tip people away from passivity and toward reachful action. Avoid activities where players stand in lines, waiting their turn. Instead employ lots of small, intense games. Some progressive schools increase reachfulness through a technique called “flipping the classroom.” The term refers to changing the traditional model, in which students spend class time listening to a lecture and then do reinforcement work at home. In a flipped classroom, students do the reverse. They listen to lectures at home, online, and spend class time actively struggling with the work: doing problems, wrestling with concepts—in essence, reaching—while the teacher walks around, coach-style, and helps individuals one at a time. Being a good teacher means thinking like a designer. Ask yourself: What kind of space will create the most reachful environment? How can you replace moments of passivity with moments of active learning?

  6. Aim to Create Independent Learners Your long-term goal as a teacher, coach, or mentor is to help your learners improve so much that they no longer need you. To do this, avoid becoming the center of attention. Aim instead to create an environment where people can keep reaching on their own. Whenever possible, step away and create moments of independence. Think of your job as building a little master-coach chip in their brains—a tiny version of you, guiding them as they go forward.