The facilitators track
Three stages for preparing somebody else to run one of the other tracks, built around watching rather than telling.
- Who this is for
- You, coaching one other person. They should have done Build One. You should have run at least one session of the track they are going to run.
- Shape
- Three stages, each built around one real session with real learners. Weeks apart, not consecutive.
- Before you run it
- Run a track yourself first. You cannot coach a session you have only read. Build One
With learners rather than colleagues, the accounts and the conversation with families change. Conditions covers what to settle before that session.
This track is not a sequence you run with learners. It is what you do with one colleague, around three sessions that were going to happen anyway.
Why it is not a course
Facilitating this is not hard to understand and it is hard to do. The gap between the two is not closed by explanation, which is why every stage here is built around a real session with real learners rather than a practice run.
Nothing in it is simulated. The only thing you are adding to somebody's week is a sheet, a chair at the back, and half an hour afterwards.
The three stages
| Stage | Who runs it | What they carry |
|---|---|---|
| One | You | The observation sheet, filled in by them |
| Two | Both of you, split | Half a session each, agreed in advance |
| Three | Them | The observation sheet, filled in by you |
Weeks apart. Each stage needs a real session to attach to, and running them back to back removes the part where somebody goes away and thinks.
The instrument
The observation sheet is the only instrument here and it does most of the work. Tally columns on the front, filled during the session, and a rubric on the back, placed afterwards.
Two rules printed on it matter more than anything on this page. Pick one row to talk about, not five. And do not total it: this is coaching, and a sheet that adds up to a number gets used for appraisal eventually whatever the header says.
What you are actually teaching
Three things, and none of them are about the material.
Asking rather than explaining, when a room is in front of you and explaining is faster.
Hearing a weak answer, which takes having given one.
Keeping your hands off the keyboard when somebody is stuck and you could fix it in four seconds.
- 1. They watch you
Discern
- 2. You split one
Direct and Discern
- 3. You watch them
Discern and Develop