The Coaching of Teaching.

Abstract

r I Ihe eight members of the English I department of Lazarus High School in Sacramento, Califor nia, are considering new teaching strate gies for use in some of their courses. The model of teaching they are now studying is Synectics (Gordon, 1961), designed to stimulate metaphoric think ing. Several members of the department think Synectics will be useful both to encourage creative writing and in the study of fiction and poetry. The English teachers began their ex ploration by reading William Gordon's book, S ynectics. Later, an expert on the strategy came to the school, demonstrat ed it several times, and held discussions with the teachers. They also saw a videotape of Gordon explaining the the ory behind Synectics and visited a school in Stockton where teachers have used Synectics for the last two or three years. Then, based on Synectics, they planned minilessons in creative writing, poetry analysis, and the use of metaphor in lonesco's plays. Each teacher prac ticed the teaching strategy several times with the other teachers; and, finally, in teams of two, they began to try it out with the most able students in their elective creative writing classes. One team member taught while the other observed and offered constructive criti cism; then they switched places. Some times they taught together. Each prac ticed several times with the coaching partner present to reflect on progress and to offer suggestions about how to improve the next trial. Then, still working in teams, they began to use Synectics in a few of their courses when it appeared the strategy would be most productive and likely to succeed. Not surprisingly, they found the hardest part of using a new model of teaching was not learning what to do as a teacher but teaching the students to relate to the model. For example, part Crtdit Ckru West