RallyCoach

How it is done: Partners take turns, one solving a problem while the other watches, listens, coaches if needed then praises.

When it is time to practice a new skill, careful structuring of a worksheet and/or the process of working on the worksheet (or oral questions) can lead to a dramatic difference in the mastery which results.

Situation 1: A teacher tells students, "Here is a worksheet with twenty problems on it. Work alone and hand it in when you are finished."

Situation 2: A teacher tells students, "Here is a worksheet with twenty problems on it. Use RallyCoach with your partner and hand it in when you are both sure all the answers are correct."

In Situation 1 students may be bored, working alone the student feels no peer support, no-one reaches out to encourage or help, they may possibly fail to catch all of their own errors. The result: the student may give up. In contrast in Situation 2 students become fully engaged, students complete a worksheet together, alternating doing the problems while their partner serves as ‘coach’, talking through and checking them as they go. They have the common goal of obtaining the correct answers; they know the gain (contribution) of one is a gain for the other. The weak student in that situation has a coach encouraging and tutoring them. In that situation, the weak student is not likely to give up: She/he is pulled into the achievement cycle—rather than dropping out, the student becomes engaged. The structure holds the student on task, and provides support so they do not give up; engagement is increased. Later, individual test scores go up as well as retention, social skills, caring for others, and liking for content and school. What about the high achiever? Research on peer tutoring shows that ‘tutors’ make substantial academic gains – they learn as much as the ‘tutees’. Learning is not always best by being taught. In fact, learning is best promoted by being in a situation which allows learning to occur. It turns out that tutoring is such a situation, providing both the motivation and opportunity to learn.

Applications:

(see attachment example RallyCoach worksheets.)

Grammar: Circle the noun. Correct the sentence. Change to the past tense. Etc.

Maths: Reduce the fraction. Solve the word problem. Find the area. Calculate the angle. Etc.

Science: Calculate the velocity. Write the outcome of combining two chemicals. Perform an experiment. Etc.