John Wooden Makes a Sandwich

John Wooden Makes a Sandwich

 

All teachers know, there are times when students are very open to correction and times they are not. Fatigue, time of day, personal issues, falling behind, and distraction may be some reasons why students close their minds. Embarrassment may be another.

 

In a basketball game, one player makes a mistake that costs his team points. Let’s say he takes a shot when he should have passed the ball to a teammate who had a better one. At the next dead ball (play stops), his coach takes him out of the game. As he walks off the floor toward the bench, he is met by his coach who gets in his face and scolds him all the way to his seat. Then the coach squats down in front of him to continue his correction. The player cannot look the coach in the eye and it is very clear, his coach has embarrassed him in front of his teammates and the crowd. The player’s mind is closed to the information his coach is trying to transmit. He learns nothing. This scenario is all too common in sports.

 

Coach Wooden was a master at teaching the fundamentals of the game, strategy, Xs and Os, conditioning, and teamwork. However, none of that would have been possible if he was not a master at knowing how students learn. For Coach, maximizing learning during practice sessions meant winning championships, and one thing he discovered in his research was, correction, coupled with embarrassment, results in reduced learning or no learning at all.

 

There’s no getting around “correction,” as a key to instruction and learning. It must be done. But how does one open a student’s mind after that student has screwed up? How did Coach morph someone who “didn’t want to hear it,” into someone who was eager to make the correction? He made a sandwich.

 

The John Wooden Correction Sandwich

1. Show the Correct Method.
2. Show How the Player Did It.
3. Show the Correct Method.

 

The player in our example above received the middle of the sandwich first, “Show How the Player Did it.” The Coach said, “You missed the open player. How the heck did you not see him?” This immediately put the player on the defensive and closed his mind. Had the coach waited until the player sat down and then squatted in front of him and explained how the play is supposed to work (find the high-percentage shot), and then explained how the player did not do that, and finally say, “Next time you have the ball, let’s consider the percentages, OK?” magic would have happened. Here’s what I mean.

 

1. Show the Correct Method: The player has made a mistake and he knows that. The coach shows him the way it is supposed to be done. Immediately, the player, knowing how he did it, compares that information with the correct model and sees the difference. The “magic” is, he is teaching himself.
2. Show How the Player Did It: This strengthens the comparison of the right and incorrect methods and allows the player to continue the comparison and self-teaching.
3. Show the Correct Method: As the player returns to the practice, he does so with a clear vision of what the correct method is.  

 

Next time you are teaching and are ready to correct a student, have a Coach Wooden Sandwich. By the way, your own children will like Coach Wooden Sandwiches too.