Opportunities for individuals to reflect on practice and debrief with mentors can be powerful learning for both parties. One approach to debriefing conversations is scaling questions adapted from the solution-focused conversation work of Nancy McConkey.
Scaling Questions Conversation Map at a Glance
- On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst lesson you’ve experienced and 10 being the best, how was this lesson for you?
- Oh a <e.g., 6> – What were the positive things that made it a 6?
- How might you bump it up a notch to a 7? (specific ideas)
- Continue with Coaching stance or shift to Consultant or Collaborator based on needs
What is powerful about this tool is not only the variety of mentoring contexts within which it can be applied but also the underlying assumptions described below.
Attributes Based Approach
A purposeful seeking out of strengths is at the heart of this idea. Often, the person you are mentoring has given their challenges considerable thought prior to speaking with you.
Islands of Competence
By asking about the positive things you ensure the conversation begins with a success. Even a “1” is better than a “0!”
Ownership resides with the Mentee
Your impression is set aside as ultimately the person you are mentoring will be the one implementing the ideas in their own context (classroom, school, work site).
Flexibility of Stance & Role
As a skilled mentor you may choose to continue in the coaching stance or shift to consultant or collaborator, based on the needs of the person you are debriefing with.
Don’t Like Numbers?
For some, applying a quantitative number to an experience may not feel comfortable. If that’s the case, the initial scaling question can be simply adapted as in the example below:
- Thinking about both the worst morning you’ve ever had and the best one; how was this morning for you?
- Oh…the morning was “fine” – Fine sounds better than so so…what made it fine?
- How might you bump it up to “very fine” (specific ideas)
- Continue with Coaching stance or shift to Consultant or Collaborator based on needs
Additional Resources
These videos are part of the 2014-15 Associate Teacher Partnership Project led by Lakehead University in collaboration with 7 local school districts to support the mentoring of Associate Teachers.
Complexity of Teaching and Learning – Set Asides (1 min 56 sec)
Scaling Questions as a Tool for Debriefing (2 min 43 sec)
This video is part of an OISE/TDSB project to support the mentoring of Associate Teachers entitled Authentic Voices from the Field: Associate Teachers Talk about Effective Feedback.
Using Scaling Questions – Reflections from Associate Teachers and Teacher Candidates (2 min 49 sec)
This glideshow is my attempt to summarize the strong connection between the foundational elements of mentorship and the role of associate teachers.