Collaborative Problem Solving
As an educator, it is crucial to prioritize establishing a positive relationship with your students, understanding their viewpoints through active listening, and working together to find solutions. By implementing CPS, educators can connect with students on a deeper level and build trust, which can lead to better learning outcomes.
Collaborative Problem Solving
There are many books that cover the topic of solving problems collaboratively, yet when it comes to solving problems collaboratively with kids, I find that psychologist Ross Green’s approach is the most powerful one. I’m going to share what I believe to be the most important parts of Dr Green’s Collaborative Problem Solving approach.
Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is an approach that takes time. You’ll need to devote at least fifteen minutes or more to this and it can often take more than one meeting. Setting this time aside will make a big difference because the name of the game with collaborative problem solving is not to rush. This initial investment in time will likely save you a lot of time and energy moving forward, because it is likely to stop or at least reduce the problematic behavior.
Before you engage in this approach, invite the student to meet with you outside of class by saying: “Alex, I’d like to meet with you after class (or during tutorial, or lunch, or after school) for about fifteen to twenty minutes or so. You are not in trouble, I just want to put our heads together about something.” Notice that it’s important to say “you are not in trouble” as that will ease any worry that may come up for the student. Also note that by saying that it will be fifteen to twenty minutes and that you want to put “our heads together” you are priming the student’s brain to be ready to invest their time with you, that you will work together on something, and that they won’t be “talked-at”.
If the student refuses to meet with you outside of class, you may need to involve their parents. Otherwise, when the student arrives at your classroom at the agreed upon time, sit side by side next to them and have a third object that you can both look at. It can be the student’s folder, a book, or even your computer.
The goal of stage 1 is to clearly state the problematic behavior and to understand the student’s perspective.
Start by saying: “I noticed that you haven’t turned in your H.W. in 3 weeks. What’s up?” Or “I noticed that I’ve asked you a few times to not talk to your friends while I give instructions in class and yet it keeps happening. What’s going on?”
Then you need to be quiet until the student starts to and finishes talking. If you’ve worked with students for more than a second, you know that many students will likely respond to your question with: “I don’t know”. At which point you can say: “No problem, we have plenty of time, take your time and think about it. When you’re ready, share what you’ve come up with”.
Teachers forget that when a student says: “I don’t know” to something that seems obvious to us, they almost always, actually, don’t know because they haven’t thought about it or are overwhelmed by difficult emotions that prevent them from stopping the problematic behavior. So it’s important to give them time to think and since you’ve set that time aside, it’s easy to do.
Once the student begins to share something with you it’s important to ask as many clarifying questions as you need to in order for you to fully understand the child’s perspective. Most educators think that they know what the issue is for the student, when in fact they don’t.
If a student doesn’t turn in their H.W. for the third time in a row and you sit down with them for a conversation which starts with: “I noticed that you haven’t turned in your H.W. the last three times; I’m not sure why that is and I’m worried about it impacting your understanding of the material. What’s going on?” The student may say: “I don’t know, I just can’t get to it, it’s too much”. At this point you can just conclude that completing the H.W. feels overwhelming for the student but it would be much more helpful to follow this up with a simple question: “What do you mean by it’s too much?”. To which the student may say, “It’s too long, it’s taking too long, and I’m not smart enough to get it”. This response gives you important information and you can follow it up with “What exactly about the H.W. feels like it’s too long?”. They may respond with: “It’s all the writing that we have to do after we just read a ton of pages,”. To which you can respond with: “Got it, it’s all the writing that you have to do. What is hard about the writing portion?”. The student may respond with “I just draw a blank, it’s just too much information to summarize”. Bingo, now you have something concrete enough to work with.
Before you offer a solution, see whether the student has a solution that would work. Many students are verbal processors, and just by providing answers to your questions they can begin to formulate possible solutions. What’s most important here is that you don’t fall into the trap of believing that your assumptions about the students are facts. Ask yourself “Do I fully understand the root cause of the maladaptive behavior here?” If the answer is no, ask more clarifying questions such as “Can you tell me more about that?” “share more…”, “I’m confused . Can you help me understand that specific piece a little more?” You can also actively listen in this step as it will help the student open up. Keep asking questions until you feel confident that you have the full picture of the student’s experience.
In stage two, you will briefly reflect back what you heard and then state your concern. For example you might say: “Got it, I hear that it’s too much information to summarize. The thing is that [state your concern] if you don’t do your H.W. you don’t get as much practice with the material, you fall behind, and it’s harder for me to assess your level of understanding.” The key with this step is to check with the student whether they fully understand your concern. If so, you’re ready to move on to stage three, otherwise restate your concern again and check again for understanding by the student.
Stage three is the collaborative ideation step. You will state the child’s concern and your concern and launch the collaborative ideation process. You can start by saying: “I wonder if there is a way to [meet student’s concern] and [meet teacher concern] .” Example: “I wonder if there is a way for you to not feel overwhelmed by summarizing the paragraphs and to complete the assignment on time.” Here again, it’s crucial to remain silent after you’ve opened up the ideation process in order to give the student time to really think and generate ideas.
Some students will again say: “I don’t know” to which you can calmly reply “got it, that’s okay take your time and think, I’ll also think of some possible solutions.”Some students will generate great ideas, others will generate bad ideas, and some will not generate any ideas. If your student provides you with a bad idea, you can rephrase what they said to show them that you heard them, and then give a reason as to why this idea won’t work for you.
For example if you’re trying to address the anxiety that a student experiences because they performed badly in the last few tests and they suggest that you let them take the test at home, you can say: “I hear that your idea is for me to allow you to take the test at home. The thing is that that will create inequity in the class between you and other students, so unfortunately that won’t work”. Then you can ask them if they have any other ideas. If the student is coming up blank, suggest your own idea, such as, “Let’s have a twenty minute session together in which we explore how you have studied for the test so I can give you new, more effective strategies to study for it”.
After you offer your strategy, wait for an aligned yes from the student. If the student is hesitant, you can say: “You seem hesitant, what is getting in the way for you?” The student’s response will probably be very informative, as they will give you more data about what is happening for them. You can then take this information and ask the student whether they have another idea in mind. If they don’t, you can offer a new solution based on the new information you just got.
If, on the other hand, the student is genuinely willing to try your original idea, the two of you set a great foundation towards tackling the issue at hand, helping the student study for the test. The best case scenario of course is if the student provides you with a good idea that both of you are excited to try. In this case, the student not only takes ownership for their academic learning, but also ownership for how to solve their problems.
Once a solution has been agreed on, it’s important to conclude the meeting by saying to the student: “Let’s try this solution on. If it works that’s wonderful, if it doesn’t we’re going to reconvene and look for another solution.” That will send the message that you will be tracking the student’s progress over time and won’t let it slide if you see no results.
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The CPS approach and active listening allows you to connect before you correct. Students have a much greater likelihood of solving their own problems and greater willingness to meet your needs once they are heard, seen, and understood.
If our jobs, as educators, would only be to teach students, that would be a dream come true for most of us. But between reading and responding to emails, participating in meetings, lesson planning, and grading among other things, our plate gets filled fast. Sometimes we also have to deal with a difficult parent which can become particularly draining. But if you have some effective communication tools to use with that parent, even they can become a fan of yours and the conversation doesn’t end up taking much of a toll.
I delve deeper into this concept in my book.