What is your scale?
I frequently ask people how they are doing? Either friends, work colleagues, family or students and we usually discuss if things are going well or OK or if something is not quite going according to plan.
When I'm teaching I am also asking my students for feedback on their experiences during the lessons and between lessons so we can both work out what is going well and what is the best thing to work on next.
Yesterday I was teaching a student and we were discussing walking as an activity and about improving it. The student suggested that their walking was normally on a scale of 3 with peaks upto 5 or 6. So I got them to go for a walk and to let me know how they were doing right then and they said 1. This sounded great and I was really pleased for them but there was a small catch that it didn't look like a 1 to me. So what did that mean?
So I asked them, why is it a 1 and they said because there was very little discomfort. So I asked them about their goal of walking normally and the response was that was a different scale! So we then talked about achieving a "normal", easy walk rather than just a walk without discomfort.
It made me realise that we can be comparing things with other people but not necessarily comparing the same thing, even though we think we are. This will definitely make me think in future!
P.S.The reason for having a goal about a normal walk is that you can have an absence of discomfort in walking (or any activity) but if the walking (or activity)isn't "normal" it is highly likely that discomfort will return because the cause is still there. So a really useful goal is to achieve "normal" walking (or "normal" for your activity).
P.P.S. my definition of "normal" means without interference. (see, I'm learning already.)
When I'm teaching I am also asking my students for feedback on their experiences during the lessons and between lessons so we can both work out what is going well and what is the best thing to work on next.
Yesterday I was teaching a student and we were discussing walking as an activity and about improving it. The student suggested that their walking was normally on a scale of 3 with peaks upto 5 or 6. So I got them to go for a walk and to let me know how they were doing right then and they said 1. This sounded great and I was really pleased for them but there was a small catch that it didn't look like a 1 to me. So what did that mean?
So I asked them, why is it a 1 and they said because there was very little discomfort. So I asked them about their goal of walking normally and the response was that was a different scale! So we then talked about achieving a "normal", easy walk rather than just a walk without discomfort.
It made me realise that we can be comparing things with other people but not necessarily comparing the same thing, even though we think we are. This will definitely make me think in future!
P.S.The reason for having a goal about a normal walk is that you can have an absence of discomfort in walking (or any activity) but if the walking (or activity)isn't "normal" it is highly likely that discomfort will return because the cause is still there. So a really useful goal is to achieve "normal" walking (or "normal" for your activity).
P.P.S. my definition of "normal" means without interference. (see, I'm learning already.)
posted by Barbara @ 10:37 am
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