Right away I should mention that Coyote’s Guide is not written specifically for classroom teachers and administrators. The full title is “Coyote’s Guide to Connection with Nature“. The authors hope to bring children back to a relationship with nature. “No child left inside” and “cure for nature deficit disorder” are common statements with this book.
So why am I recommending this as a book for educators?
The answer to this is a story. Like all stories, this one has to be given it’s proper time and place to be spoken and heard. I’m not sure if this is the time (or even the place). Simply, I came across the tools, and more importantly, the philosophy people who mentored me in working with youth. I was immediately struck by the power of it. It respects the student as well as the teacher. Because of this I searched more eagerly to learn about Coyote Mentoring and have been using it in my school, in my teaching, and in my counseling.
Coyote Mentoring is an ancient method for teaching: passing knowledge and skills from one generation to the next. It seeks to help people re-connect with their senses, learn about their thinking, use their imagination. It seeks to increase a person’s awareness. Coyote mentoring begins by finding where the student is at in his current situation. This is something that we also see in many modern counseling theories and teaching strategies. Whether it is a KWL chart or a pretest, the goal is the same. A common tool you will see is storytelling. Getting the student to tell his story gives the mentor a chance to learn, find edges, and certainly find blank spots. What is the person failing to notice? What is his awareness missing.
Once that connection is made Coyote Mentoring is done through flexibility and spontenaity. There are many tools through out the book. Building a library of tools is something many good educators already do. They bring their talent to choose the right tool for the right student or time. Coyote Mentoring is not new in this way.
Calling on the spirit of the Coyote, the authors suggest that our purpose is similar to the mammal’s habits. Coyotes live at the edge of civilization. He entices others away from their comfort area. He works these edges and in doing so we find ourselves exploring a bit more. Other counseling and teaching methods talk about expanding students’ visions or horizons, widening circles, expanding knowledge. This is the same. The difference is in the subtly that a coyote utilizes. And so, a Coyote Mentor looks for the edges in his pupil(s).
I try to “circle” a student who is having difficulties or trouble. What are they saying? What is their body language telling me? What am I missing or that they are not totally revealing?
Sometimes we expect students to trust us immediately. Aren’t we trustworthy? We won’t be teachers if people couldn’t trust us? But students need to get to know us. Giving them some space as they explore (and we explore with them) is one way to build trust.
And it works great when students are even happy or excited. “Circle” and watch them in their joy. Each visit allows the edge to pushed a bit more.
It is a very respectful and non-confrontation way to interact with your students, or coworkers, or even some at the store.
Next I hope cover briefly the core routines of Coyote Mentoring and how I see them fitting a counseling or teaching role.
