Cooperative Learning Strategy Rally Coach

How to complete the cooperative learning structure Rally Coach successfully with your students.

We use a lot of cooperative learning strategies in our classroom all year long, but on of our favorite cooperative learning structures is Rally Coach. I am a huge advocate for using cooperative learning activities in the classroom.. If anyone is on the fence about them, I strongly encourage you to give it a try!

One of my favorite structures to use is Rally Coach. To use this strategy your students need to be in partners. I have used a threesome in a pinch, but partners really are ideal. It is also important to structure partners so that they are able to support one another without getting too frustrated.

To complete the Rally Coach strategy:

Partner A starts seated and works the first problem while Partner B stands behind them where they can see their work.

As they are working they “talk out” their thinking so that Partner B can hear them.

When they finish the problem Partner B either praises their correct solution or helps Partner A to find the correct solution. (We use the tip, tip, tell strategy where Partner B should offer two tips and then give Partner A the answer to avoid frustration and to keep Partner B from letting the cat out of the bag too early.)

Then, they switch roles and repeat the process until all problems are solved.

I really love this structure because it puts the students’ in the role of teacher. They really take ownership of helping their partner to be successful. Also, both students are held accountable for their input.

As a helpful tip, I have the partners use two different colors so that I can tell exactly who did what. Additionally, students also love this structure because they recognize that they only have to do half of the problems each. Win-win!

If you are looking for more information on cooperative learning strategies, check out this post on cooperative learning basics.