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Mentoring Those Who Have Surpassed Than Us

I love this video of Golden State Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr giving his star player Steph Curry some advice during a game:

Steph Curry is clearly having an off-game. He’s not scoring like he typically does. Coach Kerr points out that, while his shots aren’t going in, Curry is still making a difference when he’s on the court (that’s the “plus-minus” stat he mentions).

I love this for several reasons.

  1. Steve Kerr could never play basketball as well as Steph Curry can, even in his prime. Kerr was a good player; Curry is a superstar. But that doesn’t stop Coach Kerr from being a mentor.
  2. Kerr doesn’t give a vague platitude, or, worse, deny that Curry is having a bad game. Instead, he acknowledges the problem and then offers specific and truthful praise: you’re not scoring well right now, but the team does better when you’re on the court. Compare that with something like, “Don’t worry, champ. You’re still a great guy!”
  3. Kerr doesn’t try to fix the problem! He doesn’t offer shooting advice or correct Curry’s form. The middle of a bad game is not the time to fix the nitty-gritty. To Kerr, the problem isn’t even Curry’s shooting — it’s his confidence! Steph Curry is more than capable of working his way through a shooting drought on his own if his mind’s in the right place.

All three of these are applicable to us as teachers:

  1. Just as many of Kerr’s players are better than he ever was, we are frequently faced with students who can already out-think and often out-perform us. That doesn’t mean we can’t be their mentors.
  2. When students are in a rough patch, we have to acknowledge that their problems are real (even if we have never experienced those problems). We can’t offer generic praise. Kids see right through that — and then they worry that they can’t trust any praise from adults see more on this.
  3. Although we can spot and acknowledge a student’s problem, we don’t have to fix it for them, nor do we have to give them the precise steps to fix it. Kids grow when we give them the confidence to work through a problem on their own – while knowing that we’ve got their backs when they need us.

PS: Here’s Kerr being a goofball with reporters.


  1. “While talents have been recognized in many cases at an early age, doubts about the accuracy of identification and the objectivity of parents or favorite teachers linger.” – Buescher and Higham, Helping Adolescents Adjust to Giftedness

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