It is easy to lose track of what is going on when you have five classes (or more!) and thus have to make five trips around the Star in one day of teaching.
Usually, the students are very tuned in with where they are in the Star journey. This is especially true if they have the Star in poster form on the wall. So if you get fogged up they will tell you where they are.
There is another way to bust out of one of those fogged up moments: simply go back and mechanically restate whatever has happened in each questioning level (QL) up to that point in the tableau or story. So if you have established this up to that point in class:
(QL1 – N/A)
QL2 – Harry cuts hair.
QL3 – Where does Harry cut hair?
QL4 – With whom does Harry cut hair?
Then, in that moment when you are confused, using only one sentence per questioning level, just cycle back through the QLs, restating in this way what has happened so far in each QL:
QL2 – Harry cuts hair, right?
QL3 – Harry cuts hair at the pet shop, right?
QL4 – Harry cuts hair at the pet shop with Michael Jordan, right?
With the fogged up moment gone, you can now decide to move on to a story or go forward to Phase 2 with the Retell, then the Reveal and finally the Quiz. Then off you go around the rest of the Star.
The main thing to keep in mind about this “Cycle Back” technique is to avoid adding any new information when you do it. You don’t ask if Harry is happy or anything like that. You just restate what has happened up to the completion of tableau.
Cycling Back is a very powerful way to keep control over classes when you are tired or fogged up. It prevents the kids from seeing that you got lost there for a moment. It fixes a long held problem in CI, where the teacher doesn’t know what is going on. It “tightens up” the entire CI process in the same way that the StarChart™ itself brings that great feeling or relief that you don’t have to go to work each wondering if you will fog up your teaching.
Moreover, keeping your story simple using the questioning levels and the Cycle Back Technique gives you higher quality reps. It certainly beats the old TPRS technique of ” Circling”, which is like doing donuts on ice – you don’t know where your car is going to go.