Communication

When teaching learners one of key things I tend never to think about is communication and how we I will convey my lesson in a variety of different communication methods. I have been guilty of spending too much time planning the lesson and its content that communication became secondary as I assume my learners will understand the way I teach and deliver to them. However communication is a very important and we need to realise if our students do not understand what we are teaching, they are not learning. I need to be able to communicate in various forms including, Verbal and non – verbal.  It is also important to recognise that I need to communicate with other people who are part of the students learning, these include other teachers, work places, parents and guardians, awarding body. Communicating with them can be in the form of meetings, interviews, email, and telephone both formal and informal. The students learning encompasses “a family” which they will look to throughout their student life so it is important everyone is communicating effectively which will in turn support the students’ progress.

 

 

Delivering to a variety of learners

I delivered a level 2 award in community sports leaders which both my mentor and tutor came to observe.

The group ranged from the youngest been 17 and the oldest been 41. I felt more comfortable working with younger learners however was slightly apprehensive working with the learners who were older than me. I think this apprehension came from me feeling like I may not have an answer to one of their questions which won’t look professional.

I used a variety of learning theories and communication methods both verbal and nonverbal as well as assessment methods ranging from Q&A to group and peer observation to practical activities.

As the course went on I felt more confident with the learners and I came to realise, even though some learners were older than me and had more worldly experience, I did have a better understanding and knowledge of the subject at hand which they wanted to learn about.

Upon reflection two things I really need to work on are directing questions to individuals, especially those who tend to not get involved. During the course I was quite open with questioning to the whole group and not individuals. Secondly to let learners figure out the answers to questions they ask for themselves rather than answering for them thus giving the answer away. It doesn’t matter that it may take longer however, the end result is learners start to use their cognitive skills and think deeper to find answers. My role is mainly to prompt them and ask questions which will allow them to figure the answer out rather than answering for them

Adult teaching

I delivered a workshop to adult learners on their first steps into coaching. I was slightly daunted at the fact that all the students were older than me. However on the plus side I wouldn’t have to draw answers out of them like I do when teaching college students who have no prior knowledge of sports coaching. The lesson would be based more on humanistic learning as oppose to behaviourist learning.

As the lesson went on I found the learners had good worldly knowledge and experience which they brought to the group and this made good topics of discussions to the questions I was asking. From a teaching point of view I felt more like a facilitator and most of the learning was coming from the students. I was expanding on their prior knowledge with new knowledge , whilst allowing them to put it into context in a way that suited them.

By the end of the lesson I felt the adult students learnt better in this humanistic / constructivist way because they could see the connection between what is been said to their everyday life’s and interpreted it in a way that worked for them as a coach.

Technical Vs Tactical – Understanding the theory behind the practical

As a coach and I am sure I will speak for other coaches too, the importance of technical knowledge is paramount. Eg: the way a player bowls, bats, fields, however, it is just as important for players to be aware of the technical knowledge behind how and why things happen. “The specific procedures to move one’s body to perform the task that needs to be accomplished” (Martens, Successful Coaching, p. 169). The ability to teach, deliver, evaluate , analyse and then teach again will come over time and experience, something I am learning with my sports tutoring.

Been able to master the technical skills of a sport is important, it is not enough. The students I teach on sport and coaching at the sports club need to know not only how to play the game technically but also how to choose the tactics necessary to achieve success. Example, how to play the faster ball, the slower ball, the spin and so on. Teaching the tactical side is much harder and requires more effort, but results in better outcomes. As blooms said “The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills (Bloom, 1956)”.

One way of coaches can approach teaching tactical skills is by focusing on three critical aspects, the “tactical triangle”:

• Reading –  the play or situation
• Acquiring  – the knowledge needed to make an      appropriate tactical decision
• Applying –  decision-making skills to the problem (Martens, Successful      Coaching)

Over the last two lessons I have delivered a badminton and cricket session.  I have moved away from emphasising the coaching points on how to play particular shots but focused more on questioning students to understand why, when and how they would play depending on the situation in front of them, and most importantly what would they do. This was a great exercise as it got the group thinking deeper than just playing the shot but understanding more on how they can evaluate, analyse and consider how to outwit an opponent before playing the next shot.

 

Behaviourism in the sports hall and classroom

In today’s college lesson we went over the key concepts of behaviourism and theorist associated with behaviourism.

My thoughts on behaviourism is that even though it has its benefits it can also be controversial in the sense that students learning becomes repetitive, they may only do things out of reward. Learning can become stagnant and there is no thinking outside of the box. Although I would use some of the techniques I would not use all of them.

In my current scheme of work with my year 10 group I am delivering badminton, the ideas of behaviourism such as shaping, operant conditioning reinforcing and punishment are key in my delivery.

I have been working on the overhead clear with my group which is a hard skill to master in one move therefore I have had to breakdown each element into various sections. Once one section can be achieved we will move onto the next one and so on. It’s important I keep reinforcing both good and bad points which will enhance my learner’s techniques and ability to the play the shot correctly. I will also question them on why the shot needs to be played and when you would play it, it’s important for them to understanding the tactical side of the game as well as the technical side and think about why things are done. (Cognative and Deep learning)

As a form of punishment, if you would call it that. I set up a game of ladders where once the players started rallying with each other to practice the shot, if they lost they would move down the court and winners move up the court.

Reese and walker stated “The behaviourist learning theory suggest that we learn by receiving stimulus that provokes a response. So long as that response is reinforced in some way that the response be repeated”.

An example of this would be with the second class I teach, Year 11, whom I deliver a classroom based CSLA course to.

In this instance the stimulus will be the word “Dua” which means prayer in Arabic. As soon as this word is said by me the class is aware they need to quiet down and listen to the prayer, once the prayer is said, the teacher is the next person to talk and the class starts. This is an ethos which is embedded into the school and all pupils are aware if the correct response is not made from the stimulus then there will be a punishment (detention). A reward scheme is also set up where students who show good behaviour during the lesson can be picked to say the prayer. Something all the pupils strive to do.

 

Coaching Vs Teaching

As someone who has coached for seven years to young people and adults I was nervous to be delivering my first TEACHING session in a school. A school where I have previously coached various sports. The word teaching was not sitting well with me. I had a year 10 class and was teaching badminton.

I observed the teacher who introduced me to the group and what the group would be learning over the next few weeks. As a level 2 badminton coach I couldn’t understand why I was anxious and the nerves wouldn’t go away. All I was thinking at the time, I need to cover ‘x’ amount of things, I need to show differentiation, the group by the end of the lesson has to show they have learnt something, I need to show inclusivity,  promote E&D. Then I heard my name “and over to Miss Khan”!

At this point I had to stop myself and say “get over yourself and treat this as a coaching session” (in my head of course).

I started by having the groups put the nets out, pick up a racket and shuttle (between two) and start rallying. Normally I would never do this, I would have them sat there for ten minutes whilst I explained it all. I then went on to ask the group what they thought I would cover in the first badminton session. Judging by the way the nets had been put they came up with the perfect answer “how to put badminton nets up and play”. The latter was vague so I extended the questioning as oppose to telling them. “Play what? What are the first things you have to in badminton to start a game”, the answers were coming good and fast.

As a coach I had always been taught to tell the group what you are doing and show them, good demonstrations make good players. Throughout my teaching course I am been told to let them do it, its student learning not teacher learning. I already know how to do it and it’s for them to understand and develop in their own way not yours. To a certain extend this is correct in sports , however at times you do need to give good demonstrations as some people may not know “ what a serve is , how to do a forehand clear”. Not the case in this instance so I let it be. It is equally as important to recognise that not everyone has to copy the way I do it, if they are comfortable and it is safe then its best for them to do it in their own style which suits them.

I then asked the girls to put the nets up correctly which they did through their own trial and error. I could see them enjoying the lesson and building in confidence. I allowed them to practice serving to each other and corrected them when needed. Without realising I was differentiating as I had smaller rackets and bigger shuttles, I was moving the girls around playing with partners similar to their ability levels. At one point I had them in 3’s where 1 was watching the other 2 and advising where they were going wrong with the serve “peer assessment” in the first lesson…really!

Finally the session came to a close, 1 hour had gone already! By the end of the lesson each and everyone one of the girls knew how to put nets up and away which they did. Knew the 2 types of serves and why each one is played and where the shuttle needs to land (Cross court).  All this though effective questions and kinaesthetic learning. I felt I had had hardly said two words, did I not need to! The only plus would have been if they could have given me the perfect serve, however this may have been too much to ask as for most of them this was their first experience of badminton and as with anything, practice makes perfect. The main thing was they understood why it was done and how to do it.

The icing on the cake was the teacher telling me I was born to teach and the class learnt a lot from the lesson. Now off to plan the next lesson knowing that coaching and teaching are not a million miles apart.

The following day I was teaching a classroom lesson to year 11 girls on community sports. I found this lesson a lot more relaxed after the nerves of the practical lesson from yesterday. This was my time to gloat, I talked about my job as a community sports officer and what I do ,then sent them on a task of finding out what community sports facilities are in the area and what do they offer. I went one step further and challenged them by asking deep questions on the differences between a private facility and council facility, how sports benefits the economy, health and sports. They were in groups and will be presenting their answers to the class and me next week.

Finally the likes of Blooms , Kolb and coffield were making sense!

 

Micro Teach – Peer and Self Assessment

Peer Assessment: Peer feedback

This week I provided peer feedback to others who were delivering there micro teach sessions.

Initially I found it quite hard to assess the leaners as I did not want to be too critical however, Liu and Carless, (2006) stated ‘By peer feedback we mean a communication process through which learners enter into dialogues related to performance and standards.’

Peer feedback is also a formative method of assessment before submitting a piece of work. It was my role to provide constructive feedback in which they can reflect on their skills and ability.

I found providing the feedback also made me understand how I can improve with my own students when I am assessing them. I started with all the positives / strengths of the session and only focused on 2 or 3 points which could be improved.

 

Self-assessment:  video analyses

Boud, (1995) stated ‘Whenever we learn we question ourselves. How am I doing? Is this enough? Is this right? How can I tell? Should I go further? In the act of questioning is the act of judging ourselves and making decisions about the next step. This is self-assessment.’

I used this method last week when I assessed my own micro teach lesson, however since then I have also seen a video of myself teaching my micro teach. I found this very useful as watching myself I realised certain things I do without realising at the time, such as moving back and forth when talking to the class and pointing , I also handed work out before explaining the full process of what the groups needed to do. I could do with questioning people individually so I know that those who tend to shy away are also part of the lesson and learning something.  From the video assessment of myself, I am already conscience of these points when delivering my lessons to learners.

Reference:

Boud, D. (1995), Enhancing learning through self-assessment, London, Kogan Page.

Liu, N. F. & Carless, D. (2006) Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment, Teaching in Higher Education, 11(3), 279-290.

Micro-Teach

I had my Micro Teach session on Monday 18th November. I delivered a 20 minute work shop on sports competitions. below is my assessment of what I thought went well / not so well and how I feel I can improve.

 

Evaluation and follow up
Things that went well	Things that didn’t go well
The whole group was involved I was asking questions to further extend their   knowledge I thought the activities were good in engaging   the group to take part Lesson objectives were clear I felt I had good control of the group and used   my whistle when needed I felt I was motivating the learners to take part	As this was only a 20minute micro teach session and   I have delivered this session before with more time , I felt it was rushed at   times and there wasn’t enough time to get through all the tasks I wanted.   I could have directed my questions at individuals   more rather than the whole class   I could have checked everyone understood the   tasks before allowing them to get straight into it
Follow up for next session	Improvement and/or issues
Time   activities and keep a log of timing through the sessions so I do not run   short or over	Be   cautious of timings and body language ( I was rocking which can be off   putting )   Ask   directed questions to individuals and not the whole group   Check   for understanding before moving on

Inside the Black Box!

Black and William (1998) wrote an article which focused on formative assessment ‘inside the black box’. They focused their research on 3 processes of assessment and if they can be improved. After thorough research and analyses they concluded all 3 processes could be improved. One of the strategies they suggested for change is that the government, outside agencies and teaching professions who form policy should start to look inside the classroom and come up with a classroom focused policy if they are to raise the standards in education. Teachers at times are guilty of assessing leaners based on the awarding body regulations and marking criteria, this method of assessment becomes dictated and does not improve the learner.

I agree with Black and Williams and believe if the standards in education are to change, what happens inside the classroom needs to be looked at. Formative assessment techniques need to move away from comparing students, students should be able to understand why they are being assessed and what needs to be achieved. Give students the opportunity to be part of the assessment method and feedback their understanding which in return will encourage them to improve.

For example when I assess my leaners on their ‘grip and stance’ technique in cricket I will take pictures and record them in action. The video is then played back and assessed by the learner who will correct any errors and say how they can improve. My main role in this assessment method is to prompt the learner through effective questioning such as what, when, where how. As students need to have some knowledge around why they stand and hold the bat in a certain way, I will use Blooms ‘cognitive domain’ which emphasis intellectual skills. The 7 stages of the cognitive domain start with knowledge, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. This is an excellent tool which allows me and the learner to understand what they did , why they did it, how it can be improved and why it needs to be improved.