Education experience?

[bjvando]

seems like a 'fancy' word for teaching

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/pedagogy?view=uk


pedagogy

/peddgogi, -goji/

• noun- the profession, science, or theory of teaching.

http://www.cathcart.com/artseven.html


Here are the Seven Multiple Intelligences

*

Verbal -the ability to use words

*

Visual -the ability to see things in your mind

*

Physical -the ability to use your body well

*

Musical -the ability to understand and use music

*

Mathematical & logical -the ability to apply logic to systems and numbers

*

Introspective -the ability to understand thoughts and feelings in yourself

*

Interpersonal -the ability to relate well to others, people smarts.

it appears 6 ouf those 7 can be very useful in teaching as well as learning...

[altius]

"And yet everyone who read this that was not a teacher took it as criticism..."

That is a pity and I apologis to those who felt that way - but if this is the case perhaps they should ask themselves WHY they took it as a criticism instead of just an opinion from someone who has some experience in the fields of teacher education and of coach education. Do they feel threatened by the notion? Perhaps they DO have doubts about this aspect of their coaching??

[AVC Coach]

My kids go 100mph in the direction that I am leading them and sometimes that might be the wrong direction, but they believe in what I am teaching and trust in me as a coach, teacher and mentor. As I learn more, they learn more.

Well, this quote was just one way of humbley saying that I make and will continue to make mistakes or bad calls from time to time, but my kids still believe in what we're doing.

I think there's a lot to be said for building a good rapport with your athletes, their families and other coaches. There's a sense of mutual respect that has to be developed before success will occur. However, I'm not sure that attacking a coach or a group of coaches will ever gain the respect one is looking for.

The ability to relate to people is probably your best asset as a coach. If you're not a "people person", I think you'll have a hard time gaining any respect or trust from your athletes and other coaches.

[ladyvolspvcoach]

Back to Rick's original question:
Graduated from the University of Tennessee School of Architecture - 1973
Was an instructor of design for the school of arch for two years.
Taught drafting and design parttime for a local technical school for a year.
Became a department head and created/ designed the curriculum and 16 of 17 courses for the Computer Aided Drafting and Design department for the Pellissippi State Community College for 10 years.
Was adjunct professor teaching professional engineers and architects in New York at NYU, the Pratt Institute, and the New School of Design in NY.
Coached high school pole vaulters off and on since 1970. Most recently started coaching the Knoxville Track Club AAU club for the past 8 years. Co-coached for two years with Tim Mack and Roman Botcharnakov.
This will be my fifth year coaching the UT Lady Vol vaulters with one SEC champion and three visits to the NCAA championships.

[altius]

"I'm not sure that attacking a coach or a group of coaches will ever gain the respect one is looking for."

If you can show me in my posts where I ATTACKED anyone I wll apologis again but i did not! I simply pointed out that you are likely to be a better coach - all other things being equal - if you have a teaching background.

Again read chapters two and three in BTB -borrow the book if necessary - to see I fully understand the charactericitics of a good coach - I have been around plenty, including some great ones. Re the ability to get along with people - i would not have survived as a coach for nearly fifty years in three different countries if i could not do that -. However I am sure the folk i met on my recent tour of the US in St. Charles, Excelsior Springs, Slippery Rock, Columbia. and The Woodlands could provide me with ample testimonials in that regard. Ditto The Baileys of Nampa, the folk at BYU or Tim Beach at University of Buffalo who I have met in previous visits.

Being a good person is one thing but being a 'professional' is something else again. As a former professional in education I sense a weakness in this aspect of vault coaching - as I KNOW there is a weakness in much junior coaching in all sports in australia. If you want me to be a politician and tell you only what you want to hear ok - but i thought the Coaches Forum at least was supposed to be educational in nature - in education as in coaching you have to look at weaknesses as well as strengths. I have no doubt that the vast majority of vault coaches in the US are enthusiastic personable individiuals - I just dont believe that all of them have the skills and knowledge to do the job as well as THEY would like to - with a teaching background they would be able to do it better.

However out of all of this there could be a positive. Examine your coach education programs to see if they coiuld be improved. Examine yourself to consider if you really are as good an instructor as you think you are - unfortuntely that is not easy to do if you dont have a model of pedagogy; yes a fancy word, but one commonly used in my field. As I did point out in an earlier post it simply means the skill of instruction and, as in most complex tasks, there are principles which must be followed if you are to be effective.

[altius]

Since I am sure there are folk out there wanting to know who this arrogant ---- is, who actually believes that his teaching background probably makes him a better coach than they are, I have decided to go back to Baggett's original question.

Since my PR is/was 8'11" after thirty minutes of practice in 1957 - my one and only attempt at pole vaulting - I am glad to know there is not a complete correlation between vaulting performance and teaching ability in the event! That said i do believe that all things being equal, the better vaulter you are/were the better coach you could be - although not necessarily the better teacher of pole vaulting!

I have gone a bit beyond your initial question Baggett simply because i believe that good teaching is a function of both knowledge and experience - you gain the initial knowledge from your course work in pedagogy and the ongoing study of the key issues involved and then you build on it through your teaching experience.

My get out is that I have never seen myself as a coach -except for a brief period at Western Kentucky University when being COACH L. got one a lot more help around the place than being 'a teacher in the PE department'. I now prefer to think of myself as a 'sports educator' in an attempt to separate myself from the 'coaches' of professional sports whose primary aim is to win and not to educate. Coaching track and field, including the vault, has only ever been a hobby which I fell into when i found that the kids in my first school loved it -- and cross country running . My real personal and professional interests are in the teaching of teachers of physical education, especially in the areas of ball games such as soccer, cricket, basktball and table tennis.

So - graduated from Loughborough College in England with majors in physical education and maths July 57.
1957 -60 head of PE ( because I was the only one in the department!) at Wymonham secondary school - of 450 boys aged 11 -15. Taught every hour god gives and usually worked a 70 hour week with after school sports coaching. Build my first pole vault run way and pit there /coached my first vaulter there -Paul Dove - focussed on aths simply because the playing fields were in a mess and we couldnt play cricket that first summer. Had my first English schools champion in the shot - Tony Elvin.

1960 -67 head of PE (ditto) at Dr.Challoners Grammar school -a selective high school of around 550 boys. School became a national sports powerhouse - especially track and field and cross country. Ask Steve Chappell - he was in the mix there. Another 70 hour a week job!

During 57 - 67 I qualified as a British AAA club coach in sprints, hurdles and jumps and as an AAA senior coach in Shot, Discus, Javelin and Middle Distance. Also gained senior coaching qualifications in soccer, cricket and table tennis. All done through holiday courses and both theory and practical exams - usually during the summer break.

1967 -68 graduate student at Western Kentucky University. Taught in the activities program and coached field events. Completed Masters in Physical education.
68 -70 taught physical education at the WKU Elementary Lab school and worked as field event coach.
70 - 73 taught elementary PE methods, activity classes and coached T @F at WKU. During that period Western won the OVC each year- coached Div 1 All Americans in Shot, Discus and Long Jump and conference champions in every field event including the vault - although I did not have a clue about the event!

Conducted workshops at the University of Kentucky and for the Louisville school district in Movement Education, Movement and music and dance drama. Did 30 hours beyond the masters and after scoring 1270 on the GRE was invited to do an EdD at Indiana- but was too old and beat to take up the offer. Offered Head coaches job at WKU but that is not what i wanted to do with my life.

In 1973 moved to what became The University of South Australia in Adelaide to help develop a degree program in Physical education Teacher Education. Responsible for pedagogy, curriculum and teaching studies so taught methods classes as well as practical classes in Soccer, basketball, table tennis, track and field, archery, ten pin bowling, team handball, sailing and skiing. Even developed a way to help OZ kids ubderstand and begin to play Amurican Football! Have presented on pedagogy issues at numerous conferences in Britain, the USA and Australia.

In 2000 Human Kinetics published my first book "Play practice" - a games approach to teaching and coaching sports".

Have just been invited to conduct workshops at Ohio State in February next year with doctoral students, majors and teachers as they are trying to develop the ideas outlined in the book.

At UniSA coached the womens Basketball team to three National tertiary Championships.

Began coaching throwers in 73 - including Christie Elwins mother to a silver at the C'games in the javelin. Beteen 78 and 91 coached male athletes to 12 national junior titles in the javelin - best 78.20m - and three girls to top four finishes in the C'wealth games - best 62m plus.

Began coaching vault in 76 when best male vaulter in the state jumped 4.20. Between 78 and 00 South Australia won the Australian junior title more times than all the other states put together ( five times all three medal spots) --- 96 - 03, 6 0f 8 girls titles. Boys at world juniors 86,88,90, 96,2000 - girls at world youths 99, 2001,2003 - world junior 98, 2002 - Christie Elwin was selcted in 2000 but was not allowed to go. Performances detailed in BTB should suggest these results were not all gimmees although of course they cannot be compared with those of the US.

From 78 - 90 coached boys to eight national junior decathlon titles, one to the 86 world juniors and another - Dean Smith - to the 92 Olympic Games (as an able bodied athlete) - he remains the world deaf record holder in the decathlon and several other events I believe. Early on taught Simon Arkell (C'wealth champion/dual Olympian) to vault - he went on to jump 5.80 but I have often said that if he had had a decent coach in the beginning he would have been a 6.00m vaulter!

1973 - 80 Australian national event coach shot put - unpaid position. 1980 - ? national event coach pole vault. 1984 team coach Olympic games; 1986 head coach Australian Junior team athens; ditto Sudbury canada; world university games coach 91/93.

In January 1978 undertook a study tour to Europe with three athletes. Spent two weeks each with Houvion in Paris, Krysinski in warsaw and Krupsky in leverkusen. Studied them working with athletes of the calibre of Slusarski, Kosakeiwicz (both Olympic champions), Houvion Junior.

Had the great good fortune to meet Petrov and Bubka in Canberra (OZ) in 1985 - became a friend of Vitalys over a few ales and brandys that weekend. Have been to Formia on three occasions and have had petrov to Australia twice -once in Adelaide for three weeks, when he brought Gibilisoc with him. Sat beside him at 98 World juniors, 99 world championships 92 Olympic games and 2002 Europeans (with Sergey on the other side of me!) as we watched the vault. Had a two hour interview with Bubka in Munich in 1990 and was able to question him again at the clinic in jamaica in 2001.

In 1990 spent a week with Dr. Jean Claude Perin in Paris - coach of Vigneron and other world class athletes in the 70s/80s.

In early 1991 agapit camed to live with us for three months. He returned in october and stayed until September 92 when we found him a scholarship in Missouri. An exceptional coach - not coaching - unfortunately - on a serious basis at the present time..

Have attended five Summits in recent years and was a keynote speaker in 2004 - spoke again in 2005 but have not been invited back since -must have said the wrong thing -not unusual!!

In 1996 brought Alex Parnov to australia to lead our group. he brought Dimitri Markov and Victor Chystiakov, They lived with us for three months until their families, including Tatiana Grigorieva, arrived. Coached alongside Alex for two years as he worked wih the boys and taught tatiana to vault. The performances of Hooker/Burgess/Tatiana -although he is not coaching her now - and Howe as well as those of his first two daughters tend to confirm my view that he is one of the two best vault coaches in the world -the other one being Petrov naturally.

In late 98 Alex moved to a better offer in perth so from then on and into early 99 worked with Victor Chystiakov and Tatiana Grigorieva before passing them on to a better coach - Petrov - in May. Victor jumped 5.90 and Tatiana 4.50 (both pbs) a few week s after arriving in europe. Had the priviledge of being footcatcher to Dimitri Markov during that same period.

I retired from active coaching in december 03.

Along with those experiences - which are all part of my education - I have introduced hundreds of young people to the joys of pole vaulting both in Australia and at clinics at UCLA with Anthoney Curran, in Nampa with larren and Jeremy bailey, Salt Lake City and Brigham Young University with larry berryhill, Geneva Il with Paul Omi., Excelsior springs Mi with Todd Cooper, Slippery Rock Pa with Mark hannay, Columbia SC with Rusty Shealy (plus Baggett and DJ!) and The Woodlands texas with Bubba Sparks and Kris Allison.

Finally of course I have had the good fortune to work alongside PV Student for thirty years at UNI SA- the ideas in BTB all had to pass through the sieve of his critical and educated mind so it too became a learning experience. Incidentally BTB was written after it became clear to me that many athletes I saw at Summits were putting themselves at risk because of bad technique.

All of the above have been learning experiences which have helped clarify my understanding of this great event - In fact i have come to the conclusion that solid experience teaching beginners to vault is one of the keys to understanding it at any level.

The learning process continues! Three weeks ago when i had a discussion with Vitally about the changes he is making in Yelena's running technique and only three days ago had a chat with Dimitri Markov about some changes he needs to make in his technique - after two years debate he has finally agreed with me.

That said, I continually discover from the democratic forum of PVP that my views are worth no more than those of folk who have never coached anyone EVER -hence my occasional oubursts of frustration!

That said it looks as though I will be back in the USA in mid january -hopefully in the san Diego area and then in the mid west - if columbus ohio is the mid west in the second week of february. Also available in the time between the Summit and the Bagget clinic Feb 3/4. Anyone who wants to pay me to do a clinic during those periods - should contact me asap. The people i have named above could provide references as to my ability to relate to young athletes and to help them improve rapidly. But as a wise man said 'waddever'!~



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[gtc]

Alan, you know you always have an open invitation at my place! So we can work on getting you a little more experience. LOL
You truly are an educators educator, second to none!
P.S. Pretty sure I have Gary talked into adding that 5 meters onto the building.

[baggettpv]

Alan,
How about your top 10 list of the necessary teaching skills/knowledge needed to be an affective coach/teacher? I know after working with you in SC I brought back some major teaching skills (long lost) back to my shop/classroom for the coming school year! I really appreciate your use of expectations/rewards when dealing with new learners. It changed their mindset which changed their behaviours. Which of course changed their performance....

Let's see it dude,

Rick Baggett


"Waddever", life goes on. We do the best today and correct the rest tomorrow.

[altius]

Sorry old crafty one. It would take some time to do and I would only finish up being dumped on again! All i will say is that effective, teaching like pole vaulting, must be based on a core of well understood scientific principles - hard science in the case for the vault, soft science with teaching (which is what leaves the profession open to the notion that anyone can teach).

As I have suggested re the pole vault, the athlete overlays a technical model based on biomechanics, with their own individual characteristics to create their own "Style". So the differences between Bubka, Markov and Gibilisco are immediately obvious even though all three use the same technical model.

A teacher does the same thing. They have a core of scientifically based knowledge of the principles of instruction which they overlay with their personality. Unfortunately many folk do not appreciate the need for the core knowledge -they seem to think that being a 'good ol' boy' is sufficient to be a teacher. When i suggest otherwise they dump on me!!
It goes with the territory I suppose but it would be nice if the folk who rush in to tell me that I clearly do not have the personal characteristics to be a good coach had actually seen me in action. By the way gtc thanks for the reference - keep in touch - ditto Baggett.

Since all of this blew up I have offered Steve Chappel my services for the 07 summit to do a presentation on the Instructional process. However since - with few exceptions - the summit is geared to american presenters I doubt it will get off the ground. Have to include it in your camp o crafty one.

[baggettpv]

Come on Alan, how about just 5 good instructional techniques not in order of importance.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[altius]

As you well know o crafty one the key to effective instruction lies in Ensuring Plenty of Pertinent, Purposeful and Perfect PRACTICE which is also Phun. Unfortunately while this is easy to say it is not so easy to implement. I have been tryng to master the process for nearly fifty years and I am still not there - but then Im clearly a bit of a dumb bunny.

[baggettpv]

Ok Alan. So the basic pricipal of practice organization is to make the activities Phun. So do you think that as the athlete matures the Phun takes on different meanings? Like the younger ones could be very active and the objectives would be very broad. And the older then the more precise and definite the goals become? Here in the USA we have a 4 year training cycle (called High school). Do you think there could be a training cycle that might fits this time frame? Would like to get your thoughts.
I am just trying to craft my inquirerys (sp) to a level of your expertise...

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC