“One of the fastest ways to
make a kid lose the passion for anything is not getting them involved,” says
two-time USA Hockey Olympian Guy Gosselin.
If you want
an athlete to stay engaged in practice, they need to get a lot of
touches. "Touches", for those less than athletically inclined
out there, refers to contact with the ball/puck/whatever. You need to
scoop a grounder, take a face off, catch a pass, throw a pass, rip a shot, save
a shot. You need the ball/puck/thing
around you to stay engaged.
In the
classroom, we see the same thing. The traditional "direct
instruction" lecture, where I stand in the front of the room and grace my
students with a 45-minute monologue that demonstrates my mastery of the content
yields very few touches. Students sit in a passive state. Only the
most motivated will stay engaged and learn.
How
important is it to give your students touches? Again, let's frame it in
the context of sports:
“One properly-run practice is
the equivalent of 11 games when it comes to puck touches,”
says Ty Hennes of USA Hockey.
11 games!!!
So what are the keys? How does an educator ensure that
his or her students are getting enough touches? What if you throw the
ball to them and they don't catch it?
Types of touches:
- teacher to student (this is you asking questions, checking for understanding, getting someone involved)
- student to teacher (students are now asking questions, posing "what if" questions, responding to questions, commenting on content)
- student to student (group work, feedback loops, turn and talk)
What creates opportunities for touches?
PLANNING.
Just like any coach has a well-planned practice, teachers need to own the fact
that planning and student engagement go hand in hand. You might be able
to wing it here and there and get away with it. Heck, some of my most
brilliant moments as a teacher were "wing-its"! But it should
not be your modus operandi. There's too much at stake, and they
deserve your best.
Plan the
content you intend to cover, and think a LOT about how it will be done.
When you see the lesson happening in your mind's eye, it should be full
of student "touches".
COMMUNICATION.
Tell them what they are going to do. Show them how to do it. Then
get out of the way and let it happen. If a correction needs to be made,
step in, re-demonstrate, then back out again. Use quick, targeted
feedback.
PERSEVERANCE.
You will be tested. There will be awkward silences. Don't give
up. There's not a kid out there that wants to fail. Stay close,
listen, and help them find a way to succeed.
NOVELTY.
Keep in mind that the sensory systems are flooding the brain with information
every microsecond. There is far too much to process, so most of what
comes in gets ignored. Including YOU! Make sure that you are
reaching out to their brains by placing novelty into your lessons. Yes,
procedures and routines are valuable tools in their own right. But to
find be their guru, you need to inject novelty into the day-in, day-out of your
classroom.
To quote Bobby Howe, Director of Coaching Education for the U.S. Soccer Federation, "having fewer players on the field:
- Reduces the size of the "swarm";
- Creates more touches;
- Does not allow players to "hide" or be excluded from the activity;
- Presents realistic but simple soccer challenges;
- Requires players to make simple but realistic soccer decisions;
- Realistic Experience + Fun = Improvement in Play"
Sound like things you would like to say are happening in your classroom?
Sound like a way to get kids "more touches"?
Sound like a way to
increase engagement and learning?
Get in there kid!
You're in the game!!!!
