A Creed for REAL Teaching (or Coaching)

I happened to look up to my studio wall the other night to spot something I need as a constant reminder.  A Creed for REAL Teaching is what I dubbed it long ago, that 8.5″ x 11″ poster which acts as a reminder of the way my young charges (and all humans) learn.

Immediately I thought to myself, “Gee, every CoachChic.com member — or at least every coach and parent — should have their own copy.  And with that, I present a gift down below from me to you.

– Dennis Chighisola

A Creed for REAL Teaching (or Coaching)

Sometime down the road I’m going to transfer a VHS video I once sold to numerous coaches and hockey school directors around North America.  The title of that program was “A Total Mastery System“.

In it was contained all the principles of motor learning, as well as what I’ll now described.

Shown to the right is a small copy of a poster that actually adorns my downtown office wall, my next door studio, as well as the little alcove I use at my house as a home office.  Ya, I want that thing everywhere, reminding me of how thoroughly I should do my job.

Now, as if it needs any explaining…

- Addressing line one, I think we’ll all agree that there’s a likelihood anyone will eventually forget just about anything we spend only seconds telling them about.  It’s just the nature of us human beasts, what with all the information we’re constantly swamped with.

- The second line, of course, suggests that the combination of explaining a certain principle or drill along with some sort of demonstration will do the job far better.  Agreed?

- Finally, a very wise Chinese philosopher had to really know his stuff to appreciate that involving a student in the learning process will get the job done best.  In fact, it’s the combination of all three points — and maybe even more — that will likely make the information stick.

As for that “maybe even more” part…  Today we know that the more senses involved in a given presentation, the better it’s going to be absorbed, and the longer it is likely to be retained.  So, while it probably isn’t going to very often make sense to have our players taste or smell a given playing principle or skill, we WOULD be wise to touch their senses of hearing, seeing and discussing that information.

All that said, you can do as you wish with the following download, and you might even post it somewhere (or everywhere) as The Old Coach does.  I know I certainly need the constant reminder.

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A Creed for REAL Teaching

Simply right click the link above and Save As to your desktop or wherever.  And, while you can ultimately print it, I actually used several pieces of colored card stock in my copy machine to create more durable and more attractive posters.

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Let me know if you like these sorts of downloads, huh?  And, I’d surely like to hear your feedback about the principles involved here!