GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #8 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - DID SOMEONE SAY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY?
Today’s blog will help sports coaches (and all caring adult stakeholders) to:
Consider the idea of a teaching to better inform the practice and future of your own and peers’ efforts with learners…
The thing with coaching in particular it seems, is that national sports organisations promote amazing ideas like, 'You must have a coaching philosophy'. However when the rubber hits the road, many are not good at saying 'why' and certainly don't show you 'how'. I can provide some of my feedback to AFL for example on this in my Level 2 a couple of years ago. but I’m sure it’s an Australia wide thing. Once again, even more strange is that most ‘levels’ and educational interventions like devising a teaching philosophy are aimed at 'elite' or 'sub-elite' environments…
In any case a reminder: coach ‘development’ isn’t working (here he goes again…). For example, Games-Based Approaches (GBAs) in sport and PE have been around for 50 years as a way of orientating learning activities in performance like environments. GBAs have been promoted too as an alternative to the 'skill and drill' methods that are certainly dominant in Australia and many other nations. In any case, many of us who know a little bit but devote OUR energy at the 'Grassroots' know 'alternative pedagogy', that is student centred and NOT 'one size fits all' has struggled to get any footing. It’s a point I constantly try to make like below with great teaching peer Dale Sidebottom: when are you going to show coaches HOW again???
Which leads me to the focus of this blog… The best thing I saw on social media yesterday was the below from my Welsh rugby coaching peer, Nathan Gosling. Nathan is a supreme operator and PE teacher/coach with amazing experience who walks the ‘talk’. However, interestingly ‘philosophy’ was part of a current job application. He of course took it to the next level!!! Fingers and toes are indeed crossed that you got this mate and thanks for helping us out as fellow learners.
I’m looking forward to meeting Nathan face to face when I and Dale Sidebottom ‘tour’ (or learn with peers) in UK and Ireland in September this year However, knowing a bit through our digital opportunities nowadays, it’s clear that Nathan is a lifelong learner who is deeply reflective. How lucky are the people coached/taught by him? AND, as teachers of experience will tell you, this philosophy ‘thingo’ changes constantly if you continue to improve.
YET once again, I’m just ‘telling’ you this… How are we going to do the HOW?
Here is a little bit of help from old Gunny… Feel free to email me (or other forms of messaging) any responses or thoughts too on contacts below.
REFLECTION for your beginning coaches or experienced peers who want a ‘nudge’:
What has been an educational learning/defining coaching/teaching moment for you in your life?
Describe for me why this was so powerful (negative or positive).
How has it affected your teaching/coaching philosophy?
Why is coaching and teaching important to you?
This is a start only anyway, and you can find a ‘guided reflection’ around this in ‘Grassroots Coaching and Consulting’ Facebook group (not the page) in files section. Feel free to join nearly 550 coaches from all sports, contexts and continents looking to give back to volunteers!!! Just like Nathan Gosling.
Yours in learning,
Gunny
By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September:
email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)
Again learning peers, I’m Gunny. If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.
The HOW (not WHAT) of coaching can be found at the ‘Gunn Engagement’ YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DAC5b2rZHlt8bxXHVgAHg/featured?view_as=subscriber
Please SUBSCRIBE!
To correspond on today’s post, provide discussion guidance, or ask questions that can be used in future posts, connect with me on:
Twitter https://twitter.com/c_gunny73, OR
FaceBook Pages, https://www.facebook.com/coachgunnybrizvegas/
AND https://www.facebook.com/gunnengagement/
OR LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-gunn-b5017a69/
OR Website, www.craiggun.org
If you find the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to be a supportive resource, please consider sharing with your friends and network—again, don’t forget to subscribe to the email list or YouTube channel and again tell your friends and colleagues. ‘Word of mouth’ is still my preferred advertising.
‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/.
Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070.
Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”
GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #7 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE AFTER A MENTOR?
Here Coach Gunny asks if we are too quick to push the, ‘I need a mentor button’.?
Today’s blog will help sports coaches (and all caring adult stakeholders) to:
Consider the idea of coaching mentors to better inform the practice and future of your own and peers’ efforts with learners…
I am not sure who first said it, but the best coaches look to make themselves redundant. It’s certainly something I practice and well before I even knew the phrase, I would read a book or two by Rugby League legendary coach, Jack Gibson every year to sharpen my focus here. Of course most of my international peers have never heard of him but he was the ultimate in this regard. Indeed, he was known to be employed for short stints only where he’d go in and improve the club from their original position and then leave (generally on a high) with a replacement set. For example, my own team, Parramatta were strong but yet to win a premiership until Jack had them win three years in a row. He then handed off to the groomed John Monie who was a coach again a decade at least ahead of his time. He was always player centred coach as cited here (www.leaguehq.com.au):
““He was the best coach I ever played under,” said Easts captain of ‘67, Jim Matthews, “although I never felt that I really got to know him. He was a tough man, and he coached us as individuals to get the best out of us as a team.””
Obviously whilst I still improve my own craft every training session, I now spend my time ‘coaching’ coaches and their many teams rather than focusing on my own group. Yet I still remind myself like Jack above, that I am coaching individuals. However, sometimes I need to catch myself or others in their conception of ‘coaching’. Plenty of times I have been asked by coaches for advice as a ‘mentor’. Luckily for me they come from all around the WORLD including from sports I’ve never played or coached. Below is an example from today and the reason why I’m highlighting it is to have my peers’ contemplate if they really need a ‘mentor’ when a ‘coach’ or a simple ‘mate/friend’ could be what’s required…
“Hey mate! how you going? How’s your coaching going?
I have a question for you. And it’ll start sounding arrogant but bare with me.
_________ club was a dumpster fire last few years. I’ve cracked the whip and now we’ve play two competition rounds. Won all 5 games across all grades (and 6th was a forfeit by other team)
How would you recommend continuing the success while still encouraging to enjoy the wins that they weren’t getting in years previous? How do you stay motivated and humble but still enjoy it”
In my excitement to respond to this success (having known a bit of the back story over the last year) I tried to reply like a mentor when really he wanted a ‘coach’. He certainly isn’t a close friend considering we have never met in the flesh. I would also suggest that he is a very good coach from my knowledge so the idea of me as ‘mentor’ is a bit of a stretch. Indeed, I often wonder about the idea of ‘mentor’ anyway. I mean I indeed thrived on them but they were always twenty years older!!! As such, the idea for me that my ‘experience’ means anything to anybody else’s individually complex context is a little absurd anyway. Yet, that’s how we are conditioned I guess. Thus I gave him pats on the back, resources and the offer of ‘coaching’ but at all times reminded him of his pivotal role as ‘change agent’ in all of this. Yet I still gave him ‘advice’…
After I pressed ‘send’ I thought deeper. Why did I not just coach him? Well obviously, Mrs Gunn has had enough of me under charging for my services… BUT really, the opportunity was there. The ‘answers’ like in the last BLOG, ‘lie within’ (Whitmore)!
Thus with this in mind, keep asking questions. I know I’m doing it myself at the moment through this BLOG and its answers are like GOLD! BUT coaches, be sure to recognise the difference or coaches, mentors, mentors and ‘self reflection’. I think we are often too quick to look for the ‘all knowing enlightened one’ for help. As I have said many many many times to coaches I work with, say in the real young grades: Craig Bellamy, Alistair Clarkson, Sir Alex Ferguson or Judy Murray would all struggle in your unique context…
Now, I know many coaches who read this are ‘nerds’ like me AND probably deeply reflective. Thus for you and when needing ‘help’, please first consider, do I NEED: a mentor, coach, friend, or, a good hard think on my own? They all have their place. However, well before your subject matter and pedagogical skills, people like Coach Wooden had ‘intra’ and ‘inter’ personal skills as far more important building blocks. THUS, get to know the difference especially when asking the players for accountability!
AND finally, for your turn and when being asked for ‘advice’, remember this old and most underused piece of coaching and reflective gold from the Army’s AAR method: What went well? What didn’t? What would you do differently next time? It’s that good, that businesses can’t DO it without reducing it to a ‘technique’ rather than an evolving process (Senge, 1999)…
Yours in learning,
Gunny
By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September:
email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)
Again learning peers, I’m Gunny. If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.
The HOW (not WHAT) of coaching can be found at the ‘Gunn Engagement’ YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DAC5b2rZHlt8bxXHVgAHg/featured?view_as=subscriber
Please SUBSCRIBE!
To correspond on today’s post, provide discussion guidance, or ask questions that can be used in future posts, connect with me on:
Twitter https://twitter.com/c_gunny73, OR
FaceBook Pages, https://www.facebook.com/coachgunnybrizvegas/
AND https://www.facebook.com/gunnengagement/
OR LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-gunn-b5017a69/
OR Website, www.craiggun.org
If you find the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to be a supportive resource, please consider sharing with your friends and network—again, don’t forget to subscribe to the email list or YouTube channel and again tell your friends and colleagues. ‘Word of mouth’ is still my preferred advertising.
‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/.
Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070.
Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”
GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #6 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - IS SPORTS COACHING STILL INNOVATIVE?
Today’s blog will help sports coaches (and all caring adult stakeholders) to:
Consider revisiting other forms of coaching to better inform the practice and future of your own and peers’ efforts with learners…
The year 2018, I retired from Academia. I’ll keep learning outside and in higher education institutions but as mentioned before in previous blogs, I had lost a great deal of enthusiasm for it as much of what I’d spent a great deal of time teaching coaches and PE teachers regarding alternative pedagogy. This is because there was ultimately a ‘wash-out’ when it came to any change among the ‘real’ courts, fields and classrooms of learning. However, a colleague, Ian Renshaw did suggest to me to check out the below Podcast first.
There are many out there like Stuart’s (Sport England) encouraging us to rethink our involvement as sporting stakeholders but interesting here I remember was my point (somewhere near half way perhaps) that sports coaches and the like seemed to have stopped learning. Indeed, life, business, executive, career etc coaches who’d previously look at sports’ coaching for guidance, were now seen by me in the least to be far more innovative and learner centred than us.
In fact, to ensure I continued to learn and improve my coaching I even gained an Executive Coaching qualification, endorsed by the International Coaching Federation. It was here that I came across the odd bit of pseudo-science true (but most still used by educational and sporting institutions anyway) BUT also a person centred coaching push that can be easily turned to for guidance. In the podcast above, I remember mentioning this to Stuart, and he agreed with me that the ‘GROW’ model (Whitmore, 1994) that I was exposed to at the National Coaching Institute (g’day Paul and Wendy Timms), was a ‘game-changer’.
I love this video above from Whitmore in 2009: “learning occurs on the edge”; “the answers lie within”; etc. Love his take on capitalism too and the environment. PLUS getting stuck into CEOs in the audience. But off the politics now… Can see here I hope that coaching is supposed to be about unique, dynamic learners? Indeed, what I truly liked about the coaching learning in my ‘diploma’ was the practicality of it all. It was full of ‘tools’, ‘frameworks’, ‘templates’, ‘tips’ and the like, plus, of course the importance of leadership and self-responsibility.
As such, I decided to borrow from much of my learning here and focus on my ability to scaffold sports’ coaches and all adults through making the 365 days project all about self-responsibility within individual learners in any sporting learning group.
Thus Five Gunn Coaching Tips to Reflect on from Other Coaching Forms:
Gunn Tip One = The Answer Lies Within - When have you encouraged your learners to devise their own unique learning solutions? Individual, environmental and task conditions and characteristics are always interacting in GREAT coaching (Newell, Whitmore and others…); How do you coach for this?
Gunn Tip Two = Coaching is an intervention or active process based on doing. When have you recently made your sessions their most practical best by ensuring ‘positive doing’ (Jauncey) rather than positive beliefs’ and words etc? How have you helped fortify your learners’ responsibility for action?
Gunn Tip Three = Coaching should be strengths based. Much like the amazing Australian HPE Curriculum and Queensland Senior Physical Education curriculum, long gone are the days where you show videos of smoking’s affect on lungs and then say DON’T SMOKE… When have you enlivened the strengths and positives within individuals to negotiate their accountability for actions? What specific actions did your learner/s own?
Gunn Tip Four = Question/problem solve rather than command… Describe a time recently where you have asked your problems to define a problem rather than you ‘telling’ as ‘expert. How did you know that they were ‘engaged’ in learning here?
Gunn Tip Five = Solutions emerge through action of trial and error (think, act, revise, reflect etc). Growth in learning to be self-responsible is nonlinear but can be teased out with scaffolding from a great coach. What ‘light-bulbs’ have been most prominent within your learners? How did you provide the support to make themselves as stimulus?
Thus in closing dear peers, remain curious and never stop sharing, just like the great John Whitmore (hope he is still alive).
Yours in learning - Gunny!
By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September:
email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)
Again learning peers, I’m Gunny. If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.
The HOW (not WHAT) of coaching can be found at the ‘Gunn Engagement’ YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DAC5b2rZHlt8bxXHVgAHg/featured?view_as=subscriber
Please SUBSCRIBE!
To correspond on today’s post, provide discussion guidance, or ask questions that can be used in future posts, connect with me on:
Twitter https://twitter.com/c_gunny73, OR
FaceBook Pages, https://www.facebook.com/coachgunnybrizvegas/
AND https://www.facebook.com/gunnengagement/
OR LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-gunn-b5017a69/
OR Website, www.craiggun.org
If you find the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to be a supportive resource, please consider sharing with your friends and network—again, don’t forget to subscribe to the email list or YouTube channel and again tell your friends and colleagues. ‘Word of mouth’ is still my preferred advertising
‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/.
Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070.
Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”
GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #5 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - CAN SHE KICK? DEPENDS - WHO'S ASKING?
G’Day learning peers,
Welcome to Blog 5 of ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ a daily reflective piece for teachers/coaches of all movement contexts, curating the learning of unique individuals.
I’m Gunny (Coach Gunny/Craig Gunn) an experienced educator. I have a particular ‘calling’ to support those at the grassroots/foundation/community level. As such consider joining the below group:
“Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” Facebook group (not the page) which gathers coaching/teaching brains from around the world. It began less than 17 months ago and now has 528 members from every continent and most sports: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/
Join and invite your friends! We’re practical, warm and engaging, but also a little more generalist for people who are often given a bag of balls as volunteer ‘coach’ and are trying to navigate what it means to be a teacher!
I’m sharing this ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to further support communities of educators, sharing about how to best engage learners.
The topic of today’s piece is a revisit from last year where I had questions around the true cultural acceptance of women coaches into the national game. Not a whole lot has changed from my experience…
My blog begins now:
I, like many of you who coach women and girls, or, indeed, who just love the Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) competition, thoroughly enjoyed Julia Hay’s recent opinion piece on LinkedIn, called, “The Importance of Women Contributing to Australia’s National Sport Australian Rules”. It is an inspiring tale of Julia’s recent decision to take up Aussie Rules coaching and implores other women to strongly consider volunteering to coach the nation’s game. Indeed, she rightly points that, “Women need to realise their experience with other invasion games such as basketball, netball, soccer and hockey, can easily be applied to football.”
However, I’ve since reached out to Julia, the great PE teacher, plus others, with some reservations about this rallying call. For example, I posted her amazing thoughts on the Brisbane Lions AFLW Facebook fan group which stimulated much discussion. Maybe things are different in Melbourne but up here, much of the commentary was from supportive men and women who sadly at times had some doubts about the ‘can do’ attitude. No need to go into it, but, I also gained my first ‘intelligent’ troll, who goaded me over email about my feminist agenda.
I may be facing further hate mail for saying this, but, Aussie Rules ‘clubland’ to me seems dominated by a ‘macho’ culture that does not like ‘change’. This is saying something from a bloke who was reared on playing and loving rugby league, the most beautifully simple game in the world. However, I stress now that it will take more than women putting their hand up to break the gender sterotypes Mrs Hay spoke about… I reckon it’s us stuck in cement blokes who need to change. Let me explain…
I have coached and educated in all sports and levels for a couple of decades. I swore that I’d never coach my own daughters and have happily sat back and enjoyed their triumphs or failures under many good and some not so good coaches. My girls knew that they were always there to work and have fun with their mates and I only complained once about coaches, after half a season of two blokes screaming constantly at the teenage umpires!!! I cringe every time I hear the ‘roar’ of ‘BAAAALLLLLL’ by the crowd at our young officials but that’s something for another day…
However, when it was my time to take my youngest daughters U/11 gals team, when there was no other option, the shoe was on the other foot. You see I was different!!! I hadn’t ever played AFL before and was actually formally complained about for allegedly not teaching the girls basic skills. This was not true, because as Julia pointed out there is research out there suggesting that there are far more effective ways of training than drills, like her referenced Game Sense. And, I was the lecturer of PE and Sports Coaching at a local university teaching Game Sense, along with, Teaching Games for Understanding, The Sport Education Model, and, the Constraints led Approach among others.
Thus, whilst my methods were completely backed by, modern motor learning theory and coaching ‘101’; plus, despite the fact that my players were five times more active than any teams around, comments would be made to club hierarchy by former players that I was doing it all wrong because I wasn’t using ‘drills’… But this was just the tip of the iceberg and you can read more of this journey if you Google a paper written by me and ably led by the wonderful Aussie Rules and Game Sense ‘Guru’, Dr. Shane Pill from Flinder’s University, presented at a Australian Council of Health Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) international conference in 2017. POINT BLANK: You see, I wasn’t the right cultural fit for people used to the way things were usually done. BUT…it got worse!
One afternoon I was sick and my wonderful, surf lifesaving, mother of three daughters, plus, dynamic, role modelling, assistant coach was charged to take the session. She worked in a girls’ boarding school, had a thirst for my coaching style, because as she said we “Didn’t ‘Lord’ over the kids”, and, had a true passion to serve the kids. Yet, I was worried about the folded armed male brigade in close proximity, which proved sadly correct. To support, I sent my wife, an experienced educator with illustrious levels of EQ to assist. However, the males soon moved in and made comments about what was going on to the coaching coordinator who had chipped me about this ‘games stuff’ before. By halfway through the session, the males mounted their mutiny and took over… My amazing assistant coach whom I was grooming to take over, resigned and took her girls away… Forever…
I have many, many sad tales of ignorance among my ‘national game’ male peers to add if you want to contact me. But needless to say, I, and a few of the key females driving the program have progressed to supportive climates. I though, am still coaching, senior men, women and girls from U/11-17, and happily assist with coaching the Queensland U15s girls, through what they affectionately call ‘Gunny Madness’. It’s actually just game centred learning, that to be honest, they are just not that used to.
Once again, Julia is right about the research saying Game Sense is effective but the research also suggests that Aussie Rules coaches generally don’t use it even if they say they do!!! Walk past any senior, ‘sub elite’ team and you will see line ups, waiting behind cones and static learning environments, because, CHANGE is HARD!!! Don’t believe me??? Consider that Game Sense was launched in Australia in 1995. It was taught in my rugby union Level II course in 2000, yet when I get to present anything on Game Sense in Aussie Rules circles, coaches constantly refer to Game Sense ‘drills’ which would be rather counter-intuitive to its earlier promoters like Rod Thorpe and Ric Charlesworth. Yep, CHANGE is HARD because CULTURES are STRONG! Which also means, some of us fit in and some don’t…
This is the bones of my present research: coaching behavioural change. But what have I done to help the change? Well, I have started and run a diverse sports coaches’ group called, “Grassroots Coaching and Consultancy”, where worldwide sports coaching experts like Shane Pill offer their help for all members FREE. Look us up and join 330 members from all around the world who are questioning the cultural, learning ‘norms’ and supporting each other to “BE THE CHANGE!!!” And, finally to support ‘change’, I have been on social media to call on any female coach inspired to improve learning outcomes, to connect with me virtually or face-to-face in Brisbane for FREE support. I am very experienced and know that coaching this game has challenges for humans who don’t kick as long as others… This is odd, because you see, we are the ones who can be the best of coaches because we have remained curious about how “things get done ‘round ‘ere’!”
As for Mrs Hay, I applaud you as a true WARRIOR in the movement and look forward to aligning myself with you in further initiatives. Indeed, I applaud the AFL for inviting you to a ‘think tank’ on attracting more female coaches. This is a MUST for my daughters and their male peers. However, a ‘caveat’, I believe much education is needed around cultural change in ‘clubland’ to ensure this gets going properly. We need ‘true’ support for a ‘hands up’ policy, because, some clubs DO CHANGE and others DON’T.
In fact, I’d reckon the rise of the AFLW has probably saved many clubs but has taken us all ‘off guard’. It was only last year that my girls’ club got change rooms, which was far better than previous years’ changing on the field. However, as an educator, I wonder how much of this current growth has been properly thought through. Indeed it reminds me of Susan Kahn (2017) citing Peeler (2009) on what led to the collapse of Enron, “There is a strange thing goes on inside a bubble. It’s hard to describe. People who are in it can’t see outside of it, don’t believe there is an outside”.
Thus please volunteer leading female coaches because many of you reside outside the ‘bubble’. In fact, you will probably be better teachers as a result of this. But, seek support early and often in preparation for those can’t see outside…
Yours in learning,
Coach Gunny
www.coachgunny@craiggunn.org
0431311070
GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #3 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - REMAIN CURIOUS!
G’Day learning peers,
Welcome to Blog 3 of ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ a daily reflective piece for teachers/coaches of all movement contexts, curating the learning of unique individuals.
I’m Gunny (Coach Gunny/Craig Gunn) an experienced educator. I have a particular ‘calling’ to support those at the grassroots/foundation/community level. As such consider joining the below group:
“Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” Facebook group (not the page) which gathers coaching/teaching brains from around the world. It began less than 17 months ago and now has 528 members from every continent and most sports: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/
Join and invite your friends! We’re practical, warm and engaging, but also a little more generalist for people who are often given a bag of balls as volunteer ‘coach’ and are trying to navigate what it means to be a teacher!
I’m sharing this ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to further support communities of educators, sharing about how to best engage learners.
The topic of today’s piece..
My blog begins now!
It's 9:47pm as I write this and I am an 8:30pm to bed bloke... However, I've already found this reflective habit beneficial. In the past couple of weeks (as indeed mentioned yesterday) I was reminded of something important: advocacy through creative, professional sharing requires teachers to remain curious. Although I think this is changing, my memory of school teaching features a tendency of colleagues working in isolation and shutting ourselves off from other peers' innovation. Times this by at least five when it comes to higher education institutions. I was certainly guilty of this when it came to technology so got out! However, I loved 'teaming' and professional learning conversations. And now, my last half a decade dalliance working with sports' organisations instead of schools or universities has taken the silo effect to another level in some.
Notwithstanding the amazing recent efforts of Netball and National Rugby League (NRL) mentioned yesterday to be honest and vulnerable in their collective work, the guarded actions displayed towards me by some leaders within large corporations like the Australian Football League (AFL) has me constantly curious. After guiding key people through things like 'Game Centred Approaches' and other coach development innovations around safety their guarded and at times combative attitude towards me could be because good teachers/learners open us up to questions like you know, how’s it going with the communities of practice you promised after going online with 'Coach AFL'? How much have you written of the curriculum? Do you mind telling me why a coach of children rather than youth is not allowed to do a level 2 or 3 coaching certificate? Distancing themselves from me rather than being curious with questions and dialogue... They just don’t want to go there. But I've seen it all before. Most teachers (as leaders of young people) are just like leaders of powerful institutions. We want to keep private, for some maybe just out of a sense of fear. For others, you know, perhaps it's just because their sole job appears to be to hold power. That is all just like leaders of large corporations.
But this week I was walking my dogs recalling my Australian Football learning journey over the past five years and I remembered the first light bulb moment that occurred from interaction with Dr. Shane Pill. I reached out to him because after being asked to deliver to AFL staff on 'Game Sense' coaching, it appeared to me that they knew little about any of it, despite what was promoted through official AFL manuals and the like. So Pilly, I doubt you are reading this, but my journey would have taken a different path if not for our professional conversation that day. Maybe I'd be back to knowing little about Australian Football! Yet I reached out to him over email (a little intimidated) and I said, you know, can we have a quick phone call because I think, you know, your research shows we’re thinking about many of the same issues. Indeed, I only knew him through his research and had been citing much of his work in my coaching and PE lectures at Australian Catholic University a few years before. So many things came out of his kind professional conversation. I of course took lots of notes as we were talking and Shane eventually coached me through my only peer reviewed conference paper as a result. And so that was amazingly helpful to talk with him that day. Shane’s so very giving.
Yet, the main thing I got from that conversation was that Shane thought about these learning issues in a different way than I was. He was questioning the cultural processes and I was still stuck on some of the words, like, 'Game Sense'. And even the games I was using to help the learning were overdone. For me it was a transformative conversation. For example, when I 'banged on' about the words like 'Game Sense Drills' that to me were counterintuitive, Shane asked me to dig deeper and consider if the AFL was really using 'Game Sense' as a model. This learning conversation again (just like with Richard I posted yesterday) helped me to remember how I cannot assume certain things about complex organisations and their learning structures. And eventually he led me to think about how my practice as an agent for change needed to tell my story of how I came to this and to try to connect with coaches once again on their 'story's' level. And of course always start and end with questions...
Unlike many of my peers at an un-named university in this piece that I also worked at, I certainly don’t consider myself to be an expert on coaching and teaching issues. I mean, just because you have a PHD and written a few a book on things means nothing (Jack Cahill, 2018). Indeed, I’m really not that arrogant unlike some haunting the halls of academia or fields of stadia! Yet, through sharing my coaching practices for volunteers and creating safe forums to share, I am trying to foster support for young people that would have been most helpful for me when I was growing up. And like the weirdo I am, I just had to do a bunch of stuff on my own that was essentially unique. And why should other coaches learn with me? Well, why can’t they learn from the kinds of methods and resources that I promote? Well, they couldn’t in the past due to my guilt at not being a so called and self-labelled ‘expert’ which has held me back for the last decade… See I’m just a teacher. But a ‘flaming’ good one.
So when I sat down and started to think about what this blog could be about, I was jolted again thinking about the fact that the best learners are the most humble, curious and giving. Indeed, rather than being solitary and closed, the great Shane Pill gave me some words and phrases on that day in early 2015 that set me on a path that I was never even thinking about. For example, I’m currently working on a book with someone Shane introduced me to: the ultimate in 'engagement', Dale Sidebottom. It will be much lighter on academic references than other things I’ve written on learning, but it will be rich in stories of learning through sharing and action.
Thus in closing dear peers, remain curious and never stop sharing, just like the great Shane Pill.
Yours in learning - Gunny!
By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September:
1) What questions have you asked your sharing peers about the deeper meaning behind learning?
2) How has this helped your own learning?
3) When have you given yourself some dedicated time to stop, observe, and think???
Learning!!!
email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)
Again learning peers, I’m Gunny. If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.
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‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/.
Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070.
Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”