What did you dream? It’s alright we told you what to dream.
You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,
He always ate in the Steak Bar. He loved to drive in his Jaguar.
So welcome to the machine.
- pink floyd

Every so often I get into discussions with other coaches about teaching styles.  Certainly the coaching style I’ve grown into has come from plagiarizing all the wonderful coaches I’ve worked with over the years.  Still, most would agree that my methods are a bit “out there” sometimes.  I’ll take that.  I’m more a “method in the madness” type than a method type teacher.   Over a short series of posts I’m going to try to explain my path to coaching weirdness.  Keep in mind that I’m not any sort of Uber coach either, so everything I say can be total rot.  But it can’t hurt to discuss it. . .

When I first took coaching classes a few years back it was well, what I expected;  Methodical, bookish, & bathed in acronyms.  Certainly normal and not “bad”.  But on the other hand not a good learning enviroment for my brain. In a class room I’m going to stare out the window.  I still can’t remember all those coaching acronyms.  I just know there is a “do” in there somewhere.  The point of course is that even though the coaches were talented and knowledgeable I was not easily following along. What I’m describing in coach-speak is how the teaching method interacted with my personal learning style.  Other students of course thrive in paperwork, outlines and abbreviations.  That’s their learning style.   For the moment though, let’s note that most of the formal education we have in life is of the “whiteboard and textbook” variety.  Even if this is not an ideal learning style for some, they will learn and most will succeed.  (Even though I lost half my notes, I still passed my course) What this tells us about students is that they will adapt their learning style to get the most they can from the coach’s method. This is important to note for later on.  Students can adapt to the method of the coach much more easily than the coach can adapt to the learning methods of the student.   You see, the downside of students ability to adapt, is that it’s not easy for a coach to assess their teaching method. Even feedback from other coaches can be jaded if they share the same method. I have a hunch that although many coaches may be able to quote the learning styles “list”, they don’t really find ways to address different learners and they have little valuable feedback one way or the other.  The student will learn even if the coach does not address their learning style.    Another way to look at it is this;  If you plant a seed  it will usually grow with little effort.  If you stop there, you may think you did ok.   However  a good gardner knows it takes more than just planting the seed to make the plant flourish.

Another thing that hinders us as coaches sometimes is the fact that we see ourselves as “coaches”.  What is a coach?  The guy in shorts with sunglasses and a nice whistle?  The High school physical education teacher?  The woman in black neo with the hyper-reflective Ray Bans? The only guy in the room with a tie?  My point is that we have a preconception about what we should be as coaches.  That internal vision has the tenancy of making us pull out the chalk and start talking like Vince Lombardi.  Coaches point to things and orate.  When we become coaches we tend to emulate that vision.  After all we are learning to be coaches and emulation is one way we learn.  The risk is of course that we get too deep into the mold and don’t spend enough time considering if this is really the best way to teach or if it brings out our best coaching abilities.  Again, we see students looking at us, just as we did with our coaches. We tell them what to do and they do it.  Everything seems copasetic. 

Another limiting factor in the standard coaching tool kit is the Outline. Outlines can overpower when used incorrectly. Coaching by outline is the most simple method. It works. The further you stray from that outline the higher the chances that you will forget something or get caught up in student questions and lose control of the class organization. The outline can be used as a law book of sorts.  It keeps us on task and makes sure we cover each point within that particular curriculum.  There are good reasons for an outline.  The downside is that an over developed outline can create rigidity and complacency in our teaching style.  We can be blinded by outlines and deaden our observational skills.  To truly recognize class needs and best serve our students I think we have to see past our outlines.   As we know our students are effected by their own learning styles, fitness, talent, class dynamics, environmental factors and various distractions throughout the class.  We can’t let our outline blind us to what’s going on around us or stop us from taking dynamic shifts to address the needs of our class. 

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