Fencing

Course Content - Coach Training 2005 - Class Lesson

Developing the fencing coach – a better I.D.E.A.

For those familiar with coaching BAF and BF courses and awards the acronym I.D.E.A. for class lessons should not be new. Quick check - can you say what I.D.E.A. represents before reading further down this page?

Whether the coach uses a part-whole, whole-part-whole, game or project based exercise I.D.E.A. is a useful reminder to the trainee coach for presenting his or her material: Introduction, Demonstration, Explanation, Application, and, as far as I know we have been using it since the sixties. Some coaches and teachers following this model can be engaging, communicative and facilitate learning, yet the same model can be bland and fail to challenge the learner.

So here I offer a secondary acronym as an aid to help lift class teaching… Involve, Deconstruct, Elicit, Ask.

I came across an unsourced quote that underlines Involve - “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I might remember, involve me and I will learn.”. The concept of ‘involve’ is that learning is not passive and not simply about receiving instruction. When a student is part of the development of a class they will absorb more. A simple example; if a student has a difficulty with a stroke, allow him or her to demonstrate to the class and try to provide an answer, then offer the problem to the class for an answer and finally offer the ‘answer’ to the class only if necessary. Similarly, different pairs within a group could demonstrate their interpretations of a stroke, before a final model is agreed. With command or signal led activities allow students the opportunity of ‘playing teacher’. ‘Involve’ also means being sure that every student is used equally for demonstrations, and partners are changed for variety.

‘Deconstruct’- break the fencing action into simpler actions or basic techniques with appropriate exercises or games. Part-whole or whole-part-whole exercises and try not to hurry to the finished product; the fencer-cum-novice coach often finds it unnatural at first to think other than in terms of complete fencing strokes or phrases and may need to rediscover how they themselves learnt. ‘Deconstruct’ also means that complex actions are broken into their component parts and practised sequentially rather than the whole being practiced slowly.

‘Elicit’ links with ‘Involve’. Find out what the pupils know about the tactic or stroke to be presented and draw knowledge, perceived problems and ideas from them. Communication should be two-way and so help pitch the lesson at the right level.

‘Ask’ This ‘ask’ refers to concept checking or making sure that the class knows what it is about to do. At the end of setting a task, “Do you understand?” is not the way to check comprehension. Careful use of a few specific questions is more effective; so “What’s the signal?”, “Where does the blade finish?”, “What do you do after…?” etc.are far more useful.

The A of IDEA is also for ‘applaud’ – congratulations and praise are powerful motivators.

Finally we could add an L to IDEA to get IDEAL. The L represents ‘Leave’ them to get on with it! We can’t teach or coach everything at once so we should avoid interrupting with unnecessary corrections or diversions. Let the students have time and space – we might want to teach but learning is done by the student. Avoid lecturing and leave them wanting more!