Mock Group Session:

       My group today performed a mock session prior to our main session which is linked to our critical discussion. The session consisted of and incorporated similar elements to our actual planned session to see if the concepts we devised worked effectively. The session was a balling based activity that had several progressive elements such as targets and competitive elements in order to motivate the participants; yet the main learning points were for us as coaches we needed to understand the dynamics we shared as coaches and the individual characteristics we provided. Whilst also determining who was going to take the leading role and who was the most competent at dealing with problems/ progressions and weaker participants.

     The coaching experience allowed us to also see which styles of coaching and delivery the participants preferred and reacted best too, which we tended to find as problem solving and reciprocal as they are older students I guess they like the freedom and creativeness these coaching methods allow. Whilst we also wanted to analyse if the transactions between drills and activities where streamline and see if the progressions where adequate.

     We also gained a greater understanding of when to intervene and how to intervene, due to the age of the participants we found that questioning the participants was most beneficial in order to tease the answers out of them and allow self-learning.

      We also decided that basic demonstrations worked most effectively as it provided the participants with an insight into how to perform the activity, without spoon feeding them, thus allowing guided discovery.

      We tried to use Van Manen’s reflective theories (as shown below) before, during and after the event in order to learn the most from the session, as it focuses on prior, during and after a session in order to obtain the most information as possible.

                                               Van Manen’s Types of Reflection:

According to Van Manen (1991), reflective practitioners are professionals, who reflect in action and are guided by the theoretical principles of their discipline.

•             Anticipatory reflection:  Anticipatory reflection allows a teacher to plan, decide a course of action, and anticipate future consequences of the actions.

•             Active or interactive reflection: Active or interactive reflection allows a teacher to make immediate decisions during class as events unfold.

•             Recollective reflection: Recollective reflection allows a teacher to make sense of past experiences and give new, deeper insight into the meaning of those experiences.

Van Manen, M. (1991). Reflectivity and the pedagogical moment: The normativity of pedagogical thinking and acting. Journal of Curriculum Studies; pgs., 23, 507-536.