Power Struggles

It's the first day of a new session of swimming lessons. 

Staring at me from the deck is an angry 10-year-old with his arms crossed. 

He's not getting in the lap pool. 

The facility I teach at has two pools; a lap pool and a leisure pool.  The leisure pool is shallow, with a zero-depth area and a 3-foot maximum at all other points.  It's also significantly warmer than the lap pool.  Preschool lessons and Levels 1 and 2 are taught in the leisure pool.  Levels 3 and up are taught in the lap pool.  This can cause some anxiety when a student levels up from 2 to 3.  The lap pool is big, it's deep, and it's cold!  Some students need to re-learn their skills in the "big pool", and gain confidence in the fact that swimming is swimming, whether you can touch the bottom or not.  Most of the time, the transition can start in level 2, with an "adventure" to the big pool sometime during the session.  Level 3 teachers understand that they may encounter hesitance or fear of the lap pool and can plan the first few lessons accordingly. 

This is the situation I found myself in on the first day of lessons.  My level 3 class consisted of three students, only one of which had ever been in the lap pool.  The other two students, brothers, were not excited about getting into the water.   In situations like this, it's good to take it slow but still push students to get over their initial apprehension.  So I asked the students to climb in the water.  And two of them did. 

But not Zach. 

He said no. There was no hesitation, no 'I'll try it but so slowly that we waste half the lesson', nothing.  It was simply not going to happen.  If he was a younger student, I may have chosen at that moment to pick him up and put him (slowly) in the water.  Being 10 years old,  I didn't feel like that would be helpful or appropriate.  So what to do? 

Eventually his mom stepped in with some word of encouragement (or a threat, I couldn't be sure) and he started to s-lo-w-l-y get into the pool.  Great....progress.  Now onto floats.  Another emphatic no.  At this point, I decided to play hardball.  I stated my rule "everyone takes a turn", and moved him into a front float.  I asked him to blow bubbles.  He refused.  I said "Ok, we can float until you blow bubbles".  And I held him in a front float while I watched the other two students do their back floats.  Then I asked him again to blow bubbles.  "Fine" and he did.  Victory!  Only problem was, at that point the lesson was almost over, and all I had accomplished with the class was floats.  This is not the way I would like to handle my lessons. 

So after the lesson, I decided I needed a new game plan.  I was not going to allow a 10 year old to power-trip me, but at the same time I realize that forcing someone to do something is not the most productive way to make progress. 

So, what is this student's motivation?  He wants to swim in the leisure pool.  How can I use that to my advantage? 

The next day, I wrote a list of tasks that I wanted to complete in this lesson, and stuck it to a kick board.  When my students showed up, I made a deal with them.   If we can complete all the tasks on this list, then we can spend the rest of the lesson in the other pool.  If we all take our turn and try hard without stalling, we will have more time in the warm pool.  If we can't finish all the things on the list, then we will not have time to swim in the warm pool. 

Zach looked at the list, looked at me, and said "I'll do it".  Huh?  This from the kid who refused to do a float yesterday?  But he did. He got in, he did the activities...and at the end of the lesson, he was smiling.  And I kept my word....we spent the last five minutes in the leisure pool. 

I'm now at the point with this class that I am actually working on skills.  Zach is cheerful, excited to come to class, and improving every day.  Whenever anyone in the class starts to hesitate in participation, all I have to do is pull out the "threat" of no time in the warm pool, and suddenly we have a renewed vigour for swimming!

This strategy works because it is a balance of teacher control and student control.  As the instructor, I set the agenda and decide which pool we swim in.  This is not up for debate by the students.  But the students have control over how much time we spend in the leisure pool.  Do the tasks when I ask, and we have more time in the warm pool.  Stall or screw around, and we won't have any time left.  This means I have to keep my word as well.  I can't all of a sudden decide at the end of the lesson to add more tasks.  I have to plan ahead and give students the reward they earned. 

This class, with these students, has made me a better teacher even after 10 years of teaching.  Lesson learned. 

Class Managment

Class management is one of the most important and most challenging aspects of teaching swimming lessons.  How an instructor organizes class and responds to participant behavior can make or break the class, and either facilitate or sabotage progress in swimming skills.  You can be the best instructor in the world, but if you can't control your class, you are not going to be able to teach a damn thing. 

Some instructors are inexperienced, timid, or lazy.  They allow the students to get away with just about anything.  Classes may seem to be confusing and scattered, with kids in every direction.  Students do not progress very much because they are given little instruction or challenge.

Some instructors are control freaks.  Any minor infraction on the part of the student can reap heavy consequences.  While these teachers often get good results in skill progression, this strategy can sometimes backfire with fearful students.  It can also cause rebellion and attention-getting behavior. 

In the spirit of the middle ground, I will share my class rules and the theory behind them.  Some of these strategies were collected from teaching lessons over the years, figuring out what worked and collaborating with other teachers.  Other strategies came from my "other job" as an animal trainer.  What works with monkeys works surprisingly well with small children as well!

My Rules:
1.  Follow the pool rules
2. Everyone must stay with the class
This rule has two purposes.  The first is obviously safety.  When properly enforced, this rule assures that no student wanders off outside of the supervision of the instructor.  I also use the rule with fearful or reluctant children.  "Staying with the class" may mean sitting on Mom's lap and watching the lesson.  The child is allowed to stay in a safe zone, but is also realizes that this isn't going away...crying and fussing isn't going to get Mom to take me home, or let me play elsewhere in the pool.  Gradually the fearful child graduates to sitting on the side with the class, even if they do not participate in activities.  This leads me to my next rule:
3. Everyone takes a turn
No matter what skill or activity we are working on, every student in my class has to attempt the skill.  What actually occurs during that "turn" depends on the student's comfort level.  I have been known to take a crying child and mold them into a back float before placing them back on the side.  I also find this rule useful for diving, which can be scary for some students. 
4. "Ears up, eyes up"  or "When the teacher is talking, your whole head must be above the water"
This prevents students from going underwater while you are giving instructions or doing demonstrations.  I do allow students freedom to do bobs, etc when I am not directly instructing them, IE during another student's turn.  Kids are much more likely to focus on you when you really need them to if they are allowed to relax when it is not vital. 
5. You may not jump or dive in without permission
Primarily for safety, this also helps my sanity. 
6. Keep your hand on the wall when it is not your turn
With classes of younger students, this is my hard and fast rule.  Holding on to the wall with one hand keeps the kids safe, and in one place!  If I return to the class after instructing a child to find someone with their hand off the wall, I will either redirect them "Where is your hand supposed to be?" and I do not allow them to take their turn until that hand has touched the wall again. With older students, I may make them keep a hand on the wall, or give them an area in which they must stay "Do not go past the ladder" "Do not cross the black line on the bottom of the pool"  Again, if they are out of place, they are redirected and do not get a turn until they are in the proper place. 
 In any level, I try to keep one-on-one instruction to a minimum to reduce the amount of time a child has to wait around with their hand on the wall.  This technique is most successful when you put effort into it initially, and then relax as the students start to catch on.
7. Respect other students
This generally manifests its self as "Keep your hands to yourself" but can also fend off heckling, teasing, bullying, and too much talking.  The best method for dealing with heckling is to cut it off as soon as it happens "We do not say those things in this class" and then drop it.  In many cases, the heckler is looking for attention from other students or the teacher, and will knock it off if they aren't getting any feedback, positive or negative. 

These are my rules, for my classes, at my facility.  Each teacher has to figure out what works best for them.  For example, I always choose the order in which my students go.  This keeps kids from asking "Can I go first?"  "Can I go next" over and over and over....which for some reason annoys the crap out of me.  Other teachers may not have a problem with this, and so may not make this a rule. 

Here are some general tips for managing behavior:
1. Tell your students what you WANT them to do.  "No running" says what NOT to do.  "Walk please" gives them an actual correct behavior to do. 
2. Have an undesirable behavior?  Figure out an incompatible behavior.  For example, it is physically impossible to wander away from the class while simultaneously keeping your butt on the stairs.  Kids can't be in two places at once. 
3.Be specific.  "Stay here" is not specific, and is open to interpretation.  "Keep you bottom on the stair between these two railings" leaves little wiggle room. 
4. Be consistent!  Once you decide on the rules, enforce them for all students, all the time.  Obviously there will be exceptions due to extemporaneous circumstances, but in general, consistency is key!
5. Figure out what your students find rewarding, and use it to shape their behavior.  Your kids love jumping off the diving board?  Use that activity as a reward for following the rules...and let them know that their good behavior earned them this treat!  "Because you guys did such a good job following directions today, we can all jump off the board one time!"  In many cases, simply thanking or praising students for good behavior is reward enough, and can increase compliance in the future. 
6. Address attention-seeking behavior with as little attention as possible.  If it is a safety issue, time outs work well. "I asked you to stay with the class.  Because you did not, you need to sit on the side."  Do not give any attention until the time-out is complete (30 seconds is sufficient). 

Last but not least, remember:  kids will be kids.  They will forget rules, get bored and distracted, fight and argue with each other, get scared, etc.  Don't expect perfection.  Give kids time to be silly, to play, and to relax a bit between activities.  HAVE FUN!  Kids who are interested and engaged in your lesson, and know what to expect from you, are much less likely to misbehave in the first place!

I'm always open to new and creative ways to effectively manage my classes.  Feel free to chime in!