Christian

Rob

Michelle

Roles

Part time M.Ed.

Full time teacher

Full time M.Ed.

Full time M.Ed.

Curriculum Area

Intermediate Division (all subjects)

Junior girls basketball

University course in Leisure Studies and Recreation

Starting Point

To reduce the piles of student work waiting to be marked, I realized that assignments handed back quickly might have a beneficial impact on the student’s learning.

Identify how Ms. X, as coach, could improve her team’s performance through use of mental imagery techniques.

Rob is critical friend to assist Ms. X.

Questioning her practices and methods as course instructor

Previous students reported that this course was very effective in their learning. Professor wants to discover WHAT made that learning happen.

Further Questions

• What changes must I make in work habits to return assignments within 2 working days?
• Will students notice any differences?

Breakthrough

• Project theme came from asking my students to evaluate the subject I teach and me as teacher.
• Project became a sort of "exorcism of the piles" . Piles are far less scary if they are dealt with sooner rather than later.

New Practices

Marking assignments is placed on top of my work priority list.

Surveys indicated increased confidence in shooting ability.

94% of players reported mental imagery helps.

Data

• General evaluation questionnaire.
• Specific questionnaire at the end of the project.
• Anecdotal comments and impressions from me.

Ms. X felt having the chance to discuss the technique with her students gave her more personal rapport with team and improved communication.

Students had more chance to think about the game when not on the court.

• Monitoring students’ application of what they have learned and application of tools to real-life situations and class discussions.
• Final exam; a paper demonstrating effective group-process understanding; class presentation; pre- and post- test of LEAD questionnaire

Findings

New Knowledge

• I get a better sense of what is understood individually and as a group while the studied theme is still fresh in our minds.
• Students value the fact that their assignments are handed back .

Gains in team’s shooting performance cannot be attributed solely to mental imagery. As novice players it is impossible to isolate the skill development.

Focus changed from interest solely on improvement of skill to effect of technique on players’ confidence to shoot more often in games.

Grading / evaluation skill in progress.

LEAD showed no significant changes in dominant leadership style but there was a significant change in flexibility between styles demonstrating that the students were significantly more flexible in adjusting their style.

Validation

• Sense of personal accomplishment.
• Sharing with classmates.

Discussions with action research classmates.

Discussions between Rob and Ms. X.

Follow-up questionnaires to be given to the students.

LEAD has validation checks built in to test for internal validity between items

Compare assignments to each other and to questionnaire for validation

Check with students.

Next Steps

To continue this practice and collect more data.

How else can Ms. X improve team’s shooting?

How will Ms. X improve use of this technique with her team next year?

How important is winning to the students? to Ms. X?