review

Reflection is what allows us to learn from our experiences: it is an assessment of where we have been and where we want to go next.”

– Kenneth Wolf

Thanks to contributor Casie Millhouse-Singh, Casie is an American gymnastics coach with over 20 years of experience in the sport as both gymnast, coach and judge. Currently, she is coaching for the Singapore American Community Action Council, better known as SACAC, gymnastics program. She is elected as Singapore Gymnastics Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Recreational Pathway Technical Leader and is also a Singapore National judge. You can follow her blog at: COACH CASIE

Reflection is the process of looking at something in order to review it. When we are in the middle of our gymnastics lessons, we have to make quick decisions, as there is no time to stop and think. When we reflect on the lessons afterwards we are able to think about the decisions we made and decide whether or not they were suitable. We can decide if we would like to make the same decisions again in the same circumstances or if there are better ways of handling it.

In other words, we should question ourselves critically in an unbiased way. Keep an open mind and avoid letting personal feelings get in the way. Try adding space for reflections in your lesson plan templates with the following questions:

Reflection

Did the children seem bored with any activity?
Were the children actively involved and eager participants?
Did the children seem interested in the activities?
Did I struggle to get co-operation from the children?
Did they finish the task much quicker than what you anticipated?
Did they struggle to finish in the allocated time?
Did they enjoy the activities/skills and ask for it to be repeated? Which ones?
Did everything go as planned?
Which activities would you not recommend in the future?

Do reflections as soon after the activity has been completed as possible so that your ideas and observations are still fresh in your mind.

Reflection is often neglected because we think it takes too much of our precious time. We may also avoid it because we feel that we have failed or not done well. We need to always balance the strengths and the weaknesses, and asked ourselves what aspects worked and what aspects did not work. In this way, we can prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes over again and improve or teaching practice.

How Do You Know You Are Doing A Good Job?

For gym owners or managers sometimes it is very difficult to tell if you are doing a good job.

Your employees may be afraid to give you constructive criticism but they are happy to talk about you when you are not around! IF you are lucky you will have one person who is NOT afraid to tell you the truth when you mess something up.

Is there anyone around to let you know when you have done a good job? All too often the answer is, “NO”.

Compliments feel shallow, forced or insincere.

Remember- Actions speak louder than words! In the gym we are more than a paycheck to most (hopefully all) of our employees.

You know you are doing a good job when:

Coaches/ teachers volunteer to sub for a class.
Coaches/ teachers do things to make your job easier
Coaches/ teachers willingly do MORE than what is required of them.
Coaches/ teachers are PROUD to be associated with you. They want to introduce you to their friends and family
Coaches/ teachers play a joke on you.

You can not look for these things to happen every day, although that would be nice. If ANY of these things happens every once and a while, you are probably doing OK.

If NONE of these things happen, EVER– You probably have some work to do.

PRAISE THOSE AROUND YOU.

Here’s what the psychologists think about praise: “Positive reinforcement works better than punishment.”

Here’s what the management experts think: “Employee recognition leads to profit.”

Here’s what the neurologists think: “Dopamine, which is released in the brain any time we hear something we like, is a powerful chemical.”

How important is praise in the workplace or in the gym? A 2010 study published in Harvard Business Review found that at Best Buy, a 0.1 % increase in employee engagement drove $100,000 in operating income to the bottom line of EACH store per year.

In your gym- employee engagement involves a lot of things.