Self Dependence: The Self-Check Style of Teaching

There are many approaches to teaching skills and strategies in Physical Education, acid our literature is rich with descriptions of these varied methodologies. One writer in particular, Muska Mosston, notably contributed to Physical Education's body (if literature with his detailed descriptions oh the characteristics of various teaching methods. In categorizing these "Styles of Tecching" the strengths and weaknesses of each method of teaching a Physical Education lesson were analyzed. Mosston's analyses showed that for any style a teacher might choose, certain aspects or possibilities (it the teaching-learning situation were facilitated while other aspects were diminished. In other words, there are always strengths and weaknesses inherent in any teaching strategy (Mosston & Ashworth, 1994; Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). Table 1 displays a listing of the styles and a brief descriptive characteristic of each one.

This is the fourth article in a series which offers insight into each of the Teaching Styles. The first article in this series (published in The Virginia Journal, 30(2), 20-22, 2009) provided background information regarding the Spectrum of' Teaching Styles, and a description of how the first style--Style A, or the Command Style; --is used. The second and third articles discussed the next of the Teaching Styles along the continuum--Style B, the Practice Style, and Style C, the Reciprocal Style. Practical examples and suggestions regarding how these teaching styles can be used were included. This article will describe the characteristics, possibilities, and limitations inherent when students work in partnership with their teacher in evaluating their skills. This teaching style is known as the Self-Check Style (Style D).

Most PE teachers feel the need to provide feedback to students as they learn various motor skills. In a typical lesson the teacher may begin by providing a demonstration and explanation of the task to be learned ("Good morning everyone; today we're going to learn how to ..."). After this, the teacher then asks students to begin practicing that task. The teacher circulates through the class offering feedback (preferably process-oriented feedback) to students about their performance. However, large class sizes can make it difficult to offer feedback to all students in a timely manner. Teaching style C (Reciprocal) offered an answer to this dilemma. In this style, students observe one another and take turns giving feedback to each other. The teacher provides a demonstration of the task to be learned and usually some kind of task sheet which the student observers can use. Using the task sheet, -which may have performance cues and/or pictures of co rrect technique, each student watches a performing partner and offers feedback based on the criteria given on the task sheet. The teachers' role is to assist the observers in becoming better at observing and providing the feedback. This style thus insures that all students receive feedback about how they are performing the task Providing feedback in a constructive way is a skill that can be learned, and the more this style is used the better students should get at observing and assessing the physical skills their partner is displaying. The obvious drawback, of course, is that using students to give one another feedback means that, while this style is being used, half of the class is not getting physical practice of the skill. Yes, they are engaged cognitively, but they just aren't getting any skill repetitions. Feedback for all is gained at the expense of cutting the amount of skill repetitions each student will get. How can this new dilemma be resolved? The next style on Mosston's continuum of teaching styles provides an answer.

Style D--the Self-Check style--builds on the strengths of Style C (all students get feedback) while addressing that styles' weakness (loss of practice repetitions). It is an aptly named style because the responsibility for providing corrective feedback is now shifted directly to each student as s/he performs the task to be learned. Having gained some skill in providing feedback to peers via previous lessons in which Style C was used as a teaching strategy the students now employ that skill in self-analysis (Mosston & Ashworth, 1994).

As in all of the so-called the "Reproduction Styles" (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002; Thomson, 2009), the Self-Check style of teaching begins with the teacher explaining and demonstrating a task to the class. As in the Reciprocal style, once the teacher demonstrates the task to be learned and the way in which the students are to practice that task the teacher will usually also provide a task sheet with criteria for successful performance for the students to use. During practice time in the Self-Check style the students assume responsibility for identifying and correcting their own errors. The teacher usually does not critique student performance per se, but instead attempts to help students sharpen their self-analysis skills.

The following is an example of how this plays out in a lesson segment. Let it be assumed in this tennis lesson scenario that the students have warmed up and been hitting balls at net and from the baseline for some 6-8 minutes. Now the teacher wishes to use the Self-Check style during the next lesson segment on improving their serving motion. The serve has been practiced during parts of two previous lessons, and in yesterday's lesson the teacher used the Reciprocal style to allow the students to give one another feedback. The teacher now begins this segment.

"OK everyone--gather around here. Two days ago we introduced and practiced serving the ball. We all spent more time serving yesterday but then we also had a little part of the lesson in which you watched your partner hit some serves and you gave him or her feedback based on the observation sheet I gave you. Then your partner hit more serves and you gave him or her feedback again, and then it was your turn to be the hitter and your partner's turn to be the observer. Each of you helped a classmate by watching their serving motion and offering them some helpful information about that motion. Today I want to start with a quick review of the proper service motion and then let you begin practicing, but today you will be giving feedback to yourselves. Everyone take one of these observation sheets I'm passing around and let's review the key points of serving."

Now the students have the observation sheet in their hands and the teacher demonstrates proper serve technique on several serves. The teacher tries to draw the students' attention to the key elements of the serve. The teacher may hit some serves with good form and may also hit some serves in which s/he intentionally makes some performance error.

"OK everyone, check out this serve and tell me if you see any errors (teacher hits a serve). OK, what did you notice about the form I showed that time?" Here the students give various answers. "Ok, now watch my arm motion this time and let me know if I did it correctly or incorrectly". Again, the students and teacher dialogue about what constitutes proper technique.

Now the students spread to the various courts and begin serving. The teacher has left them instructions on how to practice, how many serves to hit, and when to review their task/ observation sheets. A sample observation sheet used in Self-Check Style teaching follows to help to illustrate the instructions a teacher might give when using this teaching style.

Style D observation sheet example:

Player

Concentrate on proper form as you perform 4 serves, putting a
checkmark ([check]) in the appropriate box (boxes 1, 2, 3 and 4)
when you believe you have used the correct technique. Make your
marks after each individual serve. After the first four serves,
look back and decide on what it is you most need to work on. Then
repeat the process for four more serves, marking your performance
for each in boxes 5-8. Repeat the process as time permits.

Serve Reminders: (1) 1/4 turn from target (2) Toss higher than
extended reach (3) Weight back, then forward (4) Slice the ball
(don't slap) (5) Follow through into court

                                                   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Grip = continental
Stance = foot to post, 1/4 turn
Hands down together, straight toss arm
Toss = front of hitting shoulder; into court
Racquet loops, elbow extends
Outcome/Product: [check] = landed "in"

Notes/What to work on:

Strengths of this style:

An interesting aspect of the spectrum of teaching styles is that quite often a weakness in one style is addressed in the next style along the continuum. Style D is no different. Here, all students have the opportunity for practice. Skill repetitions are once again (as in Style B, the Practice Style) available for all students as each student moves/performs at his/her own pace, getting as many skill reps as s/he can in the allotted practice time. This directly addresses the weakness of Style C in which practice reps are cut in half by the necessity of offering feedback to one's peers (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002; Thomson, 2013). That approach, however, was important in that students got the opportunity to watch and observe skill movements and to practice "thinking" about the movements in a deeper way. This ability to analyze skill performance will now be applied to themselves. The students become more responsible for their own learning. This should help them become more self-reliant, more self-aware, and more active in their own learning.

In order for this to happen the teacher must interact with the students by asking questions. Instead of saying to a student "you are doing this part of the skill correctly and you are doing that part of the skill incorrectly" the teacher must draw those judgments from the student. A typical exchange may follow along these lines:

Teacher: Mariel, how are you doing with your serve?

Student: Pretty well I think.

Teacher: Ok, what's going well?

Student: My toss is about the right height most of the time, and I'm getting some serves into the court.

Teacher: Yes, I've seen that. What about the place where you're hitting the ball? Does it seem to be in front of your shoulder or off to one side? Is your arm pretty much always extended when your racquet hits the ball, or is it kind of bent sometimes?

Student: Hmm, I think it's alright sometimes, but maybe not always. I'm not sure.

Teacher: Ok, why don't you hit your next two serves and don't think of anything except where you should be contacting the ball? Then you can tell whether you did it or not (student hits two more serves as teacher simply and silently watches). Well, what do you think--were you hitting the ball in front of your hitting shoulder with your arm reaching out to the ball?

Student: Yeah, I think I was. I may not have been doing that before, but now I'll remember that.

Teacher: I think you were, too. If you can remember where a good toss should go you'll hit better serves more of the time. As should be obvious, the role of the teacher is to help the students sharpen their skills in self-analysis. This is not easy, but it pays rewards as students become more self-reliant and less dependent on teacher (or peer) feedback.

Possible drawbacks to this style:

It may be hard for students to be completely honest with themselves as reality (how they are performing the task) and perception (how they think they are performing) may or may not coincide. Some students will certainly be too casual and rate themselves highly; they will perceive they are "doing really well" when, in fact, they are not. Conversely, some students will be too harsh on themselves. They will remember the demonstration provided by the teacher or by a video of a skilled performer that the teacher showed them. Even though they may be quite good for a beginner, they only see themselves as coming quite short of that performance level.

It is also worthwhile to note that while some students will become familiar with the observation sheets and comfortable with using them, others will forget to use the sheets and will fail to remember how they did on any particular skill repetition or group of repetitions. The teacher must be patient in helping students learn to develop their memory for self-analysis skills as much as their physical task skills. Further, when students have not attained basic competencies in the task, and thus their performance is not very good, what will their feedback tell them other than that they are "not good" at this task? This can be frustrating for students and teachers alike.

Self-analysis is a skill and needs to be practiced in order to be learned, and some students will simply have a difficult time learning to self-analyze. The teacher will ask questions to cue the students and ask them to perform the task and the student will still be unable to explain what it is that she or he is doing correctly or incorrectly. At that point a teacher may find it necessary to simply offer direct feedback ("You need to keep your ball-tossing arm straight and toss the ball in front of your hitting shoulder").

Conclusion

Teaching Style D--the Self-Check Style--provides students plenty of opportunity for skill repetition while helping them take greater responsibility and ownership of their learning. During practice, students are assigned responsibility for providing self feedback. The role of the teacher is to help students with self-evaluation skills which, in turn, should aid their physical performance skills. The teacher must patiently use the skill of asking questions, and must try to refrain from directly correcting poor or improper technique. A typical teacher question might be "Where was the ball when your racquet contacted it?" and a typical student answer might be "I don't know". In this style, instead of simply telling the student, the teacher must then refocus the student attention to the task. Something along the lines of "Try it again, only this time really concentrate on where you make contact" might be enough to prod the student to pay attention to the proper mechanics of the skill.

Building on Reciprocal style teaching the Self-Check style uses task sheets quite often. Students use these in comparing/ contrasting their movements with the model movements provided by the teacher and the task sheet. Unlike the Reciprocal style, all students have the opportunity for practice and students should get plenty of skill repetitions in a well-organized lesson segment. This style should help the students become more self-reliant and more active in their own learning. However, the teacher must remember that self-analysis is difficult and the students will need practice at using the observation sheets.

In closing, it is interesting to note that in Practice Style (Mosston & Ashworth, 1994; Thomson, 2010) the students learn to perform a task. In Reciprocal Style, they learn to "use criteria" regarding the task and to give feedback to peers. In Self Check Style, they learn to use those skills for themselves! The combination of these styles in a lesson or series of lessons opens the door for increased learning on the part of the students and increased awareness on the part of the teacher.

References

Mosston, M., & Ashworth, S. (1994). Teaching physical education (4th Ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Mosston, M., & Ashworth, S. (2002). Teaching physical education (5th Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings.

Thomson, W. (2009). Mosston's styles of teaching: A review of command style. The Virginia Journal, 30(2), 20-22.

Thomson, W. (2010). Styles of teaching B: The practice style. The Virginia Journal, 31(2), 4-7.

Thomson, W. (2013). Partners and peer observers--The reciprocal style of teaching. The Virginia Journal, 34(2), 15-18.

William C Thomson, Associate Professor, Department of Health, Athletic Training, Recreation and Kinesiology, Longwood University

Table 1

Style   Style Name              Characteristic

A       Command                 Students move on signal from teacher
B       Practice                Self-paced student practice; feedback
                                from teacher
C       Reciprocal              Feedback from a peer observer
D       Self-Check              Feedback to self
E       Inclusion               Multiple levels of task difficulty
F       Guided discovery        Learning is directed by questions
G       Convergent production   Students converge on one correct answer
H       Divergent production    Multiple correct solutions to problem
I       Going beyond            Students conceive problem and solution