Clean Run Magazine - November 2008 - 56

Interpretation provokes curiosity and interest, and relates new information to everyday experiences. Interpretation creates special memories by revealing truths instead of telling truths, and learning units are organized around a unifying theme. and inclusive? Make sure your students feel that both parts of their team are welcome and appreciated. Taking a small amount of class time to get to know your students and to allow them to get to know each other can help your class of individuals become a supportive group. Your students also need to feel respected as individuals and as a human-canine team. If you have students with great shelter dogs who are not interested in pursuing purebred alternative listing with AKC, respect their desire to value their dogs as unique individuals, and let it go. There are plenty of venues that welcome mixed breeds and dogs of unknown parentage. Pushing identification as a specific breed sends the message that you don’t respect or value the team. At the apex of the hierarchy is self-actualization. The self-actualized agility team has a philosophical sense of humor; they resist outside pressures and can transcend the environment rather than simply coping with it. The competitor who arrives late to a trial because her car was robbed, gets no walk-through, but is calmly cracking jokes before her run has transcended her environment. This is the ultimate goal for any agility competitor, and students who are already in this space will be largely motivated by a personal desire for growth. You cannot force your students to grow or strive to reach their agility potential. Trainer Speak: If you can help your students fulfill their other needs, you will create a training environment that will allow them to reach self-actualization. students to understand why it is the best choice. Don’t tell them how to handle the sequence; let them try it on their own. You may be surprised to find that your students are willing to try bolder handling choices than you would have predicted. It is even possible that they will make an intuitive leap to a more advanced handling choice. If their handling of the sequence wasn’t ideal, have them do it again with your tip. If they used the best method the first time, tell them you think they made the best choice for the course, but what if the course was a little different, and so on. They will understand how to apply their handling moves better at a trial if they’ve experienced the results of different choices. When you approach your class as an agility interpreter, you create a comfortable, safe, and supportive atmosphere where people can challenge themselves to learn new skills. By interpreting agility for your students, you provide opportunities for them to be successful and to learn at their own pace. D Trainer Speak: Most importantly, your enthusiasm and love for the sport becomes infectious and you inspire your students to reach their highest potential. Humans learning in a recreational environment remember 10% of what they hear, 30% of what they read, 50% of what they see, and 90% of what they do. Keep your communication clear and concise, but don’t hide your love for the sport. Sixty-five percent of oral communication is nonverbal, and there is no substitute for sincere enthusiasm. Handouts and lecture may be helpful, but demonstrating a new action before you ask your students to do it is more effective. Have your lessons organized in advance. Briefly state your goals and how they relate to the big picture at the start of each class. When demonstrating a new skill, show both the foundation exercise and what the finished product will look like so your students will have a clear picture of what they are working toward. Relating new ideas to experiences they’ve already had in or out of agility creates connections and improves students’ understanding. For example, signaling a cross is like using a car’s turn signal; it tells everyone else on the road where you are going and malfunctioning signals cause accidents through miscommunication. Friendly competition stimulates learning, and games can be a great way to approach the excitement of a trial. Games need to be chosen carefully, however, because adults expect learning experiences to be relevant, efficient, and goal-oriented. Select games that are based on skills your students have been developing and show how the game fits in the theme of the class. Make sure your students can complete the game successfully and you will also be building a love of agility by reinforcing their self-esteem and creating a sense of accomplishment. Create opportunities for your students to discover important handling concepts. You may know a particular handling move is the best choice for a given sequence, but you want your 56 � Diana manages the education department at a zoo in southern Indiana where she is responsible for educational programming, interpretive planning, volunteer educators, and the recurring oddities of zoo management. For 15 years, she has taught a variety of audiences, including university undergraduate classes, agility, and basic dog training. Diana competes in agility and herds with her Standard Schnauzers, Nico and Ziggy. She is currently the Director of Training for the Agility Club of Evansville, Indiana. Contact Diana at irondogs@earthlink.net. For more inFormation: Carter, James (2001) A Sense of Place: An interpretive planning handbook. Second Edition. Published electronically on the Scottish Interpretation Network (www.scotinterpnet.org.uk) Maslow, Abraham (1954) Motivation and Personality. Harper & Row, New York, NY. Tilden, Freeman (1957) Interpreting our Heritage. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC. Veverka, John A. (1994) Interpretive Master Planning. Falcon Press, Helena, MT. Ward, Carolyn Widner & Alan E. Wilkinson (2006) Conducting Meaningful Interpretation: A Field Guide for Success. Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. Clean Run | November 08

http://www.scotinterpnet.org.uk

Clean Run Magazine - November 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - November 2008