Clean Run Magazine - August 2008 - 53

TAG is an acronym for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. It uses an audible marker that lets you know exactly when you are doing something right. Agility instructors are a lot like any other teachers or coaches—we easily fall into the trap of nagging our students. How many times have you found yourself saying the same things over and over again to students who don’t seem to understand the simplest of English phrases? We nag. Our parents nagged us; our teachers nagged us; our coaches nagged us. And so it continues, each generation of agility instructors nagging students. Doesn’t sound like much fun for anyone, does it? NAG TAG NAG Your Students! By Helix Fairweather www.cleanrun.com) set on the electronic “ping!” sound as the marker for students, because when I click or “tag” a handler, it is very likely that she will be clicking her dog for his correct performance at the same time. Using the “ping!” sound distinguishes it from the clicker sound the handler is using for her dog. TAGteachers plan their teaching by setting up their students to succeed, by defining goals, and by building skills in small increments. TAGteachers create “tag points” for students based on what would help the student succeed at that moment. The tag point describes a specific response, action, or position that the student strives to achieve. When the student is successful, she earns a reward. The reward for correct performance of the tag point is the “ping!” which gives immediate and clear feedback to the student. With adults the clear and immediate feedback is sufficient reinforcement. Young adults and children may require tangible reinforcers paired with their tag, similar to a handler giving her dog a treat following a click. PING! There’s a way to put an end to all that nagging. It’s called TAGteaching and it’s an exciting new way to teach humans using the same principles we use to clicker train our dogs. And just like clicker training, it’s science-based technology. Coaches and teachers are applying TAGteaching in all kinds of areas—ballet, gymnastics, golf, basketball, teaching autistic kids, physical therapy, swimming, tennis—so why not agility! TAG is an acronym for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. We use an audible marker to communicate to a student the exact moment she has met our teaching criterion—just like we do when we click our dogs. I like to use the Clicker+ (www.clickertraining.com or People coached via tag points report that they can visualize in their heads the correct response and that their bodies “just get it.” How many times have you told a handler to “stand up straight when you run,” and had the handler respond, “I am standing up straight!” We are no different than our dogs; we can learn from having the instant of correct response marked. What’s the PoiNt? The art of TAGteaching is in the creation of useful, clear, and concise tag points (tag points of five words or fewer are more easily remembered). A tag point describes the criterion the student must meet to earn her tag. A tag point must meet the following criteria: be phrased positively: Just as in dog training, agility instructors are better off figuring out what we want our learners (our agility handlers) to do rather than focusing on what we don’t want them to do. Positive phrasing of the tag point is how we stay straight on this point. be measurable or observable: Being measurable or observable takes the subjectivity out of whether or not the learner meets the criterion for the tag point. Instead of telling a student to use August 08 | Clean Run a “bigger” hand signal, we can be more specific by saying, “Arm at shoulder height.” That is measurable. be able to be judged with a yes or no response: There is never a “better, but…” response. The tag point describes the criterion so that you can declare, “Yes, she met her tag point,” or, “No, she didn’t meet her tag point.” This helps teachers stay clear about working on one, and only one, criterion at a time—an element just as important to human learners as it is to canine learners. Using the audible marker to tag has advantages over using your voice: ● It is language-free and thus is clear, precise, and consistent. It is impartial and non-judgmental. It does not invite a social response from the student (and that helps her stay focused on her learning). It can easily be perceived and counted, thus providing a way to document success and improvement. ● ● ● 53

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Clean Run Magazine - August 2008

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