Teacher V’s Coach

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Some people may think that a teacher and a coach are the same thing when they are not. Teaching is focused on acquiring new knowledge and skills, whereas coaching is focused on refining and developing existing knowledge and skills. Ownership and responsibility for success are placed on the teacher. Where with coaching, both parties have a responsibility, and it opens up a communication pathway. Coaching often happens when dealing with real-life, on-the-job problems. Teaching is a theoretical situation that may or may not arise. Teaching also usually has a defined timeline with an end goal or deadline in place. Coaching will happen over an undefined period of time.

Teaching is used when someone has no previous knowledge. Communication differs when coaching assumes a level of knowledge to be built upon. A teacher will be one-sided and instructional, whereas a coach is two-way, with the emphasis being on the person being coached to come up with their own conclusions.

Best Practices for Virtual Training and Instruction

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With a lot of training and learning moving online, as an instructor, who was used to in-person sessions, you may be wondering how to improve your virtual training sessions. If you feel like your virtual learning is simply not working or could be improved upon, here are a few tips:

• Ensure you are using the right platform. Ideally, you want a platform that will allow for polling, group break-out, screen-sharing, hand raising etc.

• Use the features mentioned above to increase interaction and engagement

• Decrease session length to no longer than 45 minutes and increase session frequency

• Ensure your audio and visual devices are optimal, so everyone can hear and see you well

• Have clear session procedures laid out

• Break info-heavy slides into smaller chunks for easier mental digestion

If you are finding your virtual training sessions need improvement, here are a few best practices tips to help you increase engagement, session optimisation and focus for your students.

Take your passion for coaching further

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If you help out at a club or group assisting a coach, you might want to take things further by getting some qualifications. There’s a whole spectrum of qualifications you could go for, with specialisations in a broad range of sports available. A basic level qualification will improve your skills when assisting a lead coach but beyond that, you can qualify to coach on your own.
Some course providers offer one-day coaching workshops for a range of levels. These are great as a taster and may give you an idea of which route you want to go down, as well as giving your skills a boost and having the opportunity to meet and chat with other coaches. These day courses are easy to fit in around work making them great for volunteer coaches.
If you’re really serious about coaching there are great college and degree level courses available. Consider whether you want to specialise in coaching for certain groups (eg. disabled sports) If you want to work with children you’ll need to pass an enhanced disclosure check.

Coaching an after school activity for children

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After school activities are a great way of keeping children occupied whilst doing something that they enjoy. If you are looking to start an after school club then there are many options of what you could do, for example you could do a sporting activity such as rugby or football and get the children to play in teams against each other, this is a great way to encourage children to stay fit and healthy whilst having fun. Other great sporting clubs include hockey, basketball and tennis all of which are great especially if you have an outdoor space where they can be run.

Another option could be a dance club where you could teach street dance or contemporary dance to help the children learn a new method of expression and teach them valuable skills that they could continue into their exams by taking performing arts. Along the same lines is a drama group where you could organise local plays or productions that the children could be involved in, this would boost their confidence and allow them to make friends and be part of a team.

After school activities can be great for children who are struggling socially and really can make the difference to their school life.

Becoming an effective business coach

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A business coach is someone that will assist others in their day to day job to help them improve their performance and also job satisfaction. If you are a company employing a coach, you would expect them to be able to analyse your business and make proactive suggestions on what needs to be improved and hoe to go about it. This in turn, should increase your productivity and turnover. Coaching is often used for managers within a company of a way of teaching them how to effectively interact with members of staff and to give them extra confidence need to ensure that they are doing their job to the best of their ability. Many coaches come from a psychology type background and have often working within the human resources industry. To be a great business coach you need to have experience and be able to talk to people of all backgrounds and abilities.

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