Discussion: Coaching Certification

Hi All,
I have been working on a revamped level 1 coaching course. I am planning to role it out for 2017. My goal is to have 3 courses around the US. I am putting this little message out before anything official to see who might be interested in having one of these courses in their area. If there is interest we can start organizing now. You can respond to this post or email me. Cheers

Erin

Boston

Yes, Boston.

Seattle would be good because of the junior program we have. We have an active and organized league, but comparatively not enough when it comes to training and coaching.

Our league starts in November, and there's usually a pre-season training for juniors in October. Seems like pairing that with a coaching course in October 2017 would work.

Ed and Patrick I am with you on this maybe Boston in early spring and Seattle around the time mentioned in October. The main thing is we need a space with some digital capabilities. The course consists of a combination of classroom work and outside work so having space for both with a map available is the best case scenario. The schedule will be roughly
Friday 5-6:30 and 7:30-9
Saturday 9-10:30, 11-12:30 2-3:30, 4-6, 7:30-9
Sunday 9-10:30, 11-12:30, 1;30 -3.

Maybe you guys can start looking into the best place to have this. Maybe a campus where you can go back and forth between inside and outside activities.

Still looking for a third location?? any other takers?

Perth. We have loads of computers in this city.

Erin, let's talk about Florida. With some 40 high school JROTC units and over 1,000 students now participating in that state there would seem to be some potential demand for more coaching instruction.

Erin, can you look into getting this course qualified for continuing education credits for teachers?

DC/Quantico would be interested.

I would hope that it will expand from the 3 intended courses to more in the future :)

+1 for the DC area

+1 for continuing ed. credits! no idea what this takes...

One of our Navigation Games board members is familiar with the continuing ed accreditation in MA. The nice thing about getting this is that it might be more motivating for teachers, particularly since I imagine it will cost them not only time but also money.
To be able to apply it toward requirements they have for maintaining this continuing ed credits each year would be awesome. Massachusetts teachers have to renew or recertify their professional license every five years.

Individuals with Massachusetts standard certificates must engage in sustained professional development that strengthens professional knowledge and skills in order to meet the state’s new recertification requirements.

From Recertification guidelines for MA educators

The same source says that programs must
* total at least 10 hours
* include a product or pre-and post-content assessment
* include a follow-up component

PDPs are not offered for 1-day workshops or conferences.

Oo: Educators may earn PDPs for developing and implementing an activity for students, parents, or teachers that incorporates the learning standards of the curriculum frameworks. And there is further incentive if the school-based activity is distributed or implemented within a local school, district, or university.

I would like to read this more carefully; maybe Navigation Games and/or OUSA can register to be a PD provider.

FAQ

In addition to school-age teachers, I think it would be neat to go after pre-school providers based on some of Erin's and other ideas for developing spatial awareness, experience and reasoning in the very young.

Looking into the CEU/C. It looks like their is a US sports academy that might be able to do it nationally so we don't have to figure it out for every state. I have reached out to them and will see what we need to do.

Putting Florida, QOC, and MNOC on my list. Yes hopefully there will be more teachers soon. Might take a year or two to do it the right way but that's my goal!

Nice, Erin.

Hey Barb, can you put me in touch with your friend who knows about the Massachusetts CEC?

Also how soon could we organize a course in Boston?

How about Texas? NTOA gets hundreds of kids at every event, and has had a great training camp for many years.

Erin, let me know if you need help with the paperwork for the CEC cert. (No previous experience but it's something I can do.)

Really like the idea of doing these in places like Florida and Texas, that have lots of kids but not as much attention from the rest of the O universe.

How about somewhere in the eastern part of the Midwest that is central to ICO, OCIN, OLOU, SLOC, CAOC, OBLUE, MVOC, COO, SMOC.....

O Joy +1

Brenda that would be great! Any thoughts on were? I am considering attending the Troll camp in November were we could make room for some coaching stuff but it is mainly focused on athletes. So if there are ideas for a coaching course somewhere in the area I am all ears.

Also note about Texas Mary. Who would be the best person to organize this with?

Erin, the NTOA website lists the President's email as: jim.stevens.tx_at_gmail.com

I would start with a smaller group that includes a number of already certified coaches. That way you can get some good feedback, and make any necessary modifications to the course, before expanding to larger groups. Then move on to training trainers. Based on the current certification list, Seattle, Georgia, and Quantico look like good potential starting points.

Teaching people who are not yet set in their ways is actually a better measure of how much one has accomplished through teaching.

Whether someone is "set in their ways" has far less to do with their certification and far more to do with their personality. We can all learn from each others experiences. I agree that it is equally important that initial training groups include some inexperienced participants who are approaching the material for the first time.

@smittyo - I agree with you. What I mean is that if you have few newcomers, the ones who learn everything in your course, they are a true measure what you need to fine tune. For the others you will not really get a feel for the gaps in your teaching, as they inadvertently may have filled the gaps with what they knew, but not necessarily spotted the fact they did not get it from the course.