Senior Project Reflection

1.  Positive Statement 
1. I think I did really well with my activities, people seemed to really enjoy them
2. Questions to consider
1. I think I would give myself a AE. I met time, and was able to regurgitate all of my planned presentation material. People seemed to really enjoy my presentation a lot, I had no complaints afterwords, only complements. Just as a whole, I believe I did well 
2. Overall, I think I deserve a P on the senior project. I did well on the project, not exceedingly, but well enough.
3. What worked?
1. I liked i-Search, it was a way for me to plan what was going to be in my two hour. I used a lot of the material I had written in my i-Search, in my two hour. 
4. What didn't work
1. Research, I did not like the research aspect of it namely because I'm a horribly messy person. I'm terrible at keeping things together and so the research folder was a nightmare. 
5. How was senior project helpful 
1. i-Seach was the longest paper I've had to write in a long time. We don't do many essays, so writing this one was a helpful bit of practice for college life. Additionally it's made me more assertive, and that's always good for professional life

2-Hour Presentation

My Lesson plan

Service Learning

• L
• Hours
• Monique Wiesmuller (626)-796-6011
• I
• The most important thing I gained from this experience was the ability to project a sense of self confidence and authority. It was really important to be able to do that when I was dealing with kids, because, like sharks, if the smelled fear they would move in for the kill. This new found skill will be helpful when the 2-hour comes around. 
• A
• Well, I think this was really one of the most helpful things to my senior project. It gave me a chance to try out and put into practice all the coaching skills and tips I'd been researching. It was a hands on experience. Without my service learning I think it would have been hard to come to a conclusive answer; articles on the internet just weren't enough. You can't be a coach with no one to coach.

Independent component 2

I, Benjamin Miyamoto, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
Literal
During this time, I've not only been able to brush up on skills, like the ones above, to teach, but I was also able to practice spotting on older people, who would be less likely to cry or hurt them selves if I messed up. Which I think was invaluable to my service learning experience.
Interpretative
Even after the previous weeks of practicing, I've finally made it to a point where I feel comfortable tumbling again. That comfort has made it a lot easier to teach. At least in my opinion, its much easier to teach what you actually know, versus things you vaguely remember doing. Its hard to look from an outside perspective and tell someone how to do something, without knowing how it feel to move that way, and the requirements it puts on your body. In addition, I started practicing vault, something I hadn't done for a while. I felt like I should start practicing vault again because that's become one of the only things that I get to teach by myself. Again its a familiarity issue. It's much harder to teach what you can't remember.
Applied
Well, by taking these classes I was better able to familiarize myself with the course material, in a sense. That allowed me to think of knew ways to teach in my service learning, new advice to give. It's hard to give the same advice over and over, doing my independent component help me to come up with new way to trying to teach. In addition it gave me a chance to safely practice spotting, something that is necessary to learn and a big part of one of my answers, but just not at the expense of small children. Taking these classes gave me to opportunity to practice on people that I would not be held responsible for.

Hours

Helping 2013

I Interviewed Ivy Jordan on 4/26/2012 at 12:40 pm.

1.       What Ideas do you have for senior project and why?

a.       I would like to do something in the art area, either photography or painting. Either way, I have to find connections. I want to do gallery work. I’ve been trying to get an internship in Pomona. I want to plan an art show rent out an entire gallery for a day and just host an art show

                                                               i.      Those are both really good ideas, the only problem you might have is service learning. I don’t know if you have connections, but getting a volunteer position at an art gallery might be tough. You might be able to become a docent at an art museum. If you can’t find service learning for that, there’s always Photo ROP

2.       What do you plan to do to complete the 10 hours of service learning

a.       I plan to intern or volunteer at an art gallery in Pomona. I would help maintain paintings, and just generally learn about the gallery management..stuff.

                                                               i.      I didn’t have to do the ten hours, but that sounds like a good thing to do. It pertains to your senior project as well so that’s good.

3.       What do you expect to see when watching the class of 2012

a.       I expect to see lots of poster boards and people standing nervously in heels and clothes they don’t feel comfortable in. I expect people will know a lot about their topic and be able to share their ideas with the rest of us.

                                                               i.      Yea, that’s pretty much what it’s going to be like. A bunch of nervous people standing around mumbling through their nerves as they try to make sure they graduate. It’s going to be great!

4.       What questions do you have about senior project

a.       Do you know if it’s possible to arrange transportation off campus and take the entire day off then present the 2-hour in an art gallery somewhere? Then after I present some experts can come and talk.

b.      I don’t think anyone’s ever done that but you can try. I’m not sure if producing budgets  Does cal poly have an art gallery

Answer 3

What is the best way to coach children's gymnastics

Answer 3

Maintaining a positive attitude when dealing with students, especially disruptive ones.

Evidence

Children are like sharks. If they smell fear, they smell fear they'll attack and forever undermine you position in the eyes of other kids, making it much harder to exert any influence over them, namely teaching. Projecting a positive image at all times keeps the sharks a bay.

Staying consistently positive makes people like you more. Especially when teaching kids, being positive and happy goes a long way. The more positive you are, the more your students like you. The more your students like you, the more willing they are to learn, and the more willing they are to learn, the easier it is for you to coach. Maintaining a positive attitude also gives them a solid basis to judge your mood and personality. If you're mean and strict one day, then happy and positive the next, it throws everyone off and leaves them guessing, disrupting the potential bond between student and teacher.

Staying positive is also a good way to deal with misbehaving children. It's no fun to tease some one who doesn't react. This works the same way. Maintaining a positive attitude and almost not recognizing what they're doing works wonders. No one likes to be ignored, and if they only receive attention when they're good, then they'll behave well more often

Sources

Interview 2

Interview 4

Service learning

Room Creativity

1) How do you plan to address the room creativity expectation 

• I plan to have my presentation in the gymnastics gym up at Cal Poly. That failing, i'll use the small gym with some mats.

2) what activity ideas do you have for answers 1 or 2

• I was thinking about starting with some basic trust exercises, then adding a gymnastics element. Most people are strong enough to kick up to a handstand, so maybe i'll have partners spot each others handstands, giving support and stuff.

1.       Karolyi and Bela Marta

a.       On a national level, they were perhaps two of the most successful women’s gymnastics coaches in the history of America

b.      Made 28 Olympians, 9 Olympic champions, 15 world champs

c.       She was the coach who convinced Kerri Strug to make her second pass on vault with a broken ankle

d.      They defected from their native Romania in 1981.

                                                               i.      The first worked some menial jobs, but the progressed to coaching gymnastics

                                                             ii.      Eventually they were able to open their own gym in Houston TX

                                                            iii.      They were a coaching team

2.       The different types of gymnastics

a.       There are two differ types of gymnastics

                                                               i.      Rhythmic

1.       Mainly done by women

2.       Use props such as ropes balls hoops and streamers

3.       Its not a widely spread and popular

                                                             ii.      Artistic

1.       Artistic gymnastics is what people think of when they think gymnastics

2.       There’s men’s and women’s there are 10 different events

3.       This is where the scoring system we know comes into play

a.       A gymnast is scored on performance as well as difficulty

b.      Each score is added up to total that gymnasts final score

3.       What is Coaching

a.       Coaches

                                                               i.      `assists people to identify goals and help them reach those specific goals

                                                             ii.      Provide their students with the tool to achieve success

b.      Coaching Vs consulting

                                                               i.      Consulting provides temporary or intermittent solutions

                                                             ii.      Coaching is an ongoing relationship where the coach stays to help implement the newly taught skills

c.       Coaching

                                                               i.      Teamwork

                                                             ii.      Strengthening students skills

d.      A coach isn’t your friend

                                                               i.      They need to retain their objectivity in order to help you succeed

                                                             ii.      Coaches focus where you need the most help

e.      Why does coaching work

                                                               i.      Synergy between coach and student creates a momentum

                                                             ii.      Better defines goals, which can be moved towards more quickly

                                                            iii.       

Research for today

1.       Gymnastics zone

a.       Gymnastics coaching styles

                                                               i.      Vertical and encyclopedic coaching

                                                             ii.      Narrow training

1.       The average coach in America only trains the skills that are used for competition and to max out the amount of point a routine can achieve.

2.       There are two types of coaching in this category

a.       The ones who teach the entire routine for that level

b.      The ones who pick advanced skills for a gymnast and then train the gymnast in only those skills

                                                            iii.      Variety is the spice of gymnastics

1.       The narrow training type of coaches tend to only produce compulsory optional gymnasts

2.       Those types of gymnasts tend to burn out and quit

3.       They lack a good rounding and can only do a select few things well

                                                           iv.      JEDP

1.       a strength and flexibly training program that ensures a norm for gymnasts

2.       It gave coaches a right way to train their gymnasts

3.       This system succeeded because coaches adopted this as a secondary additional system as well as their own personalized training regimes

4.       One of the problems with the JEDP only gymnasts, was their lack of front tumbling.

a.       Front tumbling and back tumbling are completely different

b.      I suck a front tumbling; can’t do it

c.       Gymnasts who only followed this program had to go back and relearn all of their front tumbling

                                                             v.      Vertical training

1.       Vertical training tends to produce frustrated gymnasts because of the progression

2.       Sometimes the next step up is hard and frustrating and makes the gymnast unmotivated

b.      Good way to coach

                                                               i.      The best way to coach seems to be a mixture of vertical progression and a good rounding

                                                             ii.      Its good to have goals in place to work toward, but its also good to be a well rounded

2.       Gymnastics Coach Pat Warren

a.       A coach who was associated with the making of the movie stick it

b.      Works at as a coach at TOPS

c.       Was she a gymnast?

                                                               i.      No

1.       She wasn’t a gymnast which I find odd…cause how’s she gonna teach if she doesn’t know how

2.       She doesn’t strike me as a very good coach, but I could be wrong

                                                             ii.      The most important trait a person needs to be a good coach

1.       Love and care about kids

                                                            iii.      The best way to motivate gymnasts

1.       Make sure to work harder than they are

3.       Teaching Casts to little ones

a.       Hollow position on a barrel grabbing a floor bar

                                                               i.      Pull legs up into a pike into a semi press handstand and then into a flat back

b.      Shrugs

                                                               i.      Jump on the bar and dip just using shoulders

c.       Pike drag ups

                                                               i.      Support yourself on a raised surface and bring you legs up as far as you can 

Answer 2

EQ: What is the most important skill a gymnastics coach can have

Answer 2
Being able to establish a relationship with a gymnast based on trust, enabling a coach to successfully, and safely spot a gymnast on more advanced skills

Evidence 
One of the many things that makes gymnastics difficult is the fear element. Gymnastics can be scary, there's no getting around it. Fear can be attributed to more accidents and mistakes than lack of skill. One of the ways a gymnast gets over the fear of practicing a skill is with a spot. The spot not only serves as a correction for any mistakes a gymnast may make, but there's also a psychological aspect to it. Just knowing that, in case of a mistake, there's someone there to catch you takes the edge of the fear, enabling the gymnast to better practice the skill.

Spotting prevents injuries. One of the biggest issues with gymnastics is injuries. Gymnasts by definition are more prone to injuries because of what they do. But injuries are also avoidable, especially with a proper spot. Spotting helps prevent injuries, especially in the early stages of learning. You can run before you can walk, just like you cant pull giants to a double back dismount with out spotting first. Having a spot first helps you get the proper body motion down so later on you're competent enough to do it yourself

Spotting helps you learn. You can't try something with the intent to be amazing at it the first go. You're body doesn't quite know how to move yet, and the first couple of times its almost guaranteed you'll mess up. Learning with a proper spot first ensures that you know what you're doing. Not only does a proper spotter keep you from killing your self, but should also try to correct mistakes. Once you know how to do it the right way, your body remembers so that way you wont pick up any bad habits.

Sources 


My service learning. The coach who I assist has me practice spotting constantly, and continuously stresses the importance of a proper spot.

My old coach (who teaches my independent component) who takes me aside to show popper spotting techniques to students in my class during independent component.

Teaching children's gymnastics by Ilona E Gerling

The Product

As of March, what is your product and why? Please provide evidence to support what you have done to lead you thinking this is your product. Be specific and use examples from your senior project (refer to what you are doing, for example, in my service learning, naming the where you work and who you work with,


As of march, I think my product is definitely a sense of confidence and assertiveness. Normally, when I speak I generally have a quiet voice; I tend to mumble and speak very quickly at the same time. The combination of all of these things sometimes makes it hard  for people to understand me, especially in a crowded noisy gym. After being asked "What did you say?" on too many times I realized that I needed to speak more clearly, and since then I've been making a conscious effort to clear up my voice.

One of the things that I noticed when I teach is that kids are really receptive of body language. If I was acting meek or shy at any point during the class, they would tend to act up more than usual. So I leaned to take control. Not that I was mean, just more assertive. The kids I teach needed to look at me as an authority figure before I could teach them. So I learned to be more assertive. If I said something and someone didn't listen, I would call them back, repeat what I said, and watch as thy did it. After a while, they started listening to me the first time around. 

Fourth Interview Questions

1. How important are warm-ups?
2. How long should each stretch be held?
3. What does a basic warm-up consist of for you?
4. How important is conditioning?
5. What does a general work out routine consist of when you teach?
6. How is it different when you're teaching team girls compared to the indeterminate and advanced classes?
7. How do you convince the younger kids to condition?
8. How do you encourage kids who are afraid to try something new?
9. How do you ensure that each kid is working hard during the entire lesson?
10. Proper spotting techniques?
11. How do you get rid of the fear of the high beam?
12. How do you get rid of the fear of high bar?
13. How do you compensate for the kids who are having difficulty because of their weight?
14. What are the best ways to get you objectives across, explain what you want them to do in a way that they understand?
15. How do you deal with kids you don't like?
16. How do you project your voice so that it carries across the gym?
17. Teaching rebounds on the floor as well as the springboards?
18. Why do you give out stickers at the end of class?
19. How do you keep the "silliness" to a minimum? 
20. How do you maintain an air of control?

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1. I'm going to continue my independent component from last semester, taking night classes two nights at my gym. During this time I'll continue to redevelop my skills, so I can teach the advance classes in a addition to the beginner and intermediate.
2. I go twice a week for two hours, I'll have enough time 
3. Learning more and becoming more practiced will help me become a better coach. The more I know them more I can teach, and the better I can teach. 

Independent Component 1

Independent Component Log

Wednesday, September 14

2 Hours

Today was my first day back at the gym. The only things that have really changed is the old pommel horse, and the girls who constantly whirl across the floor beams and bars. The pommel horse is gone, and all the girls are different. I took it kind of easy today; I just got back and I don’t really want to hurt myself. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do back handsprings still, but it was all good. I could still do it. Mostly I just drifted around the circuits that were set up. I did a lot of back hand springs down the tumble track, something that’s easy to do but hard to perfect. I tried doing some round off back hand spring back layouts, but they were terrible. When I left, I could do them nicely, and I was almost able to add a twist to them. Can’t do it anymore. Sucks. Like usual, the last part of class is always dedicated to conditioning. Thankfully it’s not as tough as TnT but it still hurt after about half a year of not exercising.

Wednesday, October 12

2 Hours

Today I worked on brannies? grannies? I don’t know exactly what they’re called but they’re essentially round offs without hands. They feel kind of scary because you’re throwing yourself down and forward, so you feel like you’re going to hit the ground, but you don’t, so it’s ok. They were good enough that my coach told me to move on to front full’s, which are basically brannines with extra twists. Its kind of awkward though; when you twist if feels like you’re going half one way, and then midair start spinning the other way. They’re surprisingly easy to do if you can do brannies, after about 20 minutes, I was able to go for a one and a half. I didn’t get it down; I couldn’t spin fast enough so I only got to about one and a quarter. I’ve also noticed that everything is becoming a lot less taxing. I don’t have to take as many water breaks, I don’t have to sit down 

after every pass, it feels a lot better.

LIA
L:“I, Benjamin Miyamoto, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.” During this time I got back into gymnastics. I learned, and relearned a lot of the basics which make for a good gymnast. I basically got back into the flow of gymnastics, and got better at basic skills, so I could become a better teacher. 

I: The most significant part of my component was the basic warm ups at the beginning of each class. Like every teacher, I have to know the material, otherwise how else could I teach it? The beginning of each class is dedicated to basic skills, things that I teach my kids. So during that time I make sure to pay attention to the advice my coach gives, as well as watching the other participants, and giving advice to them. This really helps when it comes to teaching my own class

A: My EQ is what is the best way to teach children's gymnastics, this component helped me answer that question, by perfecting and understanding the material, that I teach to my kids. Like I mentioned above, you have to know before you can teach, and this class is like a refresher course. 

Presentation 2 Rough Draft

My 20 min Rough Draft

Answer 1

What is the answer 1 to your EQ?

• My first answer is: Making sure the kids you're coaching know how to behave safely while using the potentially dangerous equipment.

What evidence do you have to have support this?

• During my time volunteering, I've seen a couple of minor injuries. Most of these injuries have been caused by unsafe equipment practices; if you don't fall right, you can hurt your ankles or back. These injuries could have been preventable if everyone in the class knew how too keep themselves safe on the equipment.

What sources did you use to find this evidence?

• My service learning.

Service Learning

Where are you working for your service learning?

• ·       I am working at my local gym, Vernon Lee Gymnastics.

Who is your contact?

• ·       My contact is the head coach Monique Weismuller

Summarize the service you have performed to complete the 10 hour requirement.

• ·       I usually go in on Wednesday s and Fridays. I help to teach a small class of kids, ages 5-10. I lead warm ups, which is usually some running combined with light exercise and stretching. After that I oversee stations which are basically the different set ups where the kids practicing different things i.e. handstands. 

How many hours?

• ·       7.5 hours

Service Learning

Third interview questions

1. What, in your opinion is the best way to coach gymnastics?
2. When did you start coaching gymnastics?
3. When did you start practicing gymnastics?
4. What is your favorite even to coach and why?
5. How do you deal with unruly children?
6. How do you make your coaching fun and enjoyable?
7. How do you keep your students interested?
8. How do you keep your students safe on the equipment?
9. How do you deal with injuries?
10. What is the best way to motivate discouraged students?

Third interview questions

Third interview questions