Do you remember Show and Tell events when you were in elementary school?  More than likely you brought a special object to school and showed your classmates how it worked or what was unique about it. Maybe you explained a bit of history about your particular item or why it was important to you.

From an educational standpoint, the purpose of Show and Tell was to help children developed their public speaking skills. The concept of Show and Tell can be also be applied to teaching and coaching when using demonstrations during a lesson or practice.  There has been a wealth of motor learning research over the years on the use and value of demonstrations (show) and verbal instructions (tell) to facilitate learning a new task (Magill and Anderson, 2017; Schmidt and Lee, 2014; SHAPE America 2014; Wulf, 2013). When embracing the Social Learning Theory framework, demonstrating a skill or task creates a mental image that students can identify with as they attempt to reproduce the movement or activity (Magill & Anderson, 2017). The concept, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” emphasizes the importance of demonstrating skill techniques and activities when teaching and coaching. Adding verbal instruction, along with a demonstration, further helps students assimilate the task being taught.

It has been my experience that teacher preparation candidates find it much easier to use verbal explanations than demonstrations during instruction. In fact, they are really good at telling. Students in teacher/coach preparation programs often have acquired a high level of content knowledge, especially in those sports or activities they have played. As such, they tend to explain everything they know when teaching a skill. The overload of information provided becomes too much for learners to effectively process and remember. Plus, excessive talking during the explanation takes up too much time within a lesson or practice and reduces the amount of time available for practice and play opportunities.

After eighteen years of teaching enthusiastic junior high students (JHS), my school merged with its receiving high school.  I remembered those JHS students loving the activity, looking great doing it, and clamoring to continue it instead of changing to something new.  I could not wait to work with them again.

As high school students, I expected them to be older, wiser, and better.  Boy was I shocked that first day on the field when the only thing moving was the ball. Where, I wondered, had their enthusiasm and teamwork gone?  Sadly, apathy prevailed the second day, the third day, and for a number of weeks.  I racked my brain for ways to get them excited again and working as teams.  I used our past relationships, encouragement, prodding, humor, and went as far as letting them know how badly their inactivity made me feel. Nothing worked until the day, about a month into the semester, I was pondering aloud about how I was going to grade them.  Because, with the exception of a few students, the only thing moving on the field was the ball.  To my surprise, my offhand remark caught their attention.  Their dramatic reversal is why I came to believe that assessing what to aim for and grade is an important teaching tool.

Teaching Skills but Grading Outcomes
The group’s skills were evident in practice, but not in the game. I needed to establish a different standard and did by letting them know that soccer players usually move seventy-five percent of the time during a game.  Those words increased their activity level but left challenges to build on.  I wanted to see them not just “working,” but working together and loving it.  Since they seemed attached to the idea of a good grade, next I decided to aim for teamwork.  So, I broke down the responsibilities of each field position, in ways everyone was capable of achieving.  For example, I began with the forwards, explaining and posting an outline of their objectives. Forwards were to use (1) footwork before passing, (2) pass laterally unless shooting, (3) stay in line with the ball as it moved toward the goal, and (4) drop back when their opponents gained possession of the ball.  The difference in play was amazing.  The forwards started working together, but not the defense.  So, next class, we focused on defense. Mid-fielders were credited for (1) slowing down opponents, (2) forcing a pass and or trapping the ball, (3) positioning themselves between the ball and the goal they defended, (4) passing to an open forward and (5) taking sideline thrown-ins as quickly as possible.  This process continued with other positions on the field of play.  These achievable goals got the girls moving so that games became dynamic and everyone seemed engaged.   Finally, the class ended in smiles, sweat, and a feeling of good teamwork.