Basics Article #4: Incorporating TAGteach into Your Own Lessons

TAGteach™ (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is a new way of teaching using positive reinforcement with a click sound marker to identify successful performance. In past articles we have talked about the tag point – the exact response, action or position that a teacher pinpoints with a tag (the click sound) to tell the learner “YES, that was right!”, how to associate the audible tag with a tangible reinforcer and how to harness the power of peer tagging.

One of the wonderful things about TAGteach is that it is a powerful tool that you can apply to your existing lessons. There is no need to change the technical aspects of your teaching to employ the TAGteach method.

The first step in adapting existing lesson plans for TAGteach is to identify the tag points (see article 1 in this series for more on tag points). Look through your lesson plan and identify the places where you would be able to say “Yes – that was right” to your learner. These must be discrete and easily observable. If you can find something that you must repeat over and over to get compliance, this is often a good tag point. For example, you may be working on teaching proper technique for a soccer throw-in and finding that you are frequently reminding the learners to keep both feet down. This can be turned from a “nag point” to a tag point by saying, “The tag point is feet on the ground during the throw”. You tag if this is done correctly and do not tag if a foot is lifted. There is no need for a reminder since the learner knows by the absence of the tag to try again.

Incorporating Tagging into Lessons

Tagging during drills and lessons can help keep the pace flowing without the need to stop for corrections and further instruction. The learners can maintain focus on what they are doing while still processing the information you are providing with your tags. Perhaps you are working on letter formation. The tag point is “start the letter strokes at the top”. As the learner works you tag when the letter strokes start at the top. The learner has one thing on which to focus and can continue working without having to stop each time there is an error. He can assess the accuracy of the letter strokes for himself on the basis of the tags her hears and can adjust and improve accordingly.

Incorporating Tagging into Team Sports Drills

Many sports drills involve the rotation of participants through various different positions. You can add one more position to the rotation – the tagger.
For example in a volleyball bumping drill you may have a line of bumpers, a tosser and several people collecting balls. A tagging position can be added. This person tags for the prescribed tag points – calling the ball, or bent knees in the bump perhaps. The learners rotate through all the positions, including the tagger, This allows the seamless incorporation of TAGteach into the drill and gives the learners practice at evaluation as well as play.

There is no need to change the technical aspects of your teaching, or to make radical changes to drills or lesson plans in order to incorporate TAGteach. Just take a look at how you are teaching and find places where tag points can be inserted so that you can give learners immediate positive feedback without interrupting the flow of the lesson or drill.

Next time we will talk about using TAGteach to create and maintain focus even for the most inattentive of learners.

We invite you to join the TAGteacher discussion group at www.tagteach.com to meet others who are implementing TAGteach in various disciplines and to see the list of upcoming TAGteach seminars.