To Swim or Not To Swim, That is the Question

Another summer has rolled around and with it comes term one swimming.

My question this time was, do I swim with the kids or not?

I printed up the notices, requested parent help and secured the support of the bus drivers for lifeguard duty. Then I began eyeing the pool suspiciously. It's one thing to throw 22 complaining children into a cold pool and watch gleefully from the sidelines on a cold day, but to join them? Bravely, I decided I would.

Ok, so I may have left out the part about living in the sunshine capital of New Zealand, that the water wasn't actually cold at all and that it was a lovely warm day as well.

My real qualms were over the appropriateness of getting in the pool with my students. I know some schools say strictly, no teachers in the pool. I know for some schools it's a health and safety thing as you can't keep a proper eye on all the children if you are in the thick of it. But as I just rewrote the PE curriculum document I guess that call fell to me and I decided to go with the guidelines requiring an adult to supervise from above the pool (ie, not in it) at all times.

In terms of pedagogy and best practice, I look back to when I've taken classes to council pools for lessons with trained swimming instructors. It is only with the most able swimmers that the instructors are on the edge. The rest of the time the tutors are right in the water with the kids.

As teachers, we demonstrate reading, writing and maths as a matter of course. It seems a little strange that we don't do the same in swimming.

I think I'm more squeamish about dress codes actually. You spend so much time searching shops for nice looking outfits with high necklines and long hemlines, that it seems completely unnatural to jump into togs and dive into a pool with the students. But that's probably just me.

Board shorts and an extra singlet /swim top went someway towards settling those apprehensions, and confirming access to a separate changing room surmounted the final blockade.

So, on Tuesday this week, no excuses were left between me and that pool.

It was definitely rather entertaining to hear the excited yelps of "Miss Aldridge! Are you getting in? Hey! Guys! Miss Aldridge is getting in!" erupting around the pool. In fact, for a while there, we even had a small audience of students from the school whose pool we were borrowing. Funny.

It was also rather amusing when a lunchtime duty teacher remarked to the bus driver (to be found, at the time, relaxing in the shade at the water's edge) "Wow, you have them so well controlled, you barely have to do anything! I wish I could sit back and relax when I was teaching swimming." To which the bus driver gained great entertainment from pointing out that the teacher was actually IN the pool and he was "just the driver" (his words not mine). She looked quite surprised when one of the pigtailed "students" (me) turned round and waved at her. I have, however, since noticed that the instructors from the school before us in the pool today, were also swimming with their students. So perhaps it's more common than I realise.

And how did it work for teaching? Fabulously! 

Being able to demonstrate to the children in the water was so much easier. I think it takes a lot of spacial awareness to be able to turn something demonstrated vertically into an action they complete horizontally. It was much easier to demonstrate skills exactly as I wanted them to apply it. They picked it up so much quicker. Even John my Wednesday bus driver, who drove and supervised for us last year, noticed they were picking things up faster.

Being in the pool also allowed me to help kids physically. For example, one child was struggling to keep their arms straight because their kicking wasn't strong enough to maintain movement. I was able to pull him across the pool while he concentrated on breathing and arm strokes. I was able to help another student float his arms while he focused on his body and kicking.

I think the greatest benefit was with the non-swimmers and their increased confidence having me close by. Today I had a child, who previously would start crying almost at the sight of the water (and did so when I assessed them from outside the pool on day one), grinning, playing and gliding across the pool on her front, with her face in the water for prolonged periods of time. It doesn't sound like much but that was more in 2 sessions, than I achieved with her last time in the entire 5 week swimming program.

So in the end, the answer to the question? To swim or not to swim (with the kids)? 

The answer would have to be a resounding

Swim WITH them!!