You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden’s Teaching Principles and Practices

176 Pages·2010·3.18 MB·English

by  Swen Nater

You Haven't Taught
Until They Have
Learned:
John Wooden's Teaching
Principles and Practices
“The simplicity of Coach Wooden’s teaching style captured what I
wanted trainers at Chick-fil-A to understand. I give out the book as
a gift in hopes that people will read it, apply it, and become a more
effective teacher.”
— Will Flora, Director of Learning Resources, Chick-fil-A, Inc.
“My students and I love the book because it provides timeless
examples of effective teaching in action that integrates both the art
and science of coaching. The timeless wisdom of legendary coach
John Wooden is captured in this innovative book. I am not aware
of any similar coaching resource that combines the experiences of a
championship athlete who lived the experience and an award-win-
ning researcher who has studied Coach Wooden. I now provide
copies of this book to all guest speakers in my coaching classes.”
— Wade Gilbert, professor of sport psychology, California State University
“You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned does a great job of
intertwining Swen’s experiences with the teaching of Coach
Wooden on the hardwood, the classroom, and in life. I would rec-
ommend this book to teachers, coaches, parents, business execu-
tives, and anybody that would want to be more organized and
understand how to pay more attention to effort and detail.”
— Ann Meyers Drysdale, four-time Kodak All-American at UCLA, 1976
Olympian, first female inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and
ESPN women’s basketball analyst
“This book was the kind of research around which our group
believed we could create a mission and vision for an organization
dedicated to improving the teaching quality in youth sport.”
— Mark Siwik, founder and executive director, BeLikeCoach Foundation
“I devoured the book and wanted more. It reminded me of a self-
help book for a recovering teacher—the perfect salve for a festering
wound. I’m buying copies for my doctoral students—I think it may
be one of the best things I do for them.”
— Sharon Vaughn, professor and director of the Meadows Center for
Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas
You Haven't Taught
Until They Have
Learned:
John Wooden's Teaching
Principles and Practices
Swen Nater
Ronald Gallimore
Fitness Information Technology
A Division of the International Center
for Performance Excellence
262 Coliseum, WVU-CPASS
PO Box 6116
Morgantown, WV 26506-6116
Copyright © 2006, 2010, by Swen Nater and Ronald Gallimore
All rights reserved.
Reproduction or use of any portion of this publication by any mechanical,
electronic, or other means is prohibited without written permission of the
publisher.
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2010921218
ISBN 13: 978-1-935412-08-3
Production Editor: Matt Brann
Cover Design: Jamie Merlavage
Typesetter: Jamie Merlavage
Developmental Editor: Matt Brann
Proofreader: Corey Madsen
Indexer: Corey Madsen
Printed by: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Cover: Current image of John Wooden courtesy of AP Photo/Chris Carlson,
file. All others courtesy of UCLA Photography.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Fitness Information Technology
A Division of the International Center for Performance Excellence
West Virginia University
262 Coliseum, WVU-CPASS
PO Box 6116
Morgantown, WV 26506-6116
800.477.4348 (toll free)
304.293.6888 (phone)
304.293.6658 (fax)
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fitinfotech.com
Dedication
To Marlene Nater and Sharon Gallimore
Dedication v

Table of Contents
Foreword (by Bill Walton) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Guest Foreword (by Jim Sinegal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxi
Chapter 1: They are all Different: Teacher-Student Relationships . . . . . . . .1
are the Foundation of Effective Teaching
Chapter 2: The Motivation to Learn Comes from Focusing on . . . . . . . . .23
Reaching Your Own Potential
Chapter 3: It’s What You Learn After You Know It All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
That Counts the Most
Chapter 4: You Can’t Teach What You Don’t Possess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Chapter 5: Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Chapter 6: The Laws of Teaching and Learning: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
John Wooden’s Pedagogy
Chapter 7: You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned . . . . . . . . . . .103
Chapter 8: It’s What the Teachers are Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Table of Contents vii

Foreword
There must be some mistake here. Swen Nater has co-authored a book
about his college basketball coach’s teaching methods? Is this someone’s idea
of a bad joke?
I was Swen’s teammate during that golden era at UCLA with Coach John
Wooden, forming a relationship and friendship with him that began 35 years
ago. But if anyone had ever suggested to me at that time that Swen would one
day team up with a UCLA professor to co-author a book detailing the tech-
niques and methodology of our legendary college basketball coach and how he
got us to learn what he was trying to teach us, the only natural response would
be to immediately call the authorities. If that were indeed to happen, then
everything that I know to be true and possible would have to be thrown out
the window as utterly useless. If one were to go back in time the more than
three decades it has been since Swen and I left UCLA, the only thing less like-
ly to happen than Swen co-authoring a book about the value of Coach
Wooden’s teaching principles and practices would be me becoming a televi-
sion commentator and public speaker. I guess it shows that we have both come
a long way since our days together at UCLA.
Swen had a ways to go as a basketball player when he first arrived at UCLA.
Sure he had a terrific body, and what power, but in that era of basketball,
quickness, skill, and timing were far more valuable commodities. When I
reflect on those glorious times we shared at UCLA, both on and off the court,
the things that stand out about Swen were that he spent all of his time either
in the weight room—pounding steel to his never-ending mantra, “I’m going
to kill Walton today”—or thinking up what only he could ever consider to be
catchy one-liners. If you ever saw Swen play basketball early in his UCLA
career, and then compared his timing on the court to his delivery of his jokes,
your only possible conclusion would be that Jay Leno had a lot more to be
concerned with than any real ball player.
But something happened to Swen during those three marvelous years in
Westwood from 1970-73—he was exposed to a master teacher and was taught
how to learn, think, and analyze. He also learned how to dream, philosophize,
and create. During those magical times, Swen was around a selfless, humble,
giving, caring, and loving soul every day—one who saw life as a responsibility
to make the world a better place for others and that the strength and charac-
Foreword ix