Swimming Confidence

Learner:  Sami  Y      Learning Coach: Margaret Patrick       Date: June, 2016

Learning Area:  Swimming                                                   Narrative Learning story

Learning Observed

Sami has been attending swimming lessons at the Otara Community pool over the last 8 weeks. This was Sami’s first experience of swimming in a pool and was very reluctant to enter the pool and needed to hold onto the side of the pool. Over the 8 weeks he connected with his tutor Katherine who worked  on developing a trusting relationship and Sami slowly collaborated and cooperated with her requests.  Sami needed a lot of reassurance along every step. He started by being able to independently enter the pool and stand along the side. He took tiny steps starting with putting his chin and mouth under the water then he added blowing bubbles. When he was capable of doing this the next goal  was to put his face under and blow bubbles while standing. He progressed to finally floating face down holding Katherine’s shoulders and blowing bubbles. At the same time Sami was learning to float on his back. He started with a noodle threaded around his back and holding onto it with his hands and Katherine holding him. During the Water Safety week he enjoyed the sensation of floating using a life jacket and felt really cool shouting “This is easy!” At his last class Sami was able to float on his back without holding on to his tutor. Sami used his self managing skills as he always remembered his swimming gear and didn’t miss a single lesson.

Evidence of learning

Next Learning Steps

Introduce face down blowing bubbles with a kick board Kicking while floating face down and blowing bubbles using a kickboard Floating completely on his own Family taking him to the local pools so he can keep up skills and enjoy the water.