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About Me

 About Sword Mom





Sword mom is a parent to 8 children, rode and trained horses from the age of 11, played soccer from youth to adult, and has coached young children. She also spent 10 years teaching 3rd grade and special education in a behavioral classroom. She brings her training and background in education (Bachelors Degree and Masters Work) to the field of historical fencing and training to make learning sword play accessable to broad range of fighters. Sword mom has been in and out of historical fencing since 2010, taking a pause from competition to have 5 of her eight children and practice at home. 

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Keep Calm, and Design Instruction: How Do I Use Prior Knowledge?

So, you have asked the questions, or used the checklist to gather information on the new player at your practice… WHAT NOW???? Keep Calm, and Design Instruction Conversational Tools First, most of the time it will be more informal and organic. It will come up as general reminders or comments from your students. Putting prior knowledge to use is one of the most fun things in the beginning.  It can create a cooperative learning environment and establish trust between the teacher and student. Conversations might sound like: “OK we are going to work on footwork first! I know you have some experience with ballet. As we work think about what foot positions this work is similar to and tell me what the names for these foot positions in ballet are.” “You have done Tae Kwon Do? Great! Can you show me horse stance? This is the perfect place to start building a period fencing stance! You are already HALFWAY THERE!” Any time you can help your student by: A) Referencing prior knowledge “Hey this...
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Prior Knowledge and Fighters and Coaches

  Prior Knowledge for Fighters and Coaches So, if you have not heard before,  the term prior knowledge refers to everything a student walked in the door knowing that day. It seems like a really easy concept, of course you want to know how much they know, OF course we ask new fighters things. But are we asking the right questions, and are we asking and evaluating enough to really know where these fighters are at?  Conversely, are we handing a Kindergartener a typewriter and sending them off to write a novel so to speak.  Did you assess their understanding of basics? (What is your definition of basics?) Did you talk to them about learning preferences, how to address them, and preferences about physical interaction? What style are they learning? DId you ask about physical  limitations? Previous teachers? What about other sports or activities, and confrontational skills? As a classroom teacher I used checklists daily to assess skills and knowledge, and make certain ...
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A Possible Strategy for Performance Anxiety

I was at a practice last night we recently started in my local Barony focused on skills and drills for rapier. as many of our regular participants were out due to illness I offered to teach my class on clicker training for rapier fighters. My co teacher was intrigued AND also made the same comment most people do when they hear the words "Clicker training", "Like for dogs?" My answer was yes like for dogs. Clicker training, by the way is a way to pair a sound with a reward, (a click followed by a treat for a dog). The sound could be anything from a single marker word (Good!, Yes!) to a rubber chicken squeak.Initially this is followed by something like food that is an automatic reward. Eventually the sound by itself is a reward. The idea is it allows us to quickly give a reward for a change in behavior. In this case our discussion strayed into the area of re pairing stressful events with rewards. Such as when you have students who have anxiety about entering tourna...
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