A great way to get the maximum benefit from TAGteach is to hand the taggers to the learners and let them tag each other. We call this “peer tagging.” Peer tagging allows the learners to become teachers and tag each other.

This is a very powerful and effective technique with many benefits:

• Mental training (the peer who is tagging is learning too)

• Pride and responsibility

• Team building skills

• Empathy for fellow learners

• Equal time for the “shadow” child (the child who does quite well and cooperates, but does not get a lot of attention because he is not a super star performer and is not exhibiting troublesome or attention-seeking behaviors)

• Assessment of learner comprehension

• Reduced down time for learners

• Freedom for the teacher to move around

Peer tagging can occur in various configurations:

• Pairs: One person tags their partner

• Groups of 3: One person tags the other two

• 1 to Group: One person tags a group – This may be useful if an athlete is injured, but comes to practice anyway. The injured player could tag the others during drills, thus giving him something to do and helping the team improve at the same time.

• Group to 1: A group tags 1 person – having a group tag an individual provides a way for the teacher to see if the group understands the tag point. One student (or the teacher) demonstrates the skill correctly while the group tags for the specified tag point. If all the tags happen in unison, then the group understands the tag point, if not, then further instruction is required.