Walter & Group.....
From Deb Bowen :
Dr. Gordy I wanted to share with you a conversation Joan Wulff and I had last May when I took her Instructor course in N.Y. (Shelia Hassan was her lead instructor) The cornucopia of knowledge these two ladies have combined is AMAZING.
Regarding your question about ? Three 2 minute visits with each student is more valuable than one 6 minute visit? ? Joan and I had this very same conversation. Joan calls it ?assimilation time?.
She told me that I should give instruction on correcting one thing with my student, make a cast with them (after asking if it is o.k. to put my hand on my students? hand and make the cast with them so they can feel the cast) I should walk away and go to a different student. This allows them time to think about what they were doing incorrectly and now with the new info from the instructor ? the time and practice of how to correct the problem.
I have never forgotten the lesson learned from Joan of ?assimilation time? and use it in each and every class I teach.
Deb
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Deb ... Credit goes to Dennis Grant for that question .... a really good one.
I'll remember that: ASSIMILATION TIME.
My translation..... Teach one thing, then let it soak in.
Gordy
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Nial Logan of Australia sends his teaching message:
Gordy,
I?ve been following the
discussion on instruction with interest ??many good points have been made. Just
a couple of things found to be useful.
Unfortunately, in my
area, there are no available CCI's who can assist so the classes have to work
around this situation. Just a couple of points about teaching larger classes
that I found useful.
For introductory
classes, I like a maximum of 6 but preferably 4. On a couple of occasions where
it was unavoidable there have been 8 (2 families). It makes it very difficult
when they are positioned 8 ? 10 metres apart to give
all the students equal quality time. Now, if the
numbers are large, I have a couple of alternate activities?..two fly?o setups
(for roll casting) and two pieces
of thin old carpet 1 metre wide and about 6 metres long and a casting aid with the clicking steel balls.
These are things that the students can use with less supervision and still be
learning. By rotating the students through these it gives me more time with the
casting and the different activity gives the casting arm a break. This is
particularly useful with the 10 to 15 year olds where, in a lot of cases, groups
of up to 16 attend. In this instance, two students are allocated to each rod
(rotating them regularly) and the remainder on the fly-O rods roll casting at
some fish cutouts with a strip of hooked Velcro on them (the wool on the end of
the fly-o line will snag the Velcro). I might add this is a very popular
activity and it?s surprising how quickly they pick up the knack of roll
casting.
I have 6 matching
school rods with orange lines that are marked with waterproof marker at 20, 30,
40 and 50 ft. These provide a reference point on the line not only from the
instruction side but it also gives a point the students can
easily recognize until they become familiar with the feel of the line as it
changes size. Students are encouraged to bring their rods so that they can be
looked over and discussed with the student. Have had one come with the fly line
on backwards??done by a tackle retailer. Initially they use the school rods because we are casting on grass and it saves damaging their
line as well as the orange line is much easier to see. If their tackle is
suitable, they usually use it when they start casting on water later in the
session.
Prior to classes,
different coloured plastic plates or frisbies are placed on the ground in a shallow semi circle
to indicate where each student will stand. The direction takes into account the
wind direction (always from the line hand side) and background so that the line
can be seen in the air by the students. By placing them in a semi circle, it
allows me to watch each student without obstruction while I am with another. If
they stand in a straight line, it is difficult to see the students on the end
when the instructor is in the middle.
The lessons are broken
down into simple steps ?.a lot of small tasks when put together make up the
whole. Explain and demonstrate each task, have the student perform it 3 or 4
times to confirm it is understood and then move onto the next student and allow
the first one to have some alone time. By having small tasks this only takes 2
or 3 minutes so you can move along the whole class in 10 minutes or so. Use the
6 step method to improve technique (never say correct fault or
you are doing it wrong). As each task is mastered show a new task. This
technique also allows students to learn at their own pace and allows the
instructor to use different techniques to suit the students learning
style.
Regards
Nial Logan
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Nial... Thanks for sharing this. Some good points raised.
I saw that tubular casting aid with the steel balls at the Conclave in August. Have no experience with it, however. A clever device !
Gordy
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From Gary Kell :