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Walter & Group...
[GH] One last Group message before I leave,. A few new notations emerge :
>From Gail Donoghue :
Hi Gordy,
We just got home from Montana. We stayed an extra week after the conclave ended to go fishing. So we are late viewing the videos and sending our responses and for that we apologize. This is a great exercise and we send our comments and question below. We did not look at any other responses yet so these are our own thoughts.
Problems with the teaching conditions:
1. The rods are set up but not in the students' hands.
2. Based on the shadows on the instructor's face and across his body when he turns sideways, it appears that the sun is directly behind him and thus in the eyes of the students who are trying to observe him. Beside having difficulty actually seeing the small movements of his hands and fingers, they may also lose interest because they cannot make eye contact with him.
3. The sound of the running lawn mower competes with the instructor's voice and is also distracting.
4. A verbal explanation of casting mechanics before the lesson begins which is not part of a step by step demonstration in which the student can participate has little, if any, instructional value for beginning students.
5. The instructor created ambiguity about the grip the students would learn and could choose to use.
6. The demonstration of the thumb on top grip is confusing because of the constant movement of the fingers of both hands while he is speaking. The grip should be taught step by step with student holding a rod in the hand.
7. The casting demonstration looked like the instructor was just waving the rod, exactly what we don't want students to do.
8. The rod appeared to be a weight 7 or greater line size which is a difficult rod for a beginner to use.
Question we might ask:
1. What is the composition (size, age, gender etc.) of the class and will there be any other instructors to assist with this class of 12?
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[GH] Gail,
One common failing on a Masters exam is the demonstration of a lesson to a student which uses up much too much time with the rod in the hand of the instructor. Some candidates will be asked for a simple on-the-spot 5 minute lesson plan for a student who has never fly cast before. A well informed candidate will have the rod in the student's hand in less than 2 minutes.
Since Dennis's video demo was taken out of context, we cannot really make good judgement about this.... however, your point is well taken.
Your last question could lead to a discussion of student/instructor ratios. A good one for a Master exam. A true Master must be able to organize and run casting courses with multiple students with efficient use of a compliment of assistant instructors.
Some MCI candidates have had little or no such experience. They tend to "waffle" with questions on this subject .... or come in with "canned" answers which may not fit teaching circumstances proffered by the examiners.
Gordy
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[GH] Another point of view from Don Pendleton :
Gordy,
1 a. This instructor needs to: 1. Position his students so that they are not looking into the sun. 2. Choose a better background situation. Plain building wall or trees instead of blue sky. 3. Move the class if someone is going to be mowing in the area! 4. Eliminate any possible distractions to the students when choosing site.
1b. His demonstration was very hard to follow. He needs to slow down and keep in mind that his students may have never seen what he is about to teach. I would suggest that he pantomime the casting stroke slowly with each of the three grips that he is demonstrating. Show this to the students from different angles. The students need to know why his chosen grip is better. He should shortly elaborate on the positives and negatives of each style. In the last video his introduction to the casting stroke should be several slow pantomimes of the hand and rod movement without the distraction of the students looking at the line travel. Then add the stroke with the line in the air. Let them watch the line and loop travel then tell them to focus their attention to the rod tip bending as it move thru the arc. Finally have them focus on the hand/arm positions during the stroke. This must be done with the students observing from his casting hand side.
2.Explain why these different grips are used.
Don
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[GH] I look at the hand grip as style. Some favor one grip for all tackle and casting circumstances. For them, we might call that, "default style".
Most expert fly fishers will have a favorite grip style, but will depart from that to suit varying casting challenges and the use of different rods. This, then, becomes a matter of style dictated partly by body habitus and partly by the fishing/casting situation and/or the tackle.
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[GH] Summation by Dennis Grant :
Hi Gordy
Very good answers. Certainly the issues that we wanted MCI candidates to find:
1. Poor orientation - Sun behind the Instructor and into the face of the students
2. Uncomfortable casting direction - Wind direction on the rod hand side
3. Distracting - background noise
4. Confusing - unnecessary rod hand (grip) instruction
5. Brief casting demo not easily observed by new casters
If you responded or not I hope candidates picked up on most of these points. It's the little things that get a lesson off to a poor start.
Thanks for participating,
Dennis
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