|
Walter & Group...
[GH] Part of the learning experience when teaching fly casting, involves the student's hearing and heeding the words of his/her instructor. This is true whether at stream side, when attending a Workshop on the field. Also during individual instruction or group event or classroom. That this involves HEARING as well as the use of our other senses, is obvious.
John Bilotta speaks to this.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From John Bilotta:
Gordy,
For me, a big part of my teaching is reminding myself that while it is important what I say, it is more important what that student actually hears me say.
Lately, I have been telling my students in the beginning of a class that I will be asking them during the session to tell me what were my the key points on a topic. Not surprising, but I'm finding that students often miss a lot of what this instructor thought was pretty important.
I also think sometimes beginners "hear" better than some more experienced casters.
John
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] John,
Your message introduces an important concept. That of feedback. WHAT THE STUDENT ACTUALLY HEARS.
There are many ways of accomplishing this :
# Involving each student from the start using question and answer technique.
# Calling on students one at a time to gain individual perspective.
# Taking advantage of a situation to ask a student whom you know to be well versed in your subject to start a discussion.
# Where time permits, to start a discussion period designed to have students question one another while the instructor serves as an informed moderator.
# Inviting student's opinions.
# Left Kreh's method of introducing humor at every opportunity while teaching. Nothing wakes students up like a good joke! Don't know how the dickens he remembers them all. He combines this with calling on students or members of an audience to actively participate... then uses more humor as he interacts with them in front of the class.
# ...... etc, etc......
This is best accomplished by the rare instructor who has the innate capacity to quickly get to know his students and to stay tuned to their awareness while having them actively participate.
Brings me to another of my "little stories":-
A good many years ago, I attended a Conclave Workshop given by Dennis and Verlie Grant. It was given in a classroom and called, "Classroom Tips & Tactics".
I was amazed at the way Dennis and Verlie were able, within minutes of introductions, to learn and retain the names of each student in the room. Dennis, at any point in the course, could call upon any of the students by name for comments or questions .... and did this without a single error.
A couple of years later, I joined Dennis in giving that workshop. In preparation, as we went over our detailed lesson plan, I suggested making out name tags from the roster to save time. Dennis replied that we really didn't need those name tags. Moreover, that he never needed them for any workshop or course he gave.
Turns out, he was right. Made communications a lot more friendly and easy throughout the morning.
Dennis will remember, I contributed a bit, as well.
As the morning drifted toward noon, we were discussing the analogy of the big beach ball and the little golf ball & large and small fly line loops with respect to air resistance. I could sense that some of the students were drifting off a bit. I floated the air resistant beach ball over the desk. THEN... I took the golf ball and threw it as hard as I could against the opposite wall. That golf ball made a racket as it clanged against the wall, then bounced on the floor beneath the seats of the students.
Every student was wide awake and sitting up straight for the rest of the morning !
Dennis was way ahead of me with the techniques of student participation. Turned out, he'd honed it to perfection during the many years he and Verlie had hosted fly fishing, fly casting and fly tying classes at their Atlantic Fly Fishing School in Nova Scotia.
I learned a lot that first day in their class...
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GH] Sometimes we learn by hearing sounds that are caused by faulty timing. Lyth Hartz calls attention to one example.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Lyth Hartz:
Hi Gordy,
One application of using the sense of hearing when teaching is to pay attention to the sound of the line “cracking” or “snapping” at the beginning of the forward cast. That is a sound that gives an immediate announcement that the timing of the pause is off. I will then discuss the importance of the timing of the pause. Sometimes, in order to get the students attention and to help with their motivation to develop proper timing, I say “2 Bucks” when they do it. I let them know that losing a $2 fly every time they hear the “crack” can get expensive when fishing…I know, have done it myself too often.
Best,
Lyth Hartz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|