Walter & Group......
Message on teaching from MCCI Dave Lambert:-
Gordy: A couple of observations on the 'teaching beginners' email.
An additional suggestion for teaching casting to beginners: If
possible, casting equipment should be matched to the body type and and
size of the beginning caster. This is especially true with kids. Make
it a point early-on to ask the child's age AND size, so that you'll have
correct rigs. Some of the bigger kids, or ones with saltwater
background, can handle bigger equipment. A smaller-framed or younger
child generally will not have developed the muscle mass or coordination
to handle a 6-weight or bigger.
The late Phil Genova of Cortland Line developed a HS/college curriculum
for teaching kids flyfishing in the schools. It's been adopted by
several schools, including Cornell. I'd place his mentor-apprentice
philosophy and his book /First Cast /among your library of must-reads
for well-rounded masters. Also, Dr. Phil Brunquell has some first-hand
advice for teaching children with disabilities in his book, /Fly Fishing
w/ Children/.
Second, we've had great success pairing up casters when classes get big
-- one caster, one observer -- then the roles switch. The 'observer'
becomes involved in the learning/teaching process and can see and relate
to positives or inefficiencies in the 'caster's' stroke. Not
surprisingly, both learn to cast quicker as a result -- in many cases
quicker than with one-on-one instruction. An additional benefit --
you're dealing with two students at once so the dialog is often more
efficient, less redundant. This can work with 3-4 participant pairings
(with one being a caster), but the results decrease inverse to the
numbers. This also works well for children's classes where you often
have less casting rigs than participants -- FWC Fishing Days, TU Kids'
Conclaves, etc.
IMHO, a quality master should be able to impart various styles of
casting and analogies, but should also have flexible, efficient
strategies for classes of differing sizes with back-ups for inclement
weather. Teaching strategies change greatly relative to the number of
students in a class -- and change quickly if weather prevents hands-on
instruction. A professional instructor should be equally at home and
equally efficient teaching large classes and single students . . . and
he/she should have a practical and polished back-up plan. I can't
stress this enough if you have a day-long class with kids.
And this question -- I know that the accepted maximum student/instructor
ratio is 4:1, but in the real world, that ratio sometimes is not
practical. At what class size is a single flyfishing instructor no
longer efficient? How about a casting-only class?
Thanks for all your work on this board -- we all benefit greatly.
Dave Lambert
OnWater Media
(P.S. Gordy -- These observations culled from a decade+ teaching Orvis
schools, community college, and FlyFishing Kids and FFF SEC kids classes.)
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Dave....
Good info, here ! Can you get me the ISBN numbers on Phil Genova's, "FIRST CAST" and Phil Brunquel's book, "FLYFISHING WITH CHILDREN" ?
No solid answer to your student-instructor ratio question. One can be reasonably effective teaching 10 or 12 students if the methods used in our FFF Conclave Workshops is employed. Works MUCH better if you have one more instructor, however, which brings it down to a 1-5 to 1-6 ratio. That's the way I've been giving my Conclave courses for the past couple of years. Dennis Grant and I and (this year) Jim Valle and I working together was sheer pleasure. Our feedback and observation of the participant's performance was very satisfying. One instructor compliments the other.
Gordy