Robert's teaching method

I teach a non-credit adult education course in fly fishing at the University of Southern Indiana. Many students do not own a fly rod but want to learn the sport. Others will have a rod that someone gave them, and others have a little experience. The first session is always in the classroom where I draw on the chalk board "loops". Then I get everyone to pantomine without a rod in their hand,and next pantomine with a rod in their hand showing stops, acceleration, etc. I then take them outside and wave the rod with about 20-30 feet of line, back and forth in the air showing the mistakes of what I call "flagging": The rod does not load, there is no stopping or any other of the 5 essentials. I Then review the 5 essentials, and have those who brought a rod to string up their lines and do some "bad casting - flagging" then correcting the cast by doing some false casting using the 5 essentials. I tell them take the slack out of the line then when beginning the lift off the water (grass) to watch the connection of the leader to the line, and when they can see it move that's the time to initiate the back cast and accelerate to a stop. Next, I have them stand sideways and just move no more than 20-25 feet of line forward and backward, concentrating on the stop and forming a tight loop. I finish the first lesson by casting each student's rod and then having them practice what they've learned. I am usually surprised to see that most will practice quite a bit before the next session, and all will have extended the length of line to 40-50 feet.