Walter & Group......
This is good advice for MCI candidates, from Jim Valle, MCI:-
Gordy,
I always get concerned
when a student or candidate feels conflicted.
If you think this helps
please pass it along.
Maybe we need to put
this in the teaching arena to make it easier to
understand.
First of all to
alleviate some unfounded fears on the part of those preparing to take the
Masters, I think it is almost impossible to fail the Masters on gray
areas!
It is more about
experience, true understanding and the ability to Teach Students, Teach other
Instructors and absolutely the responsibility to Test and Certify new
Instructors. (Don’t take this last one lightly, all examiners must consider this
aspect).Certainly overall subject knowledge, the ability to explain and
demonstrate whatever a student might ask are included. The manner in which you
answer and respond to questions is an immediate indicator of your teaching
experience. Put yourself in the examiner’s shoes and you will see the big
picture.
In reference to style,
I have always considered Style as how a caster’s body, physical attributes etc.
puts it all together to make the cast. The term “Self-optimization” works for
me. Remember that any style is ok provided it does not impede the casters
ability to make a cast properly. I think the concern about timing as a part
of style is that it comes dangerously close to a casting fault. Again
from a student’s perspective, the Pause … Too Early and “Pop” … Too Late and
“Tic” or loose the pre-load. There is no doubt an argument could be made for
timing to be considered a part of style however I don’t know if I would implant
this to a student or potential CI. One of the qualities of an MCI is knowing how
much information to give.
Floyd Franke once told
me “Never let a student see how well you cast” I also believe we should “Never
let a student see how much we know”, in either case it serves no positive
purpose and only serves as a detriment to the students’ ability to progress.
Imagine if your high school freshman algebra teacher started out with a diatribe
on advanced calculus. Probably for most just a matter of too much too soon
causing confusion or the potential to miss the fundamentals.) Now implant
something like this information in a new CI! Is it worth the risk if you
consider all the potential students ? Our strength as a teaching
organization is and must remain focused on sound fundamentals that we all have
in common. A student should be able to move from one FFF instructor to another
without having to start over and learn a new language or foundation. So I think
the concern is really more than face value, it is a deeper understanding of our
mission and long term goal. One step further, we could consider “speed” a style
some casters simply cast faster than others, not a fault until we consider who
has better line control. Someone could make this case also, however we as
instructors are much more effective in our demonstrations if we cast slowly, so
I would not pursue a line of thinking that suggested “speed casting”, it just is
contradictory to our purpose and then simply becomes
argumentative.
Simplicity is key to
teaching, it requires tremendous understanding to simplify things and that is
our strength!
I certainly hope this
helps future candidates put things in perspective.
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Jim...
Good all around advice for MCI candidates. There is no substitute for CCI's having a great deal of hands-on experience in teaching. Knowing the facts is not enough. Being a super caster isn't, either. IT'S THE TEACHING EXPERTISE with a good bag of tricks and ability to smoothly communicate with students which I see as being most important.
Gordy