How to make instructor training sessions fun?

[wutangclan]

I'm relatively new at running instructor training sessions -- this will be my 2nd season doing so. How can I make this fun and challenging? What do you enjoy when you attend session?

Context: this is at a small local hill and the sessions will be run at night when there is limited terrain open (groomers and a couple of short bump runs). The trainees have their L1, training for L2. A lot of them are gap-year kids from overseas, mixed in with some older locals. I'd say most of them are "Type B" personality, i.e. want to get good but need it to be fun, with a minority of "Type A" keeners who like grinding through drills. Many of them will be tired from having been teaching during the day.

All suggestions and ideas are appreciated ... there are no wrong answers.

 

[SkiSchoolPros]

Done a lot of training- IMO, the best trainers are the ones who approach it similar to how they would with a group of paying customers.

What do you do when you get an upper level group lesson? Play, Drill, Adventure, Summary is one model. Maslow (you mentioned they might be tired) and CAP models are others...CAP will lead you to create a different lesson than you would with another group, but the process is the same.

Figure out individual goals, motivations, turn-ons, turn-offs, interests, etc.
Build some group comradery and see who gets on with each other. Various pairing up exercises can be good. Recently, we did visual MA in a clinic- aka, watch someone ski and then ski like them to show them what they were doing.
Figure out what they have in common (i.e. what you can do that might appeal to a large portion of the group)
Get them working, at times, on the edge of their comfort zone.

Don't assume that just because they are instructors that you should talk more than with other clients- Talk on the lifts and if you are taking a break inside, but keep it moving on the snow. Ideally, use drills, movements, etc. that illustrate your points or get them moving in the direction you want rather than a lot of talk.

 

[LiquidFeet]

The one thing I have always wanted in those training sessions is personal feedback. Pick one or two instructors each session and give personal feedback to them. Rotate through the group, so that after a month of training sessions you will have given each instructor some personal attention in front of the group. Each of them will know you care about their progress if you do this. The rest of the group will learn from watching you teach individually.

You can ask for permission first, if you think you may have some egos in the group who would not like to take the "student" role in front of the group. Let them say no and go to another person. Pick from the group by height, or by ski age, or by alphabet, not by need.

I've enjoyed skiing with a training group where the leader does excellent demos and has everyone try what was just demonstrated. That was done by call-down, and detailed MA was always given as the skier came down the hill. Everyone heard the MA but the skier doing the skiing. We learned to do MA. But....

It always falls flat with me if the leader doesn't tell us who is getting it right and who is messing up. The messing up people do not need public admonishment; they need a walk-through on how to improve their earnest but clumsy attempts.

This whole teaching enterprise works best if you use humor, and if you show genuine interest in seeing your group members improve. I've skied with examiners who are a precision instrument when it comes to skiing, and who can explain the technical aspect in 7th grade English so all will understand, and who do the explaining briefly. But it would always have been so much better if these guys had picked at least one skier each time to walk through the process of fixing faulty attempts at mimicking the leader's demos.

 

[Jilly]

When you mentioned gap year, are you teaching in Canada? I love taking the CSIA convention every year. So this would be coming from the "student" point of view. Because so many L1 are only teaching beginners they need some time out of the wedge. Get them skiing anything and everything. Relate any teaching moments back to either the skill or the technical reference.

Get them in the bumps, get them in the brushes, follow me, experiment with them leading the drills. Especially if teaching training is part of the sessions.

As someone else has said....just like a high performance lesson you would teach.

 

[wutangclan]

IMO, the best trainers are the ones who approach it similar to how they would with a group of paying customers.

Thank you, I keep forgetting this. Last season I tended to run the sessions differently because we were all staff.

It always falls flat with me if the leader doesn't tell us who is getting it right and who is messing up. The messing up people do not need public admonishment; they need a walk-through on how to improve their earnest but clumsy attempts.

That's an excellent point, and it reminds me that I also wish I had heard more about what faults I had to fix (and how).

Because so many L1 are only teaching beginners they need some time out of the wedge. Get them skiing anything and everything.

Word!

 

[Nancy Hummel]

The best clinicians are able to tie in what you teach beginners to instructors skiing. Make everything relevant and make it fun. Ski hard, challenge them, praise when they do right and teach them something they dont know.

 

[wutangclan]

The best clinicians are able to tie in what you teach beginners to instructors skiing.

Can you please give an example of what you mean by this?

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Share the clinic leadership by asking for alternative ways to present the same materials and then asking the suggesters to demo.

 

[Chris V.]

I concur with what others have said. Would just add that your instructors will have some sophistication. Respect their analytical thinking abilities. Get down to true fundamentals, at the most basic level. For example, don't just say, "Create more edging" at a certain phase of a turn. Convey precisely what body parts should be moved, in what ways, at what time, and in combination with what else, to make that edging happen. Then have the instructors explore the available range of that motion, and FEEL it.

 

[MattFromCanada]

One of the things that I always thought was lacking in sessions I've taken is the adherence to the "learning contract" model that the CSIA preaches... namely the idea of goal setting, and getting the trainees to buy into what's being taught.

A lot of times trainers will say "do this type of turn" with little in the way of checking to see if the trainees know why exactly they're doing 3000 J turns. A good trainer knows why, but a great trainer will make sure the trainees know why.

 

[Nancy Hummel]

Can you please give an example of what you mean by this?

I went to a clinic with Victor Gerdin -former demo team guy, Aspen ski school director etc. We worked on teaching wedge turns to beginners and then gradually took the same turns on steeper and steeper terrain and increased speed. It really illustrated the similarity in mechanics in all levels of turns. This was eye opening for some people and I could see people who were somewhat disinterested in the beginner stuff suddenly become more engaged when they realized they could apply the skills to their own skiing.

 

[JESinstr]

Nancy Hummel said: ↑
The best clinicians are able to tie in what you teach beginners to instructors skiing.

Can you please give an example of what you mean by this?

Like balancing through the arch.....Brush, not push/brace...Go there, look to the direction of intended travel,,,Soften the inside leg to help facilitate the turn.

Just to name a few.

 

[HDSkiing]

People who like to clinic, will find fun in it. If it’s for certification than there is probably a time line and progression involved which means moving through certain tasks and standards over a series of limited clinic days.

Im in the camp that finds clinicing fun in and of itself.

Generally the clinics I like the most are the ones first thing before the resort is open when you are fresh, you can then go through the day working on some of the drills either while teaching or free skiing. It’s a great way to start the day and let things sink in for either teaching or your own skiing.

If possible The change, from a late afternoon clinic, to a first thing in the morning one might be enough to make it more fun.