National Instructor Prep - Open Water
Open Water preparation
Day Two Chasewater.
To prove how flexible they can be, the NI’s arranged to have all the classrooms dead bolted. If we had been involved with another agency we may even have been able to apply for a “Teaching in toilets” speciality.
First briefing took place in the Gents. Then onto the first event of the day, our Two Hat Open water presentation. This was slightly different from the previous day, as the lessons were to be completed, without interruption. An overall debrief was given by the NI team and then individual debriefs were carried out within the individual groups. I found this type of peer review exceptionally useful, as it shows your lesson from the student’s point view. Again, my lesson plans have now changed to take into account some of the things I learned.
We then switched to being examiners.
This was not the perfect lesson we were expecting. The performance took on some very interesting, novel and inventive interpretations of the teaching manual. However, you can only mark on what you see, based on the essential criteria, however much it hurts. This lead to some very interesting questions, answers and discussions both during and at the end of the event.
We (The prepers) were being very civilised with each other, which meant that we were not as close as we should have been to the action. Our choice of kit also made for some very smug comments from the NI’s and a major discussion which went on for some time (I still maintained we were setup).
Overview of the weekend
The groups were changed throughout the session. This meant that we all had the opportunity to work closely with each member of the team, and get a lot of different opinions.
- Did I learn a lot?
- Yes and still am.
- Would I go to another prep session?
- Definitely, I’m only sorry that I cannot attend them all.
- Who did I learn from?
- Everyone NI’s and students alike.
- Did I enjoy it?
- Yes, but not until afterwards. I like a lot of people tend to treat this type of event as an exam, instead of the learning experience it really is. I will try to get this sorted for the next event.
- Is preparation useful?
- Definitely, I now have an idea of the standards I need to reach not only for the NI exam, but for the BSAC members I will teach and examine in the future.
General comment
It’s a pity I have had to wait until doing NI exam preparation before being able to take this type of workshop. In my opinion it would be extremely useful for anyone on the ITS circuit.
Gary Asson
Page last modified: 2nd May 2007 - 10:58:04