Two models found in PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors Association) Rocky Mountain Division, are the Teaching Model and the Guest Centered Teaching (GCT) Concept. These should be ingrained in every instructor in all they do. They should be second nature to how they conduct snowsports instruction.
Overlayed on the graphic example of the GCT model below is the Teaching Model (Introduce, Assess, Determine Goals, Plan, Present Information, Practice, Check for Understanding, and Summarize). Under the Teaching Model is the GCT model of identifying and facilitating motivations, understanding, and movements. The arrows signify the circular nature of the process.
Can you tell if your instructor followed some similar structure in your lesson? One thing good about asking for a certified instructor is that they will have learned these methods and you’ll have a better lesson. You’ll also notice some consistency in lessons taken at different areas if you’re with different certified instructors.
Here is another way to rate an instructor. This document is handed to all guests that sign up for a ski/ride booking at Monarch Mountain. It asks the guests to rate their satisfaction with our school and their instructor on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 meaning strongly agree)to statements.
Here are the statements:
My instructor’s appearance was professional.
My instructor was friendly and met me with a smile.
My instructor was interested in my motivation for taking a lesson.
My instructor considered my motivation when building a lesson plan.
My instructor was conscious of the ways in which I learn and process information.
My instructor accurately assessed my movement patterns.
My instructor recognized the strengths in my riding.
My instructor provided me with ample practice time after introducing new material.
My instructor summarized the lesson and presented me with something to work on.
My instructor was concerned about my awareness of safety.
My instructor introduced or reviewed the skier’s responsibility code.
My instructor met my expectations.
I would recommend my instructor to friends and family.
The Ski and Ride School sales staff was friendly and knowledgeable.
The Ski and Ride School supervisory staff was friendly and knowledgeable.
[Comments section is provided.]
If you’ve read my previous post you’ll see some correlation to PSIA’s candidate score card, especially in the areas of identification and facilitation of motivation, learning styles, movement needs, and safety.
PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors Association) has established standards for ski instructors in the industry. There are currently three levels of ski instructor certification in the U.S. At cert exams, a system of scoring three specific skill categories is used by examiners to ultimately determine if a candidate has reached the level of standards (actual current Level III Scorecard here). I feel like I can generally use the items scored as a means to continue to informally score myself as well as other instructors in our training.
Just got my new cards from VistaPrint. Not quite sure what I think about ‘em yet. Even though I designed it myself, I have to see what people’s reaction to them is. I think they may be too “busy” or too hard to read. I was vasilating between blue or black background. Black would have been bold and would have matched the Monarch Mountain’s new website and other marketing materials better, but the blue matches my new jacket. Let me know what you think.
I’m thinking maybe I can help some of our other instructors with their card designs, for a nominal fee of course. We snowsport instructors need to gather as many revenue streams as possible since there’s not all that much money to be made as an instructor.
Hopefully the more of these I hand out the more it will help me to get request private bookings. These bookings are some of the best.
In yesterday’s afternoon rehire session on MA (movement analysis), near the end we talked about how to encourage guests to return for more coaching. I feel like I kind of went off in left field talking about developing a relationship with the client and stuff. What I should have said was that, bottom line, the instructor needs to ask the guest to take another lesson. This “asking” can be done many different ways depending on many various situations. Having a relationship of trust with a guest just makes it easier to “ask” them to come back for a lesson with you. Doing a great job of satisfying the guest’s needs, makes it easy to “ask” them to come back, so does doing a great job of MA, or making the lesson fun, or whatever you need to do, to do a great job, makes it easy to “ask” them to come back. Giving them homework and the knowledge that their progress will continue if they come back for another lesson, makes it easy to “ask.” And although we didn’t use the word “ask” yesterday, we did mention that “it” has to start at the introduction of the lesson (and I’d say even before the lesson starts) and continue through to the summary.
Unless you ask your guests to come back, I don’t think you can really expect them to ask for you again.
Ran across this today. I thought it was worth posting here. I want to learn to talk like that. Perhaps the best way would be to work down under next summer. Or . . . maybe I can get my good friend Hayden Melsop to teach me fly fishing and I can learn how to talk like that at the same time!
Here’s an article about a topic I mentioned in a previous post that referenced a 10 year old article. This one in wired is from September 2010 Wired.com. Very interesting discussion on the thought processes going on in athletic situations. Seems there is a “working memory” that if clogged with, or occupied by, unneeded info, is not as efficient as it could be.
For me this so relates to teaching skiing. Student attitudes play such a huge role in how they learn. I’ve seen huge differences in learning just due to what cultures where folks are raised.
Ran across an interesting article from the New Yorker today (see it here). It’s kind of long, but so are most New Yorker articles. The subject of the article is why athletes/professionals sometimes fail under pressure. This post is so I can reference the article later and reference it to other topics. It’s over 10 years old (2000), but still relevant. I’m keeping my eye out for more modern theories.
When someone panics they revert to instinct. When someone chokes they have reverted over thinking. Another interesting point the article makes refers to stereotypical expectations. But another interesting theory in the article about is “implicit learning” versus “explicit learning.” Implicit means you’re learning without realizing it. Explicit means you know you’re purposefully learning.
The was referenced in a comment to help further explain why Lance is failing in this year’s (2010) Tour de France, but it made me think about how people learn to ski. Most seasoned ski instructors know there is often a natural, or instinctive, fear that students bring with them to the lesson. The article talks about how when someone begins to panic they are unable to focus. But I also couldn’t help but think back on some of my own experiences with successes and failures, but one in particular was my pursuit of PSIA Level III as a ski instructor. I always felt like I was a good instructor, but I could not understand why I would choke in front of a PSIA examiner.
I know one thing for sure, when I’m in a challenging skiing situation, I’ve learned to not over think it. It’s got me wondering about all other aspects of life’s challenges. Do you rely on instinct, or intellect? It seems instinct can be good or bad, but implicit learning is better in the steep and deep. Once you have implicitly learned something, does it become a part of instinct?
A concept I’ve been exploring for a while is how fixie riding can improve skiing. I intend to expound the following, but for now I just want to get ‘em down somewhere before they are lost to damaged brain cells or whatever.
Overall Fitness
Spinning improves leg speed, thus improves quickness on snow.
Pressure Control
A better understanding of pressure control comes from riding a fixie bicycle. Spin too fast and you blow up. Stop pedaling at the wrong time and get thrown off the bike. Controlling one’s speed downhill on a fixie improves pressure control sensitivity.
On a bicycle in general, the most efficient pedaling is even throughout the cycle. In other words the rider is pedaling round strokes rather than pushing on the down side of the stroke and pulling on the upside of the stoke. Cycling athletes are tested on ergonometers to determine where they predominantly apply pressure to the pedaling stroke. The best riders are those whose graphs show a more even line of pressure through out. Now I’m not saying that if a skier could maintain the same pressure underfoot through out a run, with turns in it, that, that would be the most efficient skiing, but it’s something that I’ve been debating in my mind.
Upper/Lower Body Separation
A better understanding of upper and lower body separation is learned from riding a fixie bicycle or trackbike. On a fixie it behooves the rider to not bounce on the saddle to avoid soreness and increase peddling efficiency. Thus one must learn to spin the legs while the upper body remains quiet to avoid bouncing.
