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Teaching test plan

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When you tell my technical director you want to go for certification, the first thing he always says is “What’s your plan?” I’m taking a teaching exam this season and this is my plan.

Refresh
I’m hitting the books, web and my notes to make sure my foundation of teaching and tech knowledge is solid. The key books to study are the Core Concepts for Snowsports Instructors, Alpine Technical Manual: Skiing and Teaching Skills and the Children’s Instruction Manual. My posts give you idea of the breadth and depth of what I’m studying.

I can easily fit in time to work through the book learning a chunk at a time, once the season starts I won’t be able to.


Strategize
Next I want to start working through lesson plans. When I’m working with a student, I have a limited amount of time to come up with a plan. I want to spend some time working through different scenarios and coming up with lesson plans. I want to ponder teaching styles, learning styles, drills for skills, common problems and ways to teach tactics.

Many times I’ve had a plan and tossed it the minute I knew it didn’t fit the student, terrain or conditions. But I think working through scenarios will get the problem-solving part of my brain kick started.

Teach and refine
My goal is to be prepared when I meet my first student of the season. In my case, this is will be people who want become of instructors or instructors needing a refresher.

All season long I want to teach good lessons then analyze and refine what I’m doing to make them better. I’ll get feedback from the diva crew and other key people. I’ll watch other instructors and incorporate material I think will work for me.

Movement analysis is an area I need to spend some time on. I’m going to a PSIA clinic and work with the rest of the diva crew.

Most of my time in the children’s learning center last season was with first-timers. So I definitely need to get out with more advanced groups this season.

Package
As the exam gets closer, I need to start thinking about how to package my teaching in a way that shows the examiner what they’re looking for. You can only package what’s there, hopefully everything will be working.

The Diva has a great post on what to do in the exam.

This is my plan. It’s built on my nerdiness, learning style, strengths and weaknesses. Your plan will be different and your plan will likely be way less defined. But having a plan really helps.
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