Mr 100 Dive Wonder Instructor

[Rick Inman]

I have a lot of respect for good instructors - divers who can pass on to people of all different personalities and skills the wonders and how-to's of diving. Good instruction is an art - a calling really. And people seem to either be naturals at it or not.

I don't think the example in your story would have done much better had he had 1000 dives.

I don't think I'd enjoy being an instructor. I enjoy helping less experienced divers I dive with, and I enjoy learning from more experienced buddies. Actually, I've learned stuff from people with just a handful of dives.

The issue I have with our local instructors is that none of them dive just for fun (except my tech instructor who isn't affiliated with a shop). They are either doing a class or diving on the annual trip to Cozumel. But they never make any local dives just for fun, and I don't understand how you can teach others to do what you never do.

 

[terrasmak]

I still think i had a good OW instructer , i do hear some , well a lot of bad about her , but who cares. After taking other courses from her and then crossing to a Naui and traing with an IDC/Tech instructer for master and rescue ive seen how your instructers can make a difference.

How many instructers teach differently to there students ??? Are all classes the same or do you teach others ( ones who grasp the sport quickly ) better techniques??

 

[MyDiveLog]

My sense, having inherited students from a variety of nearby shops, is that your experience is more typical than not. I think you're dead on that most instructors simply "nail 'em to the bottom where they can't lose 'em" rather than take the time to teach them decent relaxation and descent techniques. Aside from all the trim issues in the water, the extra 8-10 pounds simply exhausts new divers on beach dives before they ever GET to the descent.

 

[dive_lover88]

i also think i have 2 excellent instructors for my OW and AOW. They always were helping me to cut my weights down. I dropped frim 12kg to 8-4kg depending on my protection.

 

[theskull]

I have a lot of respect for good instructors - divers who can pass on to people of all different personalities and skills the wonders and how-to's of diving. Good instruction is an art - a calling really. And people seem to either be naturals at it or not.

I don't think the example in your story would have done much better had he had 1000 dives.

I don't think I'd enjoy being an instructor. I enjoy helping less experienced divers I dive with, and I enjoy learning from more experienced buddies. Actually, I've learned stuff from people with just a handful of dives.

The issue I have with our local instructors is that none of them dive just for fun (except my tech instructor who isn't affiliated with a shop). They are either doing a class or diving on the annual trip to Cozumel. But they never make any local dives just for fun, and I don't understand how you can teach others to do what you never do.

Amen, bro! You said it all.
Though I must admit that I know about a dozen good instructors who do also dive regularly for fun and to advance their skills.

I happily remain "just a Divemaster",

theskull

 

[EvilSlumLord]

The LDS I got my OW through openly admitted (much later after the class) that they significantly overweight the students to assure they can descend on the dives. While I can see from a certain perspective that might be good (mostly for the instructors to get people through the dives quickly), I felt (and still do) that it starts people off on the wrong foot (fin? ) when they get their c-card and try to go diving for fun. In my case, they set me up with 34 lbs of weight (cold water, 7mm wetsuit, ...). My first 10 dives or so were pretty miserable because I was bouncing off the bottom all the time, not thinking I could be off on my weight THAT much. Eventually I took the time to do a weight check (yeah, I know, I should have done it before but as a complete newbie I just assumed that they probably dialed me in fairly close). It didn't take long for me to get myself down to 26lbs of weight and boy can I tell the difference in my ability to stay neutral easily.

I still think the first thing they ought to do in the OW class (or at least SOMETIME during the class) is a weight check so you learn with close to the right weight. Otherwise I think you spend a lot of time fighting problems unnecessarily.

 

[Kevfin]

Thank you for the very interesting story.

I'm just glad that nothing like this could possibly happen in the U.S. of A. :11doh:

 

[Diver0001]

Good instruction is an art - a calling really. And people seem to either be naturals at it or not.

I would beg to differ about this. I think learning to be good at anything involves a lot of hard work.

Some people have more talent than others but while some people are naturals they are few and far between in my experience.

I think that more important that talent is the correct attitude. The instructor who continually reflects upon his/her performance and looks for ways to improve will become a highly skilled instructor--talent or not.

The problem I see with a lot of 100DWI is that they don't reflect. If they reflected they would have, in most cases, chosen not to become an instructor with so little experience. If you add to that things like defensiveness, ego tripping and other insecurity related personality disorders then you have a recipe for someone becoming a real nightmare of an instructor.

It looks to me that the same principles apply to a lot of rolls we play in our lives so looking at how successful someone is in relationships/friendships, career and study may be indicators of how well they'll perform in the roll of instructor as well...

R..

 

[Scotty g]

Forgive me but i think that this is not all about the 100 dives. I think this is a lot to do with how the instructor interpreted the knowledge gained during his 'relatively short' career and how he applied it in his teaching.

Yes i cannot agree with you more that 100DWI is a very low log but nevertheless, this was a lot to do with this chaps personal skills and what he believed was right, not wholly about his 100 dives.

One of my many Discovery dives years ago was taken by an 2000+ Instructor and i can tell you now, his profile was too big for a filing cabinet and 25 years of diving gave him the right to know the SCUBA world inside out....or so one would think...

This instructor took 3 of us out on his own, my first attempt of coming off the ledge made me smile so much that my mask flooded and i panicked. By the time i had recalled my training, cleared the mask and got my bearings again, the instructor and my 2 colleagues had vanished. Being young and adventurous, i trusted my instinct, defied all odds and went down on my own and thankfully found them happily swimming away which took all my effort to catch them up. Please no flaming for going on my own and risking it but i was 18, and when your 18 - your superman and can do anything !

Anyway, my point is yes, 100 dives is rather low for an instructor i am not argueing that. I argue that this is NOT soley because this instructor has 100 dives, it's 50% the mind behind the training.

Scotty

 

[chewie]

i've seen people breeze thru the levels once they get the minimum no of dives under their belt. they just want to get thru the ranks so quickly, that even though they may have the quantity, they may not have the capabilities & how to react to different situations that may arise during dives. it's not that i disagree with this notion, but it just produces "green" dive pros as compared to someone with a vast dive experience. i've even heard of some scolding their students if they don't do the skills right. that's not the way to get people into diving & having them continue.