Mr 100 Dive Wonder Instructor

[runamonk]

Part 2

After we get the students out of their gear and press warm steaming mugs of Hot Chocolate into their hands Mr 100DWI asks me to come out the back of the yard.


We move behind the fence and he lights a cigarette and blows out a huge amount of smoke and starts berating me for making him look bad in front of the students.
I told him I didn’t make him look bad and the students wouldn’t have even noticed, they are new and know nothing about diving.
By this stage I was pretty pissed off and asked how he ever became an Instructor. I pointed out all the breaches of standards and told him I had a duty to report them, and also told him I was pretty disappointed at his level of instruction, especially the issue of overweighting students.
He told me not to report the breaches and then proceeded to inform that once I became an Instructor I would realize why he did everything he did, especially the overweighting of students.

I went inside and informed the boss (a CD) of the breaches and told him I would finish the next dive with Mr 100DWI because I had committed but I would never work with him again.

The boss called the 100DWI in and asked him what he did and all the reasons why. I don’t know what was said but from that point on Mr 100DWI wasn’t trusted to teach on his own again. He did however do some team teaching and I hope he did learn from some of the other Instructors.

I became an Instructor about 6 weeks after that incident and even now, I still can’t understand why he did what he did.
All I can put it down to was him moving so fast through the ranks, so little experience and a whole lot of lazyness.

He sounds alot like the instructor a few of us had in the past. Our instructor is famous for saying "We just gotta get ya down there" as he's piling on the weight LOL. You end up with 40 - 50 lbs of lead and still can't get down then there's another issue hehe.

We've since changed shops and instructors and we've been much happier and better divers for it too.

 

[shoredivr]

I feel lucky coz my OW instructor spent some time getting students NOT overweighted in the freshwater pool sessions, then when we arrived at the saltwater open water portion, everyone's weights got adjusted again for the new conditions.

 

[Guba]

Being a dive instructor (which I'm not) combines elements from multiple fields. First, it takes a good grasp of diving skills bolstered by experience. In my opinion, for what it's worth (not much), 100 dives is pretty scanty to provide that experience. However, to actually TEACH requires a completely seperate and different set of skills. Being a teacher (which I am) requires more than just knowledge. It requires dedication and a willingness to impart that knowledge to others, as well as attention to detail and discipline. It also requires a good deal of "people skills" in order to draw the best from their students. It can't just be a way to earn a paycheck.
I've been fortunate to have good instructors through OW, AOW and Rescue. Certainly, each of them had their strong points and weaknesses. Some were better than others. However, all of them seem to have had a better grasp of both diving and teaching than 100 WDI was reported to have had.
As for as reading long posts, no problem. I'm wordy, too, as you can tell. (Hey, I had to cut my first novel down from a quarter million words to just 100,000!) Good topic, though. Makes one thankful for the good instructors. If you're one of them out there, thank you for what you do. Hang in there!

 

[anakin]

:shakehead No stamina these youngsters today...

You took a whole page to describe how an instructor wieghted down his students too much.

I agree a lot of instructors overwieght there students without explaining why, and without helping them with there decent skillz, and then reducing that wieght. I was just stating you took an effing long time to explain this. I dont know why stamina is involved, i just couldnt handle the tedious plot of this novel you chose to write as a post!

 

[TSandM]

Personally, I enjoyed the narrative. Some of us like to read other people's writing.

 

[shoredivr]

Yep, me too. Gives it detail and dare I say it, nuance.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I like reading stories...
If you don't like this one, don't even attempt to read a Lamar English story.

 

[runamonk]

Agreed. I like to read anyhow, Especially when the person can write something entertaining. If you don't want to read it, don't but please keep your unconstructive comments to yourself.

 

[marusso]

Yup, I liked reading it too. No wonder why citcoms are only like 15 minutes worth of show and the rest comercials. People just don't have the attention span anymore.

 

[Packhorse]

I liked reading it cause im too tight to go buy a book