Pass or Fail ????

[TSandM]

We tried to teach the son of one of my best, long-time friends. He was very anxious and uncertain, so we were very gentle with him. Everything was introduced slowly, and he was given lots of one-on-one time to work up to things he found frightening. On the third pool session, he had a breakdown, and ended up in the corner of the pool screaming, "Don't come near me!"

In all of his activities and existence, this young fellow was anxious, tense, oppositional, and difficult. We knew some of this ahead of time. I do not think the most gifted teacher in the world could have gotten him through a certification class at that time -- he was 13, and very immature for his age.

Lots of students have some anxiety about mask skills and water in the nose. I know, because in our teaching partnership, those students get sent to me to work with. Usually, with some exercises on airway control, and some private time with no pressure, people work through those issues, or at least reduce them to manageable, so that more practice can continue to defuse the issue. That's something good, patient teaching can accomplish.

Some students are simply terrified of the entire experience. They may be generally high anxiety trait people. They may be trying to overcome a phobia. Whatever the reason, if you patiently work with people and can't see ANY diminution of the anxiety state with time and repetition, I think those people should not be passed. If someone can sit on the bottom of the pool and clear a mask, but then demands to go the surface is and sitting there and shaking, that person may have accomplished the skill in a practical fashion, but not "in the manner of an open water diver". Perhaps more time or a different teacher will solve the issue, but I do think some of those people will never be very safe in the water.

 

[Diver0001]

there are far more to many people that think of they can do they can also teach.

This is especially prevalent in technical training where it pertains to scuba diving.

To my way of thinking a scuba instructor is as much a coach as a teacher. Your job is to make it clear to the student what they have to learn (teaching) and to transfer knowledge where appropriate. On the other hand as a coach you need to create an environment of trust where you can pull together elements of the person (personality) with the material, break it down, establish short and long terms goals (set a road map) and work together with the student on achieving those goals.

In many cases there isn't time for that and it is limited to showing the student a few tricks. However, just like in martial arts (something else I know a bit about), learning tricks will not make one a martial artist...Neither will learning 19 individual (seemingly disjointed) skills, make one a diver. This is why my preferred model is to engage the student as much on a coaching level as on a teaching level when possible.

Most of the time this isn't possible but when it is I really like it.

For example, someone mentioned above that some people take a diving class to overcome a fear. I once had a student in this position who made it clear that learning to dive was, to her, a confrontation with herself and that if she ever learned to dive or not was secondary to the *process* of trying. Naturally I found this intriguing.

She had made several attempts with other instructors before me and when I met her I listened carefully to her story and reviewed the notes my colleagues had written about her (without saying who wrote them). She found it hard to hear but agreed that they were accurate. Then she said something to me that I'll never forget, "Rob, I *need* to do this. I may never become a diver, but I need to go through this process".

I explained to her that it was impossible for her to achieve her goal in the format of a normal diving course (once again, setting expectations early on). She agreed and said that she'd pay per session until it was done. I explained that it could become very expensive. She explained to me that she had a very high paying job and didn't care. I took her on.

To make a long story short, as I recall, teaching her to dive involved 20 hours of preliminary in-water training in the pool and 20 days (40 dives) in open water. We did this in one season. She was a highly educated professional and obviously highly intelligent. The theory was child's play to her, but she was ... "stuck" ... in her personal growth due to not being able to handle the fear of failure. Her training involved counselling (not from me, that's not my forte), meditation/relaxation, and lot of just listening to her. This was the path *she* chose, not me, in order to finally tackle this. The diving was just a framework for her to put a context around it, create a challenge, and give it a natural "head" and "tail". She shocked (and flattered) me at one point in this process by saying that aside from her father the only person in this world who really understood the core of her personality was me. This was all about coaching this student. Teaching her to teach herself.

All this is to say, that teaching and coaching are related. Being able to "do" is handy, but mostly as a way to develop a foundation of trust. This student was never going to become a technical diver. She was never, with all due respect, going to reach a level of being able to "do" some of things I can "do". The only thing that was important to her was knowing that I knew what I was doing. I think an instructor with a more limited skill set than I have could have trained her just fine.... provided they were able to pluck the string that she needed to have plucked. My diving skill had nothing to do with that.

R..

 

[boulderjohn]

So as an instructor, the theory that it's all perfomance based is wonderful and gives you a strong sense of direction in the process; however, this isn't public education. Real businesses are paying the instructor and real people are paying out of pocket for what they're getting. This leads to a reality in which many instructors are put in a position where BOTH the shop AND the student are telling them that they want the certification to take as little time and cost as little money as possible.

I suppose this was directed at me. Let me be clear.... I'm not able to teach everyone to dive within the limitations I have. Some people will need more time. If neither the shop nor the student are willing to finance that and put in the time, then I believe it is my *responsibility* to be honest and forthcoming to my student about what I think... and what I think sometimes means that I have to tell a student early on that they're going to have trouble learning to dive in the format they signed up for.

Some years ago, when I was a DM assisting classes, we ran into a very unusual situation. We had a class of 5 students. two of them were average students. One has a severe learning disability. The other two were an autistic brother and sister. The brother was severe enough that in school he required a full time aide accompanying him throughout the day. The mother of the two did not think there was any reason to warn the shop prior to the class.

We immediately saw in the first pool session that it was not going to work. We had to reschedule things so that the two autistic children had separate sessions. In those sessions, it became clear that even then, they would need more time--a lot more time. Eventually, after an unbelievable amount of time and effort, the instructor got the sister to the point that she was OW certified. He got the brother to Scuba Diver certification, finally convincing the mother that he was not just like everyone else, and he should always dive with a professional. I talked to our Course Director (the manager of Instruction) about this. It thought there as a lot wrong with the process, especially that the instructor got no extra pay for the many extra hours he put in. I had just retireed from public education, where one of my jobs was being the school administrator in charge of the special education program in our school. I suggested changes based on that experience, but the Course Director was adamant--everything I suggested violated PADI policy, he said.

So I contacted PADI and ended up having two very long phone conversations about it. It turns out that nothing that I suggested was against PADI policy. In fact, they thought my suggestions were good policies for the shop. Here are two that seem relevant here.

1. You can have a statement/policy in the materials used when students enroll that identifies problems ahead of time. You ask them if there are any conditions that suggest extra time and effort might be needed. You can tell them that if they have unusual problems that require special attention, it can affect the running of the entire class and result in a need for extra sessions. You can explain the benefits of private instruction for people with special needs. This can include fear of water, for example. I know that if my current shop had that policy, the problem student I had in the last class, who knew she would be a problem student, would have opted for private instruction. That way you don't have as many surprises like we had.

2. You can have a statement/policy in your materials that says that if a student is not able to meet standards during the scheduled class time, additional sessions may be required. You can identify the cost of those additional sessions. You should have that spelled out up front, though. It should not be something you spring on them at the end of the scheduled class.

 

[oly5050user]

Some years ago, when I was a DM assisting classes, we ran into a very unusual situation. We had a class of 5 students. two of them were average students. One has a severe learning disability. The other two were an autistic brother and sister. The brother was severe enough that in school he required a full time aide accompanying him throughout the day. The mother of the two did not think there was any reason to warn the shop prior to the class.

We immediately saw in the first pool session that it was not going to work. We had to reschedule things so that the two autistic children had separate sessions. In those sessions, it became clear that even then, they would need more time--a lot more time. Eventually, after an unbelievable amount of time and effort, the instructor got the sister to the point that she was OW certified. He got the brother to Scuba Diver certification, finally convincing the mother that he was not just like everyone else, and he should always dive with a professional. I talked to our Course Director (the manager of Instruction) about this. It thought there as a lot wrong with the process, especially that the instructor got no extra pay for the many extra hours he put in. I had just retireed from public education, where one of my jobs was being the school administrator in charge of the special education program in our school. I suggested changes based on that experience, but the Course Director was adamant--everything I suggested violated PADI policy, he said.

So I contacted PADI and ended up having two very long phone conversations about it. It turns out that nothing that I suggested was against PADI policy. In fact, they thought my suggestions were good policies for the shop. Here are two that seem relevant here.

1. You can have a statement/policy in the materials used when students enroll that identifies problems ahead of time. You ask them if there are any conditions that suggest extra time and effort might be needed. You can tell them that if they have unusual problems that require special attention, it can affect the running of the entire class and result in a need for extra sessions. You can explain the benefits of private instruction for people with special needs. This can include fear of water, for example. I know that if my current shop had that policy, the problem student I had in the last class, who knew she would be a problem student, would have opted for private instruction. That way you don't have as many surprises like we had.

2. You can have a statement/policy in your materials that says that if a student is not able to meet standards during the scheduled class time, additional sessions may be required. You can identify the cost of those additional sessions. You should have that spelled out up front, though. It should not be something you spring on them at the end of the scheduled class.

We we recently conducted a DSD thru Groupon.
woman shows up with her 2 twin sons . The twins were to take the session.
It was very obvious while filling out the liability and medical forms that there were issues with them. They are 19 years old and could not read the forms without help from their mother.
We conducted the session, knowing that it would not go further than a simple shallow water experience for them and no sale for us. Well it took much longer that it should have, twice as long..During the orientation I actually used the phrase "if you do this wrong it can kill you" . I have never put it that way in any class before, but the lack of questions and the inattentiveness at times that I noticed prompted me to say that.
At the end of the experience where I kept them in the shallow end of the pool the mother actually wanted to enroll them in a ow course. I excused myself and explained the situation to LDS owner and he agreed with me that we cannot accept them in a class. Please note that in the medical for there is a check off for psychological or mental issues, she had them check off NO !
She was in denial that the boys had any type of issues.
After a while she admitted that they were in a special education school. I again explained that this can be a dangerous activity if not conducted properly and she still wanted to enroll them in a ow class.
Informed her that we are not comfortable putting the boys in danger and perhaps she can find an instructor elsewhere that conducts the type of courses that they need. Better to loose sales than to have to explain why someone got hurt on our watch.