I'm getting ready to start my Assistant Instructor class. Anyone have any tips or suggestions for me getting the most out of the class?
Safe diving,
Harry
Safe diving,
Harry
Preparing for my AI class, any tips?
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Just finished mine a few months ago. Study the Encyclopedia Of Diving Knowledge, standards in the instructor manual, get a law degree. Remember the I.E. way to teach is NOT real world. If you sound like you are repeating the same sentence over and over then you are doing it correctly. You will grow sick of
Contact, -Catch their attention
Value,- Why they need to learn this (No, if you don't do this correctly your going to die is not an acceptable value)
Body - easy part - it is the objectives from the guides
Summary - repeat everything you just said.
AND do all this in about ten minutes.
In each of these areas you will say the same thing...again and again and again. Develop some ways to use props vs. teaching aids (yes Virginia there is a difference).
You will absolutely love developing a presentation and then when it is over looking down and seeing all your props...laying there...unused.
Demonstrations...S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N Exaggerated movements
Study the Standards.
PADI is totally revamping the manual but it is not ready yet. The manual repeats a lot of stuff in each section that is being cleaned up. I have both digital and paper.
Contact, -Catch their attention
Value,- Why they need to learn this (No, if you don't do this correctly your going to die is not an acceptable value)
Body - easy part - it is the objectives from the guides
Summary - repeat everything you just said.
AND do all this in about ten minutes.
In each of these areas you will say the same thing...again and again and again. Develop some ways to use props vs. teaching aids (yes Virginia there is a difference).
You will absolutely love developing a presentation and then when it is over looking down and seeing all your props...laying there...unused.
Demonstrations...S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N Exaggerated movements
Study the Standards.
PADI is totally revamping the manual but it is not ready yet. The manual repeats a lot of stuff in each section that is being cleaned up. I have both digital and paper.
Make sure you have the most up-to-date teaching slates for confined & o/w as well as the marking slates for knowledge development, cw & ow. The marking slates actually show you the criteria by which you'll be scored & thus help you hone your presentation skills.
Basically, your goal will be to score a 5 on as many of the components as you can.
As has already been said, your skills need to be DEMONSTRATION quality: break each skill down into distinct sections & preform it slowly. For example, parial mask flood & clear would be
1) break the seal on the mask @ the top & let some water into it.
2) show that the mask is only partially flooded (draw a finger across the water line)
3) put your open palm on the top of the mask
4) look up while exhaling; you can show you are exhaling with your other hand by making a kind of motion @ the bottom of the mask that water is coming out
5) show that the mask is clear by pointing at it.
6) signal "ok" to make sure the students all saw & understood the skill demo
PM me if you have any questions (I'm an IDC Staff Instructor married to a CD).
Basically, your goal will be to score a 5 on as many of the components as you can.
As has already been said, your skills need to be DEMONSTRATION quality: break each skill down into distinct sections & preform it slowly. For example, parial mask flood & clear would be
1) break the seal on the mask @ the top & let some water into it.
2) show that the mask is only partially flooded (draw a finger across the water line)
3) put your open palm on the top of the mask
4) look up while exhaling; you can show you are exhaling with your other hand by making a kind of motion @ the bottom of the mask that water is coming out
5) show that the mask is clear by pointing at it.
6) signal "ok" to make sure the students all saw & understood the skill demo
PM me if you have any questions (I'm an IDC Staff Instructor married to a CD).
First, congratulations on your choice to continue down the path! 
Second, you've come to the right place to ask for advice or help. I'm working on IDC Staff Instructor right now and will be auditing an IDC in February. SubMariner above already is IDC Staff and AggieDad is an AI...so you've got folks who've already been there.
Third, remember the focus of the training. It's not to develop your skills and theory knowledge, this should already be done. You're now going to learn how to teach using the PADI system. Pay attention to your mentors and staff conducting the course. Be ready to do several presentations until you get the "pattern" down.
Use the evaluation criteria sheets in your Candidate Workbook as you write your lesson plan. Make sure you hit each point in your plan, clearly, to get that 5. Most importantly, relax and teach your plan! Just because you wrote it down doesn't count if you skip it and don't mention it. Use statements in your presentations that leave no doubt:
"The objective is ....."
"The value of this is ...."
"The Key Points are ....." (write them on the board)
"An application to your current training is....."
You get the idea....relax and have fun. IDC (both AI and OWSI portions) is a developmental process to learn the PADI way. It's expected that you won't nail it right off unless you're really the exception to the rule...maybe you are?
Have a blast.....:cool2:
Second, you've come to the right place to ask for advice or help. I'm working on IDC Staff Instructor right now and will be auditing an IDC in February. SubMariner above already is IDC Staff and AggieDad is an AI...so you've got folks who've already been there.
Third, remember the focus of the training. It's not to develop your skills and theory knowledge, this should already be done. You're now going to learn how to teach using the PADI system. Pay attention to your mentors and staff conducting the course. Be ready to do several presentations until you get the "pattern" down.
Use the evaluation criteria sheets in your Candidate Workbook as you write your lesson plan. Make sure you hit each point in your plan, clearly, to get that 5. Most importantly, relax and teach your plan! Just because you wrote it down doesn't count if you skip it and don't mention it. Use statements in your presentations that leave no doubt:
"The objective is ....."
"The value of this is ...."
"The Key Points are ....." (write them on the board)
"An application to your current training is....."
You get the idea....relax and have fun. IDC (both AI and OWSI portions) is a developmental process to learn the PADI way. It's expected that you won't nail it right off unless you're really the exception to the rule...maybe you are?
Have a blast.....:cool2:
sub_diving_mason:
The advice will vary depending on which agency you are using.
Aloha and congratulations on taking the next step!
You'll find that if you are doing the PADI A.I. certification, there is most definitely a major emphasis on how to present material, not on how to be a good teacher. I am not knocking PADI, I am just stating that IMO, it will be incumbent upon you to strive to be a great teacher. You can follow the PADI model and score 5's on your presentations and still be a horrible teacher who bores or offends the heck out of his class and therefore doesn't get the important stuff communicated. You will have to take it upon yourself to figure out how to really connect with your potential students/divers, how to motivate them in a positive and professional manner, how to get them to remember key concepts and skills, and how to make it all fun (yes, a scuba certification course can be fun, people) without undermining the serious safety aspects of diving.
So, to get the most out of this course, I would seek out what it is that makes an instructor effective - their attitude, their presentation, their ability to connect and really "teach" the class, and their knowledge of the material - and learn that. Watch your master instructor or your course director - are they good teachers? If so, try to incorporate their techniques into your approach to teaching. Eventually, you'll arrive at a style that is all your own but that is highly effective in reaching your target audience.
So...that is how I would try to get the most out of the course! Best of luck to you and happy diving!
You'll find that if you are doing the PADI A.I. certification, there is most definitely a major emphasis on how to present material, not on how to be a good teacher. I am not knocking PADI, I am just stating that IMO, it will be incumbent upon you to strive to be a great teacher. You can follow the PADI model and score 5's on your presentations and still be a horrible teacher who bores or offends the heck out of his class and therefore doesn't get the important stuff communicated. You will have to take it upon yourself to figure out how to really connect with your potential students/divers, how to motivate them in a positive and professional manner, how to get them to remember key concepts and skills, and how to make it all fun (yes, a scuba certification course can be fun, people) without undermining the serious safety aspects of diving.
So, to get the most out of this course, I would seek out what it is that makes an instructor effective - their attitude, their presentation, their ability to connect and really "teach" the class, and their knowledge of the material - and learn that. Watch your master instructor or your course director - are they good teachers? If so, try to incorporate their techniques into your approach to teaching. Eventually, you'll arrive at a style that is all your own but that is highly effective in reaching your target audience.
So...that is how I would try to get the most out of the course! Best of luck to you and happy diving!
Question everything.
Get all of your sterotypes and doubts about the PADI system on the table and have them dealt with. There are some good reasons why things are done the way they're done but not all of those reasons are what you might think.....
In developing "Lean" Toyota managers were trained to not just accept the first answer to a question and to ask "Why" 7 times when investigating things. I'm not saying you need to do this because you'll drive them crazy but keep it in the back of your mind.
You'll be asked to accept as true some things that you might not agree with and/or believe. Your best bet is to at least understand the "why".
R..
Get all of your sterotypes and doubts about the PADI system on the table and have them dealt with. There are some good reasons why things are done the way they're done but not all of those reasons are what you might think.....
In developing "Lean" Toyota managers were trained to not just accept the first answer to a question and to ask "Why" 7 times when investigating things. I'm not saying you need to do this because you'll drive them crazy but keep it in the back of your mind.
You'll be asked to accept as true some things that you might not agree with and/or believe. Your best bet is to at least understand the "why".
R..
Diver0001 -- Thank you for reminding me to ask "Why" I am to do it "this way." I'm just about through with my AI class now and looking at the IDC/IE the end of March. I have many "why" questions but I'm only asking a few of them!
To me the most important question, which I'm saving up for the IDC, is, "What does it mean to be an 'Open Water Diver' -- the model used for determining 'master' of a skill within the PADI Open Water Course?"
To me the most important question, which I'm saving up for the IDC, is, "What does it mean to be an 'Open Water Diver' -- the model used for determining 'master' of a skill within the PADI Open Water Course?"
I think you'll get a good answer to the question of mastery, Peter, which will make you realize that just about all OW divers who are being certified shouldn't have been.
Then the question is *why* does PADI habitually tolerate instructors certifying students who have not shown mastery of the skills according to their own definition?
Then when they answer that you'll need to know *why* mastery of the skills is not measured by the QA system?
Then *why* the QA questionnaire asks about ratios but doesn't ask the student "do you believe you have been adequately trained?"
then *why* that question would open up such a deep stinking pandora's box of legal-liability issues that PADI won't even want to talk about it....
That was 5x "why" and with 2 more you'll realise the truth about standards and then you'll be able to put it all in place. In my case understanding the truth helped me to relax and not get too lost in the details of it. It's a great checklist of things to do and say but ultimately *you* are the instructor and whether you're good or bad at it PADI has no way to even measure that as you followed standards for your good and for theirs .... (*why* didn't I just mention the student?)
And that's the truth about standards in a thimble. It's a very good checklist for the instructor and the didactic system is solid....if you know what you're doing.... but ultimately, how PADI sees standards and how we see them from the trenches will never mesh.
IIRC correctly there was an undersea journal a year or so ago that said we should be training OW divers to be "reasonably safe" -- not "reasonably competent". It might be worth your time to dig that up and take it with you for the entertainment value of discussing that with your instructor trainer(s).
R..
Then the question is *why* does PADI habitually tolerate instructors certifying students who have not shown mastery of the skills according to their own definition?
Then when they answer that you'll need to know *why* mastery of the skills is not measured by the QA system?
Then *why* the QA questionnaire asks about ratios but doesn't ask the student "do you believe you have been adequately trained?"
then *why* that question would open up such a deep stinking pandora's box of legal-liability issues that PADI won't even want to talk about it....
That was 5x "why" and with 2 more you'll realise the truth about standards and then you'll be able to put it all in place. In my case understanding the truth helped me to relax and not get too lost in the details of it. It's a great checklist of things to do and say but ultimately *you* are the instructor and whether you're good or bad at it PADI has no way to even measure that as you followed standards for your good and for theirs .... (*why* didn't I just mention the student?)
And that's the truth about standards in a thimble. It's a very good checklist for the instructor and the didactic system is solid....if you know what you're doing.... but ultimately, how PADI sees standards and how we see them from the trenches will never mesh.
IIRC correctly there was an undersea journal a year or so ago that said we should be training OW divers to be "reasonably safe" -- not "reasonably competent". It might be worth your time to dig that up and take it with you for the entertainment value of discussing that with your instructor trainer(s).
R..
Diver0001:
What answer did you get from them?
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