I am right in the middle of my NAUI ITC (or am I beginning? I don't even know!) and my CD is at the stage of drilling me with "writing a lesson plan from scratch" which is fine and all but here my questions:
My CD knows but is not very fond of the idea that my personal configuration is Hogarthian and I much prefer the DIR approach than the conventional methods. While he has repeatedly said that what it do does not compromise NAUI standards and that I can teach those when I become instructor, he has a very skewed perception with the approach and view it as "if you MUST do it like this, it is not fun anymore" mentality. As a result, all the lessons plans I have to write for him becomes an opportunity to jab at the DIR approach.
E.g: The latest lesson I have to write is "Liftbags Operations" and the lesson is confined to 30min. I clarified with him if that will include SMBs and he gave an ambiguous answer suggesting that it does. So I wrote my lessons accordingly, giving a quick introduction to the different kind of liftbags, their uses, and the GENERAL safety considerations when using and deploying the various kind of liftbags. He said I did not meet the needs of my students but rather I was too engrossed in what I think I need to teach -_-". We ended up re-writing the lesson plan together and I went with what he suggested, and it ended up being a lesson on a commercial liftbag operations involving calculating 50,000lbs and barely touching on SMBs (really???? for an instructor course in recreational SCUBA?) He said that is what DIR does to me in that it skews my vision and made me blind to the larger aspects. I was speechless.
On another issue, he has the impression that DIR divers are constantly in-your-face of other divers telling them what they should be doing and how they should be diving, and that I have a very black and white view of what is right and wrong. I told that is not true, and that all I am doing is promote safe diving and has nothing to do with DIR. If I feel something is compromised, I will advocate aborting a dive, DIR or not. And this was his golden response: "Exactly as I thought, but who are you to tell me or anyone else what I should be doing?" I was like, WTF???? Isn't that what an instructor is suppose to do by telling telling their students what to do in a class/course? And isn't it an unspoken rule in diving that anyone can abort a dive at anytime for any reasons without fear of any repercussions?
Please assure me that my ITC is on the right track.
p.s. Hogarthian and DIR are my personal approach. I share the approach with anyone who is interested to know, but I dive with anybody and I certainly do not tell them what to do unless I need to abort a dive and as long as they respect my rock-bottom.
My CD knows but is not very fond of the idea that my personal configuration is Hogarthian and I much prefer the DIR approach than the conventional methods. While he has repeatedly said that what it do does not compromise NAUI standards and that I can teach those when I become instructor, he has a very skewed perception with the approach and view it as "if you MUST do it like this, it is not fun anymore" mentality. As a result, all the lessons plans I have to write for him becomes an opportunity to jab at the DIR approach.
E.g: The latest lesson I have to write is "Liftbags Operations" and the lesson is confined to 30min. I clarified with him if that will include SMBs and he gave an ambiguous answer suggesting that it does. So I wrote my lessons accordingly, giving a quick introduction to the different kind of liftbags, their uses, and the GENERAL safety considerations when using and deploying the various kind of liftbags. He said I did not meet the needs of my students but rather I was too engrossed in what I think I need to teach -_-". We ended up re-writing the lesson plan together and I went with what he suggested, and it ended up being a lesson on a commercial liftbag operations involving calculating 50,000lbs and barely touching on SMBs (really???? for an instructor course in recreational SCUBA?) He said that is what DIR does to me in that it skews my vision and made me blind to the larger aspects. I was speechless.
On another issue, he has the impression that DIR divers are constantly in-your-face of other divers telling them what they should be doing and how they should be diving, and that I have a very black and white view of what is right and wrong. I told that is not true, and that all I am doing is promote safe diving and has nothing to do with DIR. If I feel something is compromised, I will advocate aborting a dive, DIR or not. And this was his golden response: "Exactly as I thought, but who are you to tell me or anyone else what I should be doing?" I was like, WTF???? Isn't that what an instructor is suppose to do by telling telling their students what to do in a class/course? And isn't it an unspoken rule in diving that anyone can abort a dive at anytime for any reasons without fear of any repercussions?
Please assure me that my ITC is on the right track.
p.s. Hogarthian and DIR are my personal approach. I share the approach with anyone who is interested to know, but I dive with anybody and I certainly do not tell them what to do unless I need to abort a dive and as long as they respect my rock-bottom.
