I'll tell you my story. I got certified and discovered I really loved diving, and since I also love teaching (and have been told many times that I am good at it), I immediately decided to follow the path which was common with our local shop, of racking up specialties and Rescue and then DM and instructor. I was working on all of this when I went for a dive with someone who looked totally different from anything I had ever seen before. This diver (NW Grateful Diver on this board) descended and stopped, and hung in the water. He moved very slowly and was completely stable (I had to swim circles around him when he stopped to look at stuff). He used a light very effectively for communication, and any time I needed to say something to him, he was immediately attentive. I was floored, and I immediately said to myself, "Whatever he learned to be able to dive like that, I want it!"
Over the ensuing 9 years, I've gone and gotten it. I've gotten a lot of good training from a variety of individuals, and I am now the quiet, stable, attentive, and silt-free diver I wanted to be. As a result, I am NOW toying with the idea of finishing my instructor training in December. (I got my DM four years ago or so, and have helped with classes during that time.)
I think we need good instructors. We need people who have good skills and broad experience, who truly love to teach and want to create good divers. I've seen that kind of passion work, and the people who have the luck to train with that kind of teacher come out with skills that will allow them to be confident and enjoy the sport, and maybe actually stay in it. But I also think the industry encourages instructor training for people whose personal skills aren't strong enough to be teaching anyone, and a lot of the instructor training you can get will make you into an instructor who does his students no favors.
I would highly recommend what's been said already -- go out and take Fundies, or cavern, or a really good deco class. Get your skills polished and your situational awareness honed. Then take those things back to your instructor training, and you will go through it with a different outlook and become a different kind of teacher.
Over the ensuing 9 years, I've gone and gotten it. I've gotten a lot of good training from a variety of individuals, and I am now the quiet, stable, attentive, and silt-free diver I wanted to be. As a result, I am NOW toying with the idea of finishing my instructor training in December. (I got my DM four years ago or so, and have helped with classes during that time.)
I think we need good instructors. We need people who have good skills and broad experience, who truly love to teach and want to create good divers. I've seen that kind of passion work, and the people who have the luck to train with that kind of teacher come out with skills that will allow them to be confident and enjoy the sport, and maybe actually stay in it. But I also think the industry encourages instructor training for people whose personal skills aren't strong enough to be teaching anyone, and a lot of the instructor training you can get will make you into an instructor who does his students no favors.
I would highly recommend what's been said already -- go out and take Fundies, or cavern, or a really good deco class. Get your skills polished and your situational awareness honed. Then take those things back to your instructor training, and you will go through it with a different outlook and become a different kind of teacher.
