There are two course directors that teach at the same store as I do. The senior of the two course directors has been teaching for many years and has encyclopedic knowledge of dive theory, local dive sites, people in the industry etc. He is really one of a kind. However, the senior course director (SCD) has not taught confined water skills in any of the classes that I have attended so far. The two course directors divided up the work and each chose to teach a different component of the IDC (instructor development course).
The course director that taught me most of what I know about instructing is excellent and I have written previously about how I still feel like a student around him. However with SCD, I have not really built up that kind of relationship and was a little curious about what his teaching skills would be like in the pool.
In the current IDC that is being held, SCD is the only course director since the other CD has work commitments that prevented him from attending. So last week, I got to work with SCD in the pool and I must say I enjoyed the experience. His style is unique to him of course (like everyone), but I both found that I learned some new ways of explaining the same skills and also found that I found his style familiar. By being familiar, I mean that I could identify with how he was conducting the class and found that even though we were taught by different people in different generations, there were enough similarities that I felt that we were on the same page every step of the way.
The casual observer might say that since we are both certified by the same agency one could suspect or expect that we would be on the same page. But I would counter that although we are expected to perform up to the same minimum certification, there is a huge component of "stuff" that is only "caught" rather than "taught". This intangible quality could variously be referred to as culture, oral learning, affective behavior, etc. I am not a trained educator, but I know that in any organization there are written and unwritten rules, procedures and methods. The same could be said of how one conducts SCUBA instruction.
Sometimes as instructors we convey just as much by our behavior, dress, demeanor, enthusiasm, professionalism, patience, etc. as we do by the actual content of the lectures. This is obvious stuff really, but as instructors we need to always pay attention to the intangible aspects of working with students - for example by trying to get them to be as passionate as we are about diving. (ok - I made a big assumption about passion here, but I sincerely hope that each and every instructor is passionate about diving and has not lost the fire and passion for diving.)
Friday, September 29, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
The small things matter too
This coming weekend, my diving buddy and I are going to be teaching an advanced open water class. The class consists of some classroom presentations, and two days of diving. There are two required components - navigation and deep. The other three components are up to the discretion of the instructor. However at the local dive store (LDS) that I teach at, we all teach the same optional components for the advanced class. The advantage is that everyone is on the same page and it makes logistics etc. easier.
One of the modules that we will be teaching this weekend is naturalist. The aim of this component is to expose the students to the various types of animals and plants they might encounter in the various types of diving they will be doing in the future. From my own perspective, I can attest to the fact that I have enjoyed my diving a lot more since I have started to pay a lot more attention to the various species of plants and animals on dives.
My diving buddy, the navigating phenom (NP) is an avid photographer and videographer. He has a keen eye for detail and manages to get spectacular shots on just about every dive. The secret is that he knows the habitat and habits of the various species. This knowledge enables him to find the various animals in areas that most other divers just swim over. A lot of divers just zoom over a dive site and mainly want to see all the big animals. On a lot of dives, these "speedy" divers will miss the most beautiful and interesting animals right under their noses.
In our class room session last night, we tried to encourage the students to spend the time to learn what the various species look like in the places where they will be diving. We showed them some of the video that NP shot on one of our dive trips and I think we managed to get the point across that it is not always the whale shark or giant grouper that makes for an interesting dive.
One of the modules that we will be teaching this weekend is naturalist. The aim of this component is to expose the students to the various types of animals and plants they might encounter in the various types of diving they will be doing in the future. From my own perspective, I can attest to the fact that I have enjoyed my diving a lot more since I have started to pay a lot more attention to the various species of plants and animals on dives.
My diving buddy, the navigating phenom (NP) is an avid photographer and videographer. He has a keen eye for detail and manages to get spectacular shots on just about every dive. The secret is that he knows the habitat and habits of the various species. This knowledge enables him to find the various animals in areas that most other divers just swim over. A lot of divers just zoom over a dive site and mainly want to see all the big animals. On a lot of dives, these "speedy" divers will miss the most beautiful and interesting animals right under their noses.
In our class room session last night, we tried to encourage the students to spend the time to learn what the various species look like in the places where they will be diving. We showed them some of the video that NP shot on one of our dive trips and I think we managed to get the point across that it is not always the whale shark or giant grouper that makes for an interesting dive.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Forever friends
Last weekend I took a dive trip to a neighboring state to attend an annual event that is organized by one of the long-time instructors at the local dive store (LDS) that I teach at. I have been aware of the trip for a number of years now, but until this last weekend, I have not been able to make it. Every year something came up and I could not go.
This year, I decided at the very last moment to go to the annual event and the weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. The weather was so-so, a little on the cold side and rainy off and on. The water temperature was actually warmer than the air temperature so it was comfortable and easy diving.
The event was basically a treasure hunt. We had to hunt for specially marked objects. The numbers on the objects were entered into a prize drawing. The prize drawing was held on Saturday evening, and some people actually came away with some very nice items.
I am reminded of something a one of the candidate dive masters mentioned a few weeks ago. He was reflecting on the fact that on his last dive trip, the people he met were from many different walks of life, yet he found it easy to relate to all the participants. The folks I met over the weekend were from many different walks of life, but we had a wonderful time recounting old dive stories, and watching videos from various dive trips. To me, it was almost like visiting family.
On every dive trip that I have gone, I have met some very nice people (without exception). On these trips I have met retired people, young couples, professional people, etc. No matter what walk of life people came from, I immediately felt at home talking to people about their favorite dives, the new piece of camera equipment and so on. In some cases I believe that I have made life-long friends.
This year, I decided at the very last moment to go to the annual event and the weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. The weather was so-so, a little on the cold side and rainy off and on. The water temperature was actually warmer than the air temperature so it was comfortable and easy diving.
The event was basically a treasure hunt. We had to hunt for specially marked objects. The numbers on the objects were entered into a prize drawing. The prize drawing was held on Saturday evening, and some people actually came away with some very nice items.
I am reminded of something a one of the candidate dive masters mentioned a few weeks ago. He was reflecting on the fact that on his last dive trip, the people he met were from many different walks of life, yet he found it easy to relate to all the participants. The folks I met over the weekend were from many different walks of life, but we had a wonderful time recounting old dive stories, and watching videos from various dive trips. To me, it was almost like visiting family.
On every dive trip that I have gone, I have met some very nice people (without exception). On these trips I have met retired people, young couples, professional people, etc. No matter what walk of life people came from, I immediately felt at home talking to people about their favorite dives, the new piece of camera equipment and so on. In some cases I believe that I have made life-long friends.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Equipment challenge
One of the "intangible" type skills we try to impart to the candidate divemasters is to be ready to deal with situations that are unusual or that they have not encountered before. The thinking is that there will be times that you have to deal with unusual challenges - both in-water and on the surface. We try to prepare the candidates to be ready to think on their feet to be able to deal with a wide variety of equipment problems, and problems that divers might have etc.
One of the candidate divemasters was faced with an equipment problem that took me by surprise. We were in the deep end of the pool and the candidates were being evaluated on the various skills that they have to perform (up to demonstration quality), The particular skill that the candidates were working on was the scuba unit remove and replace.
The last candidate went through the paces to remove his scuba unit, and when he had the scuba unit in front of him, I noticed that something looked strange and I could not quite understand what I was seeing. He had the mouthpiece of the second stage in his mouth, but the second stage was laying on the floor of the pool. Somehow the mouthpiece became detached from the second stage. The thing was that I was so focused on evaluating his performance of the skill that I could not immediately figure out what the heck was going on with the black thing in his mouth!
The most surprising thing was that he sat there totally calm and confident going through the paces of starting to replace his scuba unit. Almost at the same moment the course director (CD) and I realized what was happening and raced over to the candidate to assist him in case he panicked and shot to the surface. Incidentally we teach our students to solve problems underwater and not to bolt to the surface immediately when faced with challenges. The candidate was remarkably calm under the circumstances and did not panic or bolt to the surface. He calmly spat out the mouthpiece, took CD's alternate airsource and completed the skill.
CD and I were very impressed!
Once the candidate had repaired his equipment, he performed the skill again and scored very well. CD said that he had seen this kind of thing before, but I must admit I have never seen a mouthpiece detach from the the second stage underwater.
One of the candidate divemasters was faced with an equipment problem that took me by surprise. We were in the deep end of the pool and the candidates were being evaluated on the various skills that they have to perform (up to demonstration quality), The particular skill that the candidates were working on was the scuba unit remove and replace.
The last candidate went through the paces to remove his scuba unit, and when he had the scuba unit in front of him, I noticed that something looked strange and I could not quite understand what I was seeing. He had the mouthpiece of the second stage in his mouth, but the second stage was laying on the floor of the pool. Somehow the mouthpiece became detached from the second stage. The thing was that I was so focused on evaluating his performance of the skill that I could not immediately figure out what the heck was going on with the black thing in his mouth!
The most surprising thing was that he sat there totally calm and confident going through the paces of starting to replace his scuba unit. Almost at the same moment the course director (CD) and I realized what was happening and raced over to the candidate to assist him in case he panicked and shot to the surface. Incidentally we teach our students to solve problems underwater and not to bolt to the surface immediately when faced with challenges. The candidate was remarkably calm under the circumstances and did not panic or bolt to the surface. He calmly spat out the mouthpiece, took CD's alternate airsource and completed the skill.
CD and I were very impressed!
Once the candidate had repaired his equipment, he performed the skill again and scored very well. CD said that he had seen this kind of thing before, but I must admit I have never seen a mouthpiece detach from the the second stage underwater.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Podcasts
Podcasts have been around for a while now and I have been listening to a number of SCUBA related podcasts. The client that I use to search for and play podcasts is Apple's iTunes. I really like using iTunes even though my personal computer is not an Apple and I don't have an iPod.
Recently I ran a search on iTunes to see how many SCUBA related podcasts were available and was surprised to see that there were 24 different SCUBA related podcasts that were found in the search. I cannot vouch for the content or quality of many of the podcasts, but I will be researching the various podcasts in the months to come. I do however regularly listen to Bottom Time Radio and Pod Diver Radio. Willy Volk from Divester contributed to some of the early Bottom Time Radio and it was great to be able to hear Willy's voice, after reading so much of what he writes.
Hal Watts was interviewed on Bottom Time Radio show number 15. Hal is one of the icons and fathers of the SCUBA diving industry. An interesting tidbit from the podcast is that Hal is the originator of the very well known phrase "Plan your dive, dive your plan".
As I wrote previously, I feel it is important to stay current with new information and developments in the industry. There are many avenues that the information is available - magazines, books, trade events etc. Podcasts are a new and very exciting avenue that one can catch up on new developments. The great thing about podcasting is that regular guys who love the sport decide to put their own time and talent into making the podcasts.
A heartfelt thanks to the folks who do such a great job of putting so many great shows together.
Recently I ran a search on iTunes to see how many SCUBA related podcasts were available and was surprised to see that there were 24 different SCUBA related podcasts that were found in the search. I cannot vouch for the content or quality of many of the podcasts, but I will be researching the various podcasts in the months to come. I do however regularly listen to Bottom Time Radio and Pod Diver Radio. Willy Volk from Divester contributed to some of the early Bottom Time Radio and it was great to be able to hear Willy's voice, after reading so much of what he writes.
Hal Watts was interviewed on Bottom Time Radio show number 15. Hal is one of the icons and fathers of the SCUBA diving industry. An interesting tidbit from the podcast is that Hal is the originator of the very well known phrase "Plan your dive, dive your plan".
As I wrote previously, I feel it is important to stay current with new information and developments in the industry. There are many avenues that the information is available - magazines, books, trade events etc. Podcasts are a new and very exciting avenue that one can catch up on new developments. The great thing about podcasting is that regular guys who love the sport decide to put their own time and talent into making the podcasts.
A heartfelt thanks to the folks who do such a great job of putting so many great shows together.
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