Tips for a Newbie Instructor?

[oragejuice]

Mt. Bachelor instructor hiring camp is this weekend!!!

It's kind of like a second interview, they are going to be assessing our skiing and instructing skills, in order to weed out those who wouldn't be a good fit in the ski school program!

There are quite a few Diva instructors around here, and I would looooveee to have any tips about instructing that you can give me!! How to act. Little tricks, anything!

I'm almost positive that I'll be getting the job, but anything helps! Stories are good too!!

 

[Jilly]

One of the most important things is to make the lesson fun. If it ain't fun, they are not learning and won't come back.

That said, relax, enjoy the company, teach at the students level (also ski there too) and DON'T TALK TOO MUCH!! Ski them.

As for instructor tips, look and see what bugs you about the skiing. Figure out what it is, then fix. (That came from my 3 last year, best advice I'd heard in years!)

And as Kathy Prophets says - It's all about the passion!!

 

[SkiBam]

Make sure to say what you LIKE about someone's skiing, not just about what needs fixing.

 

[Jilly]

Yes, always be positive. The words NO and WRONG don't exist in a ski instructors vocab! It's "I don't think I explained that quite right!" "Now try this!" Or just plain "Oops" Back to square one!

 

[volklgirl]

• Keep your sense of humor!
• Wear a back brace.
• Teach everybody how to get up from the belly flop position so you don't have to pick them up.
• Keep extra sets of hand and toe warmers in your pockets and check the kids frequently.
• Keep snacks in your pocket for crazy busy days and possible diabetic crashes (gummy worms or rice crispy treat minis work really well).
• Hand out 3x5 cards as a reminder of 2 things for them to work on when they leave, and your name so they can request you next time!