Hi CarolCarol wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 5:39 pm Thanks for the video, Nick! That's one of Bill's videos I hadn't seen. That teaching drill would work well on fresh snow if you can get beginning students to tolerate cold feet. And, as Bill said, it also would work well on concrete, but do you really want to destroy the student's line? Hauling out yards and yards of plastic and duct tape isn't practical. BUT if one could find a gymnasium floor ....
Oh, and thanks for the reminder about sandwiching comments. We humans usually need praise to keep motivated. I know I do and don't give myself much of it when practicing except the occasional "that's better." Now there's another topic for posting under the "teaching" section: What do you do to keep students motivated when they are frustrated? What do you do to keep yourself motivated when You are frustrated?
Get a few polyurethane lines, they tend to hold up better on concrete, and then it's not the students line that gets destroyed.
Or do it like Soon Lee with kids, use MPR's and a any smooth floor works
Regarding the hands on method, Joan wulff used to be a big fan, I don't know how much she uses it these day. At my CI test workshop I had her, and unlike Paul that fell asleep at his, I listened Also was the one to volunteer as a student to help her show what she was doing. While her method of gripping the students rod over and under and locking their arm so they aren't moving wrong isn't for everybody (she was a dance teacher, and that really shows through here, so was my wife) and for most it's enough to hold above the handle. The key is to start out with the student relaxed, and you're doing the casts, and then gradually that shifts so the student takes over and feels for what is happening, and the instructor backs off. It can be a powerful tool done right, and a terrible one having the student freeze up or even run away screaming, though anyone ever close enough to Paul might suspect it was his socks doing the damage....
Regarding the motivation, I tend to explain to students how everyone struggles at some point, no one ever just went from 0 to hero caster, and those who claims are lying big time. If one struggles, stop, and turn to something that works, and go back later to where the struggle was, usually a short break helps things along, especially if one knows what was wrong, thats where the good instructors come in.
As for my own motivation? I like to see how far we can take things, if someone throws further, I get inspired to work at getting there too, if one is more accurate, same, unless its Steve or Maxine Just kiddin, thats inspiration in spades!
And talking out loud in the practice field helps too, (it also keeps the idiots away )
Cheers
Lasse