most important teaching skills

[Unregistered]

This was matched only by robbing Fauvets tool box and telling "Big Brian" from Newcastle to relax his butt cheeks whilst standing immediately behind him... this proved to be a poor judgement call.

Happy endings are not included as standard then?

[petevicar]

When I read threads like this I always go back to trying to understand why the best people in this sport need to teach.

A top soccer player doesn't do that neither does a top golfer.

The people who teach are normally very competent in what they do but are not necessarily the best.
The best teachers are simply the best teachers.

I think it's great that Bernd comes up with these threads so that people can maybe try to become better teachers.

Is it that this board is made up of teachers rather that top casters?

I know from some of the get-togethers that I have attended that the casting abilities of the people I have met are very high. I also know that the personalities of many of those are also huge.
I have also had instruction from a few people and it has been, for me, very successful. However I feel pretty sure that not all the people I have met at the SL get-togethers are good teachers.

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi Pete

You make some interesting comparisons, a top golfer or soccer player doesn't have to teach, but quite alot ends up teaching when they aren't on the top of their game which is for soccer players pretty short, golfers go a little longer. Flyfishers tend to do flyfishing till they float away

What is a top caster in your oppinion?

Cheers
Lasse

[Bernd Ziesche]

Hi Pete,
I agree with your post.
Personally I believe that a great fly casting teacher doesn't have to be a top range fly caster him/herself at all. At the same time some of the best casters may be lousy teachers just because it's not their passion to teach but to cast.
It's one way to become a top range caster and another way to become a top range teacher. Well, that is how I see it.
No doubt that trying to get better in both will always be a benefit. But still I think teaching is the important way to go, if teaching is what one wants to be as good as one can be in. Most fly casting geeks I know would not have enough time to go both ways, because of a normal job and family life. And then some may even want to spent a few hours on the water to fish .
And how many really prefer teaching over fishing and casting on their own?
I have met one for sure: Mel Krieger. He maybe was the best teacher I have been with when it comes to motivation to become a great teacher. His lessons always seemed to be very enthusiastic and signed by high motivation to get better in teaching not so much casting.
Greets
Bernd

[Zoran Marinkovic]

do not waste your time guys, a top fly casting teacher just need to be top fly casting teacher, nothing else , not even CI or MCI .

[Michal Duzynski]

Hi guys
There is a saying (from bible I think ) "give a man fish, and he's going to have a meal for a day, give him a fly rod, and teach him to cast and he is going to have food for life"
... this remainds me polish (again) fly fishing courses, one or two teachers, and 10 guys on the bank with a nymph titen to their leader they catch a trout or two, and then they say "oh what a great fly fishing course, they thougt me how to catch my first fish", then they go fishing on their own, and approaching dificult casting situation the man goes in tilt.

I cast many, many hours a week ( my job allowds me for more casting, then fishing), for me casting an hour in the morning is like coffee for others. during my practice I learn, dicover things and on the end of the day has nobody to share it. Sometimes my head is just about to explode, I need to share with people, and this is why I became an instructor.
Even if you are great caster, people who want to learn casting are keeping some distance from the one without certificate.
How they can be sure , what you are saying is true,or right, on the end of the day we charge money for it.
Example: I had a student, fantastic caster, distance, tight loops, curves, new everything about 5 esentials. He opened his website offering teaching- in 2 years not even a phonecall- not certificate in the background.
It is your student/client to decide if you are the one with great abbilities to teach fly casting, no matter how far you can cast, or no matter how good caster you think you are. If you fucked up a lesson ,things go quickly on internet and in small community you might be finished as an istructor.

Teaching skills- first to know the subject in and out, then a skill of communiation, communication, communication, you need to enter into the enviroment of your student.

....and the main teaching skill, wasnt mention here befroe- being able to keep a low profile, low EGO, and showing off in front of your student.

Long one I know- its always like this after few glasses of wine

cheers
mike

[Paul Arden]

I have no idea why I fish Pete, let alone teach it! But I do enjoy it, so maybe that's the reason. Also I think you stand to learn a great deal about casting through teaching, which is why very many of the best casters are also instructors. And finally as an instructor, you have unlimited access to a vast pool of information and different skills. It's a very interesting world. But ultimately I just find it a great deal of fun!

Cheers, Paul

[Mike Heritage]

Getting a grip on expectations (mine) versus the expectations of the client (often unknown by you or them). Not achieving what YOU had hoped they would achieve used to be a big downer for me but after teaching several couples (husband/wife, father/son or a couple of mates) and nearly always seeing one do much better than the other I have done away with expectations and am much more relaxed in the way I instruct.

Mike

[petevicar]

After some thought, maybe i got my analogies wrong.

Casting is a part of fly fishing. Maybe the best casters are not the best fishermen. For golfers the longest driver is not usually the winner of the most tournaments.
The best technical football player is also not necessarily the best overall.
There are other factors to take into consideration like mental attitude , fitness etc.

Similarly in fishing being a good caster certainly helps but mental attitude and vision is as important as in any other sport.

My take on the most important teaching skills is that you must be a good teacher. That means having the ability, by your efforts, to impart knowledge or information to a pupil so that he can make use of it.

OK it's half time in the football game and the game is boring.

[Mike Heritage]

Interesting to see the different outlooks between instructors and instructed. You have to bear in mind Pete that most of us took to route to instructing to improve our own casting, not necessarily to teach. During that process you invariably get caught up in the teaching , in fact you have to. If you have no instructing experience you will find it difficult to pass the assessments. Some take the assessments just to prove to themselves (and others) that they have achieved a certain standard and have no intention of ever instructing. You could argue that the various associations should create a separate assessment for anyone just wanting a certificate of achievement level.

Then again there are some of us who just can't help ourselves and went through the process to try and make sure we were at least competent enough to offer advice.

Mike