Positive Teaching
BY JOHN WINTERSHEID
ALPINE LEVEL III PSIA/AASI-NW BOARD MEMBER
TD, SKI MASTERS AT SUMMIT WEST

It was a warm day, with a gentle breeze and granular snow. No, not a spring day, but a pre- Thanksgiving clinic at Mt. Hood. Those of you who know Northwest skiing may not believe this, but it was true.

Our clinic was led by Karin Harjo, a NW Technical Team member. The focus was on understanding how the efficient movement patterns related to the draft national standards. So far, your standard clinic. While the content was a neat way to look at the movement patterns, little did I know that this clinic would help me learn even more about how to teach in a positive manner.

We started out by taking a warmup run, while waiting for one of our group to get their gear together. After another run, Karin asked us to do line rotation and watch each other. Being ski instructors, this is something that we do by nature. She, however, asked that we look for something that they were doing well. At the bottom, she asked us to share what we saw on they way back up the lift.

When we got to the top, we talked about what we liked and related it to the efficient movement patterns and then the national standards. In other words, “I really like the way you ______(fill in the blank with efficient movement pattern), it allows you to _____(fill in the blank from national standards). We did this again for another run. It was such a change from looking for what everyone was doing wrong to looking for what people were doing right.

At the top of the next run, Karin paired us up and had us look for something that we liked about our partner’s skiing. We followed our partner and switched half way down. On the chair ride up we shared what we saw and how we thought it helped them ski more effectively as related to the national standards. Again at the top, we shared what we liked about our partner’s skiing. It was only at this point that we started talking about what changes our partner could make to what they were doing well to make them even more efficient - again the positive approach. We switched partners, but continued to work using the same format.

The day continued with this positive approach of what we were doing well and how it allowed us to be more effective and efficient.

Within this context, there was one key difference that allowed us to enhance what we were already doing. The word “but” was never used. We all are used to hearing someone say “I really like that _____(fill in the blank), but you could do better by ________. We replaced this with, “I really liked how you _______, it allowed you to ________.” Who wouldn’t glow after this sort of comment? This is truly what I believe is positive teaching. It goes to the heart of praising what a skier is doing well and building on that. Why put the speed bump of a “but” in the midst of teaching?

The next day, we were with a different clinician. He too used this same approach. We did the line rotation and he commented on our skiing by saying things like, “I really like how you kept your upper body quiet”, (we were waiting for the ‘but’ which never came), “it allowed you to move with the terrain” The approach that was used in the clinic that day was wonderful. There are most likely other instructors who use it all the time. For the rest of us, this would be a refreshing change for ourselves and for our students.

I think if we do this, it would really change how we teach and how our students learn. I know that I will have to work on making this teaching pattern a habit and I am sure that I’ll be a better teacher for it.