Bite Size Pieces
BY LANE MCLAUGHLIN PSIA/AASI-NW TECHNICAL VP

I’m sure I’m the master of the obvious when I point out that we learn anything that’s complex, big and difficult by breaking it down into fundamentals that are simple, small and easy (easier). Well, if that’s so obvious, then let’s see if you can relate to the following two stories:

Story One – The Difficulty of Skiing Moguls Billy Joe Bumpmeister shows up at his favorite ski area looking for a Black Diamond guru instructor to go out and show him how to tame the bumps. He gets assigned the top Level III instructor in the school, Sally Fall- Liner, to spend the day with him. Within a couple of runs, Sally sees that the complexity of all the movements, skills, tactics, and terrain management involved with skiing bumps is causing Billy Joe all kinds of balance and confidence issues. She recognizes that she can break down bump skiing into bite-size pieces, such as:

·         Developing flexion/extension movements in all the joints

·         Developing simultaneous leg steering while stabilizing the upper body

·         Including a pole plant to assist with balance while changing edges and direction

·         Selecting a turn shape that matches the bump-ometry (I made that term up)

Sally uses each of these activities as a standalone learning segment, a stepping stone that Billy can try, get feedback and guidance, practice and progressively master to some degree during the day. This way Sally helps Billy Joe see progress toward his goal. He’s also able to remember the cues, the drills and her feedback so that he can practice on his own time after the lesson when Sally’s not around.

Story Two – The Difficulty of Mastering Teaching Klaus Klinicsalot is the famed Training Director of the Schuss Snowsport School. Klaus is prepping a hungry protege, Amber Alert, going for the Level III Teaching exam. Klaus has Amber run a school clinic about Dynamic Medium Radius turns for an hour. After an hour, Klaus has furiously gathered a slew of notes of things Amber had difficulty with. It seems as though Amber didn’t really state a goal at the onset, she spoke very softly and most people could not hear her, her demonstrations seemed to be in conflict with her descriptions so the participants become confused on what she wanted, her movement analysis consisted of ‘good turns’ and missed the point that two participants had equipment setup issues that were limiting their abilities. On a chair ride at the end of the session, Klaus gave her this feedback and told her they’d try again next week, while Amber thought to herself about going to work for park crew rather than go through that awkward clinic experience again.

If I compare these two stories, they each are about learning experiences yet the framework for learning is completely different. The success and positive outcomes in Story One are possible because a challenging goal is broken down into smaller, measurable, and practicable pieces. Story Two takes on a big challenge while fighting all fronts at once. The task is daunting as Amber tries to synthesize so many critical aspects of teaching a good lesson and her struggles are the teaching equivalent of the wobbly first runs Billy Joe took down through the bumps. Klaus needs to learn from Sally’s tactics and perhaps teach teaching by using a similar stepping stone model. Let’s reflect back onto Amber’s struggles to see if we can think of some training activities that a “new and improved”, smaller-bitesized- pieces-Amber can try at the next clinic and tell her to tear up that park crew application before it’s too late.

It sounds like the session got off to a rough start because Amber failed to clearly state a goal for the session. According to the teaching model it’s very important to introduce the learning segment. Klaus could take the time to write down some teaching scenarios with varying desired outcomes and student types and have Amber think about how she’d introduce these learning segments. Perhaps at first she’d have the benefit of time during the week to think about it, research it, write down her thoughts and then bring her pitch to Klaus. Then, once she demonstrated a real knack for that, she could respond to Klaus with real-time answers as he peppers her with all kinds of random lesson scenarios.

It also sounds like Amber could use some practice speaking loudly and directly to the group, especially when it’s her peers. Perhaps Klaus could construct some training time where she does just that, and only that. Maybe everyday for a week Amber could step  up to introduce the morning meeting for her peers or describe the last movie she saw or facilitate a small Q & A session with the team. Klaus could observe and provide feedback strictly on her ability to grab attention and speak loudly enough. With practice each day, Amber and Klaus would hopefully see progress throughout the week.

On a separate training track, Amber could go study equipment options and write down some cause and effect assumptions on how equipment setup affects performance. She could test some of these ideas by going out with Klaus and performing some setup analysis on students and/or peers and test some of her theories. With these new skills she’d be more confident to bring this understanding into her movement analysis when coaching her peers.

Unless you’re a ‘natural teacher’ you’ll probably agree that teaching snowsports is as complicated, if not more so, than actually doing snowsports. So, perhaps to grow our teaching skills we can pattern our training by using some of the same methods that help us grow our skiing and riding skills. Take the time to break the whole enchilada into bite size pieces that are observable, practicable, repeatable or measurable. Develop a certain degree of improvement, if not mastery, in one area and then start attacking another. Those little victories along the way will help you each day you’re out with clients and help you to enjoy the process.