Do the 3-Step

BY LANE MCLAUGHLIN

PSIA/AASI-NW TECH VP

Since we’re just moving into fall, I’m sure you have plenty of time and energy to think ahead to the upcoming winter and envision taking your game to another level. In fact, it’s this time of year that you can go underground, into your own studio, and without prying eyes stealthily prepare to bust some moves this coming season. So, here’s a training tip to help you jive to whatever beat is thrown at you in a teaching scenario. Learn the ‘3 Step’.

Say what - you haven’t heard of the 3-step? You need to check this out and it goes a little something like this. Take any given teaching scenario you can think of and quickly think of the top 3 core ideas that jump into your head. Sort them out a bit into an order that seems to flow. 1 leads to 2 leads to 3. Without over-thinking, quickly validate that you’ve got 3 goodies that are true, relevant and related, and then tell a story on how you’re going to move through those steps.

For example, let’s say the ski class DJ spins up a little ‘I want to improve my mogul skiing today.’ Then I could 3-Step through:

First we’re going to work on turning our feet, because we won’t be able to navigate those bumps if we can’t slither our feet through those tight spaces. Once our feet are turning, we’ll have to work on flexing and extending our legs like springs to absorb all that wavy terrain. Finally, if we can manage that, we’ll top it off with improving our pole plant. We can swing it for flow, or more of a touch and go, or plant it firmly to anchor the show.

Or, suppose a snowboard crew is playing a mix of ‘I want to add some ollies to my life’. Then I could 3-Step it like:

First we’re going to work on our range of motion while straight running on a flat board. Once we can stay centered and pump it like a piston, we’ll work on popping off the snow. Finally, we’ll add some rocking and rolling fore and aft on the board so we can ollie-nollie all night long.

You can take this 1-2-3 teaching strategy for progression development to a snowsport rave and mix it to whatever tunes come up.

The point being, successful teaching and learning can be based on formulating logical progressions. Whether you are working with individuals or groups, for a short period or lengthy duration, you need to size up your assignment and establish a lesson plan that relies on fundamental blocks of information, technique, skills and tactics that can be sequenced in a manner that makes sense to the learner.

If you look back at the two examples I provided, the 1-2-3 is stated in a way that could easily be used to introduce a lesson. Without being too verbose, the 3-Step states a plan and process, but without dictating the exact drills, time, runs and thousands of other variables that you’ll manage during the lesson body. By presenting a high level lesson plan to the group, you can establish buy-in, show that there’s going to be a variety of activities that progress toward the goal they stated and gauge their excitement for what’s ahead. Being transparent with your approach is a useful step in building trust and credibility with your students.

So why 3? There’s no such rule, but I honed this technique myself while chasing the dream of becoming a certified instructor. In preparing for exams, I knew I had to be prepared for any possible teaching assignment and would only have a short time to present my ideas to my peers and examiners. I knew I had to show a logical progression of ideas, teach skill development to individuals rather than using canned progressions or shot gunning a bunch of tasks, and be relevant to the assignment. For me, 3 points stated clearly up front seemed to be the right weight of showing a chain of fundamentals that, if not overly ambitious, could be demonstrated and practiced to some degree of success in a short timeframe.

So do a little homework this fall and sit down and sketch out your 3- Steps for as many teaching scenarios as you can drum up. You’ll then be well prepared to take on a variety of challenges this upcoming winter.