For Instructors

Hi all,

Apparently word has gotten around that I have “materials”. Insofar as these skeletal notes constitute “materials”, here they are. Think of them as annotated outline notes, but remember…

No matter what you say or do…and no matter how good (or bad!) your drawings are…and whether or not you’re the first one to bring a PowerPoint presentation…

Nothing will substitute for having a high-energy, friendly delivery. People are coming to you after a week of work and some are probably pretty beat up. You don’t have to be a clown or comedian, but just keep it upbeat.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Very Basic Adult Pedagogical Principles:

1. Don’t talk (or answer questions) for more than 35-40 minutes at a time. Get someone to time you, preferably the most-impatient-acting person there.

2. Break after 35-40. Give them 10-15 for break, but tell them what time it is and don’t wait for the latecomers.

3. Ceteris paribus, it’s better to cover in depth than in breadth.

4. Try not to stand in one place. Move around. The closer you get to people (esp. in the back rows), the more they pay attention.

5. Modulate your speaking pace. Seriously. If you’re a “machine gunner” from being born and raised in NYC, pick the middle of the sentence to SLOW DOWN. And vice versa. “Research indicates” that people pay more attention to people when their voice speed and pitch change.

6. Be careful with the sea stories, and stress risk management rather than risk.

7. It’s just two hours to get through a lot. You’re not going to hit everyone. Fully 1/3 will lose you (or tune you out). It’s okay.

8. Be prepared to REPEAT EVERYTHING once you step aboard the following week (for weekday instructors) or day (for weekend instructors).

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Basic Keelboat Lecture Outline:

You have to bring the markers/white board out yourself. I’ve tossed out most of the dead ones.

Smile a lot! Wave at them when they come in! Everyone’s welcome, and try to get the early arrivals to sit up front. (Most won’t want to, but have them anyway.)

Remember 40-15-40. 40 minutes of lecture, 15 of break, 40 minutes more.

Remember these three steps:

• Tell them what you’re going to tell them
• Tell them
• Review what you just told them

It’s not especially elegant, but it works in a large, heterogeneous group.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Focus on these THREE big components…anything else is bonus material but if you cover this seriously then the students really can be as well prepared as you can expect after 80 minutes exposure.

1. Build the Boat
2. Discuss Points of Sail
3. Manoeuvres: Tacking and Gybing

——————————————————————————————————————————————

/1./ “Build the Boat”: I got this phrase from Jon Taylor. I start by drawing the water and adding the hull. As I put each piece on, I ask them if they know what it is and draw it. Review the purpose as well as the name of each item.

Erase a lot. Keep the whiteboard as clear as you can.

/2./ Do points of sail–just make sure that you integrate the “heading up/bearing away” terminology when describing each boat. For example, when pointing to a boat that’s just gone from close hauled to close reaching on the board, make sure you keep repeating (and repeating) that the boat in question has “fallen off” or “bore away”.

I’ve also found it useful to mark each boat outline with numbers/letters so the class can make reference to them. I also have the students follow along on page 44, which has that big diagram.

/3./ Using the North River as an outline, describe and discuss tacking and gybing. Plot a hypothetical course north bound and southbound. Again, it’s helpful to mark each boat outline with a number or letter to describe the different positions the same boat will be in.

Stress the communication aspects of these manoeuvres. Everyone’s a team member and responsible first for herself, and then for her teammates.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

If you have the time, use the remainder while waiting for the shuttle to give a buoy/ATON lecture. Right Red Returning, and all that. I use an ‘uptown/downtown’ metaphor to describe the chain of channel markers leading from sea to shore. If the students come out remembering that Even Nuns Blush, they should be set. For the purposes of the test, all they need to know is:

1. Nuns vs. Cans
2. Numbering schemes
3. Daymarks–colors/numbers and what they’re for/mean
4. Midchannel markers–colors and what they’re for/mean
5. Junction buoys–colors and what they’re for/mean
6. Small regulatory markers (no swim area, no wake zone, speed control zones, You No Go Here zones)

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Everything else is an open book. If you think back to what’s most basic and stick to it, the instructors can take it from there. Be sure to tell them what you’ve done and what you expect them to cover on their own.

See you on the water,

Julian