Helen (AKA Hellvet)
30-11-2005, 16:33
As some of you will know from the other thread i was really excited and looking forward to this but with some trepidation as i do not enjoy being watched doing practical exams (i know, i know, its a course not an exam!).
Well i made it there, which is more than the rest of my club did due to the chaos on Bodmin moor, but happily i was coming down from my Shrewsbury appointment with Dr Wilmshurst so i was coming from the other direction. They got there eventually at the last minute, but more than a little stressed!
I have to say it was all everyone said it would be...fun, intense, tiring, useful, interesting, thought provoking, but it was still scary to me to do my practical lesson...that was never going to be anything else!
However - and also like everyone said(!) - it was ok - they teach you to teach, give you the structure and the initial skills, and give you useful feedback without being overly critical! The theory lesson went fine - again i definitely need to work on my timing, but managed only to go 1 minute over time! One of my buddys gave a 17minute 10 min lecture!
You get a lot of support from the other students as they are all nervous too, though most of them were nervous about the theory rather than the practical lesson! However, we were all sympathetic to each other and those that i supported for their theory presentation returned the favour for my practical lesson.
I have gained a great deal of confidence from the course as i got through the practical lesson (MAJOR hurdle for me), got positive feedback from my instructor trainer and the other students, and only ran 5 mins over my lesson time (hmmm might need to invest in a proper watch so i can judge time underwater!!). I can't wait to start putting this into practice and i'm lucky that my club are keen for us all to do so!
Its worth going out for the meal with the instructors too as it definitely makes you realise they're just people and divers - especially when the conversational topic wanders(!) - it did mean we didn't start preparing our lectures till about 11pm but hey - who needs sleep?! Seriously, it did mean i didn't spend too many hours trying to prepare and got it a bit more in proportion!
There, see, a positive report after all my worrying! and all the instructor trainers on the course - thanks - especially pete! (he had to put up with my stressing and arguing!)
Well i made it there, which is more than the rest of my club did due to the chaos on Bodmin moor, but happily i was coming down from my Shrewsbury appointment with Dr Wilmshurst so i was coming from the other direction. They got there eventually at the last minute, but more than a little stressed!
I have to say it was all everyone said it would be...fun, intense, tiring, useful, interesting, thought provoking, but it was still scary to me to do my practical lesson...that was never going to be anything else!
However - and also like everyone said(!) - it was ok - they teach you to teach, give you the structure and the initial skills, and give you useful feedback without being overly critical! The theory lesson went fine - again i definitely need to work on my timing, but managed only to go 1 minute over time! One of my buddys gave a 17minute 10 min lecture!
You get a lot of support from the other students as they are all nervous too, though most of them were nervous about the theory rather than the practical lesson! However, we were all sympathetic to each other and those that i supported for their theory presentation returned the favour for my practical lesson.
I have gained a great deal of confidence from the course as i got through the practical lesson (MAJOR hurdle for me), got positive feedback from my instructor trainer and the other students, and only ran 5 mins over my lesson time (hmmm might need to invest in a proper watch so i can judge time underwater!!). I can't wait to start putting this into practice and i'm lucky that my club are keen for us all to do so!
Its worth going out for the meal with the instructors too as it definitely makes you realise they're just people and divers - especially when the conversational topic wanders(!) - it did mean we didn't start preparing our lectures till about 11pm but hey - who needs sleep?! Seriously, it did mean i didn't spend too many hours trying to prepare and got it a bit more in proportion!
There, see, a positive report after all my worrying! and all the instructor trainers on the course - thanks - especially pete! (he had to put up with my stressing and arguing!)