The Language of Teaching
When you spend six to eight hours a day talking you're bound to say some strange things. Recently, though, I've noticed a couple of common phrases things that a lot of instructors use that they really shouldn't be. First, there are entirely way too many older (say 40+) male instructors who seem to think it's okay to scream, "You go, girl!" when one of their female students does something right. There's really no correct response so the student is left staring awkwardly at the instructor. Are the instructors trying to connect with a younger generation? Has the phrase has become so main stream that they feel it's okay for them to say it? I don't know, but it's just weird and it needs to stop.
Secondly, instructors have a strange tendency to use "that" and "those" instead of "your." I've heard several instructors describe a turn like this: "Take that knee and push it down toward those toes. And point that arm where you want to go." As the student takes off you'll then hear them scream, "Push down on those toes, push down on those toes!" I've caught myself doing this a few times and I don't know why we just don't say "Take your knee and push it down toward your toes." I'm currently making a conscious effort to use "your" over "those" but I'm just not sure where the habit started.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Padre Nuestro
Yesterday was my big Sundance day, with tickets to three films. I can't say I was expecting too much; the fact that I got tickets meant that the films weren't too highly sought after. But I was still excited; I could be in the same room as some celebrities! :) And, to help fill another New Years resolution (start learning Spanish), two of the films were in Spanish (with English subtitles, of course).
The first film, Padre Nuestro was my favorite. In a nutshell it follows a teenager from Mexico as he's smuggled into America and attempts survive in NYC. I haven't seen a non-Hollywood movie in a long time and it was nice to see a movie that (a) actually makes me think and (b) doesn't finish up all nice and perfectly. It gets two thumbs way up from me.
The second movie, Longford, is an English show about two of its most notorious convicted criminals and whether or not any human is incapable of being forgiven. It was originally a TV show in England (I think) so it ran a somewhat short 88 minutes. But it still felt like it was about 20 minutes too long. Maybe I'm just a product of today's fast-paced world, but Longford was just a little slow. But it was still interesting and (again) I always enjoy a film where I actually get to think.
Finally, I stayed up for a midnight showing of Summer Rain, directed by Antonio Banderas. The highlight of this film was having Antonio Bandares himself come out and introduce the movie (my first celebrity sighting!). He was a little long winded, but his speech helped set the tone for the movie. The point he made was that the movie is more like a poem; ideas are suggested, not necessarily shown. Without his set up I probably wouldn't have liked the movie at all. But after hearing his description I feel like he did a good job capturing what he wanted to. Sadly, I still wasn't very impressed with it. But I was 20 feet from Antonio Banderas!
Yesterday was my big Sundance day, with tickets to three films. I can't say I was expecting too much; the fact that I got tickets meant that the films weren't too highly sought after. But I was still excited; I could be in the same room as some celebrities! :) And, to help fill another New Years resolution (start learning Spanish), two of the films were in Spanish (with English subtitles, of course).
The first film, Padre Nuestro was my favorite. In a nutshell it follows a teenager from Mexico as he's smuggled into America and attempts survive in NYC. I haven't seen a non-Hollywood movie in a long time and it was nice to see a movie that (a) actually makes me think and (b) doesn't finish up all nice and perfectly. It gets two thumbs way up from me.
The second movie, Longford, is an English show about two of its most notorious convicted criminals and whether or not any human is incapable of being forgiven. It was originally a TV show in England (I think) so it ran a somewhat short 88 minutes. But it still felt like it was about 20 minutes too long. Maybe I'm just a product of today's fast-paced world, but Longford was just a little slow. But it was still interesting and (again) I always enjoy a film where I actually get to think.
Finally, I stayed up for a midnight showing of Summer Rain, directed by Antonio Banderas. The highlight of this film was having Antonio Bandares himself come out and introduce the movie (my first celebrity sighting!). He was a little long winded, but his speech helped set the tone for the movie. The point he made was that the movie is more like a poem; ideas are suggested, not necessarily shown. Without his set up I probably wouldn't have liked the movie at all. But after hearing his description I feel like he did a good job capturing what he wanted to. Sadly, I still wasn't very impressed with it. But I was 20 feet from Antonio Banderas!
Skiboot Shuffle
It's Saturday at 4:30pm. The sun has dropped behind the mountains and the temperature is 10 degrees and falling. For the first time in weeks clouds have moved in and it has started to snow. On stage Ozomatli is in full swing. Some guys are wearing ski goggles to keep the snow out of their eyes. Others are grabbing hand warmers between songs so they can keep their fingers warm enough to hold onto their instruments. For a minute I step back and think, "What in the world am I doing out here? It's snowing, windy, and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers." But I look around and it's hard not to be happy. People are jumping around and dancing everywhere; partly with the music, but also just to keep warm. But everyone is smiling, laughing, and enjoying the music. There's really nothing to do but join in. I can thaw my fingers out later.
Ozomatli put a great show. It was shortened a little due to the weather (they're from LA and not quite used to performing when it's 5 degrees out), but they still managed to rock the ski resort. The crowd was small, so I was able to get pretty close. And to help keep the kids warm they had a few join them on stage. Oh, and I got a very short video of them coming into the crowd and playing with everyone.
It's Saturday at 4:30pm. The sun has dropped behind the mountains and the temperature is 10 degrees and falling. For the first time in weeks clouds have moved in and it has started to snow. On stage Ozomatli is in full swing. Some guys are wearing ski goggles to keep the snow out of their eyes. Others are grabbing hand warmers between songs so they can keep their fingers warm enough to hold onto their instruments. For a minute I step back and think, "What in the world am I doing out here? It's snowing, windy, and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers." But I look around and it's hard not to be happy. People are jumping around and dancing everywhere; partly with the music, but also just to keep warm. But everyone is smiling, laughing, and enjoying the music. There's really nothing to do but join in. I can thaw my fingers out later.
Ozomatli put a great show. It was shortened a little due to the weather (they're from LA and not quite used to performing when it's 5 degrees out), but they still managed to rock the ski resort. The crowd was small, so I was able to get pretty close. And to help keep the kids warm they had a few join them on stage. Oh, and I got a very short video of them coming into the crowd and playing with everyone.
Winter Sports
Whew, what a weekend. Park City is definitely not a big enough town to handle Sundance. But, as predicted, it's been empty on the mountain. I've taken the opportunity to attempt alpine and telemark skiing. I grew up skiing, but hadn't been on skis since I first strapped into a snowboard 10 years ago. I had no idea what to expect, but was expecting to spend a lot of time on the ground. However I discovered that skiing is way easier than I remembered it. It must be the new parabolic skis or something, but I was tearing up the mountain. Okay that might not be 100% true, but I got off the green runs in a hurry and spent the day on blue and blacks runs. I think skiing must be like riding a bike. Sadly my snowboard skills didn't carry over though. I tried a few 180s on skis and all I had to show for it was a face full of snow.
But the real reason I stepped into alpine skis was to get prepared for tele-Tuesday. Tele-Tuesday is a program where ski and snowboard instructors get half off on telemark rentals and a free lesson from 5:00 - 7:00pm. The picture above is me after about two seconds on the skis. Although I was standing then, I fell about five seconds later. Fortunately I got back up before they could get another picture. Tele-Tuesday was a lot of fun. I'm not convinced that telemark skis are the way to go, but it's worth trying out a few more times.
Whew, what a weekend. Park City is definitely not a big enough town to handle Sundance. But, as predicted, it's been empty on the mountain. I've taken the opportunity to attempt alpine and telemark skiing. I grew up skiing, but hadn't been on skis since I first strapped into a snowboard 10 years ago. I had no idea what to expect, but was expecting to spend a lot of time on the ground. However I discovered that skiing is way easier than I remembered it. It must be the new parabolic skis or something, but I was tearing up the mountain. Okay that might not be 100% true, but I got off the green runs in a hurry and spent the day on blue and blacks runs. I think skiing must be like riding a bike. Sadly my snowboard skills didn't carry over though. I tried a few 180s on skis and all I had to show for it was a face full of snow.
But the real reason I stepped into alpine skis was to get prepared for tele-Tuesday. Tele-Tuesday is a program where ski and snowboard instructors get half off on telemark rentals and a free lesson from 5:00 - 7:00pm. The picture above is me after about two seconds on the skis. Although I was standing then, I fell about five seconds later. Fortunately I got back up before they could get another picture. Tele-Tuesday was a lot of fun. I'm not convinced that telemark skis are the way to go, but it's worth trying out a few more times.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
New Years Resolutions
I don't know if this happens for anyone else, but every year I seem to end up with the same core set of New Years resolutions that I convince myself to tackle. This year is no different and I find myself again trying to be more social and to get out more often. It's easy to fall into a routine here of riding all day, coming home and just completely vegging all evening. Last week, inspired to get out more, I decided to attack the town a couple of times. The results were not good.
Wednesday night I ventured out to the No Name Saloon, a place I've walked past several times but never gone in. It's always looked fairly busy and lively. I picked Wednesday because I heard something about Wednesday being "locals" night. Wednesday night I learned that "locals" can be a frightening word. It's kind of like "rustic," another word that's done me wrong in the past. (Quick aside: one year on a trip to Whistler my family decided to stay at some place that was billed as being very rustic. Upon arrival we discovered that very rustic basically meant small, dirty, and poorly maintained. I've been wary of any place described as rustic since.)
Ok, back to the story. It appears that locals' night could also be described as hicks' night. I saw entirely way too many toothless smiles, straw hats, and I believe I even saw a couple pairs of jean overalls. Oh, and an overwhelming male to female ratio. I probably would have had more fun if I wore my cowboy boots (and, of course, if I actually owned cowboy boots), but as it was I wasn't too impressed with locals' night.
So I went home, recovered on Thursday, and on Friday was ready to try again. This time I headed to the Star Bar. Two reasons: first, my friend at the front desk said that the Star Bar was the hot place to be on Friday nights; secondly, a friend from work mentioned that Friday was $2 drinks. So I headed out around 10:00pm. I arrived at the front door and discovered that the club was actually in the basement. I'm always a little wary of basement venues; you can't see what's going on and it could be too packed or completely empty. And, the bouncer noted that there was a $5 cover because it was $2 beer night (note: it was originally $2 drinks, now just $2 beers). But I'm already there, so I might as well keep going.
I hand over $5, head downstairs, and there are three people there. Literally. Well seven people if you count the three bartenders and the DJ. But I've put my $5 down, I'm getting me some $2 beers! I walk over to the bar and I'm distressed to discover that it's not $2 beers, but $2 domestic beers (Bud, Bud Light, etc). Which are only like $3 anyways. The imported beers, of course, are still $5+. So I'm stuck at a dead club drinking bad drinks. At 12:30 I decided I couldn't stand it any more (they were up to about 15 people at that point) and I headed home.
So two attempts out, two complete failures. Fortunately I've got a million more chances this week. Amongst other things we've got a company bowling party, a great free concert (Ozomatli, an awesome, percussion heavy band that will be performing outside on Saturday), and, of course, the Sundance Film Festival. I managed to get a few tickets, but I'm more interested to see what the vibe will be like for the next 10 days. It looks like it's going to be more than a little elitist, most of the bars are actually closed out for private events during the festival. But that won't keep me from getting out and trying.
Oh, and I'm supposed to be here snowboarding, huh? As promised, it is dead, dead, dead here. I'm still up on the mountain almost every morning, but no clients and no fresh snow (we're approaching two weeks of no new snow) means that I don't have a strong desire to spend my whole day up there.
I don't know if this happens for anyone else, but every year I seem to end up with the same core set of New Years resolutions that I convince myself to tackle. This year is no different and I find myself again trying to be more social and to get out more often. It's easy to fall into a routine here of riding all day, coming home and just completely vegging all evening. Last week, inspired to get out more, I decided to attack the town a couple of times. The results were not good.
Wednesday night I ventured out to the No Name Saloon, a place I've walked past several times but never gone in. It's always looked fairly busy and lively. I picked Wednesday because I heard something about Wednesday being "locals" night. Wednesday night I learned that "locals" can be a frightening word. It's kind of like "rustic," another word that's done me wrong in the past. (Quick aside: one year on a trip to Whistler my family decided to stay at some place that was billed as being very rustic. Upon arrival we discovered that very rustic basically meant small, dirty, and poorly maintained. I've been wary of any place described as rustic since.)
Ok, back to the story. It appears that locals' night could also be described as hicks' night. I saw entirely way too many toothless smiles, straw hats, and I believe I even saw a couple pairs of jean overalls. Oh, and an overwhelming male to female ratio. I probably would have had more fun if I wore my cowboy boots (and, of course, if I actually owned cowboy boots), but as it was I wasn't too impressed with locals' night.
So I went home, recovered on Thursday, and on Friday was ready to try again. This time I headed to the Star Bar. Two reasons: first, my friend at the front desk said that the Star Bar was the hot place to be on Friday nights; secondly, a friend from work mentioned that Friday was $2 drinks. So I headed out around 10:00pm. I arrived at the front door and discovered that the club was actually in the basement. I'm always a little wary of basement venues; you can't see what's going on and it could be too packed or completely empty. And, the bouncer noted that there was a $5 cover because it was $2 beer night (note: it was originally $2 drinks, now just $2 beers). But I'm already there, so I might as well keep going.
I hand over $5, head downstairs, and there are three people there. Literally. Well seven people if you count the three bartenders and the DJ. But I've put my $5 down, I'm getting me some $2 beers! I walk over to the bar and I'm distressed to discover that it's not $2 beers, but $2 domestic beers (Bud, Bud Light, etc). Which are only like $3 anyways. The imported beers, of course, are still $5+. So I'm stuck at a dead club drinking bad drinks. At 12:30 I decided I couldn't stand it any more (they were up to about 15 people at that point) and I headed home.
So two attempts out, two complete failures. Fortunately I've got a million more chances this week. Amongst other things we've got a company bowling party, a great free concert (Ozomatli, an awesome, percussion heavy band that will be performing outside on Saturday), and, of course, the Sundance Film Festival. I managed to get a few tickets, but I'm more interested to see what the vibe will be like for the next 10 days. It looks like it's going to be more than a little elitist, most of the bars are actually closed out for private events during the festival. But that won't keep me from getting out and trying.
Oh, and I'm supposed to be here snowboarding, huh? As promised, it is dead, dead, dead here. I'm still up on the mountain almost every morning, but no clients and no fresh snow (we're approaching two weeks of no new snow) means that I don't have a strong desire to spend my whole day up there.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mid-Winter Break
Early January has come and gone and, as promised, it has been much, much slower than the late December holiday rush. Some old-timers claim that snowboard instructors make nearly 50% of their income during the holiday break, an idea that I originally found humorous, but I'm now afraid might be true.
Fortunately, Park City Mountain offers all sorts of clinics for us to take to keep ourselves busy. This week I've taken a couple of freestyle classes and a very in-depth look at snowboard maintainence. All I can say is ignorance is bliss. In the (not too distance) past, snowboarding was as simple as throwing the board on and pointing it downhill. I've got enough knowledge about bases, edges, and such that I could easily spend an hour a night preparing for the next day.
However, too much of a good thing can be bad. We spent three hours yesterday tweaking our edges (I'm now the proud owner of a "power-bevel!") and applying various substances to the base of our board. I headed up to the slopes today, prepared to leave powder burns in the snow. I stood up near the bunny slope, aimed down hill, and ... my board didn't budge. Not even an inch. It felt like I was trying to snowboard through bubble gum. It made the day interesting (it's always fun trying to do demos for kids when your board doesn't move). I'll be spending a little extra time tonight attempting to get everything back in order.
Other thoughts I had while trying to keep up with my students today:
Storm watch, 2007: After a few weeks of very warm weather (and a steady drop in our snow-pack), we finally had a strong storm blow through last night. Nearly 8" of snow later things were looking good for today -- until I stepped outside. Wow, was it cold. Today's high at the base of the mountain was 10 degrees, with a slight breeze. My routine with the students today was: two runs (about 40 minutes total); head inside to warm up (for about 10 minutes); repeat. And even that was pushing it. Taking the chair lift up was an exercise in mental strength. And the wind was blowing up the mountain, so you'd get even colder snowboarding back down. The weekend promises to bring more cold weather, but hopefully we'll crack into the teens at least.
Fleeting connections: Last week I had a Mexican student in my class. Part of my morning chit-chat with him sounded something like:
It took a minute for me to convince him that I knew where Mexico was and I wanted to know where in Mexico he lived. He finally figured it out and started describing some place that I had never heard of, all I could do was nod and try to look like I knew what he was talking about. I felt like he kind of lost confidence with me for a while. Fortunately another student was a "magician" and was doing some card tricks. I showed off my only trick and Sebastian was totally mesmerized. At lunch he immediately pointed to the deck and said "again." Sadly I screwed it up (for the first time in a few years!) and he looked crestfallen again. Oh well, at least he thought I was cool for part of the day.
Real Salt Lake: And one thing I'm looking forward to later in the season is watching a Real Salt Lake soccer game. Freddy Adu was just traded to the team so I've been excited that I'd get to see a soccer superstar. And just yesterday David Beckham decided to join the LA Galaxy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Galaxy will be visiting Salt Lake before I leave.
Time to get bundled up and ready for the weekend. Oh, and Go Seahawks!
Early January has come and gone and, as promised, it has been much, much slower than the late December holiday rush. Some old-timers claim that snowboard instructors make nearly 50% of their income during the holiday break, an idea that I originally found humorous, but I'm now afraid might be true.
Fortunately, Park City Mountain offers all sorts of clinics for us to take to keep ourselves busy. This week I've taken a couple of freestyle classes and a very in-depth look at snowboard maintainence. All I can say is ignorance is bliss. In the (not too distance) past, snowboarding was as simple as throwing the board on and pointing it downhill. I've got enough knowledge about bases, edges, and such that I could easily spend an hour a night preparing for the next day.
However, too much of a good thing can be bad. We spent three hours yesterday tweaking our edges (I'm now the proud owner of a "power-bevel!") and applying various substances to the base of our board. I headed up to the slopes today, prepared to leave powder burns in the snow. I stood up near the bunny slope, aimed down hill, and ... my board didn't budge. Not even an inch. It felt like I was trying to snowboard through bubble gum. It made the day interesting (it's always fun trying to do demos for kids when your board doesn't move). I'll be spending a little extra time tonight attempting to get everything back in order.
Other thoughts I had while trying to keep up with my students today:
Storm watch, 2007: After a few weeks of very warm weather (and a steady drop in our snow-pack), we finally had a strong storm blow through last night. Nearly 8" of snow later things were looking good for today -- until I stepped outside. Wow, was it cold. Today's high at the base of the mountain was 10 degrees, with a slight breeze. My routine with the students today was: two runs (about 40 minutes total); head inside to warm up (for about 10 minutes); repeat. And even that was pushing it. Taking the chair lift up was an exercise in mental strength. And the wind was blowing up the mountain, so you'd get even colder snowboarding back down. The weekend promises to bring more cold weather, but hopefully we'll crack into the teens at least.
Fleeting connections: Last week I had a Mexican student in my class. Part of my morning chit-chat with him sounded something like:
Me: Hey, Sebastian! Where are you from?
Sebastian: Mexico.
Me: Oh cool! Where in Mexico?
(Here he pauses for a second and stares at me with a strange look.)
Sebastian: Um, Mexico. It's a country below the United States.
It took a minute for me to convince him that I knew where Mexico was and I wanted to know where in Mexico he lived. He finally figured it out and started describing some place that I had never heard of, all I could do was nod and try to look like I knew what he was talking about. I felt like he kind of lost confidence with me for a while. Fortunately another student was a "magician" and was doing some card tricks. I showed off my only trick and Sebastian was totally mesmerized. At lunch he immediately pointed to the deck and said "again." Sadly I screwed it up (for the first time in a few years!) and he looked crestfallen again. Oh well, at least he thought I was cool for part of the day.
Real Salt Lake: And one thing I'm looking forward to later in the season is watching a Real Salt Lake soccer game. Freddy Adu was just traded to the team so I've been excited that I'd get to see a soccer superstar. And just yesterday David Beckham decided to join the LA Galaxy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Galaxy will be visiting Salt Lake before I leave.
Time to get bundled up and ready for the weekend. Oh, and Go Seahawks!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Back Off!
For those who aren't familiar the picture above is of the Rabbit. A 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit, my family is its first and only owner. It was first passed down to me and now is my sister's primary mode of transportation. It has run into a few (well many) problems over the years (most notable being that it's not exactly waterproof anymore -- not good for a car in Seattle). But under the hood it has a strong will to live.
The last few years the rabbit has been blessed with two signature traits (well three if you count the ever-present scent inside the car -- a curious combination of rust, mold, and something else I can't place my finger on). First, when you start the car it emits a huge cloud of blueish gray smoke. This cloud is a bold signal to everyone in the parking lot (as well as to the poor pedestrians blocks in all directions who get to smell the noxious fumes) that this vehicle is no longer stationary. Second is the license plate holder on the back which proudly proclaims, "If you can't run with the big dogs, STAY ON THE PORCH!" I don't know what's more embarrassing: being driven around by my younger sister in that thing, or the thought that my mom used to drive to IBM in it. You know, where her coworkers saw her.
Anyway, this Christmas I felt it was time for an upgrade, so I ordered a pair of Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mud flaps. The purchase was mostly as a joke, but now that I've seen them on I think it's a perfect fit. The picture above shows all three signature traits in perfect harmony: the license plate cover, which is clouded by the toxic cloud of doom and the new applied mud flaps. My sister must be so happy.
For those who aren't familiar the picture above is of the Rabbit. A 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit, my family is its first and only owner. It was first passed down to me and now is my sister's primary mode of transportation. It has run into a few (well many) problems over the years (most notable being that it's not exactly waterproof anymore -- not good for a car in Seattle). But under the hood it has a strong will to live.
The last few years the rabbit has been blessed with two signature traits (well three if you count the ever-present scent inside the car -- a curious combination of rust, mold, and something else I can't place my finger on). First, when you start the car it emits a huge cloud of blueish gray smoke. This cloud is a bold signal to everyone in the parking lot (as well as to the poor pedestrians blocks in all directions who get to smell the noxious fumes) that this vehicle is no longer stationary. Second is the license plate holder on the back which proudly proclaims, "If you can't run with the big dogs, STAY ON THE PORCH!" I don't know what's more embarrassing: being driven around by my younger sister in that thing, or the thought that my mom used to drive to IBM in it. You know, where her coworkers saw her.
Anyway, this Christmas I felt it was time for an upgrade, so I ordered a pair of Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mud flaps. The purchase was mostly as a joke, but now that I've seen them on I think it's a perfect fit. The picture above shows all three signature traits in perfect harmony: the license plate cover, which is clouded by the toxic cloud of doom and the new applied mud flaps. My sister must be so happy.
Monday, January 08, 2007
"I think I need to tighten my pants"
(I'll explain the title in a second, I promise.) So yes, kids are a little stressful to teach. But they are in fact kids and spending seven hours a day with a group of kids is going to put you in some strange situations, there's just no way around it. Fortunately, the situations I've been in have been pretty mild so far.
Yesterday, for example, my class (two 12 year old sisters and an 8 year old boy) just got off the chairlift. As I'm talking to the girls about what we're going to do next the boy says (from behind me), "I think I need to tighten my pants." Confused, I turned around to see the kid's pants undone and unzipped, barely hanging around his butt. I have no idea how he pulled this off, we were sitting next to each other on the chairlift not even 10 seconds earlier and everything seemed to be in order then. But there's really nothing to be done but head over and help him pull his pants back on and button everything back up (I didn't want him to take his gloves off -- glove removal and reapplication can be a surprisingly time consuming task -- so I got the pleasant duty of buttoning everything up).
Aside from helping keep clothing on, I've helped kids with all sorts of interesting tasks that I wasn't informed that I'd be doing before I accepted the job. But my hat goes to fellow snowboarding instructor Matt, who's had the best (and worst) experience so far. At the end of the day of the day a couple of weeks ago he's talking with a parent, who's trying to figure out where her two daughters are.
"Well," he starts off, "something at lunch must have disagreed with Julia, she says she's not feeling very well."
"Oh no," replied the mom, "how is she doing?"
"Right now she's downstairs in the bathroom throwing up."
"I'll head down there right now, where's my other daughter, Leslie?" the mom asked.
"Actually, she's in the stall next to Julia. She was going to the bathroom and kind of went on herself instead. I haven't been able to talk her out of the stall yet."
"Oh, that must be disappointing for her," exclaimed the mom.
Two points here. First of all, the mom took everything way too calmly, the "that must be disappointing" line especially threw me off. Obviously I didn't know the entire story (although I wasn't all that interested in learning more). Secondly, I don't know the exact details how Matt's afternoon went, but the look on his face told me more than I needed to know. I can thankfully say that as a snowboard instructor I haven't yet spent any time in the women's bathroom. That is definitely a good thing.
(I'll explain the title in a second, I promise.) So yes, kids are a little stressful to teach. But they are in fact kids and spending seven hours a day with a group of kids is going to put you in some strange situations, there's just no way around it. Fortunately, the situations I've been in have been pretty mild so far.
Yesterday, for example, my class (two 12 year old sisters and an 8 year old boy) just got off the chairlift. As I'm talking to the girls about what we're going to do next the boy says (from behind me), "I think I need to tighten my pants." Confused, I turned around to see the kid's pants undone and unzipped, barely hanging around his butt. I have no idea how he pulled this off, we were sitting next to each other on the chairlift not even 10 seconds earlier and everything seemed to be in order then. But there's really nothing to be done but head over and help him pull his pants back on and button everything back up (I didn't want him to take his gloves off -- glove removal and reapplication can be a surprisingly time consuming task -- so I got the pleasant duty of buttoning everything up).
Aside from helping keep clothing on, I've helped kids with all sorts of interesting tasks that I wasn't informed that I'd be doing before I accepted the job. But my hat goes to fellow snowboarding instructor Matt, who's had the best (and worst) experience so far. At the end of the day of the day a couple of weeks ago he's talking with a parent, who's trying to figure out where her two daughters are.
"Well," he starts off, "something at lunch must have disagreed with Julia, she says she's not feeling very well."
"Oh no," replied the mom, "how is she doing?"
"Right now she's downstairs in the bathroom throwing up."
"I'll head down there right now, where's my other daughter, Leslie?" the mom asked.
"Actually, she's in the stall next to Julia. She was going to the bathroom and kind of went on herself instead. I haven't been able to talk her out of the stall yet."
"Oh, that must be disappointing for her," exclaimed the mom.
Two points here. First of all, the mom took everything way too calmly, the "that must be disappointing" line especially threw me off. Obviously I didn't know the entire story (although I wasn't all that interested in learning more). Secondly, I don't know the exact details how Matt's afternoon went, but the look on his face told me more than I needed to know. I can thankfully say that as a snowboard instructor I haven't yet spent any time in the women's bathroom. That is definitely a good thing.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Breaking the Teaching Cycle
Teaching snowboarding is a (surprisingly) well planned out event, with a series of drills that we take students through to get them from standing on a board to confidently turning down the bunny slope (Ed. note - when I say "well planned out event" I, of course, mean in theory. In practice, the day is an exercise in controlled chaos and any learning that happens is purely accidental). We're so organized, in fact, that we have a "teaching cycle" that helps dictate how to teach a lesson. I won't go into all the details here, but a part of the cycle consists of "plan a task, present information, and check for understanding." An example of this would be something like the instructor deciding that we want to work on heel-side traverses (plan the task), the instructor telling the students what the students are going to do (present the information), and finally the instructor checks to make sure the students know what they're supposed to be doing (check for understanding).
In the course of the day I go through this process, I dunno, a million times. And after working for a few days straight it's pretty much all you're doing: outline the task and check for understanding. Unfortunately it gets so ingrained that you can't just turn it off. The first night my parents arrived in town we headed up to the mountain to rent my dad's ski gear and to pick up ski tickets for the weekend. Waiting for the rental guys to get my dad's gear figured out I decided to see how my mom and sister were doing with the tickets. Without thinking I turned to my dad and said something like, "Okay dad. I'm going to head upstairs and see how mom is doing with the tickets. You're going to stay here and get the rest of your gear figured out. When my mom and I finish up we'll head back down here and meet you by the check out. Understand what we're doing?"
I had accidentally snuck into instructor mode and was essentially talking to my dad like he was a 10 year old student.
Teaching snowboarding is a (surprisingly) well planned out event, with a series of drills that we take students through to get them from standing on a board to confidently turning down the bunny slope (Ed. note - when I say "well planned out event" I, of course, mean in theory. In practice, the day is an exercise in controlled chaos and any learning that happens is purely accidental). We're so organized, in fact, that we have a "teaching cycle" that helps dictate how to teach a lesson. I won't go into all the details here, but a part of the cycle consists of "plan a task, present information, and check for understanding." An example of this would be something like the instructor deciding that we want to work on heel-side traverses (plan the task), the instructor telling the students what the students are going to do (present the information), and finally the instructor checks to make sure the students know what they're supposed to be doing (check for understanding).
In the course of the day I go through this process, I dunno, a million times. And after working for a few days straight it's pretty much all you're doing: outline the task and check for understanding. Unfortunately it gets so ingrained that you can't just turn it off. The first night my parents arrived in town we headed up to the mountain to rent my dad's ski gear and to pick up ski tickets for the weekend. Waiting for the rental guys to get my dad's gear figured out I decided to see how my mom and sister were doing with the tickets. Without thinking I turned to my dad and said something like, "Okay dad. I'm going to head upstairs and see how mom is doing with the tickets. You're going to stay here and get the rest of your gear figured out. When my mom and I finish up we'll head back down here and meet you by the check out. Understand what we're doing?"
I had accidentally snuck into instructor mode and was essentially talking to my dad like he was a 10 year old student.
Happy New Years!
Hope everyone had a blast! As I've mentioned, I was most excited about January 1st because it would be my first day off in over two weeks. Apparently I was so excited about the idea of sleeping that I decided to get an early start on December 31st. Instead of heading out as planned I actually fell asleep at around 10:30pm. I woke up around 11:55, but my New Year's party consisted of listening to a couple of neighbors set of fireworks outside. I can't say I was terribly disappointed, though, I really like sleeping. :)
Since I did have a few days off, I decided to take some Colin-time to enjoy the non-snowboarding perks of my job (and it hadn't snowed in over a week). I spent my days off exploring a local tubing park (which has a rope toe to pull you back up!), ice skating at the mountain's outdoor (but tiny) ice rink, and riding the alpine coaster. The alpine coaster was definitely the most fun, it's basically a roller coaster on the mountain. You get pulled about a third of the way up the mountain and then cruise back down through a series of drops and spins. It's a bit steep at $15 a ride, but at $0 a ride it's a great deal and a fun way to spend 15 minutes when you're waiting for a lesson to start.
Although my couple of days off got me somewhat rejuvenated, I was still a little slow rolling out of bed early this morning. However, looking out my window I saw that the .5" inches of snow that was forecast had turned into a full on storm. There were a few inches on the ground and it was coming down hard. Nothing makes me happier out here than being out in fresh snow, so I was in a great mood all day. The snow kept up too and by 3:00pm we had over half a foot. I dropped my students off and immediately jumped back on the chair to get a couple of runs in for myself. I was still in my team uniform so I was limited to green runs (and a couple of easy blues), but new snow is new snow; I didn't have time to change.
And that's where things sit now. The snow is still coming down, I can't wait to see the damage tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, it was a little warmer today (in the high 20s) so the snow is a little wetter than the champagne powder we're used to. I'm sure I'll figure out some way to survive, though.
Hope everyone had a blast! As I've mentioned, I was most excited about January 1st because it would be my first day off in over two weeks. Apparently I was so excited about the idea of sleeping that I decided to get an early start on December 31st. Instead of heading out as planned I actually fell asleep at around 10:30pm. I woke up around 11:55, but my New Year's party consisted of listening to a couple of neighbors set of fireworks outside. I can't say I was terribly disappointed, though, I really like sleeping. :)
Since I did have a few days off, I decided to take some Colin-time to enjoy the non-snowboarding perks of my job (and it hadn't snowed in over a week). I spent my days off exploring a local tubing park (which has a rope toe to pull you back up!), ice skating at the mountain's outdoor (but tiny) ice rink, and riding the alpine coaster. The alpine coaster was definitely the most fun, it's basically a roller coaster on the mountain. You get pulled about a third of the way up the mountain and then cruise back down through a series of drops and spins. It's a bit steep at $15 a ride, but at $0 a ride it's a great deal and a fun way to spend 15 minutes when you're waiting for a lesson to start.
Although my couple of days off got me somewhat rejuvenated, I was still a little slow rolling out of bed early this morning. However, looking out my window I saw that the .5" inches of snow that was forecast had turned into a full on storm. There were a few inches on the ground and it was coming down hard. Nothing makes me happier out here than being out in fresh snow, so I was in a great mood all day. The snow kept up too and by 3:00pm we had over half a foot. I dropped my students off and immediately jumped back on the chair to get a couple of runs in for myself. I was still in my team uniform so I was limited to green runs (and a couple of easy blues), but new snow is new snow; I didn't have time to change.
And that's where things sit now. The snow is still coming down, I can't wait to see the damage tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, it was a little warmer today (in the high 20s) so the snow is a little wetter than the champagne powder we're used to. I'm sure I'll figure out some way to survive, though.
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