Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 36

Meeting the Needs of Students My training school has 17 classes per week so when a student does not “fit” into a particular class we usually have another class the student can move to. The trick is to be sure students really should be moved. Just because they don’t fit in the class they are in does not mean there is a better class for them. Some schools and clubs do not have this many classes, which means they have limited flexibility for moving students. The choice for a number of students is to take an available class or not to do agility. The result is agility classes with students who have a wide range of skill, experience, talent, and dedication. Those variables can make these classes challenging to teach. Instructors are expected to meet the needs of every student who is enrolled in the class. The instructor should give equal time and attention to each student and design a curriculum that is both achievable and challenging for each student. These expectations are the right of every student qualified to be in the class. They are also the right of each student who is not qualified to be in the class, assuming that his or her check was cashed. When I started teaching agility classes in 1991, I believed my job was to teach to the middle of the class. I felt bad for students whose skills put them at the low or high end of the class spectrum. I believed I could not meet their needs in the class environment and hoped private lessons would be an option for those students. I still teach to the middle level of the class but I no longer have to leave lower-level students behind, or bore students with more skill than their classmates, even if the less-skilled students cannot take private lessons. Learning to Balance Classes Artfully Managing the Unbalanced Class By Sandy Rogers Elements that influence the chemistry in agility classes are as varied as the people enrolled in the class. This series of articles will include specific ideas for working around and through a variety of problems that can make a class tough to teach. We will explore: — How to create an environment where all students have the opportunity to reach their individual goals, no matter how varied their skills — What to do when students have missing obedience and foundation training skills — How to handle the problem of poorly trained obstacle performance — How to keep a class productive when the handlers or their dogs have a wide range of abilities — Ideas for the class that has too much magic (when the social aspect is overshadowing the training) 36 •••••••••••• I learned the art of balancing classes while working as camp manager for the Clean Run and Power Paws Agility Camps. I managed both camps for several years, and my job was to ensure all participants got their money’s worth. Once the campers were placed in their groups, they could not be moved. Every person was assigned to the group that was best for that person. This did not mean that the camper was in the perfect group. It meant that we did not have a better group for the camper to be in. When campers felt they were in over their head or they were under-challenged in their group, they came to me to fix it. Often they had made a considerable investment in time and money to be at camp and a pep talk from me about making the best of it was not an acceptable fix. It is important to understand the dynamics of the camp teaching environment: — Each group had 8 to 10 students and was taught on the same equipment setup — The instructor had each group for a single session and a limited time (usually 2.5 to 3.5 hours); the instructor would not get to see the group a second time — The level of the campers ranged from pre-novice to national competitors — The group assignments were made by the camp directors on the basis of a written questionnaire; in many instances, the campers and their dogs were not known by the camp directors. The instructor was then given one or two general sentences that described the group but had no information on individual students — Some groups were better balanced than others Sounds a bit like a “Top Chef ” assignment doesn’t it? The instructors who teach at these camps are the most talented teachers and dog trainers in the world. When I communicated students’ concerns about their group to the instructors whom the students hadn’t seen yet, the instructors had the ability to meet the students’ needs Clean Run | April 09
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - April 2009
