The advantages of terrible teaching...

A couple of weekends ago we decided to investigate Nakiska; Calgary's closest skiing and home of the Olympic downhill runs 20 years ago. The previous weekend we has cross country ski-ed at the location of the Olympic track so it was nice to complete the symmetry at Nakiska. Whenever we are at a new hill we like to hook up with the local volunteer on-hill tour guides, normally called "mountain friends" or "mountain hosts." These sessions had been outstanding at Fernie and Panorama so we were optimistic of having an enjoyable afternoon finding new parts of the mountain in good company. I suppose you could say that Nakiska was the exception. It took us a while to work out when and where to meet as there were none of the usual signs saying "mountain friends meet here at 1.00" but we eventually tracked down an administrator who found someone to take us out. It transpired that there were no hosts available that day so we went out with an instructor. At this point I was very happy, thinking that I might get a few tips from an expert. In the end it was an inspiring afternoon but for all the wrong reasons. I have never been taught anything so badly as I was that afternoon. Partly it was the language barrier (after 30 years in Canada the aging Italian's English was still heavily accented and not very clear) but mainly this chap had no idea what good teaching was. He kept showing me what he wanted me to do in terms of body position, skis and poles, and then say "see, like this!" and then be off, skiing away down the mountain with nary a look back. Meanwhile I'm stood at the top of the mountain fuming. It's all well and good to see it done, but I kept trying to do what he showed me and I didn't know how to do it! Then he would shout at me, tell me to do it better and bugger off again. Very frustrating indeed! I finished the afternoon in a terrible mood and skiing worse than when I had started, but it did make me stop and think about teaching. Some conclusions:



There are times when no teacher is better than a bad teacher. Bad teachers make students begin to dislike the subject. If I can get anxious and angry when I am trying to improve at an enjoyable hobby I have volunteered for, then how much more easily will immature pupils in a classroom taking a subject they are made to do be discouraged by bad teaching!



Good teaching is not just about how much you know. This guy was clearly an expert skier, but all the skiing knowledge in the world wouldn't make him a good teacher.



Good teachers have empathy, confidence, communicate well, encourage their students and are patient and kind. These are hard things to teach someone. When new trainee teachers turn up at school these are the qualities I look for. If they have this, they can learn the rest of the skills needed to teach well. If they don't, it's an uphill struggle for them to change who they are before they can learn what to do.



Good teaching is knowing where you want someone to get to, helping them to understand where they are and equipping and motivating them to make the journey.


I never would have thought that a bad lesson could be so inspiring. It really made me want to have an impact on raising standards of teaching more widely than I can do in one classroom. I'll keep pondering where this might lead me.