Gordy:
A contrarian viewpoint. Requiring prior teaching experience before being qualified to take the CCI exam makes as much sense to me as requiring our higher education teachers to teach before going to school and proving their qualifications by taking and passing their examinations. MCI obviously a different perspective. A view from the dark side!
L
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[GH] No dark side at all.
You make a valid point.
Our schoolteachers do go to school to learn how to teach. Many of them do what is called, "practice teaching". Some volunteer as assistant teachers. THEN they take their exams for teaching certificates.
There is no requirement of actual teaching experience for CCI candidates.
Having said that, I know from experience that those who have done some teaching generally are more likely to pass the exam.
Part of the preparation for the test is the gaining of basic teaching knowledge both by reading and (when possible) observing fly casting teachers as they teach. Even better, to assist them in doing so. Up to now, I think we have been remiss in not having made this clear.
We need to live up to our responsibilities by helping to provide candidates with more information on teaching and more opportunities to help with teaching. To that end we should, I think, be pro active in inviting candidates to assist at our workshops and teaching ventures. We also need to provide more teaching information in an up to date CCI Study Guide as we do in our present MCI Study Guide.
Some of our best CCI candidates did all this on their own as they sought out opportunities to assist teaching CCI's and MCI's Mike Hill is an example. His message, below.
By certifying a casting instructor, we are providing evidence of competency in fly casting instruction.
This is why we place so much weight on the teaching questions on the exam.
Gordy
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[GH] From Mike Hill :
Gordy,
I agree with my fellow Instructors here. I believe “to teach is to learn and to learn is to teach”.
I did not have the opportunity to work with a Master but I was fortunate enough to work with Ken Cole a CCI, and if not for him sharing his knowledge and skills, pushing and challenging me with tough questions there is NO way I could have passed the CCI exam on the first try. With that being said, my two cents here, it is still imperative that the student spend time teaching, reading and doing research on his or her own time and not relying on someone else to give them the answers.
m
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[GH] Mike,
You learned from a fine teacher. Ken took the courses which Tom White and I gave here in Florida a few years ago. He gets credit for the statement, " Don't take the exam when you THINK you are ready. Take it when you KNOW you are ready."
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[GH] From Jim Penrod :
Hi Gordy,
I read with interest the comments of Jeff Wagner and Guy Manning. When I decided that I wanted to become an instructor, Tom Broderidge, who had not yet moved to Ireland, was offering casting classes. He worked with me individually and then invited me to assist in teaching classes ("I can't pay you"-my response was "I did not expect pay".
The opportunity to get teaching experience under a mentor was the best pay ever).
I have tried to return that unselfish gesture. Once I passed the CI I began teaching for a local fly shop and doing an occasional private lesson. As you know I hurried myself to become a MCI with the expected results-not passing. However, those couple of tune ups whetted my appetite to really learn more and teach more effectively and improve my casting.
I kept track of my teaching experience and by the time I was successful at the MCI I had taught over 400 hours. I have tried to impart the importance of teaching to the individuals that I have mentored. They seem to have caught the same enthusiasm that I did from you and Tom White and Tom Broderidge. I only hope that I can instill that desire to teach and the enthusiasm that goes into teaching as did the three of you for me along with Bruce Richards and Chuck Easterling. It is a journey that continues.
Jim
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[GH] Jim Valle weighs in on this subject :
Gordy and Group,
Re Testing
CI Teaching
I do not believe there is a mandatory requirement for a CI Candidate to have logged any specific number of teaching hours. I as Jeff notes have had many CI candidates reluctant to teach until they have received the certification. I can understand their concerns when charging for a lesson and I usually recommend they teach anyone and everyone they can for free just to get some experience, but it is still not a requirement.
There is no doubt that a candidate with some teaching experience will demonstrate a much better lesson, however everyone must start somewhere and I won’t hold it against a CI Candidate. It is possible to learn how to give a basic lesson by observation, research or teaching course or working with a mentor. It is learnable.
In addition to performing the required casts properly, the reality remains … this is a Teaching Certification and my criteria is simply ...Can this candidate teach someone how to cast? (Of course the candidate must also be able to perform the required casts properly.)
MCI
Totally different scenario, the MCI is an instructor to instructors. The basic foundation of this certification is “Understanding” and it is impossible to understand if you haven’t had the experience in front of students. A lack of experience here comes across in every shallow word, it is amazingly obvious very early on in the exam. Canned answers have the words but lack the understanding… and understanding is the ability to comprehend the essence of a question and answer it in terms a student can learn from.
Continuing Certification…(formerly Re-certification) First, there’s lots to report from the board meeting but in a nutshell Teach, Learn, Test, Publish or Participate to stay current. The board intends to maintain our certification level of excellence on a voluntary basis (if possible) by keeping our instructors involved and through Continuing Education Opportunities on a regional basis. Lot’s more to follow on the subject.
Hope that helps,
~ Jim ~
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