Walter & Group......
On positioning yourself relative to your class when giving a conclave workshop ... from Mark Huber. My coments in bold red italics. G. :-
Hi
Gordy,
Great answers from Tony
below. I only have one comment on positioning myself relative to the
student with bright sun. I like to have the sun behind my looking
toward the student and have the student positioned between me and a
background. I do most of my instructing at a park with an abandoned ball
field. The outfield is lined with birch trees making for an ideal
background. With the long
Thank you for adding me
to your distribution list. There is loads of good information
exchanged. I am looking forward to
participating.
You mentioned that your
In recent years, I come
to greatly enjoy trophy hunting for the Rainbows of the
Talk to you
soon.
Best
regards,
Mark
Huber
Mark ...... Congrats on your first entry ! Great to jump in and participate. Right or wrong with their answers, those who do so stand to learn the most.
I need you to help me understand your positioning, however. So far, I see two potential problems with this arrangement:
1.) If the sun is behind you, then your students are looking directly at you as you do the demo's, AND you may well be silouetted by a bright sun behind you. Seems to me that this would make it difficult for your students to see you and your rod/fly line. Wouldn't it make better sense to have the class with the sun behind the students so that you as a demonstrator and your tree background can be clearly seen by them without the sun in the student's eyes ?
2.) With the class of students positioned between you and a background, it seems to me that they can look at you as the demonstrating instructor or the background, but not both. This positioning would be OK, however, when you critique their casting.
It does make sense to position yourself so the students can see your casting hand whether right or left....... UNLESS you are demonstrating the use of the line hand as in hauling, retrieving, strip striking, etc.
Gordy
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From Peter Morse :
One point I would like to add re teaching groups (and even individuals) is that while you're demonstrating they will often become mesmerised by the loop in the air. At those times when you want them to watch your hand, or your wrist you need to be really specific about it. "Watch my hand please - don't watch the loop - watch my hand". Even them some will still watch the loop.
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Peter ...... Absolutely so. That fly line is an, "eye magnet". It's hypnotic. You've just uncorked the bottle !!
Let's look at some solutions to this teaching problem as we let out the genie :-
1.) When you want the students to concentrate on your hand and fly rod, take the fly line out of the equation by either using an unstrung second fly rod. If you don't have one ready, simply rotate your demo rod 4X with the line in your line hand to wrap it around the shaft. Only takes a second of your class time ..... another second or so to undo it.
2.) Tom White had large hands and long fingers. He was very effective in using his long index finger as a, "demo fly rod". His statement will long be remembered by those who worked with him, "WHEN TEACHING, USE A BIG CRAYON".
3.) Joan Wulff's trick when she wants her students to concentrate on arm/wrist/butt section of the fly rod movement is this:
She has a fly rod handle and portion of butt section for each student and instructor. The students grip the cork of their, "rods" and go through the various casting motions as she and her instructors demonstrate. VERY EFFECTIVE. (I've broken enough fly rods in my career that I've got my own collection of these.)
Joan takes it a step further, by teaching her students to practice these compound movements of the arm, elbow and wrist standing sideways to a wall mirror. This give instant feedback.
One advantage of this simple method is that it can be used in a classroom when it's pouring rain outside. (This was one of many techniques which Dennis Grant and I showed at a Cocnclave a few years ago when we taught a Workshop on, "CLASSROOM TIPS AND TACTICS".) (For that class I brought a large carton of classroom props including 15 old rod butt sections.)
4.) By the same token, if you want to have the students concentrate on your fly line alone, then simply turn around so your line hand side is toward the students.
5.) When demonstrating the intricacies of rod loading to a class of advanced students, I wanted to have the students concentrate on the FLY ROD; not the line. Still.... I needed the line in the equation to properly load the rod. SO ...... I had a second demo rod loaded with a green line and cast against a dark green background. (Could do that, I suppose, with a clear floating line such as Monic markets.)
6.) Some instructors make demo casts using only the tip section of the fly rod. One reason for this is to have the student concentrate on the LINE and not so much on the rod.
7.) Last year, at the Marlboro, Mass. fly show, we gave a continued education course for instructors. While not part of that course, I witnessed Tim Rajeff in the show hall demonstrating fly line loops while casting with his hands, alone..... NO ROD ! Few can do this as he can. (When I try this, I find it best to use a heavy wt. forward fly line ..... like a # 13 wt. and a short leader.)
8.) I've witnessed Ed Jaworoski teaching instructors to critique casting faults by looking at absolutely nothing other than the fly line. Both caster and fly rod (except, perforce, the tip) cannot be seen by the instructors taking the class. He did it by standing on the opposite side of a line of dense hedge as he cast. The idea was to see if these student instructors could pick out the casting flaws by seeing nothing other than the line loops. (Ed is incredibly accurate when he does this, himself)
9.) When you want your students to study the movements and bends of the fly rod, whether or not eliminating the line or minimizing it, it helps to use a medium flex rod. Really stiff / fast rods don't make good demos simply because everything happens so fast that it makes it hard for students to grasp what is going on.
Ed and Lefty both say, "STUDY THE LINE" ...... Although they are also of the same voice in stating, "The chief diagnostic tools are the angle or position of the rod and the shape of the line loop" ( See: Ed Jaworoski's, TROUBLESHOOTING THE CAST, Preface & p.1 ..)
Having said that, my own firm opinion is that when diagnosing and correcting casting faults, it is BEST to be able to view the entire scene. This leads us to Bruce Richards' Six Step Method which (I hope) is familiar to all of you. (Well described in the Master Study Guide and in this entry on the FFF Website).
Gordy
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Question from Bob Rumpf :
Bob... I recall that this is part of the CCI exam. As with almost anything, it can and often will be brought up on a Master's exam, too.
Gordy
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