As an instructor it really behooves me to pick my instructional words and cues thoughtfully. Words are powerful and have consequences, both for the good and bad when it comes to teaching students. I've seen instructors pick some less than stellar verbiage in their time with students, and I strive not to follow them down that path.
In general, shorter is better. Most people can remember three things, maybe four things at once. If you have to tell somebody twenty steps, it is likely that they won't remember them, at least not without exceptional and ongoing effort.
No, I try to keep my instructional cues as positive and short as I can. I try not to tell people "don't do this," rather I try to tell them to "DO THIS." If you say "don't slap the trigger," what they'll likely fixate on is "slap the trigger." It would be 100% better to say, "take up all the slack, and then smoothly press through." While that is longer, it is giving them something to DO, not something to avoid.
There are a whole list of phrases I'm compiling that I'm going to do videos on. It's going to be my "Stop saying that!" series. It probably won't premier for a while, as I have a lot of other content I want to do first, but it is on the list.
I think the comments on blogger are rough, so if you want to interact with me, your best bets are via my email: juan.laluz@graydogllc.com, or via my youtube or instagram. I'd love to hear things that instructors told you that worked really well. I'd also be curious if anything they shared with you was less than awesome.
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Can you include some notes on professionalism? Saying "keep your booger hook off the bang switch" is funny and all, but it should be used sparingly and IMHO only with experienced students.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent suggestion. I might actually either do another post and/or a video on the subject. We as instructors tend to be somewhat "in crowd" with our comments at times, and while everybody loves inside jokes and references, it can be offputting to anybody new that we want to draw into this discipline.
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