Preparing: The Complex To The Art Of Skiing

The art of skiing is complex to the point wheThe art of skiing is complex to the point where most ski instructors disagree on how to teach kids the basics of the sport. Having taught children to ski for three years, I have developed my own system that I use to teach kids and prepare them for the more difficult train that lies ahead of them. Today, my supervisor informs me that I will only have kid in my lesson, but forgets to give me any more information on the subject matter. I now begin to think about and debating on what lesson plan I will be using today. My lesson plans deviate from each other based on factors such as; the amount of students I have, their ages, skill level, disabilities, weather, and mountain conditions. While my lesson

So I have been assigned a lesson and have around twenty minutes to prepare myself, both physically and mentally for the task of teaching the child how to properly ski. My first step in preparing yourself for a lesson, is making sure that I am wearing all my proper gear, with the exception to my helmet, face mask, gloves, and goggles. Next I put my ski boots on, making sure that the boots are nice and loose in order to make walking around easier. Now as I am putting on my gear, I begin to think about and plan today's lesson using all the information I have at my disposable since I know nothing about the kid's age or ability, I check the mountain's daily conditions and weather report to see what trails are open, how the trails are, and most importantly what the weather is like. Fortunately it is only fifteen degrees Fahrenheit outside, the snow is soft, and all the beginner and most of the intermediate terrain is open. Deciding that I will just talk to the kid to determine age, ability, and their skiing experience, I grab my skis and join the other instructors and meet my

The first step in my lesson plan is to introduce myself and get to know Ryan, this allows me to create creative topics and explanations for how to ski, get a good rough estimate of his skill level, and so we can have conversations while we are on the ski lift or magic carpet. Now, while I am asking him these questions, I am double checking his boots, helmet, jacket, gloves, face mask, and his goggles to make sure that all his gear is properly on and that he is ready for the lesson ahead. Now in our conversation together, I have gathered that Ryan is an 11 years old from Morristown New Jersey, loves marvel superhero movies, stays on green trails here but can do a few blue trails, and is working to improve his turns and keeping his skis parallel. This information should be gathered within the first five minutes of meeting your student. I bring Ryan out as we go to the beginner lift where we do our first test run down a short easy trail, I have Ryan ski in front of me while I ski behind in order to properly observe him and his skiing abilities and habits. By having Ryan ski in front of me for our first run, I am able to observe Ryan's skills which present themselves as showing that he is making great strides towards skiing parallel, successfully doing a hockey stop, and most importantly he is calm when faced with steep sections of the trail. From those