At our last Concealed Carry Instructor course we had great conversation during breaks from the class on various subjects. Each of the instructors brought their own instructional problems hoping they would learn way to manage them for their students back home.
For Profit…It Is Not A Bad Thing
The problem with today’s market place is there are three different types of instructors. There are the law enforcement or military instructors who are assigned to their new duties sometimes involuntarily. Then there are the government instructors who often times are handed curriculum or strict guidelines to follow. Lastly, there are the for profit instructor. The part you should really pay attention to is “for profit”. Meaning, they will only be as good as the product they produce. No matter how fancy their youtube channel, or the previous addresses, in the capitalist industry we live in folks want to know they will get better. They are expending some of the most precious commodities; time, treasure and talent.
Its All About Needs
One of the questions had to do with a student who is disrupting the class due to their skill level or lack their of in some cases. Probably the hardest of all the problems to solve is how will you manage their needs as well as the needs of the rest of the class. The problem is further compounded by two factors; ego and comprehension. You can place as many prerequisites in your course description, but it will boil down to how they are interpreted. Some will read them and think, “yeah, I’m good.” Others do not realize what they are reading and just go along in the hopes of figuring it out on the road. Neither of these have the best outcome.
Making Good Business Choices
I have been confronting both of these issues for over a decade and they are challenging. First, you cannot be insensitive to the situation nor can you turn a blind eye. At times students will require more attention, more time or more of your resources. You can either invest hoping they can get to a point they will be able to manage or you can overlook them and hope they don’t have an accident. Again, suboptimal choices. The truth of the matter is if you are designing your curriculum well it will be directed towards the masses, the over achiever and under achievers will be somewhat missed. As a business, you have to make good business decisions. Basing your class around the lower or higher minorities and ignoring the majority will not improve your return student business. Likewise, ignoring the minorities on either end will result in similar responses.
The Art Of Instructing
Your curriculum has to be flexible enough to affect positive behavioral change for the majority. Then, keep the over achievers engaged while at the same time encouraging the under achievers to keep trying. There is science to teaching, how adults learn, but there is art to the delivery. You have to be agile enough to play to all three of these audiences if you wish to be successful. Your product is not solely the outcome, did positive behavior change occurs. it is also the experience the student underwent; which is directly tied to how long the behavioral change will last. You cannot have one without the other.
There are a lot of great instructors in a variety of fields, but if you are a business and expect to stay in business you have to be concerned with the needs of each student. You have to have well thought out strategies to keep everyone engaged.
