UPATE 8/20/2017:
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We’ve had this discussion multiple times. In fact, it takes one form or another every time I take coursework of some type. As instructors, it is imperative that we take coursework each and every year. Multiple times a year if at all possible. It is a time to learn new things and see how other instructors conduct their training. It allows us to polish skills under the watchful eye of another training team.
"I am writing to confirm your new
certification as a Defensive Firearms Coach."
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We’ve had this discussion multiple times. In fact, it takes one form or another every time I take coursework of some type. As instructors, it is imperative that we take coursework each and every year. Multiple times a year if at all possible. It is a time to learn new things and see how other instructors conduct their training. It allows us to polish skills under the watchful eye of another training team.
That said, as instructors – not just shooters – instructors,
it is incumbent upon us to also focus on developing our skills as an instructor
by taking “Instructor Development” or “Methods of Instruction” coursework as
well.
If you are a NRA instructor this typically comes in the form as BIT – Basic Instructor Training as well as the Instructor Course for which ever of the firearms courses you wish to teach. I’ve taken BIT as well as the Instructor Course for Basic Pistol, Basic Rifle, Basic Shotgun, PPITH, PPOTH as well as the NRA Training Counselor Development Workshop. In my private life, I’ve been an adjunct college instructor for an intro computer science course, a corporate trainer over the past 35 years for my own software development company selling our custom software to nursing homes and hospitals and I did a 3 year stint as a personal development facilitator (don’t ask, way to complicated to explain). I’ve had multiple instructors teach me how to teach from their individual point of view. And I’ve spent literally thousands of hours in front of students attempting to transfer the knowledge I wanted them to know from my head and material into theirs. I’m taking a lot of words to say that I didn’t walk into this experience blind. I’ve taken a couple of courses from Rob as well as from a couple other instructors presenting his coursework. Rob sets a pretty high bar . . . I wasn’t disappointed.
As a whole, we as a community of instructors, come with a
pretty good helping of ego. Honestly, I’m
no different. I believe I’m a good
instructor. The coursework demonstrated that
I have room to improve. Where I’m going
with this is that when you take coursework – be it a shooting course, tactics
course or instructor development course you simply need to check your ego and
what you “know” at the door. I did my
best. Actually, I think I did a pretty
good job of it. One of the first
questions we were asked on Saturday morning is “Why are you here?” It’s a question I always ask in my
classes. My answer . . . I wanted to
learn new methods of instruction. There’s
always different things you can do, say, present, demonstrate . . . and I
wanted to learn a few new ones. Our
progress on our goal was checked at the end of every day including during the
AAR on the last day. That helped to make
sure we were all staying focused on our primary purpose for being there.
The primary trainer was Jamie
Onion. The link provides a starting
point for you to take a look at this trainer.
I must confess I’m a research hound on coursework I’m interested in
taking. I look for AARs, reviews of the
instructor and I talk to folks I know and trust who have taken the
coursework. Jamie came with the highest
of recommendations from these folks. Add
to that being a full time Detective with a police force near Cleveland Ohio,
let’s just say I went in expecting a lot.
Again, I wasn’t disappointed.
His training partner was Mike McElmeel of Eighteenzulu LLC. He’s a true “been there, done that” kind of
guy with a true humility that comes from knowing his stuff and a willingness to
share it. I’ve had the pleasure of
taking coursework with our local PD conducted by Mike so I had I pretty good
idea what to expect here as well.
We were a course of 5 . . . me, Todd, John, Julie and
Kevin. All of us are NRA instructors and
all had taken coursework from ICE. Most,
maybe all, had taken some of that coursework from Rob Pincus himself. We had a pretty good idea where we were
going. I don’t believe any of us truly
understood what the three-day journey was going to be like. They were long-ish days. First ran 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Second – 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM. The last was short . . . 8:30 AM to about 4 PM. A total of 27.5 hours. This included both classroom time and range
time. The range bolstered the concepts
taught in the classroom. Let’s say the
three days were “busy”.
This course is actually instructor development for two sets
of coursework. The first is the “Fundamentals
of Home Defense Handguns Course” and the second is the “Fundamentals of
Concealed Carry Course”. Obviously there
is considerable overlap when you begin to talk about handgun selection, handgun
safety, shooting fundamentals and a host of other topics. And, there are separate topics covering home
defensive tactics, de-escalation techniques, equipment requirements to name but
a few.
The coursework is taught from the point of view that the
student is a new and inexperienced shooter.
Everything from the type of handgun best suited for personal defense to
defensive ammunition to belts, holsters, positions of carry and much much more
was covered and discussed. Just a
reminder . . . when you take instructor development coursework from a company
they are presenting THEIR POV. It is
your responsibility to be open, to listen, to learn what they are trying to
teach you and to then . . . after you’ve gone home and worked on the range on
what they taught . . . decide if you are willing to teach it. For me, this portion was very easy . . . I
believe ICE is one of the companies currently in the forefront of defensive
shooting and working hard to be there.
The big thing they offer is that they can clearly articulate the “WHY”
of what they do. I may not always agree –
in fact I challenged what was being taught a handful of times, but I know that
I will be presented with the WHY from their POV. Many training companies simply fall back on
the “because I said so and I’m the expert here” line of reasoning. I have little time for those folks.
One bone I did pick on a couple of times was the “But there’s
no training manual!!!!!” bone. “Yep”
Jamie said, “And I doubt there ever will be.”
But, but, but . . . I like training manuals. It means I don’t have to take that good of
notes . . . I can look at it any time . . . I can use it to review for the test
. . . I can refresh before I teach a class . . . ya know????
Here’s the good news I discovered, my notes turned out
awesome. It forced me to engage the
entire day. It forced me to ask things
to be repeated or covered again if I didn’t understand, because I wasn’t going
to be able to go home that night and catch up on what I didn’t hear or understand. It forced me to be a much better
student! It was a fair trade.
Of course, you know there’s one more kicker out there on
the material, right? The final written
exam was closed book . . . with a few fill-in-the-blanks questions . . . and
the remainder were short answer to short essay.
All 50 of them. Frankly, all of
us did a bit of a gut check there. My
last college level course that I took was in June of 1980 . . . and other
development workshops were open books and open notes. Crap!!!!!
We all kept breathing . . . and then simply jumped in with
both feet. Topics came fast and furious
for all three days. While there were
some power points let’s just say this was NOT a “slide-rich-environment”! This forced us to LISTEN, ASK and WRITE . . .
not simply watch a slide and copy.
Again, this worked to all of our advantage insuring we focused on what
the hell was being said because there was no going back.
How about “teach backs” . . . remember those??? These too we had in spades. They were “graded” with phrases like “that
was pretty solid” . . . to . . . “that didn’t completely suck” . . . to “Bill,
ya kinda just slipped off the track there!”.
As expected we also gave each other feedback as well. It was all direct, as clear as we could make
it and always taken as “feedback”, NOT criticism (something you need to keep in
mind when you take coursework).
Depending on how old you are in my day there used to be “challenge
circles” at high school dances. The idea
was that couples formed circles and then a couple would jump in an “challenge”
other couples to dance better than they were.
(I DID NOT participate in these being all nerd-o-licious at that age,
but it left quite an impression on me.)
Saturday night’s teach backs were exactly that. Jamie picked a victim . . . sorry, candidate
. . . to get things started presenting them with a topic to “teach back”. At the end that candidate then chose the next
. . . and so the circle went. Pretty
interesting, challenging and fun by then.
Teach backs continued until the last day and was a
cornerstone of the classroom work.
As for range work, we went through – depending on how you
count things up – 8 primary shooting drills.
From a simple, by the numbers, single shot shooting drill to a
multi-threat, multi-round drill. We were
all taught the fundamentals of each drill and then expected to teach it
back. Yeah . . . that was interesting.
A side note here . . . if the request is put out on who wants
to go first . . . and you wait for more than the count of 5 . . . and no one volunteers
(especially early in the course) go first!
Suck it up and just do it. A
couple things will happen . . . you’ll probably screw the first one up. As you are asked to the same one again, you’ll
get better. By the end . . . you’ll to
it at least to the “Ya know, that doesn’t completely suck” level. YOU WILL LEARN A TON DURING THE PROCESS . . .
and your classmates will as well. I did
this a number of times. Honestly, I’ve
had my ass chewed by TIs, pissed off customers and . . . after 45 years of
marriage . . . my wife. In each and
every case my rear has been nibbled on . . . I’ve learned. That is NOT to say that Jamie or Mike yelled –
never did they raise their voice. But
they did correct, encourage and they clearly articulated what we did wrong and
what we needed to do to fix it. The
range work was all good!!
Each course – Home Defense and Concealed Carry has a
specific “end of course scenario” as a final shooting exam. They were simple. We all watch our fellow students perform them
. . . and each of us, to a person, experienced a fair level of surprise and
anxiety as the drill began. It was a
great way to end the range work!
Jamie had a court date for a case he was working on so he
needed to leave a bit early on Monday.
That meant our AAR was with lunch.
It is the time in a set of coursework that both parties are
leaning. We each got to hear Jamie’s
thoughts on us and our performance. We
also got one more chance to clarify how well we had reached our goad, in my
case . . . did I learn new teaching methods??
Yep, in spades. And I got to hear
feedback from him about me. One thing I
appreciated is that he initially feared I’d be “that guy” . . . and old fart that
knows everything! He was pleased that it
turned out I listened and engaged rather than challenged and disputed. I would offer those reading this that same
advice. Listen. Engage.
And learn.
Did I pass?? Heavy
sigh, I don’t know. It takes time to read
the hand-written answers – god help them with my hand writing – and to decide if
the answer is what they wanted or missed the mark. In my heart, it felt good. I’ll post a Pass/Fail on this post once I
find out.
One other benefit to this course . . . you can sit through
it as many times as you wish. I can see
myself doing that from time to time. Just to shake the dust off.
Final recommendation . . . if you are looking for a set of
coursework to present to your client base . . . this particular set of
coursework should be on your list.
Thanks Jamie, Mike . . . for what it’s worth you did a
great job!
