Paddle Canada Instructor Professional Development Clinics
June 3rd, 2019
Overview
The instructor professional development clinic allows active instructors to maintain certification. Professional development clinics are specific to the stream they are addressing.
The principal focus of professional development clinics is the enrichment of instructor skills and to ensure instructors are using the current best practices. If a clinic participant’s teaching and/or paddling skills are below the current standard, the instructor trainer will provide the participant with a detailed plan to bring their skills up to the standard and one year in which to meet the standard.
Purpose
● Provide an opportunity for active instructors to maintain instructor status.
● Introduce new program changes and present innovative teaching strategies and ideas.
● Review teaching elements with respect to benchmarks, evaluation and assessment.
● Improve the instructors’ paddling technique and teaching ability.
● Identify instructors whose paddling technique or teaching skills require improvement.
Process
All clinic instructors must be a certified instructor trainer at level of the corresponding instructor course. Ideally, every professional development clinic shall have a minimum of two instructor trainers.
Both instructors and clinic participants must be paid-up instructors with Paddle Canada.
The clinic must be registered with Paddle Canada.
Clinic course length is one day (6-8 hours). Waterfront instructor certification maintenance clinics are 3-4 hours.
A minimum of 60% of the clinic time must be spent on the water.
Professional development clinics must be conducted in the water conditions required for the corresponding instructor course(s).
Instructor to student ratio is 1.5 times the ratio of the corresponding instructor course.
Example, an instructor course with a ratio of 1:6 allows a corresponding professional development clinic ratio of 1:9.
Typical Clinic Topics
● Course administration and risk assessment / management.
● Stroke / brace skill development with individual coaching.
● Self-rescue and assisted rescue: review required skills and intro new techniques / theory.
● Tricks and tips for teaching theory topics.
● Practical benchmarks and expected key outcomes.
● Assessment strategies.
● Assessment of clinic participants as required.
● Round-table discussion of current paddling issues.