In this episode, we go into the essentials of preparing for and succeeding at an Instructor Trainer (IT) Academy. Whether you're aiming to become a Lifeguard Instructor Trainer (LGIT) or a Water Safety Instructor Trainer (WSIT), this episode is packed with valuable advice and practical tips to help you excel.
Key Topics Covered:
*Pre-Academy Preparation: Arriving early, getting settled, and familiarizing yourself with the training facility.
*Skill Practice: Importance of polishing your lifeguard and swimming skills before the academy.
*Day One Overview: What to expect, including initial skill assessments and course material.
*Teaching and Evaluation: Tips for practice teaching, using skills charts, and receiving feedback.
*Written Test Preparation: Key areas to focus on, especially the administration section.
*Success Rates and Challenges: Understanding the success rates and common challenges faced by participants.
*Host Facility Considerations: Pros and cons of hosting an academy at your facility versus attending a neighboring one.
Contact David Kotz
- Email: info@nstc.net
- Phone: 908-502-0600
About The Lifesaving Chronicles:
Hey there, lifesaving educators! I'm David Kotz, your host and the founder of the National Safety Training Center. Join me as we embark on a bi-monthly journey, each session packed with approximately 30 minutes of rich content tailored for American Red Cross and American Heart Association educators like you—CPR/First Aid instructors, Lifeguard instructors, EMT instructors, and any current or aspiring lifesaving educating entrepreneurs who are passionate about saving lives. We'll dissect current events, explore teaching strategies, and review lifesaving techniques. But that's not all! We want you to be a part of the conversation. Got a topic or an incident you're itching to discuss? Send it our way, and let's tackle it together on the show. Gear up for an educational ride with The LIFESAVING CHRONICLES.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Thank you.
David Kotz (00:05):
I'm going to encourage you to arrive the day
before your academy starts, getsettled in at your hotel.
You could be traveling to somefar away city, but get settled
in your hotel.
If you have a chance, visit thetraining facility; know where
you're going.
See what facilities they havethere.
Get the lay of the land.
Do they have a microwave forlunch or not?
(00:25):
Maybe they have a cafe that youcan have lunch at.
Just get the lay of that landand get settled in.
Get a good night's sleep.
You will be exhausted for thiscourse of the week, you will
sleep like the dead when you aredone.
So, definitely visit thefacility, get a good night's
sleep.
You should be good.
Lastly, before you obviouslystart traveling, you should be
(00:48):
practicing your skills.
First thing that what they'regoing to do at an LGIT academy
is get you in the water andpractice and polish your
lifeguard skills.
If your lifeguard skills are notup to the standard, you have a
limited window to polish thoseskills and get them up to the
standard before they say goodbyeto you.
(01:08):
And will they exit you from anacademy if your skills are not
to standard Yes, they will.
Anna Unruh (01:14):
Similar with the WSIT academy, you're gonna get
in, you're gonna show them yourstrokes.
Ideally, you're gonna be exactlywhere you need to be.
They see that there's a littlebit of struggle with a small
thing, you still need to correctthat.
What I did before both of theacademies.
Both times that I took them, Ihad people looking at my skills.
I pulled in co workers, it'shey, I really need to practice
(01:36):
this, I don't solid as I couldbe on it, I'm gonna speak from
experience trying to practice asubmerged victim rescue in a
five foot pool because you don'thave access to a deeper one,
it's awkward.
Your main thing that you need tofocus on is that tube control.
So yeah, you're going to sit atthe bottom of the pool and pull
the strap down until you getused to how to manage that tube
(01:58):
with a person in your arm.
So you might be sitting orkneeling and practicing the tube
management, but that's going tobe your big one.
Similarly with WSIT, like you'renot going to get to practice
your dives if you work at a fivefoot pool.
The educators will acknowledgethat.
Just email them ahead of timeand Hey, I don't have access.
I know that I need to learnthese things.
(02:19):
Can you give some like tips forbefore I get again, like is
going to help you out.
But yeah, I had people lookingat my butterfly because
everyone's got their ownbreaststroke is another common
one.
Get your swim team coaches.
Get your more advanced or moreexperienced swim instructors.
Whoever you've got as aresource, have them look at your
skills, whatever those are, andpick them.
(02:39):
It is better that you be pickedby a peer and get it fixed than
to get to the academy and wastedthat potential practice time.
Now if you're an outdoor onlypool, you need to plan ahead.
So if you're like in my area,I'm in Nebraska, we only have
some of the pools during thesummer, if you're a summer only
person, plan ahead.
Start practicing, and practiceas much as you can, and then if
(03:03):
there is an indoor in theregion, you might be driving an
hour, go see if they'll let youpractice, because they
typically, out where we are inthe rural areas, they would love
another instructor in the area,and they might be able to lend
you a couple of bodies.
So, build those relationships.
David Kotz (03:17):
Good advice.
Hey, let's talk about day one.
So we already talked a littlebit about the first thing
they're gonna do is practice andpolish.
Show me your strokes.
Show me your lifeguardingskills.
Anna Unruh (03:26):
Day one.
They're gonna go over a wholebunch of material that you need
to be aware of.
So like, how the flow of theacademy is gonna go, cause they
did just update the lifeguardupdate.
And you're gonna get, startgetting lot of information on-
for the WSIT side of things,it's a little bit more of the
educator's day and then you jumpinto more of the candidates
(03:47):
going through all of theirteachings.
For the LGIT, I think they jumpin a little bit faster now.
David Kotz (03:54):
Think we're down to three days for LGIT.
Anna Unruh (03:56):
Right.
You gotta be so prepared.
You gotta know if you're goingnext and be ready to just take
over.
You want that transition time tobe as short as possible, because
that means that you get to gohome on time.
So make sure that you know yourrun time for your presentations
for when you're doing yourteachings and your teachbacks
and know when you're up next.
So that way you minimize thatturn by going like, hey, I'm
(04:18):
ready to go.
I got my stuff prepared.
David Kotz (04:19):
That means you have your manual.
You maybe have notes in yourmanual on what page numbers the
students need to be at, whetherthat's in the instructor manual
or the participant manual.
You need to understand if as aninstructor or LGIT.
And you also need to have theequipment.
Do you need mannequins?
Do you need backboards?
Do you need rescue tubes?
Have that assembled and ready.
(04:40):
The more you do that, thebetter- everyone will like you.
Trust me.
Anna Unruh (04:45):
Because if you go, hey, my lesson plan calls for
noodles, and then you have topivot, make sure that you write
that in your lesson plan aheadof time.
David Kotz (04:52):
So particularly, if you're sending out your
assignments ahead of time.
I always recommend practiceteaching before you arrive at
the academy if you possibly can.
You can do it in your hotel thenight before, but it's not as
valuable.
Practice ahead of time.
Practice either in the mirror,so you can see yourself, or
practice even better to anotheraudience, whether it's your
(05:15):
children at home, yourcolleagues, your spouse,
whatever it may be, to get somepositive and negative, what you
can do differently, but that isinvaluable.
You're just going on the fly andthey give you an assignment.
You're like, okay, I can go topage number 35 and wing it, the
educators know.
We all- everybody knows.
Anna Unruh (05:35):
Also make sure that you check the back of your page.
Some people have forgotten toturn a page and missed an entire
half of teach.
Other times, they were justtrying to guess at what came
before and it's like, no, youneed to know what came before.
So there's a particular one thatI'm thinking of.
I'm sure that Dave knows it,too.
I won't say what it is, butlike, there's pieces to it and
(05:56):
you have to know what camebefore in order to successfully
do the step three or four.
And so you need to know thatthose steps exist.
You need to read and followthose before you can fully and
correctly implement the lastone.
David Kotz (06:12):
Day 3, we are probably wrapping up those
practice teachings,makingg anycorrections that are necessary.
There is a written test and youneed to pass the written test.
I believe now there are two, Aand B.
When I did it, it was passed,failed, you know, good luck.
I think, I don't know thatanybody has actually ever failed
that written...
Anna Unruh (06:28):
Yes.
David Kotz (06:30):
So whether it's a baby lifeguarding class, a
lifeguard instructor class, oras Anna's saying here at the IT
academies, there are people thatgot put there whether it's their
parents or their boss, and theydon't want to be there.
We know who you are.
It's obvious to us.
So if you don't want to bethere, it's costing someone a
lot of money, not just thetuition, but the travel
(06:51):
expenses, your time, just becognizant of that.
If you don't want to go tolifeguarding or you don't want
to go to Lifeguarding Instructoror the IT academy, find
something else to do.
Anna Unruh (07:00):
They didn't travel.
Their buy in was way less, butagain, don't be that person.
David Kotz (07:05):
There's two theories on if you're the host facility,
do you take that IT academy?
There's pros and cons, right?
So if you're the AquaticDirector at XYZ YMCA and you're
hosting an academy, if you areparticipating in the academy,
you will expect constantinterruptions because operations
(07:27):
at your facility constantly hasto, well, the water is going
over, the chlorine's this,someone had a problem in the
bathroom, there's a code brown!Um, whatever the case may be,
you're going to get constantlyinterrupted.
There's a good argument to say,Hey, listen, thank you for
letting us host, but can we sendour staff to a neighboring
academy?
(07:47):
I would choose that if I had achoice.
Anna Unruh (07:49):
If that is a possibility, I'm going to throw
that out there.
If we manage to get a host placein Nebraska, we don't have
another shot.
The nearest one is like Iowa,which is still like five, six
hours.
So it's kind of that trade off.
But yeah, I know coastal areas,some of the more populous areas
like Texas, you have somedifferent sites that you can go
to, um, that still might be likea five, six hour drive, but they
(08:12):
occur more regularly.
So I know some of us in theplains were kind of parched for
another place.
In that case, if you're a hostfacility, so that you can have
it where you can get to iteasily or other places, get that
backup person in line.
You are off duty and let themknow that I am off duty.
My favorite thing is during theacademy is just seeing all the
pool managers hit their phonesand have to call and coach
(08:34):
people through stuff becausethey are off duty and they told
them,"I'm in class.
I will reply when I can reply.
It doesn't matter how urgent itis unless somebody is in the
hospital, I'm not answering."
David Kotz (08:45):
Yeah, but this is aquatics and we all know how
that works.
So, um...
it's just a good process toevaluate.
Are you going to go to youracademy, your facility, or try
and go to a neighboring one?
You pick, understand what it is.
Hey, let's talk about the kindof unfortunate things.
You're at an academy, somethinggoes wrong and you're asked to
(09:05):
leave.
Let's talk about what thesuccess rate of the academies
are.
Now we can talk about whathappens if you do get asked to
leave.
When the academies were firstrolled out 15, 20 years ago, the
success rate was close to 50%.
That's not so good.
We're definitely up to, what wasit?
Close to closer to 80 or aguarantee that you're going to
pass.
(09:26):
They are very challenging anddynamic courses.
You need to exert maximum effortand still it is a very
challenging course.
So sometimes people don't pass.
And sometimes they'll try asecond time.
I've seen more than once in anacademy.
Anna Unruh (09:44):
Yeah, I've seen people, and usually it's, you're
either gonna get a hunch prettymuch day one on that skill
thing, they're gonna let youknow,"Hey, these skills have to
be fixed", so you're gonna begiven a heads up, and there have
been people that took that, andthen stayed after, and other
people at the academy typicallyare willing to buy in and help
you practice.
So even though the educators maynot be available, as long as
(10:06):
there's pool space available,I've, definitely seen people go
in and practice strokes for theWSIT, or they'll do an example
practice teach to get feedbackbecause they haven't taught that
level before.
And then on the LGIT side, thereare certain rescues and it
varies on the person on whichrescues are their problem, but
going through and getting abuddy and practicing.
If you're struggling or they'vetold you, because sometimes it's
(10:27):
the well, that's the way I wastaught.
You can't help it if you weretaught and coached incorrectly.
And they know that as you comeinto the academy.
David Kotz (10:35):
So I'll tell you just from personal experience,
it happened to me.
When I was at the academy forthe first time.
My deep water submerged rescueskills were not to the standard.
What was not to the standard?
When I did my feet first surfacedive, your legs have to be
together and your toes pointed.
(10:56):
Do they get to that level ofdetail?
Yes, they do.
So I stayed after class for twoout of the four days, it was
four days then, and I practiced.
And I had to practice and polishmyself up so that I was at the
standard and now when I do thisrescue, my toes are pointed, my
legs are together, and I appearto be 100%.
(11:20):
Remember, now that the LGIT isthree days, there's less time
for that.
So again, it puts more emphasison being prepared ahead of time.
So now you all know, you musthave your legs together.
You must do a feet first surfacedive.
Doesn't matter that, Oh, youknow, we trained to the, you
know, the standard, but test theobjective.
(11:41):
You must do a feet first surfacedive.
Anna Unruh (11:46):
So again, as long as you're willing to come in and do
the work, most people do correctby the end.
So that's the first one iscoming in with your skills and
just taking their feedback.
There's always going to be like,some little thing that they give
you.
And you can always ask like towhat level that is.
So is this the icing on the cakelevel?
I like coaching to icing on thecake level where it looks almost
(12:07):
video level.
That's not, that's beyond thestandard.
I will coach you that way.
But if I'm evaluating, it'sgoing to be like where we need
to be for lifeguard instructorswhen I'm teaching.
You're going to be at thestandard.
David Kotz (12:19):
So, Anna mentioned something interesting, like you
have to be to the videostandard.
When you go to these ITacademies, you may see people
that you recognize from thevideos.
Many of the educators are in thelifeguard videos.
I recognize many of them.
I had a very warm feeling aboutit cause I've worked with these
people in the past and I have ahuge degree of respect for them.
(12:40):
So the fact that they were inthe videos is enormously fun and
you'll get to meet them.
And it's kind of cool.
Anna Unruh (12:46):
Again, that's the first way that you would fail
out is like you're not able toget your skills to where you
need to be.
The other one is not doing wellon your critical eye.
That's also curriculumawareness.
There's a lot of little pieceswhen you're doing your practice
teaching and your teach backs.
So, let's go over like how thepractice teaching evaluations
set up so that way I can framethis a little better.
(13:08):
Through the course, becauseyou're going to mimic an
instructor course, you're goingto have your instructor
candidates.
Those will be the people takingyour imaginary course.
You're going to be the ITteaching that course.
And then of course you have theeducator who's watching over
everything during that time.
So as the instructor candidate,you need to make sure that
(13:29):
you're still followingeverything to detail.
Okay, because the educators arewatching you as well to make
sure you're still aware even atthat base level.
When you're the instructortrainer candidate, you have to
be aware of those levels andwhat they're teaching and how
things should look and be ableto give appropriate feedback
which is positive correctivefeedback, so you're going to
(13:51):
give them something that wentwell, and then something that
they can improve on, or a futureconsideration because every once
in a while, somebody just acestheir practice teacher, and
you're like, I don't haveanything to fix, and you're just
like, something to consider ifthey had an odd number kit.
There's a lot of differentquestions you can throw in
there, but you have to have thatawareness as you go through.
(14:11):
But if you're not showing thatawareness of curriculum at the
instructor level or at the ITlevel where they're evaluating
you, they're going to give youfeedback and with current
lifeguard instructor outline,you got two shots.
That's it.
WSIT, you got four, but itdepends on how many people are
in your group, so you might havethree.
(14:31):
Um, they may not give you thefull four to evaluate each other
on the practice teaches, Ibelieve it's three.
David Kotz (14:37):
You need to be successful.
You need to be successful thefirst time.
There is no room to have a,substandard teachback.
You need to nail these.
I'm going to emphasize the onething that she didn't say, which
is skills charts, and assessmenttools.
I have no idea how you can besuccessful when you're
(14:57):
evaluating someone's skills ifyou are not holding in your
hand, the appropriate skillscharts, assessment tools.
Must have those.
They must be the correct onesfor the skills you're doing.
Uh, that is simply essential.
If you don't have that, I haveno idea how you'll be...
successful.
Anna Unruh (15:15):
On the WSIT side, you need to be in the chapter of
the book that's for the levelthat the person's in, where it
describes what that skill lookslike at each level.
So You have that resource.
You're going to put it in aprotector of some sort and make
sure that you're looking at whatthat skill looks like at that
level.
And if you're looking at astroke, then you're going to
have your stroke assessmentsheets.
David Kotz (15:36):
So at the end of every teach back, you'll be
given some feedback.
Uh, you'll be asked to giveyourself feedback on yourself.
How do you think that went?
Your peers will give you somefeedback in the class.
And then the educators willprovide a summary or maybe some
other sage words of advice.
And then they'll go on to thenext one.
At the end of every day, anyconcerns, the educators should
(16:00):
approach you, take you aside,give you some corrective
feedback as necessary; things toconsider.
Anna Unruh (16:06):
If you are of the anxious persuasion, because we
also see those at the academy,feel free to approach the
educators once they've talked toeveryone that they still need to
talk to, because sometimesthey're handing out sheets and
you got your sheet earlier inthe day because you had an
earlier teach.
So they may not have anythingfor you because you got it
earlier in the day.
But if you're still feelingconcerned or worried about
something to run something bythem, catch them at the end of
(16:27):
the day and ask them thosequestions and run things
through.
Because again, they want to makesure you're showing interest and
they're going to be invested inyou too.
They want to help.
David Kotz (16:36):
Educators aren't given any goals on how many
people they should pass.
We want a hundred percent of thepeople to pass.
that are qualified.
So we're given rigid standardsto adhere to but if everyone
meets those standards, we wantyou to succeed.
We spent more time than Ianticipated on this subject,
which fantastic.
I think we've covered a widerange of topics on the IT
(17:00):
academies and how to make sureyou are successful at an IT
academy.
Uh, we specifically did notcover- how, you know, okay,
you're interested in becoming anIT, where do you apply?
So just to quickly mention thatwhen you are on the Red Cross
Learning Center, there's a tabunder the instructor lifestyle
which is, you know, becoming anIT, and it will detail that
(17:21):
process.
There are several requirementsyou're going to need to meet.
You'll need a letter ofrecommendation, and you'll have
to be evaluated and acceptedinto the program before you can
even sign up for an IT academy.
So that's, we can actually do aseparate chat about that in the
future, but that is where youwould go when you're interested
in becoming an IT.
Anna Unruh (17:39):
I got one more tip before we go.
We mentioned that there's awritten test and it's the same
tip that I give my lifeguardinstructors.
You need to read youradministration section and know
that front to back becausethat's where a lot of questions
come from.
Not all of them, but you need toknow your administration section
because that's important to howyou run classes.
That's part of what the writtentest evaluates you over because
(18:01):
the educators have evaluated youon your skills and your teaching
skills, and now it's yourknowledge time.
David Kotz (18:06):
So what's a good example of a question you might
see from the administrationsection?
Anna Unruh (18:09):
Uh, ratio.
How many people can you teach?
David Kotz (18:13):
How many mannequins do you need?
How many backboards do you need?
How many rescue tubes do youneed?
What is the length of thecourse?
I'm remembering these from the2017 curriculum.
I have not seen the educatorstest.
Listen, we both Anna and myself,we wish you success at the IT
academy.
It's absolutely possible foreveryone to succeed if they put
forth the effort.
(18:34):
I shouldn't say that.
It's possible for almosteveryone to succeed, if they put
forth the effort.
We've seen people who don't passthem and by and large, it's
either they didn't have theskills, the physical skills.
Prepare ahead of time, bring theright resources with you and
enjoy the academies.
We hope to see you out in thefield teaching lifeguarding and
(18:54):
lifeguard instructor classes andWSI class.
In fact, here at the NationalSafety Training Center, we'd
like employ you.
So one of the things you can dois become part our cadre of
instructors.
We have classes around thecountry and we're trying to grow
that presence.
So one of the things, as yougraduate from the academy,
consider chatting with us andseeing how we together...
Anna Unruh (19:16):
As an example, I'm in Nebraska, I'm the lone person
out in my area, and I get to gotravel to Wyoming and teach a
WSI course in a few weeks, sothere's lots of potential
regardless of where you are.
David Kotz (19:28):
Fantastic.
Again, thank you all forwatching.
Remember, we here at theNational Safety Training Center
want you to succeed and we hopeto see you out in the classroom
soon.
Okay.
Thank you.
David Kotz (00:05):
I'm going to encourage you to arrive the day
before your academy starts, getsettled in at your hotel.
You could be traveling to somefar away city, but get settled
in your hotel.
If you have a chance, visit thetraining facility; know where
you're going.
See what facilities they havethere.
Get the lay of the land.
Do they have a microwave forlunch or not?
(00:25):
Maybe they have a cafe that youcan have lunch at.
Just get the lay of that landand get settled in.
Get a good night's sleep.
You will be exhausted for thiscourse of the week, you will
sleep like the dead when you aredone.
So, definitely visit thefacility, get a good night's
sleep.
You should be good.
Lastly, before you obviouslystart traveling, you should be
(00:48):
practicing your skills.
First thing that what they'regoing to do at an LGIT academy
is get you in the water andpractice and polish your
lifeguard skills.
If your lifeguard skills are notup to the standard, you have a
limited window to polish thoseskills and get them up to the
standard before they say goodbyeto you.
(01:08):
And will they exit you from anacademy if your skills are not
to standard Yes, they will.
Anna Unruh (01:14):
Similar with the WSIT academy, you're gonna get
in, you're gonna show them yourstrokes.
Ideally, you're gonna be exactlywhere you need to be.
They see that there's a littlebit of struggle with a small
thing, you still need to correctthat.
What I did before both of theacademies.
Both times that I took them, Ihad people looking at my skills.
I pulled in co workers, it'shey, I really need to practice
(01:36):
this, I don't solid as I couldbe on it, I'm gonna speak from
experience trying to practice asubmerged victim rescue in a
five foot pool because you don'thave access to a deeper one,
it's awkward.
Your main thing that you need tofocus on is that tube control.
So yeah, you're going to sit atthe bottom of the pool and pull
the strap down until you getused to how to manage that tube
(01:58):
with a person in your arm.
So you might be sitting orkneeling and practicing the tube
management, but that's going tobe your big one.
Similarly with WSIT, like you'renot going to get to practice
your dives if you work at a fivefoot pool.
The educators will acknowledgethat.
Just email them ahead of timeand Hey, I don't have access.
I know that I need to learnthese things.
(02:19):
Can you give some like tips forbefore I get again, like is
going to help you out.
But yeah, I had people lookingat my butterfly because
everyone's got their ownbreaststroke is another common
one.
Get your swim team coaches.
Get your more advanced or moreexperienced swim instructors.
Whoever you've got as aresource, have them look at your
skills, whatever those are, andpick them.
(02:39):
It is better that you be pickedby a peer and get it fixed than
to get to the academy and wastedthat potential practice time.
Now if you're an outdoor onlypool, you need to plan ahead.
So if you're like in my area,I'm in Nebraska, we only have
some of the pools during thesummer, if you're a summer only
person, plan ahead.
Start practicing, and practiceas much as you can, and then if
(03:03):
there is an indoor in theregion, you might be driving an
hour, go see if they'll let youpractice, because they
typically, out where we are inthe rural areas, they would love
another instructor in the area,and they might be able to lend
you a couple of bodies.
So, build those relationships.
David Kotz (03:17):
Good advice.
Hey, let's talk about day one.
So we already talked a littlebit about the first thing
they're gonna do is practice andpolish.
Show me your strokes.
Show me your lifeguardingskills.
Anna Unruh (03:26):
Day one.
They're gonna go over a wholebunch of material that you need
to be aware of.
So like, how the flow of theacademy is gonna go, cause they
did just update the lifeguardupdate.
And you're gonna get, startgetting lot of information on-
for the WSIT side of things,it's a little bit more of the
educator's day and then you jumpinto more of the candidates
(03:47):
going through all of theirteachings.
For the LGIT, I think they jumpin a little bit faster now.
David Kotz (03:54):
Think we're down to three days for LGIT.
Anna Unruh (03:56):
Right.
You gotta be so prepared.
You gotta know if you're goingnext and be ready to just take
over.
You want that transition time tobe as short as possible, because
that means that you get to gohome on time.
So make sure that you know yourrun time for your presentations
for when you're doing yourteachings and your teachbacks
and know when you're up next.
So that way you minimize thatturn by going like, hey, I'm
(04:18):
ready to go.
I got my stuff prepared.
David Kotz (04:19):
That means you have your manual.
You maybe have notes in yourmanual on what page numbers the
students need to be at, whetherthat's in the instructor manual
or the participant manual.
You need to understand if as aninstructor or LGIT.
And you also need to have theequipment.
Do you need mannequins?
Do you need backboards?
Do you need rescue tubes?
Have that assembled and ready.
(04:40):
The more you do that, thebetter- everyone will like you.
Trust me.
Anna Unruh (04:45):
Because if you go, hey, my lesson plan calls for
noodles, and then you have topivot, make sure that you write
that in your lesson plan aheadof time.
David Kotz (04:52):
So particularly, if you're sending out your
assignments ahead of time.
I always recommend practiceteaching before you arrive at
the academy if you possibly can.
You can do it in your hotel thenight before, but it's not as
valuable.
Practice ahead of time.
Practice either in the mirror,so you can see yourself, or
practice even better to anotheraudience, whether it's your
(05:15):
children at home, yourcolleagues, your spouse,
whatever it may be, to get somepositive and negative, what you
can do differently, but that isinvaluable.
You're just going on the fly andthey give you an assignment.
You're like, okay, I can go topage number 35 and wing it, the
educators know.
We all- everybody knows.
Anna Unruh (05:35):
Also make sure that you check the back of your page.
Some people have forgotten toturn a page and missed an entire
half of teach.
Other times, they were justtrying to guess at what came
before and it's like, no, youneed to know what came before.
So there's a particular one thatI'm thinking of.
I'm sure that Dave knows it,too.
I won't say what it is, butlike, there's pieces to it and
(05:56):
you have to know what camebefore in order to successfully
do the step three or four.
And so you need to know thatthose steps exist.
You need to read and followthose before you can fully and
correctly implement the lastone.
David Kotz (06:12):
Day 3, we are probably wrapping up those
practice teachings,makingg anycorrections that are necessary.
There is a written test and youneed to pass the written test.
I believe now there are two, Aand B.
When I did it, it was passed,failed, you know, good luck.
I think, I don't know thatanybody has actually ever failed
that written...
Anna Unruh (06:28):
Yes.
David Kotz (06:30):
So whether it's a baby lifeguarding class, a
lifeguard instructor class, oras Anna's saying here at the IT
academies, there are people thatgot put there whether it's their
parents or their boss, and theydon't want to be there.
We know who you are.
It's obvious to us.
So if you don't want to bethere, it's costing someone a
lot of money, not just thetuition, but the travel
(06:51):
expenses, your time, just becognizant of that.
If you don't want to go tolifeguarding or you don't want
to go to Lifeguarding Instructoror the IT academy, find
something else to do.
Anna Unruh (07:00):
They didn't travel.
Their buy in was way less, butagain, don't be that person.
David Kotz (07:05):
There's two theories on if you're the host facility,
do you take that IT academy?
There's pros and cons, right?
So if you're the AquaticDirector at XYZ YMCA and you're
hosting an academy, if you areparticipating in the academy,
you will expect constantinterruptions because operations
(07:27):
at your facility constantly hasto, well, the water is going
over, the chlorine's this,someone had a problem in the
bathroom, there's a code brown!Um, whatever the case may be,
you're going to get constantlyinterrupted.
There's a good argument to say,Hey, listen, thank you for
letting us host, but can we sendour staff to a neighboring
academy?
(07:47):
I would choose that if I had achoice.
Anna Unruh (07:49):
If that is a possibility, I'm going to throw
that out there.
If we manage to get a host placein Nebraska, we don't have
another shot.
The nearest one is like Iowa,which is still like five, six
hours.
So it's kind of that trade off.
But yeah, I know coastal areas,some of the more populous areas
like Texas, you have somedifferent sites that you can go
to, um, that still might be likea five, six hour drive, but they
(08:12):
occur more regularly.
So I know some of us in theplains were kind of parched for
another place.
In that case, if you're a hostfacility, so that you can have
it where you can get to iteasily or other places, get that
backup person in line.
You are off duty and let themknow that I am off duty.
My favorite thing is during theacademy is just seeing all the
pool managers hit their phonesand have to call and coach
(08:34):
people through stuff becausethey are off duty and they told
them,"I'm in class.
I will reply when I can reply.
It doesn't matter how urgent itis unless somebody is in the
hospital, I'm not answering."
David Kotz (08:45):
Yeah, but this is aquatics and we all know how
that works.
So, um...
it's just a good process toevaluate.
Are you going to go to youracademy, your facility, or try
and go to a neighboring one?
You pick, understand what it is.
Hey, let's talk about the kindof unfortunate things.
You're at an academy, somethinggoes wrong and you're asked to
(09:05):
leave.
Let's talk about what thesuccess rate of the academies
are.
Now we can talk about whathappens if you do get asked to
leave.
When the academies were firstrolled out 15, 20 years ago, the
success rate was close to 50%.
That's not so good.
We're definitely up to, what wasit?
Close to closer to 80 or aguarantee that you're going to
pass.
(09:26):
They are very challenging anddynamic courses.
You need to exert maximum effortand still it is a very
challenging course.
So sometimes people don't pass.
And sometimes they'll try asecond time.
I've seen more than once in anacademy.
Anna Unruh (09:44):
Yeah, I've seen people, and usually it's, you're
either gonna get a hunch prettymuch day one on that skill
thing, they're gonna let youknow,"Hey, these skills have to
be fixed", so you're gonna begiven a heads up, and there have
been people that took that, andthen stayed after, and other
people at the academy typicallyare willing to buy in and help
you practice.
So even though the educators maynot be available, as long as
(10:06):
there's pool space available,I've, definitely seen people go
in and practice strokes for theWSIT, or they'll do an example
practice teach to get feedbackbecause they haven't taught that
level before.
And then on the LGIT side, thereare certain rescues and it
varies on the person on whichrescues are their problem, but
going through and getting abuddy and practicing.
If you're struggling or they'vetold you, because sometimes it's
(10:27):
the well, that's the way I wastaught.
You can't help it if you weretaught and coached incorrectly.
And they know that as you comeinto the academy.
David Kotz (10:35):
So I'll tell you just from personal experience,
it happened to me.
When I was at the academy forthe first time.
My deep water submerged rescueskills were not to the standard.
What was not to the standard?
When I did my feet first surfacedive, your legs have to be
together and your toes pointed.
(10:56):
Do they get to that level ofdetail?
Yes, they do.
So I stayed after class for twoout of the four days, it was
four days then, and I practiced.
And I had to practice and polishmyself up so that I was at the
standard and now when I do thisrescue, my toes are pointed, my
legs are together, and I appearto be 100%.
(11:20):
Remember, now that the LGIT isthree days, there's less time
for that.
So again, it puts more emphasison being prepared ahead of time.
So now you all know, you musthave your legs together.
You must do a feet first surfacedive.
Doesn't matter that, Oh, youknow, we trained to the, you
know, the standard, but test theobjective.
(11:41):
You must do a feet first surfacedive.
Anna Unruh (11:46):
So again, as long as you're willing to come in and do
the work, most people do correctby the end.
So that's the first one iscoming in with your skills and
just taking their feedback.
There's always going to be like,some little thing that they give
you.
And you can always ask like towhat level that is.
So is this the icing on the cakelevel?
I like coaching to icing on thecake level where it looks almost
(12:07):
video level.
That's not, that's beyond thestandard.
I will coach you that way.
But if I'm evaluating, it'sgoing to be like where we need
to be for lifeguard instructorswhen I'm teaching.
You're going to be at thestandard.
David Kotz (12:19):
So, Anna mentioned something interesting, like you
have to be to the videostandard.
When you go to these ITacademies, you may see people
that you recognize from thevideos.
Many of the educators are in thelifeguard videos.
I recognize many of them.
I had a very warm feeling aboutit cause I've worked with these
people in the past and I have ahuge degree of respect for them.
(12:40):
So the fact that they were inthe videos is enormously fun and
you'll get to meet them.
And it's kind of cool.
Anna Unruh (12:46):
Again, that's the first way that you would fail
out is like you're not able toget your skills to where you
need to be.
The other one is not doing wellon your critical eye.
That's also curriculumawareness.
There's a lot of little pieceswhen you're doing your practice
teaching and your teach backs.
So, let's go over like how thepractice teaching evaluations
set up so that way I can framethis a little better.
(13:08):
Through the course, becauseyou're going to mimic an
instructor course, you're goingto have your instructor
candidates.
Those will be the people takingyour imaginary course.
You're going to be the ITteaching that course.
And then of course you have theeducator who's watching over
everything during that time.
So as the instructor candidate,you need to make sure that
(13:29):
you're still followingeverything to detail.
Okay, because the educators arewatching you as well to make
sure you're still aware even atthat base level.
When you're the instructortrainer candidate, you have to
be aware of those levels andwhat they're teaching and how
things should look and be ableto give appropriate feedback
which is positive correctivefeedback, so you're going to
(13:51):
give them something that wentwell, and then something that
they can improve on, or a futureconsideration because every once
in a while, somebody just acestheir practice teacher, and
you're like, I don't haveanything to fix, and you're just
like, something to consider ifthey had an odd number kit.
There's a lot of differentquestions you can throw in
there, but you have to have thatawareness as you go through.
(14:11):
But if you're not showing thatawareness of curriculum at the
instructor level or at the ITlevel where they're evaluating
you, they're going to give youfeedback and with current
lifeguard instructor outline,you got two shots.
That's it.
WSIT, you got four, but itdepends on how many people are
in your group, so you might havethree.
(14:31):
Um, they may not give you thefull four to evaluate each other
on the practice teaches, Ibelieve it's three.
David Kotz (14:37):
You need to be successful.
You need to be successful thefirst time.
There is no room to have a,substandard teachback.
You need to nail these.
I'm going to emphasize the onething that she didn't say, which
is skills charts, and assessmenttools.
I have no idea how you can besuccessful when you're
(14:57):
evaluating someone's skills ifyou are not holding in your
hand, the appropriate skillscharts, assessment tools.
Must have those.
They must be the correct onesfor the skills you're doing.
Uh, that is simply essential.
If you don't have that, I haveno idea how you'll be...
successful.
Anna Unruh (15:15):
On the WSIT side, you need to be in the chapter of
the book that's for the levelthat the person's in, where it
describes what that skill lookslike at each level.
So You have that resource.
You're going to put it in aprotector of some sort and make
sure that you're looking at whatthat skill looks like at that
level.
And if you're looking at astroke, then you're going to
have your stroke assessmentsheets.
David Kotz (15:36):
So at the end of every teach back, you'll be
given some feedback.
Uh, you'll be asked to giveyourself feedback on yourself.
How do you think that went?
Your peers will give you somefeedback in the class.
And then the educators willprovide a summary or maybe some
other sage words of advice.
And then they'll go on to thenext one.
At the end of every day, anyconcerns, the educators should
(16:00):
approach you, take you aside,give you some corrective
feedback as necessary; things toconsider.
Anna Unruh (16:06):
If you are of the anxious persuasion, because we
also see those at the academy,feel free to approach the
educators once they've talked toeveryone that they still need to
talk to, because sometimesthey're handing out sheets and
you got your sheet earlier inthe day because you had an
earlier teach.
So they may not have anythingfor you because you got it
earlier in the day.
But if you're still feelingconcerned or worried about
something to run something bythem, catch them at the end of
(16:27):
the day and ask them thosequestions and run things
through.
Because again, they want to makesure you're showing interest and
they're going to be invested inyou too.
They want to help.
David Kotz (16:36):
Educators aren't given any goals on how many
people they should pass.
We want a hundred percent of thepeople to pass.
that are qualified.
So we're given rigid standardsto adhere to but if everyone
meets those standards, we wantyou to succeed.
We spent more time than Ianticipated on this subject,
which fantastic.
I think we've covered a widerange of topics on the IT
(17:00):
academies and how to make sureyou are successful at an IT
academy.
Uh, we specifically did notcover- how, you know, okay,
you're interested in becoming anIT, where do you apply?
So just to quickly mention thatwhen you are on the Red Cross
Learning Center, there's a tabunder the instructor lifestyle
which is, you know, becoming anIT, and it will detail that
(17:21):
process.
There are several requirementsyou're going to need to meet.
You'll need a letter ofrecommendation, and you'll have
to be evaluated and acceptedinto the program before you can
even sign up for an IT academy.
So that's, we can actually do aseparate chat about that in the
future, but that is where youwould go when you're interested
in becoming an IT.
Anna Unruh (17:39):
I got one more tip before we go.
We mentioned that there's awritten test and it's the same
tip that I give my lifeguardinstructors.
You need to read youradministration section and know
that front to back becausethat's where a lot of questions
come from.
Not all of them, but you need toknow your administration section
because that's important to howyou run classes.
That's part of what the writtentest evaluates you over because
(18:01):
the educators have evaluated youon your skills and your teaching
skills, and now it's yourknowledge time.
David Kotz (18:06):
So what's a good example of a question you might
see from the administrationsection?
Anna Unruh (18:09):
Uh, ratio.
How many people can you teach?
David Kotz (18:13):
How many mannequins do you need?
How many backboards do you need?
How many rescue tubes do youneed?
What is the length of thecourse?
I'm remembering these from the2017 curriculum.
I have not seen the educatorstest.
Listen, we both Anna and myself,we wish you success at the IT
academy.
It's absolutely possible foreveryone to succeed if they put
forth the effort.
(18:34):
I shouldn't say that.
It's possible for almosteveryone to succeed, if they put
forth the effort.
We've seen people who don't passthem and by and large, it's
either they didn't have theskills, the physical skills.
Prepare ahead of time, bring theright resources with you and
enjoy the academies.
We hope to see you out in thefield teaching lifeguarding and
(18:54):
lifeguard instructor classes andWSI class.
In fact, here at the NationalSafety Training Center, we'd
like employ you.
So one of the things you can dois become part our cadre of
instructors.
We have classes around thecountry and we're trying to grow
that presence.
So one of the things, as yougraduate from the academy,
consider chatting with us andseeing how we together...
Anna Unruh (19:16):
As an example, I'm in Nebraska, I'm the lone person
out in my area, and I get to gotravel to Wyoming and teach a
WSI course in a few weeks, sothere's lots of potential
regardless of where you are.
David Kotz (19:28):
Fantastic.
Again, thank you all forwatching.
Remember, we here at theNational Safety Training Center
want you to succeed and we hopeto see you out in the classroom
soon.
Okay.
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