This question is for the instructors on this site. What is the best way u have found that a student gets the most from your lessons?Should u ask questions or just do what a instructor tells u to do? I think I should take notes and really focus on what the instructor says or does. If I'm not sure of something ask questions about it. Any advise would be appreciated.
Getting The Most From Lessons
- Thread starter chas1022
- Start date
chas1022 said:
A good instructor will first explain what he is about to do; then do it; then explain the results that he obtained.
So the student should first listen; then watch; then listen again. These are silent activities.
Then the student must do what the instructor did. Only experience will teach you the right questions to ask. Ask only after you have done.
Do not attempt to write down the answers as the instructor speaks them; that divides your attention and causes you to miss instruction. Instead, listen and then repeat back to the instructor what he just taught you, in words that make sense to you. He may correct misunderstandings and fill in blanks. When the instructor agrees that you have "got it," then write it down.
Finally, the student must do it again, and then explain his results to be sure that he has comprehended the principles involved.
Have faith and patience in your ability to succeed. That goes a lot further than notetaking, videotape, or words. That's step 1.
Have an openmind. An openmind is a black hole for knowledge, a closed mind is a brick wall for knowledge. That's step 2.
Realize that instructional material is not magical, nor does it really do anything by posessing it. There is nothing magical in my words or anybody else's. Your success is directly proportional to your dedication to overcome your shortcomings. As an instructor, all I can do is provide the tools and the material that you need to build your game. I provide the materials and your job is to pound the nails into the wood and build something with it. Your blueprint is your goals - which should be your vision, not mine. Thats step 3.
If anything goes wrong along your journey, go back to step 1.
That's step 4.
Work on this until you believe in yourself more than anybody else does.
Have an openmind. An openmind is a black hole for knowledge, a closed mind is a brick wall for knowledge. That's step 2.
Realize that instructional material is not magical, nor does it really do anything by posessing it. There is nothing magical in my words or anybody else's. Your success is directly proportional to your dedication to overcome your shortcomings. As an instructor, all I can do is provide the tools and the material that you need to build your game. I provide the materials and your job is to pound the nails into the wood and build something with it. Your blueprint is your goals - which should be your vision, not mine. Thats step 3.
If anything goes wrong along your journey, go back to step 1.
That's step 4.
Work on this until you believe in yourself more than anybody else does.
Learning is a two way street. Obviously, you should listen to your instructor, but you also need to ask questions as you are going through the lesson. Try not to get off topic. If you instructor is discussing speed control, that probably isn't the time to ask about english.
I sometimes have my students answer their own questions. If a student asks me what will happen if they do "blank", I often set up a shot and have them do "blank". Then we discuss the results of what happened. This gets the student involved, and the lesson is much more likely to stick in their mind than if I just answered the question.
Steve
I sometimes have my students answer their own questions. If a student asks me what will happen if they do "blank", I often set up a shot and have them do "blank". Then we discuss the results of what happened. This gets the student involved, and the lesson is much more likely to stick in their mind than if I just answered the question.
Steve
Here's an article about taking and giving lessons:chas1022 said:
http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/2005-09.pdf
After each lesson, or maybe each part of a lesson, ask yourself these questions:
• What was the main idea covered?
• Is it correct?
• What will I do differently now?
• Has my game improved?
Sometimes you can't answer those questions right away, but you should be able to answer even the last one within a month. Perhaps the second is the hardest one to answer. Lots of instructors have been known to teach things that are clearly false. Read the article for suggestions on how to deal with BS encounters.
videotape eliminates the need for notetaking!
As an instructor who travels full time, teaching all over the country, I always videotape my lessons, and provide the student with copies, for their permanent review. The tape provides video and audio feedback, and records everything that is said by both parties. I always tell my students to watch the tape(s) when you first get it...watch it again in a month, and watch it again three months after that. You'll pick up small things each time, that you missed on earlier viewings. As Bob said, it is VITAL to apply what you just paid to learn. Otherwise it is wasted time and money...on both parts. A good teacher values a student who puts the effort into applying what they have been taught, over someone just going through the motions.
There's nothing wrong with asking questions. I always try to include a Q&A session near the end of each lesson, to give the student a chance to ask about anything they wanted to know, but forgot to ask already.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
As an instructor who travels full time, teaching all over the country, I always videotape my lessons, and provide the student with copies, for their permanent review. The tape provides video and audio feedback, and records everything that is said by both parties. I always tell my students to watch the tape(s) when you first get it...watch it again in a month, and watch it again three months after that. You'll pick up small things each time, that you missed on earlier viewings. As Bob said, it is VITAL to apply what you just paid to learn. Otherwise it is wasted time and money...on both parts. A good teacher values a student who puts the effort into applying what they have been taught, over someone just going through the motions.
There's nothing wrong with asking questions. I always try to include a Q&A session near the end of each lesson, to give the student a chance to ask about anything they wanted to know, but forgot to ask already.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
hopefully whoever you take lessons with will be giving you some type of feedback, whether written or otherwise, like scott lee and steve were talking about. Thats one of the great things about cuetech pool school.......they gave us all a 3 ring binder notebook that was already full of the stuff they were teaching us, along with places for us to fill in info as well. I use mine to this day.....i added blank pages and keep notes in it, as well as good articles i run across, ill cut them out and put them in it as well. My game gets a hiccup in it, im pulling out my notebook and looking back at my lessons, my notes, my pool log......its really made my game consistent and when my game does get off a little bit, its off for a day or two, not for weeks or a month like before.
Ring said:
When a good time turns around, You must whip it
You will never live it down, Unless you whip it
No one gets their way, Until they whip it
I say whip it
Whip it good
(Ahh... the soothing sounds of Devo..)
Russ
Dan,
Will look forward to seeing you at the class. That 8am-5pm schedule is a MINIMUM!!! Last year, I recall we had a couple of late nights. Seems like at the end of the day, nobody wants to leave!!! You can usually find a couple of instructors willing to hang out after hours.
Looks like we are going to have a great class this year. See ya next month!
Steve
Will look forward to seeing you at the class. That 8am-5pm schedule is a MINIMUM!!! Last year, I recall we had a couple of late nights. Seems like at the end of the day, nobody wants to leave!!! You can usually find a couple of instructors willing to hang out after hours.
Looks like we are going to have a great class this year. See ya next month!
Steve
I have had 3 or 4 lessons since I started pool by the professionnal player Danny Hewitt. First lesson was about the stance+stroke and learning basic shots like backspin, topspin and stop(stun). After all that he showed me the englishes(clock system) and how I should compensate when aiming with inside english or outside english(throw) and looking at the cueball path after the hit.
2nd-3rd and 4th lesson was to build up pattern for runouts and when to play safe. I really liked the way we did those patterns, he would use two dimes and one chalk: One dime near the cueball, another near the object ball and a chalk mark where I should leave cueball to get position for the next shot. First I had to explain what english I woud put on the cueball to get to that chalk mark(he would correct me if I was wrong) and if I missed the putting of the positioning I would have to do it again (I didn't have the put the cueball EXACTLY on the chalk mark but at least with a fairly easy shot with the good angle) and we did that for all the shots through the nine.
After the 4th lesson he told me I didn't need lessons anymore, I just need 'mileage' and practice what I know since I didn't have big weaknesses
2nd-3rd and 4th lesson was to build up pattern for runouts and when to play safe. I really liked the way we did those patterns, he would use two dimes and one chalk: One dime near the cueball, another near the object ball and a chalk mark where I should leave cueball to get position for the next shot. First I had to explain what english I woud put on the cueball to get to that chalk mark(he would correct me if I was wrong) and if I missed the putting of the positioning I would have to do it again (I didn't have the put the cueball EXACTLY on the chalk mark but at least with a fairly easy shot with the good angle) and we did that for all the shots through the nine.
After the 4th lesson he told me I didn't need lessons anymore, I just need 'mileage' and practice what I know since I didn't have big weaknesses
chas1022 said:
Focus on understanding not what, but why. If your instructor tells you "you should move your right leg a little forward in your stance", he will probably tell you why: "you're not balanced in your stance; because your right leg is so far back, you're leaning a lot of weight on your bridge hand, which causes extra muscle tension, which impedes a good, natural cueing action. With a good stance, you should be able to stand in your stance balanced comfortably, even if you don't have a table in front of you."
If you're too focused on "make sure my leg is far enough forward", then you've missed the point, and very soon in your practice, you may realize you've forgotten how to exactly find the stance that your instructor helped you discover during your lesson. But if you've focused on all the "whys", then in your practice you can examine your stance and correct it yourself based on what you've learned, and maybe as your game evolves, you'll find that there are different tweaks to your stance that will help you even more, and you won't need an instructor to figure them out for you.
Sorry, this post was long and rambling (I don't think I can be concise before about 9:30 AM), but if you learn what the instructor tells you to do, you'll eventually forget or relapse. If you learn WHY the instructor tells you what he tells you, then you can continue being your own instructor into the future. I think that's how to get the most out of lessons.
-Andrew
To get the most from a lesson......
As a trainer for 15 years in adult learning I have some opinions on this.
The student is responsible for listening to everything the instructor says with the intention of making the most out of it. Even if it's something you already know, "learning it again" may have an impact on something that you haven't learned later in the lesson. And you may not know it as well as you think! A mind really is like a parachute since it works best when it's open.
Work to do every step the instructor gives you perfectly even if the results aren't what you wanted. Playing pool is a series of mechanical steps that, when done in the correct order, result in potting balls. While you may pot balls doing it incorrectly, you must learn to do it correctly if you want to get better. Don't focus on results, focus on the steps (behaviors).
If you don't understand what you've been told, ask the instructor for another example. (Example - If someone tells me one tip of english, I don't know what that is. Instead give me distances off the center line which I do understand.) All instructors learn different ways of saying things in order to better communicate with more people.
Don't get down on yourself if you aren't executing. It's not a destination, it's a journey and many journeys involve wrong turns or short cuts.
Finally, celebrate success and leave failure behind you. Holding on to failure gives it a better chance to reappear. Celebrating success gives you reasons to continue.
Just my 2 cents. And I'm a good student!
Brian in VA
As a trainer for 15 years in adult learning I have some opinions on this.
The student is responsible for listening to everything the instructor says with the intention of making the most out of it. Even if it's something you already know, "learning it again" may have an impact on something that you haven't learned later in the lesson. And you may not know it as well as you think! A mind really is like a parachute since it works best when it's open.
Work to do every step the instructor gives you perfectly even if the results aren't what you wanted. Playing pool is a series of mechanical steps that, when done in the correct order, result in potting balls. While you may pot balls doing it incorrectly, you must learn to do it correctly if you want to get better. Don't focus on results, focus on the steps (behaviors).
If you don't understand what you've been told, ask the instructor for another example. (Example - If someone tells me one tip of english, I don't know what that is. Instead give me distances off the center line which I do understand.) All instructors learn different ways of saying things in order to better communicate with more people.
Don't get down on yourself if you aren't executing. It's not a destination, it's a journey and many journeys involve wrong turns or short cuts.
Finally, celebrate success and leave failure behind you. Holding on to failure gives it a better chance to reappear. Celebrating success gives you reasons to continue.
Just my 2 cents. And I'm a good student!
Brian in VA