The first weekend of programs are behind us now…. Are we ready for week 2….. better believe it, are we even ready for a 3-day weekend just to make it fun?
A big thank you to all of our instructor staff for working extra hard and long hours to fulfill so many of our guests desires to ski and snowboard.
As the demand for lesson increase this is a great time for all of us think about our individual class handling skills for classes of any size. One thing I will often do is have students pair up with another student in the class as a class mate. This works well with any age of student and will help you out by knowing there are two individuals who are watching one another, this can be very useful with kid lessons and will reduce to odds of leaving a student behind. Another way of taking advantage of having students partnering up is the opportunity to work as a team while practicing tasks as you lead them through the progressions. Getting students involved and engaged with the learning process will make your lesson fun and successful with any size of group.
To reduce confusion on the slope may times instructors will bring groups of students out for a “ski/ride off” this can be effective if used in the proper manner. If you consider using this method just a few coaching tips may improve your success. Avoid taking big groups of students together, divide into smaller groups before leaving the lesson area example (I have a group of 7 students while Tyler has a group of 7 students. All are in the “green” level with some skiing on a chair lift. Tyler and myself will bring the 14 students on to the snow and will facilitate a ski off, individuals are then to be placed in their appropriate group)
Also a big shout out to those who have been helping in the rental shop and children’s learning center. Each of these areas have a large demand during crunch time, it is great to see so many instructors helping out. One thing that I was reminded of last week is making sure the expectation is communicated to each individual who is asked to provide help in different areas. We can all participate in checking for understanding by asking a few of questions.
· Where and What are you asking me to do
· How long do you want me to do this
· What about my daily teaching assignment
This information should be provided to you at the time of being deployed, if not please ask!
As mentioned above, business levels have been the highest we have seen in some time. The resort generally has three peak periods during the season, we just made it through the first period (Dec 26 – 31) the second period happens this weekend (MLK Jan. 16 – 18) and the third is President’s day weekend (Feb. 12 – 15)
We should all be prepared to see high business levels over this coming three day weekend. If anyone is available to work extra shifts over any of these three days it would truly be appreciated. Please contact myself or Sue if you would like to add a shift.
Another need to share you everyone is for a few instructors to help staff Cooper Spur. Below is the time schedule for lessons at the Spur.
Friday lesson times
12-1 1 hour private
1:30-3:30 2 hour group
4-6 2 hour group
6-8 private lessons or group
Sat./ Sun.
9-10 1 hour private
10:30-12:30 2 hour group
1-3 2 hour group
3-5 private lessons or group
Instructors are paid the whole time they are there, less lunch break. Teaching wage is the same as MHM. Minimum wage for other duties when not teaching.
Please contact me if you are interested for more details.
You may have notice that change in staffing for the CLC. Raizel has stepped down from her supervisor position into a part time instructor. Hallie Fall how was working as the CLC lead has now moved into the supervisor position. Hallie brings us many years of experience supervising a children’s program at her home mountain in New Hampshire. If you have not already had the opportunity to meet Hallie please do and welcome her into her new position.
Since mentioning the CLC, I would like to remind everyone who teaches a lesson from the children’s learning center to take the time and fill out a report card for each student in your class. It may seem just like another thing for you to do but it is how students and parents measure what was taught and what was learned during the lesson. As a parent myself who had their kids in the children’s program here I still have a report card for my youngest son that Rick Lyons filled out many years ago and a report card for my oldest son that Brain Beardsley fill out. Trust me, it does make a difference.
If you were one of the many who participated in last Saturday’s instructor clinic then you know how great it was to have so many co-workers out enjoying the awesome snow and riding with amazing clinicians. We are not going to stop there! In fact here is a list of general information from our training coordinators Tracy Thomson, Jenn Lockwood, and Tyler Barnes!
Monday – Sunday AM Quick Tip Clinic:
meet at adult lesson lineup area
8:50am – 9:35am, in personal jacket
minimum of 3 participants
drills, tips, tricks, what do your instructors want/need?
keep people moving – 1-2 runs!
no sign up necessary
on piste only
Wednesday – Sunday PM Clinics:
meet at adult lesson lineup area
3:45pm
4-6pm clinic
minimum of 3 participants
sign up!
Please share with the person who is next to you at your next line up “hey, are you going to clinic?” with the awesome snow conditions I cannot even come close to tell you how much fun I had during Saturday’s clinic. Spread the word!
Attached you will find a training document titled “Awesome Athletic Stance” although this is presented as an alpine training document snowboard instructors will find many similarities with the information under “Outcome”
I wish everyone a great end to their week and thanks you for sharing your passion to ski and snowboard with so many.
Mark Fischer
Mt Hood Meadows Resort
Ski and Snowboard School Manager
Adaptive Snow Sports Manager
503-337-2222 x1288
weekend-program-insturcot-information.docx Athletic-Stance-aka-AWESOME-stance.docx