On Saturday 7th September 11 Ringers from all four corners of Essex (and slightly beyond) assembled in the Church of St Peter’s at Great Totham, Essex. David Sparling of Thorrington was leading the ART Module 2F Course – Teaching from Rounds to Plain Hunt.
We were all at various stages of our own bell ringing learning and also the mentoring/leading/captaining of our respective Towers. We wanted to improve our skills as practice leaders and mentors, focusing on improving our tutoring of those ringers back home at the point of progressing from Rounds to Plain Hunt.
The day began with an overview of the work of the Association of Ringing Teachers; its objectives and methodologies. David also explained how the day’s module fitted into a programme of teaching and assessment, and how to embed the course into local bands by getting learners involved in the Learning the Ropes (LtR) scheme. One of the major benefits of the programmes is to ensure learners and leaders can more easily transfer their skills and experience between different towers through a standard approach.
David took us through a technical look at the components of Plain Hunt. He explained that although Hunting had traditionally been taught to learners as the supposed natural next step from Call Changes, there are more components to Hunting than might at first be apparent.
We covered the general theory of the different foundation skills required by all ringers including bell control, listening and ropesight.
David took us through a series of practical technical exercises that bridged the gap between Call Changes and Hunting, each one building on the previous and explaining how it addressed a particular facet of theory. These ranged from ringing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to Mexican Waves. We also covered different observation exercises to develop the skills for leading.
We covered particular scenarios to ensure that varying abilities within a band are properly catered for. This reminded us of the importance of supporting newer learners while simultaneously ensuring that more advanced ringers are kept on their toes.
After a little more vital theory on the management of bands, including safeguarding, we put everything we had covered that day into a final practical session with various Hunting exercises.
It was a very worthwhile day – both as a learner and a “learner-leader”. I am looking forward to sharing the practical and theoretical exercises with my home tower and I will be looking for a local ART mentor to support me in our Tower’s next steps.
