On a bright and sunny Saturday morning, 11 eager ringers descended on Pagham to learn to teach basic bell handling skills. Under the wise eyes of Neil, and fuelled by some unbelievably delicious baked goods, the ringers left with more confidence and equipped with the skills and strategies needed to teach learners from day one.
Our day began, as all the best days do, with introductions, both with the cohort and to the unique challenges we’d face as ringing teachers. From the obvious dangers of pulling 500kg lumps of metal, to the slow progress learners face, we explored the various ways we can motivate and celebrate learners, whilst ensuring that they ring safely and correctly. The other morning presentation focussed on becoming a good teacher: recognising the various learning styles we’ll come across; the balance between planning and flexibility; and the necessity of identifying and rectifying bad habits.
Interspersed between these presentations were practical examples, where we could put these techniques into practice and gain experience teaching the basic principles of ringing. These also gave a great opportunity for us to pop in our own nuggets of wisdom from previous teaching, or learning, experience.
After putting the world to rights during lunch, we returned to the tower, this time learning to teach ringing up and down, before considering the plethora of bad habits learners can develop and how to nip these in the bud! This was a particularly fun exercise, characterised by our volunteers grimacing and struggling to remember to ring incorrectly, followed by the collective “ahh” from the rest and flurries of ideas to remedy the exaggerated handling errors.
Overall, the day was well structured, informative, and very enjoyable. The presentations were long enough to give each aspect justice, but not too long for us to disengage. The frequent breaks in presentations for practicals and coffee breaks were very welcome, and helped to break the day into short, easily digestible chunks. The practical sessions were well thought through, and Neil’s knowledge and experience shone through during these sections. The course is well worth it, and I would heartily recommend it to those considering joining the ART teaching program.
We’d like to give a massive thank you to Neil for giving up his Saturday to share his experiences and best practices at teaching bell handling! We’d also like to thank Mike for preparing Pagham tower for us, and Margaret Sherwood for her delicious cakes and bakes!
