AAP SWIMMING LESSON GUIDELINES
YEAR-ROUND SWIM LESSONS KIDS LEARN BEST WITH STEADY REPETITION Each Summer we...
Read MoreWHAT ARE WORKSHOPS?
EMBRACE LEARNING – THE VALUE AT OUR CORE
One of our operational values at La Petite Baleen is Embrace Learning and one might assume that the learning applies only to our students. But that’s not the whole story.
Teaching is a Two-Way Street:
For students to learn effectively, their teachers must be well-versed in the curriculum being presented to them. Our teachers begin their learning journey with about 40 hours of training. They have classroom clinics, in-water training sessions, and hours of student teaching to allow them hands-on, experiential learning with a senior teacher. But we know that there is so much more to teaching swimming than what can be learned in 40 hours.
Enter the Workshop
Every month our Extended Training Coordinators (ETCs) put together a training workshop to zero in on a particular level or skill. All teaching staff are encouraged to attend these workshops, and newer teachers are required to participate in order to level up themselves. (Yup! Levels aren’t just for students!) Workshops are either dry (classroom only, no student participants) or wet (classroom and in-water with volunteer students) and allow teachers the opportunity to expand their knowledge base. Workshops are a time for learning tips and tricks from expert teachers and for additional practice without the usual constraints of a 30-minute class. They are a time for questions and answers and even more hands-on training.
But Wait, There’s More!
Teachers and students are not the only ones to benefit from our workshops. Often times, especially at our wet workshops for Babies and Toddlers, parents also learn key concepts. Have you wondered how we are able to submerge babies as young as two months old? Or how proper head position can help solve a variety of body position problems. Attending workshops gives parents a glimpse behind the scenes and provides answers about how our program works and why it has been so successful for well over 40 years.
Workshop Schedule
While we do offer staff the opportunity to attend workshops every month, we only need student participants for the wet workshops that cover the following levels: Infants (August), Toddlers (February), Level 1 (April), Level 2 (June), and workshops for Levels 4 and 5 (October and December). Keep an eye out for signs advertising upcoming workshops in our schools and be sure to subscribe to our Newsplash Newsletter that is always chock full of information for parents.
