Instructor Training anyone? - What does it take?

All right, so the intro has nothing to do with becoming an instructor other than mental health is a good part to have start with for becoming an instructor because, you know, it's always good. All right, so normally I go live, I'm talking about mental health matters, hence the banner for 988, and that's always a good thing. Um, however, that being said, let me turn that off because I'm very squirrely. For those of you who are new, welcome to the show, um, my random lives here and there. And I see my favorite pink hand waving out there, Mr. Crabby Turtle. Uh, so it occurs to me, in 2 weeks I am having an instructor class and I still have some seats available, and it's better if I have all of the seats filled up because there's only 6 spots to begin with, and you can learn more if there's more people in the class for the 3 people that are already signed up, they're still going to get a lot. But if I could fill those other 3 seats, that would be good. So I should at least talk about my instructor class. Here's the deal, um, what does it take to be an instructor? You just want to share your ability to safely handle a firearm with people. And that is kind of the beginning and the cornerstone of how I train, is it's about where is our finger on the firearm? And I'm like, I almost picked one up and showed you, but then I remembered I'm live on YouTube and Facebook, and sometimes we get turned off on YouTube if we handle actual firearms. So here's what I'm going to show you. This is a paper towel tube. You can start with this because if you take this paper towel tube and Ready? You simply cut it at an angle like that. You now have a craft that you can just stick together like that, and you have a training tool. So creativity might be something that could help you become an instructor. Next, there's always foam, and if I just show parts of it at a time, it won't identify as anything other than foam, maybe. And then there's things you can buy that are toys. However, becoming an instructor— what does it mean? Generally, you're excited about firearms, you're excited about safety, you're excited about something that makes you happy to go to the range and go to competition and things like that. And then to learn how to transfer the knowledge you have in your brain to help other people figure out how to find their passion in the firearms industry. So number 1, you want to be proficient with safely handling firearms. Notice I'm not talking about what a great shot you are or how beautiful your targets are. Don't care. None of that matters. Safety is rule number 1, because if you are safe with a firearm and you learn that from the beginning and that's your cornerstone and that's what we teach our new shooters is safety, then once they've gotten good at the safety portion, then and then we worry about what their targets look like. So many people come into this and they just want to have a beautiful target, and they're all like, oh, look at my student shot this beautiful group, and I'm like, don't care. So if you come to my instructor class, I promise you it will be safety and some more safety and some more safety, and it's stuff that you didn't necessarily think of. And everyone has a different flavor. There is no one-size-fits-all instructor. I am all pink and fluffy, as you can see by my surroundings, my logo. Oh, guess what? You do not have to have a logo to become an instructor. This is not part of it. You just have to have that passion. Like I said, we can start with just a single paper towel holder. I mean, obviously you need to be able to actually shoot and have firearms for your firearm— for your students to shoot. Um, I always suggest a.22 for any beginner ever. And here's the thing, my friends, it's not that people can't start with a higher caliber. It's that as an instructor, you can actually see a lot more what they are doing with the firearm while you're learning and honing your skills of how to assess what they're doing right or wrong than with a larger caliber, because the gun is doing less, um, and therefore you can see more what they are doing. The other thing which I just did with a student today, is I had him put his hand up like this and I went like this, and then I'm like, and then I went like this, and I'm like, okay, which do you want me to do all day long? Would you like me to pat your hand gently or would you like me to punch you over and over again? And that was my example of the difference between shooting.22 where we're just doing a golf clap really each time we pull the trigger versus getting some solid impact there. Now, everyone is different. There is no one-size-fits-all. And, um, it's one of those things where to understand, like, you have— may have been shooting for all your life, it may be something new, um, and you don't think anything of pulling a trigger on a 9mm. You're going to have students that on a little baby.22, and you give them a nice big heavy target pistol they're going to jump out of their skin. Don't make the mistake of thinking that your students are going to be like you, because that is the worst thing we can do to them. We have to assume they're going to be scared of their wits no matter what the very first time they pull the trigger, and it's going to be a shock. So by starting with a lower caliber— this is one of those things where, could they start with a bigger one? Absolutely. Is that the best thing? No, because they don't even know how they're going to respond. And this is why in USCCA we talk about the first shot is just one bullet in the firearm, because I have literally had students who have dropped the gun after their first shot. They're all excited, they were super excited, and that's just it. We just don't know. Well, I am glad to know that our crabby turtle has the passion to become an instructor. Now I just have to figure out how to transport crabby turtle here for class. On July 19th and 20th, right? Yeah, Saturday and Sunday, 9 AM to 7 PM. Now the other part of this is that you are coming— like, if you were to sign up today, you have to come here beforehand, and we're going to do the live fire portion. Because there is nothing worse to me than a student spending all of this money— it is $625 investment plus 2 full days of your life which is 9 AM till 7 PM on Saturday and Sunday, and you're going to come up and spend an hour and a half with me to do the live fire portion because I want to make sure that you can pass the live fire portion before I put you through the training modules because I can't pass you if you don't have the live fire. Now, plenty of people think that they're a good shot. Well, a lot of people think they're good drivers too, and you know, those of us who drive, we know that not everyone is a good driver as we are. However, there are certain standards. So as a training counselor, which is what I have to be in order to indoctrinate you all— no, I mean, sorry, teach you, explain to you how all to pass your passion on to others— we have to have the skills of hitting our target at a safe distance, at a safe speed, all of those things. Because if you can't do it, how are you supposed to explain that to your students and how to do it. So my very first class when I was an NRA training counselor, we had 2 people who came. That's, that's a longer class, that's actually 3, 2 and a half days. And we had 2 of them who did not have the skill set to pass the firearms portion. So for here at a Great Start Shooting School, we have you come do the live fire first for multiple reasons. One, I get to work one-on-one with you. But also there's certain things that are just sort of accepted in the gun community as safe gun handling that are not necessarily really as safe as we think they are. And you don't know what you don't know, so we're not sure how that all works. So, um, oh, look at that, I got a Mike White, 2A Advocacy. How you doing, man? Uh, this is why the pop-ups are fun. You never know who we're gonna scoop in here. So, um, where are we? So yeah, so get the live fire stuff done ahead of time because here's the deal: you sign up for the class, you come for the live fire, and we've only got 2 weeks left, so come soon. Because what would happen is you come here for an hour and a half, we do the live fire portion. If you don't pass, I then coach you on what you need to practice so you can come back and pass before we take the test. So there is how that kind of works. So short version, instructor training, what does it take? Passion. Ideally have a.22 for your students, but you know, that's not a limiting factor. Paper towel holder, just in case, you know, you can, you know, tape it together and make it look like a training tool. And the willing to learn how to teach, because even if you're an ace with the firearm, super fast, super accurate, all of that. In the instructor class, we're really teaching you how to present. We're teaching you that soft skills of here's a lesson plan. USCC is very much, um, it's modular, so you can practice doing a piece of the lesson plan. You don't have to go soup to nuts every single time. And, uh, oh I got my Coop. I got my brother Coop since he always calls me Sister Brooke, so you know, um, how you doing, Coop? I don't know where am I hitting the thing. Okay, so, uh, nice thing about USC State, lots of segments you can teach, super easy. Requirements every year, you must teach at least 20 students. Remember that thing I just said about modular? So here's what you can do: 5 students, teach them 4 modules., and voilà, you've managed your 20 students. Because some people get overwhelmed with that because they don't know it going in. That's USCCA, and that's the course I'm going to be teaching on the 19th and 20th. I have to keep looking at my calendar so I don't tell you the wrong time. And then in NRA, I think it's 12th, but you have to do the entire pistol permit class— or the, sorry, the basic NRA's basic pistol. So, uh, different flavors depending on which thing. But like I said, the USCCA is what I have coming up.. And I think that's kind of about it as far as what does it take. Desire, passion, the ability to learn how to teach, and then to keep training. Always keep going to new places where you get to train, because someone who tells me they've been an instructor for 30 years doesn't impress me unless they said, oh yeah, and every year I'm going to some form of training. I tried to do at least 2 to 3 camps a year in the beginning, and now I'm lucky to get one in, but I'm still always trying to learn more. So the best instructors are the ones who never stop being students. Oh, and I think that's kind of it. And I do have another student coming on, so I do have— I've got ready for her. Oh wait, y'all want to see what I'm teaching my next student? Oh, I can't— can I, can I show you stuff? I don't know. I'm gonna gently move this this way and maybe in the background. I'm not touching any of them, but over there, there's a table full of firearms. And so the class that I have coming up next is called Find Your Perfect Firearm, and it is a class that I created because I sold the first firearm that I ever bought. And so I wanted to help people learn how to figure out what gun they actually want. And when you're brand new and everything is a new shiny tool, it's very hard to stay focused on what do I actually want because we don't know the questions we even need to ask to figure those things out. So there are so many things that we can talk about, but I've got my student coming in, so I should probably take off. I hope you all have enjoyed this little 13-ish minute thing. Um, nice to catch Mike and C&T and Crabby Turtle out there on the YouTube side. And I got a like on the Facebook side, so whoever's on the Facebook side, hello. So there is that. And by all means, share this out to anybody you know. They don't have to live in Connecticut. Have students come from as far as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, wherever you happen to be. This is my only instructor course that I have set for this year right now. For those of you who don't know yet, August 11th I'm going in for knee replacement surgery and I'm out 6 to 8 weeks, and that's according to the doctor. We'll see what actually happens because I don't know. Um, so last instructor course for this year, probably. Possibly I might take an NRA one in November or December. We'll see how that goes. And, uh, yeah, so feel free, share this out, anyone who's interested. And, uh, as C&T says, be cool, herps, and keep that thing on you at all times. Y'all have a lovely rest of your day. Bye, guys.