M1: 29 January 2022 - Leigh-on-Sea
Having learned to ring some 10 years ago I am now moving into teaching and it feels a little daunting. I do have excellent support but hoped that going on the M1 course would give me some pointers. Luckily, some fellow ringers at St. Clements, Leigh-on-Sea felt much the same and arranged for the course to be run there, handily very close to my home tower.
We were made to feel very welcome at the church and in the tower and our tutor for the day, David Sparling, gave us an introduction to the course, explained how the day would run and gave us our pack of information and booklets
Throughout the day we followed a loose schedule which was a mix of theory and practical sessions. It was interesting to put some of these ideas into practice and pose as either the teacher or the student. One of the practical sessions that stands out was each of us demonstrating bad ringing of some sort and the rest having to diagnose the issue and suggest ART methods of overcoming it. This was certainly challenging to ring incorrectly on purpose but it was quite fun.
I think one of the best bits of the course was not only picking up some very useful tips, and confidence, but also feeling that some of the teaching I had already done was valid and that we might just be doing a good job after all… hopefully. The best advice we received was to put what we had learned into practice as soon as possible and happily I can report that I certainly have done that and our learners are making nice progress.
A very big thank you to the Leigh ringers for arranging the course to be held there, and for organising the lovely lunch. Thank you too to David and ART for providing an excellent training day.
Sarah Chin-a-Loy
Course Tutor: David Sparling
Teaching Bell Handling
Practical advice for teachers, right from the first lesson.